Like pie and ice cream, like Alicia and “Ara ara”, like Akari and embarrassing comments, the gentle strains of Makino Yui’s beautiful singing go together perfectly with the beginning of an Aria episode.

The whole concept of the “OP-that’s-not-an-OP” is wonderfully fitting for the series, as the song complements the gorgeous scenery of the opening shots, helping to soothe the soul and get you in the right mood to enjoy what’s to come. It’s almost like an insert song for every episode, in a sense.

Speaking of which, we don’t get to see the undine out of their work attire very often; it was pretty cool to see Akari in her civvies.

So she gets a phone call from a customer who specifically requests her to guide them around the city. Surprised and excited, she works late into the evening planning out the route to use, researching and eating donuts.

It’s the little everyday scenes like this that make this show so wonderfully entertaining. You can’t help but laugh as Akari is feeling around inside the box trying to find the last donut, not realizing that Aria-shachou has taken it. Then when she starts crying and he freaks out, breaks the donut in half, and gives it to her, you can’t help but smile. The whole thing takes place without and dialogue or sound effects, as the OP is playing on top of it, but it’s still so wonderfully engaging.

Then, as the OP slowly fades away, we see that Akari has fallen asleep planning the route for her customer tomorrow. It’s such a perfect way to set the stage for the episode, while simultaneously setting the tone for the story.

I have a ton of respect for director Sato Junichi and his team for going this route, rather that the generic OP animation that every other show does. It just serves to underscore even more just how unique and excellent this series is.

The next morning during the usual practice, Aika questions why anyone would specifically ask for a Single like Akari when Aria Company already has the immensely popular Alicia. She suggests that it must be some crazy person who picks on inexperienced undine and does unreasonable things to them (like fishing from the gondola, or kidnapping Aria-shachou to feed to sharks, lol).

Alice then adds that it could be an undercover inspector from the Gondola Association, come to check on Akari’s progress. And according to Alice, the inspector will demote her back to a Pair if she fails the exam!

As Akari is busy being nervous, her customer arrives, a dignified looking lady who introduces herself as Amaranta. She shows signs of knowing Alicia, hinting that perhaps this was all planned out. Akari asks if there is anything in particular she would like to see on her tour, and Amaranta replies that she’ll leave everything up to Akari.

Of course, the Aika and Alice duo are always up for a little lighthearted mischief. The two of them are worried about Akari, so they decide to secretly tag along and see what happens. They make such a great comedic combo whenever it comes to this kind of stuff, really.

For that matter, the relationships between all of the Aria cast are wonderfully entertaining. I think if I were to pick my favorite comedic pairing, though, I’d still have to go with Akari & Aika. You just can’t beat the dichotomy of Akari’s perpetual cheerfulness combined with Aika’s tsundere cynicism.

“Hazukashii serifu kinshi!!”

“Heeeee?”

I swear, even though they do it practically every episode, it just never fails to make me laugh.

The “secret spot” which makes it look at though the statues are holding up the ukijima (floating island) was a great touch. The coup de grâce, though, was definitely Aika and Alice coming in afterwards and looking around, trying to figure out what was so special about that spot. Really, they make such terrible stalkers.

Speaking of which…

Caught red-handed and blue-faced!

Whoops! Spotted by Aria-shachou!! Good thing he can’t talk, cuz he sure tried his best to tattle on them!

“They’re stalking us!!”

Oh man, I laughed so hard at this scene that I had to pause for a while to catch my breath. Poor Aria-shachou! You can just see it in his face, he’s going, “Hey! They’re right over there! They’re hiding right around the corner!”

Then when they didn’t get it and he started pouting, I laughed all over again at his grouchy face. :<

Aria-shachou banzai!!

Jagabataa is a traditional Japanese festival food. Jaga comes from jagaimo, or potato, and bataa is of course a Japanese loanword from English – butter.

Usually it’s prepared without the skin, grilled and served up with a variety of tasty toppings, but of course, as Akari explained in episode 1 of Aria the Animation, Neo Venezia’s jagabataa is a bit different how we do things back here on ManHome.

Real jagabataa

Here’s a photo of some real life jagabataa that I took at a festival in Tokyo last year. I think it’s probably my favorite Japanese festival food, along with okonomiyaki.

See? Jagabataa is President Aria approved!

Again, the small touches add a lot of depth to the show, such as how the jagabataa man remembered Akari:

“Thank you for your continued patronage!”

“Continued?”

I guess she doesn’t remember that she came there before with Ai-chan. Then again, it was two whole seasons ago, so I don’t blame her for being a bit forgetful.;)

Gao!

Alice-chan kawaii! She is such a tsundere, acting like she wasn’t hungry until the stomach growl gave her away. x3

As they come to the end of their tour of the city, Akari leads them down a narrow passage, which opens up into a beautiful forgotten waterway filled with wildflowers. Amalanta then spots a cool looking mystery door and suggests that they open it up.

Akari is more than happy to oblige, since as everyone knows, in Neo Venezia opening up strange doors that lead to mysterious waterways is always a good idea. You will inevitably discover some abandoned place of incredible beauty, or have a suteki encounter or something.

And of course it pays off, as we knew it would. Just as planned!

Damn this series just looks so good. I could sit here and stare at these screencaps all day long.

