Subculture Anime Blog

OP: “Spirale (スピラーレ)” by Yui Makino – I’m very glad to have Makino Yui return to sing the Aria OP. The song is played while scenes of Neo Venezia are shown as usual, so there isn’t much else to say. Oh wait, did I mention how awesome this song is? Yea, just saying.

Summary:

The girls excitedly discuss the spring coming soon in their usual manner. Akari sends one of her usual mails to Ai, about the recent carnival and her long path towards becoming a prima. While Akari and Aika practice with Alice as usual, they find that she is a lot more confident than usual. They credit this to her carnival experience with Athena, which Aika believes is the same case are hers. When Aika lets off a yawn, everyone else on the gondola can’t help but do so as well. Alice suggests that they stop by a coffee shop that they are approaching, which the girls quickly agree to. They find that Al and Akatsuki are already there, who are helping each other study. Akatsuki gets into his usual quarrel with Aika, and has Akari get him more coffee on her way to buy some for the girls. When the girls leave the two boys, Alice brings up that Akari and Aika have similar exams soon. Of course, Aika is not worried at all.

Akari sits down to eat with Alicia when she returns to the company, and Woody arrives with a delivery shortly after the girls save President Aria from choking. Woody expresses to Akari that spring will be coming soon according to the sky, before leaving her with the package meant for Alicia. The package is from two visitors who spent time with the girls during their carnival visit. Alicia decides to have a gathering with the other girls to celebrate, so Akari accompanies her through the city to gather ingredients. Akari believes that Neo Venezia after the carnival events is somehow docile, which Alicia believes is wonderful. The two girls return to the company to discover the results of President Aria’s fishing, before the three all start to prepare food for the meeting. Alice, Aika, and Akira arrive soon after preparations are done, and become excited at all the treats that have been prepared.

While the group enjoys the strawberry jam and tea, Aika asks Alice what kind of people the two who gave the gifts were like. Alicia and Akari express that they were wonderful people, recalling their meeting of the young woman and her mother. While they were touring, the young woman expressed her poor timing by brining her mother to Neo Venezia during the Winter. Her mother was happy, however, as she did not see snow in the area she lived in. With this, Alicia suggested that the mother would soon have a wonderful gift. As snow started to fall due to Alicia’s prediction, the two guests became amazed. The group is also amazed by this story, but Aika brings up another amazing story dealing with Akira.

Akira and Aika were serving a group of four men, one of them who was very energetic. While the man jumped around his friends, Aika realized that there would be trouble if it wasn’t for Akira’s skill in balancing the gondola. The man even did ridiculous things like jokingly prepose to Akira, while she made him realize that he was wearing a woman’s mask. The man suddenly started to fall overboard, but Akira quite amazingly saved him. Aika recalls that if it wasn’t for Akira’s save, that group’s trip would have become a bad memory. With this, Alice brings up an amazing story of her own. Alice and Athena were severing a small family, while the youngest child could not stop crying. Athena began to make very silly faces behind them, causing the child to quickly change her mood. The family was surprised, as they did not know what had just happened behind them, but Alice believed that this was very cool.

Athena appears soon after Alice’s story is over, joining the rest of the group. She wonders which of her silly stories Alice told everyone, but Alice responds by telling her that the group has actually been discussing amazing stories. Aika believes that it would be difficult to catch up to such amazing people, but Alicia suggests that she and the other primas have a long way to go as well. The younger girls are surprised by this, so Aika asks when Akira would be satisfied. Akira replies by saying that she would probably never be satisfied as long as she continued this job, and Alicia adds that they are always thinking of improving. Aika states that it is a given that there would still be a ways to go for the girls, and Alicia suggests that they just enjoy themselves. Akari, Aika, and Alice look out into the sky outside afterwards, recalling the advice Grandma gave to them in the past. Akari believes that their seniors have taught them amazing things, and that is something very special. Aika states that the three of them would eventually become the greatest stars in the sky, before giving Akari trouble about having to meet Alicia’s expectations. Inside the company, Alicia, Athena, and Akira express their belief that the younger girls would become excellent primas in the future.

ED: “Kin no Nami Sen no Nami (金の波 千の波)” by Akino Arai – I’m kind of disappointed that Round Table did not return for the third season, but Arai Akino’s work is by no means bad. They’ve also put quite a bit more work in this ED’s animation than they have before.

Preview: What is this? An actual preview….in MY Aria? Well, it looks like the usual slice of life fun next week.

Impression:

The scenery porn is here!!! Do I really have to write an impression for this? From laughs, to smiles, to tears of joy, I loved every second of the first episode of Origination. As expected, the animation has improved quite a bit, but the rest of the episode remained quite the same when compared to the previous installments. From the subtle humor early on to President Aria’s hilarious fishing antics, I couldn’t help but giggle like a rabid fanboy at everything. It was wonderful to see all of the Aria girls again, especially Aika with her lovely short hair. Saito Chiwa has been one of my favorite seiyu for quite awhile now, mostly because of her roles in this series and Keroro Gunsou among others. It might be weird hearing Hirohashi Ryou as Alice, when she plays Tamaki in Bamboo Blade on the same day, but why would I complain? The other girls do an excellent job as well, but they just haven’t played in many other series besides this that have stood out dramatically to me. Unlike any other show out there, Aria always amazes me with its masterful storytelling, and I am always left with a wonderful feeling after watching an episode. As far as blogging goes, it’s probably guaranteed that I will be picking this up. I might start having major delays like I did with Sketchbook because of Uni, but I honestly don’t care. I will continue to blog this on my own time for sure. I’m more than ready for more adventures in Neo Venezia, and I hope everyone else is too.