I've decided to wait for CrystalNova's relesases, so who knows when I'll get all the way up to the fourth episode. Maybe in a couple of months.
I've decided to wait for CrystalNova's relesases, so who knows when I'll get all the way up to the fourth episode. Maybe in a couple of months.
This wait was a bit on the long side, but oh well:
Episode 2 - CrystalNova
I'm completely late to the party, so which one should I start with first? Natural or Animation?
The Animation. Then Natural. Then the OVA Arietta, then this new third season currently airing.
Get CrystalNova's subs. Either use their own tracker or Boxtorrents. Both seem to have a decent amount of seeders.
Worry not, Spoiler Free (including edits and episode number)
Holy. Shit.
That is all.
(I know you only watch the CrystalNova, and I will forever contest that HnK is just as good in everything but the most minor of visual quality due to the difference in their raws and encoding, but this episode required commenting)
This season ends at 13 episodes by the way, and judging from how far we've come and the final episode title, this will likely be the final season. Sad but true.
EDIT: Now that I've had a couple minutes, I can assess what happened. I vaguely knew that something big happened in the eleventh volume of the manga, but I held out and never learned what it was.
I can honestly say I've never been shocked by an episode of anime before. Yes, not even some of the things in Code Geass moved me in quite this manner. But here I am, furiously typing, as my heart beats out of control. Chest feels a bit tight, hands a bit shaky, and I'm still mulling it all over.
Just...wow.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Mon, 03-17-2008 at 08:20 PM.
Ho... Jolly good. I'll comment on that in... October? When CrystalNova is finally that far.
Truth to be told, I don't know how long I can keep this up. As avid a supported of CN as I am, this is getting ridiculous even for me. One of these days I just might snap and go for other choices. A series loses something when you watch the episodes a month or more apart and hardly remember what happened in the previous ep.
Something about this show makes me sleepy. Thats not a bad thing per se. Like most people have said already, its got a nice relaxing pace to it. Great for winding down the day. Problem is, I can't watch more than two at a time before wanting to doze off.
I should finish Natural later this week.
Hmm... Maybe I'll give CN another chance:
Episode 3 - CrystalNova
Episode 4 - CrystalNova
Well, that's up to you.
Reference my own comments made to episode 4 as a reminder to you, as it was easily the best episode of the season for me until very recently.
http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread...&postcount=100
Yeah, I couldn't agree more with your conclusions. Those three must be getting special training for special purposes, yet likewise it could be reasoned their Prima test would then be especially hard as well. Naturally for Akari it makes perfect sense since Aria Company doesn't really have any extra employees yet has a very high standard of service and reputation to uphold. I can't anymore really remember if Aika had special circumstances but I seem to recall she wasn't just one of the girls in the company.Originally Posted by Ryllharu
Aika is the heiress to Himeya. Her family founded it, back when Mars became Aqua and Venice was moved there. She said in a much earlier episode (can't remember which season, Natural has a lot of flashbacks), that she would have joined Aria Company to be with Alicia, her greatest idol, but as the heiress she's stuck in Himeya.
...or it might be just in the manga, not 100% sure which.
Ah. I think she said that in the anime as well. I was suspecting that was the case but my spongiform memory being what it is, I decided not to write it here as a fact lest it be a false memory and my reputation be gone forever...
HnK released episode 10 after a long wait of exams and such, but I can't really post the torrent because of this horrible news.
ARIA Licensed
This has been confirmed as ALL three seasons. The first release will be in September, so the series will be a long way in finishing (even assuming CrystalNova doesn't drop it).
HnK has summarily dropped the series, as most honorable subbers would, two episodes before the finale.
But there is a slight silver lining. Distributor Right Stuf and its Nozomi Entertainment production arm will be releasing the first series as a whole box set. No dub, and all 13 episodes released all at once. The other two seasons will be released in a similar manner.
Seeing how Yakhobian, CrystalNova's translator, is stuck in Japan (that is, studies there or something) and seemingly unable to translate anything over there, I decided it's a vain effort to wait for them. However, getting HnK's subs now isn't anymore as easy as it was. Some of them I managed to get with torrents from Isohunt (their own tracker doesn't distribute them anymore, nor their irc channel, I think, according to the channel topic, at least). I'm missing eps 5 and 8, and it looks like I'll need to find some random third party bot hosting them if I want them..
You can get the last three episodes from BSS, and a new group Aquamarine picked up the last two, but the translation obviously never went through QC. BSS gives the same quality work they did with Gurren Lagann, so grab theirs. I'll make an edit to this post or reply when I've seen them all.
If you're having a lot of trouble getting 5 and 8, I'll see what I can do to help, though the upload my ISP provides is really bad.
Just finished watching this series. I'm mostly happy with the way it ended and without giving any spoilers I sort of expected that last scene. The thing with Alicia was kind of a shock though.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the series on a whole as a way to relax and mellow out.
