Just me, but when Alice said that, it was so funny with the non-chalant emotions and feelings she brought with the voice? I laughed my head off when she said that. That sounded way more like an Aika line than Alice. It’s like asking Sagara in FMP to say “Let’s have a threesome, Tessa and Chidori…”. Ok, maybe not that scary. I will seriously creep out if Ichigo suddenly says “Let’s get married, Rukia”…Or Renji saying that. I am getting a little out of point so down to the episode summary!
This episode is a beach episode. Akari had received an invitation to visit Neverland (as we all know, the name is from Peter Pan) with a special invitation letter. Akari and Alicia were eating breakfast with President Aria then and in the letter, there was a remainder for her to bring a swimsuit. She then embarked on her Gondola to get to Neverland and found a completely empty beach. There, she ventured into the island.
She was however hopelessly lost in the island and it was there that she found the shadow of a person. It was Alice and she was also invited for this certain party. The instructions in the letter was the shining beach that was 2nd to the right but they were unable to find anything for now. Akari, with her slightly warped mind, said that this might actually be an invitation by Peter Pan to visit him. Aika suddenly popped out and told her not to say any embarrassing things. Then Akari went on some conspiracy theory that they actually offended someone and it was their way to payback. Alice’s amusing remarks that it might be true did not help matters.
However, Akari suddenly felt that she smelt something, something like the scent of the ocean in the distance. They then concentrated and found that there was indeed a scent as they ran over to that place. It was really a beautiful beach, one that most of them had not seen in Aqua. There, Alicia and Akira were waiting for them. It seemed that it was the two professionals who had sent the letter and it was actually intensive training for them.
The various craziness came when Akira emphazied that there was a lot of intensive training, like crazily amounts of training until you drop dead. Even so, due to the secluded area, there was no means of escape, which meant that they could be tortured to no end. Akira really had a talent when it came to scaring the shit out of her apprentices and she did it with great charm. Now how’s that for a senpai that does all forms of threatening like child’s play? Of course, the faces of the three trainees turned more and more pale with each word, until Alicia intervened with her special unique charm attack! Training has officially started.
They then did some running excerises and various other activities. The most amusing activity that I saw was the log training session where they were supposed to oar around on a log and keeping their balance. All of them had trouble doing it. In particular, Alice’s really emotionless “Oh, I’m falling” was really amusing to listen. I think I am turning into an Alice fanboy now. Alicia and Akira then demonstrated how to do the practice properly and they were really graceful, making the three trainees to be admiring them and hoping to be like the “three water fairies” one day.
Lunch time has finally started after a tiring training session. It was made by the beautiful Alicia and everyone praised her as the food was done really nice. In fact, Akira also had a hand in it, but was quickly refuted by Aika as usual. They were just so cute squabbling at every single thing alive. Akira actually wanted to give intensive training but Alicia had said that it was a good time for relaxation. Hence, they were allowed to do whatever they want for the rest of the day.
Of course, the girls were delighted as we see scenes of Akira spiking a volleyball right at Aika and it was amusing how Aika flew away with the impact. I swear that Akira has the strength of a man with her build. Alice was then seen swimming around with a guiding board, moving around idly in the water. Akari then was commenting that she was unable to swim in the waters of Man-home and it was probably the first time she had ever been inside a real “sea”.
As Akari was stoning, Alicia came over and started to talk to her about the sea and how she should enjoy this, since it was like a once in a lifetime experience. Alicia then suggested that they travel under the water to see what was happening underwater. As they all moved into slight diving gear, they saw the beautiful scenery under the water, with fishes, stingray and all sorts of marine life swimming around happily, with no disruption by mankind. It was amazing though how all these structures were actually man-made in this Aqua world.
As they all came out of the water, Alice was missing and she was actually on a short cliff. They all remarked that it was such a good spot and rushed over to that place. Alice looked down and was a little scared of the height. She then noticed that Aika and Akira had ran ahead of her and jumped into the water happily. Akari then came over and was also a little shocked at the height of the place, even though it was water right below. Alice and Akari then jumped down together happily.
They then continued with the rest of the recreational activities, such as building sand castles and having watermelon eating contests. We all know who are the really two competitive people in this group to fight for the winner of the watermelon eating contest, don’t we? *wink*
The day was turning to an evening and it was time to relax as the three girls laid down quietly on the beach, feeling tired but happy about the whole day. It was then that Akari realised that she lost one part of the ribbon on her hair during the swimming trip. She remembered something about her past, when she was a kid in the pool. She had also lost a ribbon then and stopped asking why the ribbon was lost and where it was when her mother promised to buy her one. She wanted to ask Aika about her opinion but both Alice and Aika had fell asleep.
BBQ time! They started to eat and enjoy the rest of the night away. As the night started to resume its daily practice, Akari was alone, gazing at the beautiful scenery of the place. With the cold wind, Akari shivered a little and Alicia came over, droping a coat right over her. Akari then started to talk about Neverland and how that she thought that this whole place of Neverland was actually a fairy tale that was not true.
They then reflected that memories could be forgotten, but it was always kept deep within your heart. Memories that you assumed to be long forgotten, could one day be remembered as triggers were set to wake it up from its slumber. Akari then thanked Alicia for a wonderful day. However, Alicia simply said that “The world appears wonderful in the eyes of wonderful people.”
It was then that Akari found her ribbon lying on the water and tears started to swell up. It seemed that she had remembered some things from the past. Even though tears fell, she was not sad but it was in fact that her heart was full and she once again remarked that it was wonderful to be here.
Neverland might really exist, and Aqua could be that Neverland already. In fact, isn’t Neverland always somewhere in everyone’s heart, waiting for the day to surprise us completely? A question to pose to you as I ended this episode summary.