As they’re returning they meet up with Alice and Aika, and Alicia reveals that back when she and Akira and Athena were Singles, Amaranta also rode on their gondolas. Akari asks if once she becomes a Prima, Amaranta will come ride her gondola again, and she of course gladly agrees.

Afterwards Akari talks with Alicia about her hope to work hard and become a Prima soon, and everything is suteki suteki~.

So already here in the second episode it seems as though there’s a definite vibe that the girls are maturing, on the road toward becoming Primas themselves. Although it’s impossible to really speculate where they will go with this season, the Aria manga is coming to a conclusion very soon, which means it’s likely that this will be the last season of the Aria anime. I really hope that this final season will finish off with the scene that we’ve all been waiting for, in which Alicia removes Akari’s glove and pronounces her a Prima undine at last.

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Dekkai ureshii desu~! Oh man, where would we be without Aria?

Well, I suppose we’d probably be in very much the same place, just a lot crankier and more stressed, and our embarrassing remarks would not be prohibited.

While other people have complained that anime prospects for the winter season look pretty grim, for me any season that has Aria is already epic win.

Windmills make people happy.

I mean, really, each episode of this show is just a highly concentrated 24-minute dose of the warm fuzzies. And thank goodness for that, because right now I could really use that extra helping of happiness and relaxation. Giant robots and explosions can only carry me so far. Sure, action and cheap entertainment is good stuff and definitely has its place, but after a long, tiring day at work nothing can beats coming home and relaxing with a tall glass of iced tea and an episode of pure bliss.

From the fun and endearing cast and the great character designs, to the beautiful soothing music and gorgeous Neo Venezian artwork, Aria is a true work of art and genius in every sense of the word. It’s light entertainment and fluff, while at the same time also being meaningful and inspirational. So for relaxing times, make it Suntory times go watch some Aria!

Nice Gondola

Winter in Neo Venezia makes for a great setting, giving the already magical scenery an extra air of mysteriousness and tranquility. As it’s a quieter time of the year for the undine, it lends itself well to slow-paced, introspective stories.

These little details, like the infectious yawn, give Aria such a great feeling of realism despite the fantastic setting. As well as endearing you to the characters too, of course, as if that was even needed at this point.

Honestly, I just cannot get enough of the artwork in this show. It’s not without reason that Totali calls it “scenery porn”.

And while first episodes always tend to look good, even with that in consideration the animation quality still seems to have gotten a pretty nice boost this season. Also hooray widescreen at last!!

Mmmm…I can’t decide which one I want; they’re both great.

Omochikaeri please~! Also apron mode FTW. :3

From the ancient times…Gachapen!

Aika and Akatsuki’s random quarrels never fail to crack me up, especially when she calls him “pony oni” (ponytailed demon) and he calls her “Gachapen”. For a happy lightweight series, they really come up with some creative epithets, I must say.

If I had an Akari, I would probably be tempted to yank on her momiko (pigtails) incessantly, too.

Of course, the series just would not be complete without President Aria’s silly antics. And as weird and freaky as he may be, you have to admit that he looks pretty darn cute squeezing lemons.

Bwaaii nyaii~!

Absolutely loved his maître d’ cosplay, as well, especially the way he tried to “grin and bear it” when Maa-shachou latched onto him like always.

Speaking of which, poor Aria-shachou really had it rough this episode!

Everybody just wants to piece of his soft mochi mochi tummy.

Dekkai chibi desu.

And where would Aria be without the amazing chibi faces? No matter how many times I see them they never fail to crack me up. I guess it’s true that the simplest jokes are usually the best.

The stories of the Three Water Fairies’ amazing feats was definitely the highlight of the episode for me. Alicia’s prediction of the coming snowfall was, was rather understated of course, nothing short of spectacular and magical.

But man, how do you compete with Akira’s flying leap save? I mean, not only did she grab the guy out of midair while also managing to keep the boat steady, but she did it all with those red heels on!

The way she smiled at the guy afterwards was perfect, too – that slightly too sweet smile that just screams, “You are SO dead meat.”

Click for animated GIF version.

As always, Athena’s skills are unique and goofy, but certainly no less effective than those of her colleagues.

The three apprentice undine have come a long way since the story began, and we’ve come a long way with them, seeing their personalities and little quirks, and learning about their pasts, and well as hopes and dreams for the future.

Totali may be a big Aika fan, and Impz of course professes the way of the green-haired Alice to be the best, but for me it’s all about Akari-chan. With her suteki Aria company outfit, her cute boots, her green eyes, and of course her awesome so-called “momiko” (pigtails), Akari-chan is super cute and moe. And with her perpetually positive attitude and creative way of finding beauty and profundity in the simple things of life, she really makes the series what it is.

In the words of Alicia, “The world appears beautiful in the eyes of beautiful people.”

Man, I am so glad to get another season of Aria, as well as one that looks so absolutely fabulous. As always, the music is brilliant, with its wonderful Italian themed soundtrack, as well as yet another awesome Makino Yui OP. Seriously, how does she do it? Every time I think she can’t possibly get better, she does! I was worried that the new OP just wouldn’t be able to measure up to the catchiness and musical excellence of “Undine” or “Euforia”, but she has once again outdone herself with the sublime “Spirale”.

My only real regret is that ROUND TABLE will not be returning for this third season, but really, when every other aspect of the series is so stunningly perfect, how can you complain? So what do you guys think? I’m curious to get your thoughts on the new season of Aria.

Just don’t forget…embarrassing comments are prohibited!

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