Hmm... I managed to get #5 already, though it took its sweet time for sure, and now the troublesome #8 also has a few seeders and it's looking good. If it stays like this, I'll have it as well in no time. After that, I'll just get the fresh #13 from BSS and it's all finito.
Edit: Alright. HnK downloads finished. Jolly good.
Last edited by Kraco; Wed, 05-07-2008 at 03:09 PM.
You can comment on them as you watch them Kraco, and then perhaps Hawkeye32 and I can respond to you as you go.
I've got a lot to say about the last 3-5 episodes, so it might be better to trickle them out rather than a single, *** word post.
EDIT:
***1500 words or more. I underestimated my word count in even the longest of my Code Geass posts.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Wed, 05-07-2008 at 03:29 PM.
Ep 10 is the latest I've watched so far. The biggest shocku was of course episode 9. I never saw that coming. Well, I was already thinking early through the ep Alice would lose one glove, but I certainly didn't see her lose both of them. Still, in retrospect, it makes perfect sense in a special manner. She was early on called some sort of a prodigy, yet she's still only a "random" girl in the big company. So, it's actually a pretty wise business move to make her the youngest Prima ever. She will undoubtly get customers just because of that, which is good for Orange Planet.
Needless to say, Aika and Akari are in a completely different situation. Aika is the heiress of an old and big company so she can't really be any oddity as such and must be nearly perfect and fully trained before she can publicly represent the company. Akari, on the other hand, is in a tiny company which alone reveals it's not about sheer profits and growth at all. It's about very high standards and reputation, though, but you get the feeling those requirements aren't really spoken aloud. Of them all you could say she will get promoted whenever.
As far as eps 10 goes, I just really enjoyed the really cute side of Aika we rarely see, and how much fun the other two made of her after she and Al finally got out.
But yes, eps 9 was the huge shock to me. It performed exactly as intended. We would have seen how Akari lost her glove, and assumed that the exact same thing would happen to Alice. But of course, there were far too many people there. Something was up, but I still assumed it just had to do with how young Alice was. Apparently, since Aika and Akari met her, the only thing lacking in her experience was confidence and proper demeanor. Her demeanor was fixed over the course of the previous two series, either from Athena or simply opening up to Akari and Aika.
So as soon as she graduated, the Gondola Association had her promoted.
As for this paragraph:
I have to disagree with you completely. Aika will be popular for that very reason, she's the little princess of the oldest undine company on Aqua. She always seemed to have more experience than both Akari and Alice, either technically, or touring. Akira has everything to do with that. For a long time, I had expected Aika to be promoted first. She was promoted to Single first, and I was never totally sure what was lacking in her training. Perhaps like you I had thought that Akira was holding her up to absurdly higher standards.Needless to say, Aika and Akari are in a completely different situation. Aika is the heiress of an old and big company so she can't really be any oddity as such and must be nearly perfect and fully trained before she can publicly represent the company. Akari, on the other hand, is in a tiny company which alone reveals it's not about sheer profits and growth at all. It's about very high standards and reputation, though, but you get the feeling those requirements aren't really spoken aloud. Of them all you could say she will get promoted whenever.
All that changed when Alice was promoted, another reason I found it so shocking.
That's when it came to me that who I really thought should have been promoted first was actually Akari. Take a look back at eps 4, where I wrote some huge post about how overly skilled she was at the traghetto on her first try. Two of the Undines, Atora and Anzu, had been "ready" for the Prima tests for nearly a year by the time Akari met them. Akari has only been on Aqua for a year or three. After Alice's very rapid ascent, I went back and was sure that Akari had been ready at that time.
Akari may seem a little unconfident, and Aria Company may be small, but there is one thing that stands out about that tiny company. Alicia works there. Anyone trained by her will gain attention, just like the other two, who were well known as being apprenticed to the other two Water Fairies. Alicia brings in so much business, by reputation alone Akari should at least gain some interest. Eps 4 proved she had the skills to match up with her predecessors, in a tradition that goes back all the way to Grandma. It's not so much that it cares about high standards and reputation, that was clear enough from Grandma's flashback. It just so happens that some of the best Undine's Aqua has to offer have been trained there.
And there's even more to it than that. Everyone in the city knows Akari herself by reputation. In the couple of episodes where Aika and Alice chase after her, only to be embarrassed by all the people she knows so much about, all the places and things she goes to and has been, despite both of them having been born on Aqua.
That is what I think Akari brings to Aria Company that made her ready a long time ago. She's the warmest and brightest of the three, and certainly would live up to being a Water Fairy herself, no to even mention living up to Aria Company's reputation.
If anything, Akari would become the greatest of the three, equaling if not surpassing Alicia. While Alicia was the most technically skilled and graceful of the previous generation, Alice seems like she will hold that now. Akari is more like Athena, but a little less absent minded, warmer, and she knows more about the smallest details of the city than anyone.
She'll certainly be the most beloved Undine when she is finally ready.
(...and that was just on two episodes while connecting with two previous ones!)
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