Aria the Natural Episode 12

I know i am focusing on the wrong thing but Alice in swimsuit is so cute! I can’t wait for the wonderful episode 13, set to be a Alice-centric episode. Oh god, maybe i should watch it before I have my 1 week break due to coming mid-terms. She also looks rather hot. No, i am not having an old’s man fetish. It’s true, i ain’t!

This episode contains two mini-episodes. One was the venture to the mysterious world of the cats and the second part was a meaningful festival revolving around the nightshine charm. The first part of the episode was probably something that I did not really enjoy, as it was just mystery. The second part was beautiful. It almost felt like thanksgiving, except that it was a much more beautiful ceremony. I really thought that feeling captured the essence of giving thanks to everything that had worked for you.

Without further ado, episode summary + thoughts~

Episode summary

It was the hottest summer period, with everyone feeling the effects of the heat. Akari was initially dazing around, trying to hide fron the sun until she saw something that she had never seen before. Akari panicked and dragged Alicia, who just came back from taking some customers. Alicia noted that what Akari saw was in fact a mirage, created by the heat and hence it seemed as though there was another town that was floating in the water.

As Akari wanted to bring Aria to look at this view, they noticed that Aria had in fact hid under a bench, trying to find a cool spot. Alicia mentioned that cats often knew instinctingly about cool places and hid well in such places. Feeling slightly hot and light-headed, Akari set out with Aria to buy ingredients for dinner. It was two pm, the hottest period in the afternoon.

Akari was starting to feel the effects of the heat as she felt dizzy and there was this feeling that she was in a mirage. She continued to stagger forward until she heard the sound of a wind chime. She then noticed that Aria was missing as she continued to be in a completely dazed mood. There was no one around in her view and she was questioning why this was happening.

She then saw Aria running along one of the stalls and started to follow Aria, as she knew that cats often could find cool places. As she continued to give chase, she realised no matter how much she ran, she was unable to catch up with Aria. Then a wind chime rang and she found herself in front of a cafe with the signboard having a symbol of a cat.

As she entered the cafe, she noticed that Aria was there sipping milk and she ordered iced tea, only to note that the cafe only had iced milk. The bartender of the cafe told Akari that what she had saw was in fact a heatwave that was similiar to a mirage. The owner of the cafe then rambled that the heatwave was like a dreamlike illusion that you could never catch up. However, he questioned how exactly happened if you caught up with it. She then noted that the time in the cafe was 2 o’clock. In shock, she turned and saw that there were tons of cats staring at Akari.

It was in fact the secret hideout of the cats when it got so hot. With that, the owner said that the other customer had offered another drink and told her that humans were not able to stay in this place usually. As she left the cafe, she turned back to see that the giant cat had removed its hood. It was Cait Sith. She wondered whether it was all a dream as she looked up at the clock.

Time did pass…

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2nd part

The nightshine charm was a special stone in the sea that glowed in the dark and Alicia had received a charm from her customer. There was a market starting to sell these charms, as there was a festival coming soon revolving around these charms. As she visited the market, there were many stalls as she met up with Aika. As they passed past, a pink charm suddenly whistled in the wind, as though calling out to Akari. She bought it and Alice came over as they each bought a charm for themselves. They were then invited to Aria company for chilled watermelon.

The charm was always around where Akari was. The summer nights were spent with Aria, eating summer teabreaks in the night while enjoying the cool soothing environment. The night had come for Akari to go on with the festival. As the light of the charm did not last forever, there was a moment where the light would start to flicker, indicating that it was going to disappear. The festival was one where people would say goodbye to the light, as they threw the stones back to where they belonged to: into the ocean. As the stone fell in, the customary words to speak would be “Tante Grazie” or thanks for everything.

As they boated out in the ocean, everyone was there as the stones fell one by one, with “Tante Grazie” being sounded out. Akari’s charm was the last one to fall and as it fell, there was a beautiful nightshine stone crystal. Tears started to fall, even though she had no idea why it fell.

After that, we had the ending scene where Aika and Alice brought some frappe for Alicia and Akari. The crystal was visible as Akari’s gondola was in the river…It continues to bless her in every way possible.

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Episode thoughts

I didn’t really like the cat part for this episode. Usually, it was ok to good for me, but this one just felt a bit strange for me. I do not know why too. I was just like ermm, ok. It was just a little out of place for me in an Aria episode. Maybe it was just a misconception or something that I could not understand.

Why did Akari cry? I do not know how to put it in words for the explaination. If Anga or Enz would delight me with an explaination (or anyone at all), i would love to hear it. The explaination that was inside the interaction of Ai and Akari clearly confused me. If you ask me to interpret, it was probably that lingering feeling that Akari had with the charm, as it had always been with her and that the crystal had stayed, as though it did not bear to leave her. Inside of her, she was touched and hence tears started flowing.

I repeated this earlier but I really love this festival that was portrayed. The feeling of thanksgiving was something that I always wished to appreciate but never had a chance to experience in Singapore. The beautiful lights made me feel warm and that is probably why I like Aria. It is the kind of anime you watch when you are stressed and angry. The feel-good factor.

If you haven’t watched this anime before, I urge you to. You will not regret it.