an otaku fan of all things moé
 |
Well with ARIA The Natural over it’s time to review my thoughts on it. I must say ARIA is one of the best slice of life animes I have ever watched, both season 1 and season 2. There wasn’t anything that I really disliked about the series at all, despite a few drawbacks on animation quality in some episodes. The adaptation of the anime from the manga was pretty accurate and was even more so with a few changes which made it quite fitting.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Snow has blanketed the entire city of Neo-Venezia which shows that it is now winter. Akari is staring out to the sea and a little while sees that its time to go gondola training. Whilst training, the girls stop and buy some meat buns to warm themselves up. Stopped at a gondola service stop, Akari serves Aika and Alice some herbal tea.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
With the season being autumn now, the girls are wearing their winter uniforms. Practicing in the morning, Aria is trying to catch a leaf and falls into the water, so Akari picks him up. Whilst rowing through the canals, we flash back to when Akari is using her laptop to check for any new emails, but there are no new emails. We also flashback to Aika who happens to spot Al on a bridge. We also flashback to when Alice was in class, looking at a photo of everyone from the New Year festival.
After checking up on Moonphase and from fisherman horizon of Anime & Manga Horizon, the ARIA webpage has an update on some new items coming out. And the wonderful items that are coming out are as follows:
ARIA The NATURAL Perfect Guide Book
The Perfect Guide Book but for ARIA The NATURAL. I’m assuming it will be similar to the ARIA The ANIMATION Perfect Guide Book which covers character sketchs/designs, episode guides, interviews and a few colour illustrations.
Release Date: 22nd December 2006
Price: ¥1980 (including tax)
Available: Amazon Japan
ARIA 2007 Wall Calendar
An 2007 ARIA wall calendar for you to hang up nicely somewhere in your room. As for me Unfortunetly I’m kind of out of wall space and have resorted to the ceiling to hang posters.
Release Date: 10th November 2006
Price: ¥2000 (including tax)
Available: Amazon Japan
ARIA 2007 Desktop Calendar
If you don’t fancy a wall calendar and prefer a smaller version to fit on your desk, then this is the one for you.
Release Date: 10th November 2006
Price: ¥1300 (including tax)
Available: Amazon Japan, HLJ (order stop at time of posting)
ARIA Premium Poster Book 2
The second Premium Poster Book to be released. I saw the first one in Japan but didn’t buy it, and for good reason. The box to hold these in was MASSIVE, and carrying such an enormous box around Akihabara was not an option. I assume this would be no exception and the box would be rather large so shipping may cost you a bit due to its size so pray that it’s not too big.
Release Date: 22nd December 2006
Price: ¥3000 (including tax)
Available: Amazon Japan
Well some quite nice releases though I am unsure at this point if I will buy the Premium Poster Book 2. I already have the Desktop Calendar on preorder with HLJ and I may get the wall calendar. But will definetly be ordering the Perfect Guide Book.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Akari is asleep in bed and pulls on her blanket. Aria rolls off his bed which wakes Akari up. Seeing that he is alright, Akari sees that it is raining outside and notes that training will be cancelled for the day. Later on Akari is on the computer when the telephone rings. As she was about to answer the telephone, Aika is the caller saying that she is slow and asking what she is doing. Afterwards Akari is walking with Aria and explains that on days when it is raining, the girls gather together and study, taking turns on whose place they study at. This time it’s Aika’s turn. Having met up with Alice first the two girls head towards Himeya and Aika is waiting for them outside.
Another day another wonderful item arriving at my doorstep. A package arriving from Amazon Japan and it was none other than the Amano Kozue Illustration Works III -Cielo- and the ARIA the ANIMATION Original Soundtrack. Having bought the first two books, Alpha and Stella, whilst I was in Japan earlier this year I was absolutely stoked when I heard of a third artbook coming.
 |
Continue reading ‘Cielo - Amano Kozue Illustration Works III’
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
In the morning, Alicia’s customers are an elderly couple and Akari is going along with them. Whilst going down a canal, the elderly wife suggests they have lunch at San Marco but the elderly husband says that the wife can go by herself as he has other things to do first. The wife agrees which makes Akari a bit worried. As they pass under the Bridge of Sighs, Akari decides to take a picture for the couple as a service. Looking through the view scope, Akari notices that the husband’s ears are red. Alicia asks her what is wrong but Akari replies nothing and takes the picture. Later on Akari is with Aika and Alice. Whilst talking about the elderly couple, the girls hear a loud voice. Akari realises it is the elderly husband’s voice and the girls head to the direction of the voice. Looking through a shop window, the girls see the husband yelling at the shopkeeper. Walking in, Akari asks him what the problem is but the husband says it is none of their business and walks out saying he cancelling. The girls then ask the shopkeeper what the problem was and he said that the husband wanted the gondola to row out to sea for a wedding. The girls are surprised and say that it is impossible in that gondola. At that Alice and Aika discuss about a wedding ritual used in Venezia on Man-Home. Hearing about the tradition used on Neo-Venezia, Akari thinks its wonderful and makes an embarrassing comment, which Aika strikes back with her usual “hazukashii serifu kinshi”.
