ARIA

[Kraco]

Yes, indeed. Somebody mentioned it over at the CrystalNova forums some time ago. It's jolly good news indeed. Too bad CrystalNova is taking more than 3 weeks to release episodes... Somebody must be having a vacation, or something.

[Ryllharu]

You could always switch over to Hnk. Their quality is equal to CrystalNova, despite what anyone says. Only video encoding is lower. I think their translation is superior in terms of fitting the character image (specifically Alice). "Totally" instead of "really" is her key phrase, fitting better with her young and somewhat ditzy image. I'm saving the CrystalNova versions for archiving.

I really loved eps 10 by the way. It was hilarious, and added a huge amount to Akari's character without ever really focusing on her. (Aika and Alice follow her through the city). My favorite so far of this season.

[Kraco]

Hmm... I watched ep 8 from HnK, and while the translation was pretty similar, like you said, the video quality was so much lower that it's indeed essential to archive CrystalNova. Well, having received my Aria fix now, I'll wait and see if CrystalNova decides to release 8 and 9 back to back. You never know...

Edit: Episode 8 - CrystalNova

[Ryllharu]

[CrystalNova]ARIA_The_NATURAL_-_09
[CrystalNova]ARIA_The_NATURAL_-_10

10 was definitely one of my favorites this season. I really like how they were able to develope Akari's character without once actually making her the focus of the eps (besides, the whole...stalking thing). Aika's fear of the ferry and Alice mocking her for never riding one was great.

[Kraco]

Aye, episode 10 was great. I was disappointed with episode 8, so it was good ep 10 offered so much goodness.

. . .

The gondolas keep floating and the girls rowing:

Episode 11 - CrystalNova

[Ryllharu]

For some reason this eps made me sad. I'm not really sure why. But Akari's avoidance skills have gotten better. I wonder if they will ever show how she got promoted to Single or if they'll show Alice do it sometime.

If we're really lucky, at the end of the series Akari will become a full fledged Undine.

[Kraco]

I liked this ep. One strong reason is how similar Akatsuki's brother was to Akatsuki himself. It's easy to believe they are brothers. Both treated Akari pretty much identically. The conversation between Akari and Akatsuki's brother was just hilarious, especially how the brother reacter to Akari's usual "Huh?". And the reason why he chose Akari...

"I need them to be carried very carefully, even if it's slow. And according to my brother your gondola is number one in Neo-Venezia for being "so damn slow you almost go to sleep", so that's why I came to ask you."

And Akari looked extremely happy and thrilled even after that...

Too bad the episode 8 mostly wasted such a great opportunity for more stuff like this.

[Kraco]

Chiming and crystal shining:

Episode 12 - CrystalNova

I liked this episode quite a lot. Especially the second part. The first part was somewhat trippy, and honestly I could take a break from the mysterious cats theme. But the second part more than made up for that. It had some really good scenes.

[Kraco]

Like baleful ninjas in the night the CrystalNova staffers snuck in and released episode 13 with no forewarning.

Episode 13 - CrystalNova

[Kraco]

It has been a month without an Aria episode, but according to CrystalNova they haven't yet kicked the bucket. So, to pass the time, they released a small extra episode thing:

Aria The Natural special 1 - CrystalNova

I can't honestly say this would be something to adore. It was like a trailer, or something. Less than 6 minutes in lenght and with practically no plot. Well, at least embarrasing remarks aren't still allowed...

[Ryllharu]

Now if I can wait a little longer for someone to sub eps 15...

The special is pretty much like a trailer. HnK subbed this back in May, and that's pretty much what I took it as. CrystalNova's video quality is vastly superior on this, so I'll keep this version.

Maybe we'll be seeing dvd releases of ARIA The Natural from now on?

