Aria Episode 11

“Huh, what? I am busy thinking about ways to knock myself on the bridge wall…” — Athena

The episode is probably one of the best episodes, if not the best episode of Aria, because it is talking about the past history of the three water fairies. I really like the whole mood to the episode and it clearly shows its great ability to make you feel good by touching on the themes of friendship, time and things of precious value. I like this a lot and I will write in more detail about how I feel about the whole episode.

For now, episode summary and thoughts below! nyoro~

The entering of winter also brought about a severe change in winter. The three of them, Akari, Alice and Aika were all in combined training as usual, even though the chilling cold had brought about some difficulties to train. The three of them went back to Aria company after training, only to see the three seniors sitting in the fireplace, enjoying themselves. It seemed that the three of them were all free at the same time and hence they had came over for a little gathering. Alicia then decided to prepare some nice whipped cream with hot cocoa for everyone.

While Alicia was preparing for the house, Athena offered to be a host, as though it was her own house. She was always out of it and trust me, that was probably her charm because she always seemed so spaced out. Athena then asked the three apprentices whether they often trained together. The three girls said that they did and Athena started to vibrate and they thought that Athena was angry that they were training together. However, Akira came and told her to stop laughing so much.

Alicia then came with the cocoa and said that the three seniors often trained together when they were all “singles”. The reminiscing started to occur as it went back to the time where Alicia first met up with Akira. The two of them were friends and Alicia was the only apprentice in Aria, just like Akari, due to the fact that Aria was a small company that enjoyed coziness. Akira used to come everyday with excuses to meet up with Alicia as Akira was actually rather shy, as Athena accounted. Akira simply asked Athena to shut up. Akari also mentioned that Aika was the same and Aika used her common “Embarrassing comments are not allowed!”

Back to memory lane, Akira then mentioned about the coming of a very famous “single” undine in Orange company and was starting to worry whether the new person was a great undine of person skills and oar skills. Then, they met up with someone (Athena) who was knocked down of sorts from the ship as she was zoning out while traveling on her own Gondola. Her face was planted on her own Gondola after the impact of the two Gondolas. Akira noticed that Athena was wearing an orange planet uniform and invited her to lunch in order to find out more about the special girl.

As they ate lunch, Akira’s questions went completely unanswered as Athena was in her own world, entertaining Aria with her orange juice and straw skills. It was rather amusing to see Akira completely baffled at Athena’s moving at her own pace. Once they finished their meal, Athena said that it was not too good to eat too much because the food might land up in the wrong parts of the body such as the arms. I seriously went all O_O when she said that.

As expected, the three water fairies started to train together and we see some candid scenes from the past. Alicia and Akari, as usual, were spot on with their introduction and had that professional feel in them. However, when it was Athena’s turn, her lack of ability to find her sense of direction meant that her ability to introduce places was off. She often was very clumsy too, as shown when she always knocked on bridge walls while oarring around. In other words, her ability to zone off was probably her greatest asset.

Alicia was also very graceful when it came to scooping balls out of the river. However, Athena while scooping up the ball, got the whole ball flying far away from the kid at the shore and fell down into the water as well. Akira remarked that Athena was really thick. However, when they had Canzone practice, they were completely shocked. Athena was the special undine in Orange planet, with her beautiful voice charming everyone that was around her. Even Akira and Alicia watched with eyes wide open because they did not expect the soft spoken girl to have such a wonderful voice. After finishing the song, she went back to her stoned mode but the audience around the shores started to clap at her wonderful rendition.

Back to the present, Akira mentioned that she could not stand defeat and spent hours trying to practice her singing. However, Akira eventually gave up because she was not able to reach how Athena was. They then remarked it had been such a long while since they had the chance to gather together ever since they turned professional. Akari started to worry about the case with the three of them but Athena simply said that even though the past was fun, the present was also fun too. There was no need to be stuck with the past because you would not be able to enjoy the present.

With that, Akari, Alice and Aika left the three seniors to talk as they probably had much to catch up on. They left, with Akari continuing to brood over whether they would one day see less of each other after they turned professional. Aika told her simply not to worry and that they were going to meet. With that , Aika and Alice left to their own companies. However, Akari suddenly ran to the bridge and shouted, “We will see each other tomorrow!”. Aika started to squabble and told her that shouting was not allowed. Akari did not care and continued to shout and it was really an amusing end as Alice went with her “you two are so nosy”.

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Episode thoughts (affected)

For one, we really learn much more about the bit-part seniors that have appeared for quite a few times. We did not see much development on Alicia, since she was still the same, the “my my” attitude. However, the young Akira is very similiar to Aika and I could really see very strong connections between the two of them. I guess that is also why Akira tends to care for Aika so much because she sees so much common in her.

The general theme of this episode was friendship. The three seniors have been around for a long while together and with jobs, time and other committments, they moved apart. However, the thing is that even though they have been apart, the feelings for each other stayed. That is the same as what we feel in real life. Things would change, some things would not. However, that does not make things that do not change more precious than things that have changed. They were equally precious and important for each of us.

There is also another important lesson that I have learned from this episode. It is the thing that we should not dwell in the past that much. Dwelling in the past never gives you anything and it was clear from Athena’s point of view that to them, the past was fun. However, the times spending with their work were fun too and the time spent with cute juniors was also fun. There was no need to qualm on the past because you will simply forget about the fun you are having in the present.

We often find ourselves thinking like Akari, worried about the present when it has not happened. I am sure with an Alicia’s attitude to enjoy every single thing that was placed at her was probably the best thing to enjoy life. Life can already be very miserable sometimes, we do not need to worry for things that we cannot control. Let us just learn a little in my humble opinion, to enjoy companionship, see the fine little things in life and enjoy the view.