Aria The Natural Episode 11

I have to retrace my words that I think that Akari is annoying. She is starting to really be awfully cool now for some reason, because I can feel that easiness of her being rather appealing now. Strange huh? The fact that she talks about loving and having something for what it is, and not that it should be. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder and there is no such thing as a “fake”.

Even if it seems to be made the same way, the interaction and life of everything surrounding it is different. It is the same with places. Construction and architecture is dead. However, it is the people that lived in a place…

That is the difference…People make the difference of places. They bring experiences…

I have been in fact delaying my watching of Aria the natural because I realise that I am close to reaching episode 13 that crystalnova has just fansubbed. Hence, if I hit that episode, I will have Aria withdrawal symptoms. This is why I haven’t blogged about Aria in ages but I could not resist anymore!

Episode summary as usual…

Episode summary

Akatsuki’s brother had arrived at Aria company for an assignment. He was actually involved in foreign trade, transfering goods from Neo-Venezia to Man-home. He had came under the recommendation of Akatsuki to nominate Akari for a job. Akari was very excited, even though the reason was because Akatsuki said that Akari was the slowest Gondola undine he had seen ever and would be suited to ship glass that was so fragile. Still, Akari was happy as it was the first time she was nominated. Alicia said that she would join her as well.

Akari was extremely excited as she went to bed, excited about the transport of glass. The next day, Alicia left to Murano Island in order to retreive the glass. Alicia then mentioned about the history of glass, where the glassmakers in Man-home used to make glass in this way and they continued to follow the tradition here. They were then on the lookout for the workshop, where they would receive their glass shipment.

As they went into the shop, Akari saw that two people were criticizing that the glasses made were not traditional and were merely fake. She did not know what it meant, only appreciating the beauty in the shop. With that, they walked to the workshop where they met up with Maestro and the other apprentices. They were busy making glass and it seemed that they still had to pack another box. Alicia told Akari that it would be good if they went on to check for the boxes that were already packed.

Aria on the other hand was looking at Maestro and admiring his handiwork at glass as Maestro made an Aria look-a-like. Maestro then gestured for a young man to accompany the two Undines as the observer as he carried the glass boxes. He did not want Akari to take it as they might pick on it and speak bad of it. The observer seemed to hate people criticizing the hard work of Maestro.

As they boated off, Alicia told the slightly gloomy Akari to smile as Akari made small talk with the observer. She was mentioning about the beauty of glass, finally making the observer comment on the different colors of glass. It was due to the usage of soda-lime without lead. Akari and Alicia smiled as they finally got the observer to slightly open up. Alicia looked at the time and said that they still had time, as they invited the observer for tea break.

As they had their tea break, the observer said that people usually judge on tradition and there was a time when the glasses were made in Man-home. However, as Venice was submerged in water, the succession was interrupted as the various craftsman moved to different parts of the world. When the people in Aqua decided to have a Neo-Venezia and started the glass work once again, they were forced to start from the beginning. They have moved on til now but many still dissed them.

With that, they finished their conversation and was about to move on. However, a boat was moving toward them, with the driver of the boat dozing off, forcing Akari to make an emergency move to evade the nod. She did it skilfully (you go, Akari!). As they moved to their destination, the observer asked Akari for forgiveness as he was angry at the people who said such stuff that their work was fake when Maestro worked his sweat out for it.

Akari said it was all right and it was natural to be angry because that meant that making glass was important and true for them. The fact that he felt anger meant that the passion of making glass was real and not fake at all. She never believed that there was anything in the world that was “fake”. The observer was entranced by the way Akari purely talked about it. As they arrived at the dock, they were just in time as Akatsuki’s brother came over. The brother praised Akari for her professionalism, even though she was officially an apprentice. The observer was also praising Akari, with the brother stating that both him and Akatsuki were fanboys of Akari now.

A simple closing end…

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Thoughts

I thought the message was very meaningful this time around. The message of the same place but different feeling was definitely a deep meaning that many did not understand. Often, it was not the place that made the place. Architecture could be different or not. However, people were never the same. This was why that the experiences that were felt in a place should never be compared that way.

There was no such thing as tradition and being a copy. Venice was Venice. Even if Neo-Venezia was shaped as Venice, it brought about a completely different environment, with the difference in time flow as well as the people living there. There was no such thing as a fake because it was just special the way it was. It was the same with how we lived our lifes.

How many times we kept thinking that going anywhere but your home country was the greatest thing? Whenever you aspire to leave and was saying everything bad about your host country, how do you feel? When you finally leave and started to miss home, how do you feel? How does it feel to have lack of friends and people that you know? It’s lonely.

Anyway, i am digressing…2 more episodes to Alice-centric EPISODE 13!!! Woohoo!