[Kraco]

Well, who would have had the spirit to believe in Aria after almost a two months pause... But here it is, nonetheless, as bright as ever under the blue sky of Neo Venezia:

Episode 14 - CrystalNova

[Zati]

Just released and still need to catch up i'm behind. Don't see much people discussing about ARIA such a great enjoyable refreshing feel good anime but only see Kraco and Ryllharu discussing mostly

Episode 15 - CrystalNova

[Kraco]

A double release, which is very fitting since it was a two episodes miniarc!

Episode 16 - CrystalNova
Episode 17 - CrystalNova

Edit: A miniarc of two episodes, and quite an interesting plot with 100% Aria theme. I honestly have no idea how they can build two episodes around an idea like that and not have it be boring as hell and corny and dumb, but the miracle of Aria just made it work wonderfully. Goddam... I can even confess during the second ep I started to feel sad for the gondola, myself... During the ~28 past episodes of Aria I had never even paid any attention to the boats that much. I supposed they were the same gondolas they used all the time, but that's about it. And now it almost felt like some character had died.

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, same here. I felt pretty sad when she slept the night in the gondola. Really touching was the part where Akari mentioned that the gondola had taken her through all those wonderful experiences. As soon as she says it, you realize it really has been everywhere with her.

I have to admit, even though I know she's not even close to it in terms of experience, I half expected Akari's new gondola to be white. I sorta got this vibe she was going to be promoted to Prima, which would parallel her to Alicia, getting it before her respective friend who works at Himemiya.

Looking back at eps 15, it never clicked with me that of the major cast of characters, only Akari isn't a native. It kinda makes all the weird experiences she's had with the past and the cats more important. She's been folded into the main cast's circle and even accepted by the planet itself.

[Kraco]

Aye, indeed. Episode 15 was excellent. One of them best of Natural episodes. And just like you said, it brought quite suddenly the revelation that only Akari had been, in that sense, outsider. But no more. That scene where they told her she's not was very good and with a strong atmosphere.

It was pretty funny how Akatsuki, Alicia, and Akira were as kids so similar to what they are as adults now. Akatsuki and Akira were quite incompatible... That detail felt a bit like invented just for this episode, but in the end it does make perfect sense.

[Kraco]

Aria releases might not be quite as punctual as train timetables, but they are all the more welcome because of that (although trains are also welcome, if you intend to travel by train...).

Episode 18 - CrystalNova
Episode 19 - CrystalNova

These two episodes, while not actually forming any mini-arc, go well hand in hand nevertheless. Thus, it wasn't a bad decision CrystalNova decided to release them simultaneously. They are like a cause and a consequence in a certain sense, story wise.

But I have to say the new Aika looks pretty splendid in episode 19, in the casual clothes...

[Kraco]

Out of the blue (or grave) CrystalNova suddenly came back alive, and released two episodes of Aria! It only took them two and a half months, or so. Blessed necromancy; where would we be without your unholy arts?

Episode 20 - CrystalNova
Episode 21 - CrystalNova

[Kraco]

It's like some sort of sad miracle that the waits for Aria episodes are more often than not more than a month yet when you finally watch them, you forget how long you waited. But nevertheless, this time it wasn't even that long. And with two episodes released at once, like previously, you could argue it's halved time.

Episode 22 - CrystalNova
Episode 23 - CrystalNova

[Ryllharu]

I really liked eps 22. The parallel worlds was a little creepy, especially Akatsuki-chan. But seeing Aria flustered over it was well worth it.

The second half was amazing though. It did seem to be an episode where Akatsuki was singled out for embarrassment. Having done something down the same lines to a younger neighbor like his older brother did (without the resulting crying, I just received a really funny look for a while), I really enjoyed it. It was definitely great to see Akatsuki so freaked out by it. Aria's mocking pose at the end clinched it.

More importantly, his mother was really young looking. She looked barely older than Athena is now, notable considering his brother is a lot older than he is. No wonder Akatsuki's standards in women are high. I loved her seiyuu too. Mayumi Iizuka, more well known for Makoto in Kanon and Kasumi in pokemon.

I'll save 23 for later this week. I have a feeling I'm going to need it to wind down.