ARIA the ORIGINATION 07, Reminisce, Experience, Expect
February 26th, 2008 by Shirukii
Model gondola? DO WANT!
I know it exists, I’m just too poor to buy one.
Another beautiful episode of ARIA, as any fan would come to expect at this point. The message conveyed in this one was a lot more subtle, but when I started to give it more thought, it began to sink deeper. The issue is time and what we make of it. Time is a fickle concept, one that was created by humans as both a means of event recording and setting boundaries on events, yet the most rewarding experiences can be the product of simply letting it all go and living in the moment.
Episode Rating: 9/10
It’s the anniversary of ARIA Company’s creation so Alicia, Akari and President Aria take the day off and take a small trip that has been in the planning for a while now. The three make their way to Neo-Burano, a village famous for its lacemaking, a product of the island’s reliance on its fishing industry, the weaving of fishing nets gave birth to the artform. As they admire the scenery, Alicia tells Akari a bit more about Anna, her senpai who they will be visiting, who in her prime was an even more popular undine than Alicia is now (so modest).
The two soon meet up with Anna and her cheeky son Ahito, over some afternoon tea Alicia and Anna reminisce about the past. When Anna was working at ARIA Company, a fisherman, now her husband, came to visit Neo-Venezia, the two fell in love and Anna left ARIA Company to live with the man. While Alicia and Grandma were sad to see her leave, they were happy that she found her own path in life to walk and that she was moving forward to her own happiness. While she was indeed happy, Anna went through some hardships as well, with her husband out fishing much of the time and being new to the island, she didn’t connect with the islanders very well. It was the island’s tradition of lacemaking that eventually united her with the people of the Neo-Burano, showing Akari and Alicia a piece that she has been working on with four other people, Akari noting that her part, the bridge that connected each of the separate parts, was the metaphorical bridge that connected her with the others, impressing Anna with her way with words.
After all the talk of the past Anna begins to wonder how Grandma is doing these days. So much to her surprise when none other than grandma herself shows up at her door along with her husband Albert, her invitation handled by Alicia. With all the members of ARIA Company, past and present, and a huge haul of fish, a feast that was almost drool inducing is cooked and enjoyed by all.
After dinner, Akari, Alicia, Anna and Grandma sit down to talk, Akari saying that there is so much about ARIA Company’s past that she doesn’t know about, though she’s happy enough for the miracle of its founding that allowed them to all be together. Anna also thanks grandma for starting ARIA Company, since it led her to Albert and Ahito. Surprisingly, grandma reveals that if she were to credit someone with the founding of ARIA Company, it would probably be President Aria. Flashback tiem!
Back when she was working as an undine at Himeya, grandma was known as the company’s ace, the greatest water fairy of her time. However, that popularity came at a price, grandma was always very busy, with numerous bookings each day. One day, as she was finishing one of her tours, she spotted a cat who we now know as President Aria, sitting at the shoreline staring out to the horizon. Seeing this cat, who sat admiring the scenery, rain or shine, night or day, made grandma realize how precious time is, that she was often so busy that time would fly by, leaving her thinking “what a waste” knowing that there are so many wonderful things in the world that she wanted to cherish to their full extent. President Aria’s help in making grandma realize that she was pushing herself too much was what led to the founding of ARIA Company, for she wanted to see the wonderful world, just as it was reflected in the bright blue eyes of this patient and calm little cat.
And as the years pass, it will soon be Akari’s turn to take over ARIA Company and make it her own. Alicia, Grandma, and Anna, they’re all eagerly awaiting the day that Akari will show them an ARIA Company that only she can, an ARIA Company that has no one has seen before.
Thoughts
Time is an interesting concept, an arbitrarily created system that has become a prevalent presence in the lives of everyone around the world. Time itself doesn’t really exist, it’s merely a human construct to quantify the passage of events, all breaking down to cellular division and decay. Yet this construct follows very rigidly bound concepts of physics, for example, time slows down when considered in a reference frame traveling near the speed of light. The relativity of time is well summed up by a quote from Einstein in which he stated: “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT’S relativity.”
