Aria the Origination – 04

I know it will happen eventually, but with each new episode of Aria, the more I want to see Akari’s glove come off.

I know Akari becomes a Prima, and I know she gets promoted after both Alice and Aika, yet there is something about this new season of Aria that makes me curious about how she gets to that point. I do not ignore the fact that Alice is my favorite character, yet I find myself enchanted by Akari’s character more than anyone else. She may be a bit naive and clumsy, and she may be slow about everyday things, but it is not unreasonable to consider her to potentially be the best undine out of whole cast.

Even though Alice seems to the the superior rower, Aika seems to be have the most technical knowledge, and the 3 fairies have their abilities, Akari makes up for any of her deficits with not just her enthusiasm and friendliness, but also her undivided love for Neo-Venezia and being an undine. Not to say the other characters do not love being undines, but Akari lives to row her gondola, and it is that enthusiasm that rubs off on not only the characters she interacts with in the show, but with us the viewers as well.

I always had this theory that early on Alicia realized that Akari had the potential to become an amazing undine and she has been harnessing and molding that potential more than teaching her what she needs. Akari probably does not realize how good she really is, which is witnessed through her occasional apprehension and performance anxiety and her desire to do more, but she actually excels because of her motivation and enthusiasm. Her love for the city she lives in and her love for her work drive her not to just become better, but also accelerate her to a much higher level–without her knowing that is what is happening. Hard work and guts are the byproducts of Akari’s passion for sharing her love for Neo-Venezia with everyone around her.

Although the occasional stranger rides in Akari’s gondola (e.g., Origination episode 2), for the most part it is a member of the show’s cast that is with her. Considering that, both Alice and Aika are used to Akari’s tendencies and abilities. Furthermore, because the two of them look up to Athena and Akira, respectively, they might not be able to fully see Akari’s skills as an undine. For them, it is just another day of training, whereas for others it is an experience like no other. Any time Akari guides someone on her undine, he or she always leaves in awe not just of Neo-Venezia, but in awe of how she does thing. But despite customers and her friends being impressed with her, we have never seen how her peers perceive her–until Origination episode 4.

Peer evaluation is important for a number of reasons. First, mentors and evaluators have expectations and standards. They have been there and done that, thus they have certain criteria about how something should work. And second, friends are biased in their evaluation. Even if one were to offer criticism, it will almost always be sugared and viewed more positively. Peers (non-friends) on the other hand literally are in one’s shoes. Peers are doing what you are doing, so they understand the difficulties and rewards. Peers not only provide the best compliments, but also the best criticism. When I was in graduate school, I appreciated commentary from my classmates more than from my adviser or professors. They tell it like it is and they tell it in a way that only someone in their shoes will understand. There is a reason why research is peer reviewed. Journals may have editors, but they are peers nonetheless.

With Origination 4, we see Akari getting peer evaluated for the first time. It might have just been me, but when Akari began to row that traghetto, I felt more excitement for her than I have in a long while. Anzu, Atora, and Ayumi literally watched with wide eyes and jaws dropped. For all the praise Akari gets from Alicia and all the compliments she gets from customers, impressing her fellow Singles just felt more noteworthy. Although the scene and their reactions was fairly subtle, it spoke volumes about Akari’s goal of becoming a Prima. She might not realize it, and she might think she’s still far off, but I think Akari is closer to achieving her dream than she realizes.

Having an instrumental version of Undine play was also a nice touch. Hearing the OP for Aria the Animation reminded me of how raw Akari was when she first started out. I was reminded of how she used to view Alicia as an ideal more than a friend and how she how her backwards rowing is unrivaled. They could have gone with an instrumental version of Spirale or Kin no Nami Sen no Nami or any other piece from the soundtrack, but they went with Undine instead. Definitely a nice touch. It made me realize that Akari’s character has really grown up over the last 35+ episodes.

That is Akari’s strength not only as an undine, but as a character as well. Watching an episode of Aria is probably what riding in Akari’s gondola would be like. She has a way of making you forget everything on your mind. You want to be around her because she is comforting and she truly cares about what she does. Having her guide you around Neo-Venezia probably is nothing like sightseeing, but more like someone opening your eyes to the simple beauties around up. She is not showing us San Marco Square or the Bridge of Sighs, and she is not teaching us the history of Aqua and Neo-Venezia. She is showing us that almost everything has a beauty about it. Similar to how everyone who rides in Akari’s gondola say they would love her to guide them around again, I cannot be pulled away from Aria. I will keep coming back to it.