Why all my emphasis on time? Because as Grandma noted in this episode, it’s such a waste, that we let our lives fly by like we do. For the majority of us, each day we live is a slight variation on the last, the days, weeks, months and years pass by as we go through the daily grind of work or school. Meanwhile, the experiences that can be had in any single one of those days is infinite. Society has placed boundaries on how we spend our time, how we live our lives, and it’s a damn shame.
Contrast to that, once again we’re shown the ideal, almost Utopian nature of the world of Aqua. Alicia, Akari, Grandma and Anna have all lived their lives to the fullest, some days may have flown by and other may seem like they’ve grinded to a halt, but I don’t think any of them would regret how they’ve spent their time. The experiences they’ve accumulated throughout their lives have shaped their personalities, their ability to look fondly in their past, live their lives to the fullest in the present and look straight ahead to a bright future is something that I can only pray to feel one day.
Another thing I loved about this episode was the scene where Anna calls Akari on her adeptness with words. Truly, Akari’s speech can be almost poetic at times, as it to be expected as the recipient of Aika’s many “Embarrassing comments are forbidden”. Her speeches may touch upon well covered and sometimes perhaps even obvious life lessons, but through her powerful metaphors, earnest personality and naively cute demeanor, the impact of her words can often be awe inspiring.
Well, that’s all for this week, after going on a tangent about the relativity of time and the futility of the modern grind, there’s little else to say. Seems like next episode is going to be an Alice and Athena centric one, the greatest comedy pair in ARIA.
I can see forever
~ Shirukii ~
9 Responses to “ARIA the ORIGINATION 07, Reminisce, Experience, Expect”
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Seeing as I am #1 comment and #1 in life, I will comment on screencap #1 and say that I visited Italy as a youngster and my parents bought a gondola model which is boxed up somewhere. Hmm… Should there be an “IMO” in that last sentence somewhere? I ripped out my up arrow key a long time ago so there is no turning back now!
That last screencap is awesome beyond words… mirror into existence
Those houses remind me of the multi-colored homes in San Francisco California minus the canal.
BTW, why is it that all animated food look incredibly good?
I like your summary on Aria. Very well done. :)
So President Aria is the character that has had the most development throughout the series…….yup, pretty much! He’s so kewl. =)
@Servbot: Because it is supposed to make look incredibly good otherwise there is no point in drawing it :D
@Fisherman Horizon: Heh heh! another big fan of Aria and Shirukii’s summary.
@totali: LOL, He is my hero with this scene
http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grab026653li3.jpg
Watching Aria is the best to way to relax and forget about your hard time in your day. It is even better than medicine(at least IMO).
Saying time is artificial is like saying distance doesn’t exist because humans invented the meter. And Einstein often made glib throw-away comments. The most famous being “God doesn’t play dice with the universe.” Which, of course, he was wrong about.
I sort of get what you’re saying, however. And more to that, Akino (I love that name. And she really was a beauty in her youth.) is reflecting on the struggle to find happiness in her life. As a Himeya undine, she was the most respected and was content with that, but not entirely happy. She seemed rather a work-a-holic then. Watching the sunrise with Aria sachou took her out of her stressful life and made her realise what that happiness is not something that needs to be worked for.
We saw this earlier when Anna shared her anxieties about leaving Aria Company. At the time, she believed that she was most happy as an undine. Even though she desired to be a wife and a mother, she was still afraid of losing that happiness. But she adapted to her new life and was able to be happy making lace, raising a son, and cooking fresh lobster.
The first part of the episode wasn’t that great, I though. Some of the animation was weak. And the writing bland and predictable. (Who rings the doorbell of their own house?) But the flashback was wonderful. I really liked the insert song. Also, I think I heard a bit of “Nanairo no Sora wo” at one point. The music has been the best thing about Origination by far.
@ Servbot: Anime food by definition is delicious, only if it appears burnt or a shade of purple should you be concerned.
I think there are ARIA figs and a model gondola that you can buy, if only I had the spare cash lying around.
@ Fisherman Horizon: Thanks!
@ totali: Flabby belly!
@ Siva: Yea, it’s termed a “healing” anime or something like that. I watched it just after a midterm, pure bliss.
@ Telliamed: True, all things can be said to be human constructs, but time is in a class of its own.
Imagine, if you will, you found an eternal being, an existence that had no beginning and no end, with absolutely no knowledge of our physical laws, but a strong aptitude for learning.
To quantify a meter, you show him that if you label any arbitrary point and move a certain distance from it, you can call that a meter.
Next you describe weight, showing him the varying difficulties of lifting certain objects of certain masses. The measure of which is a kilogram.
And so on, going on to force, pressure, etc.
Now, time. Having lived with the concept our whole lives, it’s something that we take for granted, an obvious phenomenon. But how do you explain time to someone who has no concept of aging, has no way to define an origin, a beginning, and no anticipation of an end. You can tell him that one second is now to…now. But would he really understand? How else could you describe it? The frequency of radiation from a hydrogen maser clock?
I guess what I’m getting at is time is much harder to physically observe or quantify than other physical principles. Though by no means any less important.
Agreed that the first half of the episode was kinda “meh”ish. It was good, but not spectacular by ARIA standards, the second half flashback more than compensated though. As did the music, I get chills up my spine every time I hear “Kin no Nami Sen no Nami”
Since Time is man made, would you be able to say that everything is happening at the same moment if the concept had not been founded? Makes you wonder what if the planets did not orbit/rotate…
Which brings up a great “time” story I read a while back called “The Dandelion Girl.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dandelion_Girl
You can also read the full short story on scifi website which is linked in the wiki.
BTW Shirukii, do you collect toys? I had a few things but as I grew older I got smarter and realized that stuff just piles up and then you forget about them. Re-sell is even worse when you actually have to clean up the aftermath =\ I do have stuff for sale though.
> Flabby belly!
I just realised that Aria seemed to enjoy Ahito pinching his stomach. As opposed to his dread at being assaulted by Maa sachou.
Many anime would be greatly improved to be as good as a “bad” episode of Aria.
You biased the presupposition against time by saying the being is “eternal”. Try the same thing explaining distance to someone that exists in all places of the universe. Of course, we’re just going over the same ground as E.Abbott here.
Relativity explains time using demonstrable properties quite well. Time emerges from the existence of distance. And distance emerges from the existence of mass. And mass… ehh. Higgs bosons?
But physical time isn’t really what’s at issue here; it’s perception of time, like you pointed out with the minute/hour quote. Philosophically, humans aren’t capable of perceiving time in a meaningful way. Anything that our brains register through our senses is 7-20ms delayed from when it actually happened. We then are only able to interpret those sensations in the context of memories that are unreliably recollected. So what we call the “past” is necessarily inaccurate; and the “future” mere speculation. Even the “present” is only an approximation.
With that in mind we can see the appropriateness of the Aria way of life. The closest we come to reality is our immediate sensations; everything else follows from that. So we should strive to appreciate the world just as it exists (at least, how we see it exists) from moment to moment.
@ Servbot: There are many theories on time, and indeed one in which “time” has already run its course, ie. everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is strictly defined, is one of them. An interesting point of view, but not my favourite, since it implies a sense of destiny or fate.
As for toys, I don’t really collect them, no. I might start buying anime figs soon though =D
@ Telliamed: Damn, I had a feeling you or someone else would bring up Flatland when I assumed an eternal existence.
I think we’ve come to a conclusion though, as you said, far more important than the definition of time is its perception. It’s rather ironic though, that it is those that come to the accept the futility of the ideas of past, present and future and realize that living through our transient senses is the most effective method who are most likely to dote on such things.