Friday 25 July 2008

The messages of ARIA (part 2)

My slow re-watching of ARIA continues and I've finally finished ARIA the Natural. The Natural was a lot of pure slice-of-life with many episodes focussing on the "experience" of the characters rather than carrying particular "messages".


Navigation 01: その カーニバルの出逢いは…/That Meeting At The Carnival...

There are times when courage is necessary but if you open your arms, you may have new encounters in the most unexpected places.


Navigation 04: その ネオ・ベネツィア色の心は…/That Neo-Venezia Coloured Heart...


Many attempts at achieving an objective may fail but one must always remember that you will succeed in the end.

Navigation 05: その 春の日にみつけたものは…/その 雨の日の素敵は…
The Things We Found On That Spring Day.../That Rainy Day's Honesty...

The discovering of certain things/experiences is not possible without failure.

What one discovers after failure may be of greater value than the original objective.


Navigation 06: その 鏡にうつる笑顔は…/That Smile Reflected In The Mirror...

Just like how mirrors reflect your own image, other people whom you interact with reflect your own heart.


Navigation 13: その いちばん新しい想い出に…/That Newest Memory...

You can meet past people and feel their emotions by seeing what they leave behind.


Navigation 18: その 新しい自分に…/That New Me...

You can only be yourself. It is impossible to completely emulate and “become” another person.


Navigation 23:
その 海と恋と想いと…/That Sea, Love And Thoughts....

Any encounter you have is possibly a miracle (well, with the laws of probability, it is!).

Important feelings are something which you grow and nurture over time.


Navigation 24:
その 明日のウンディーネに…/That Tomorrow's Undine...

People have a tendency to magnify the bad things in life, and end up making it far worse than it actually is.

Good moments and bad moments cannot be taken for granted




Just for fun, I also tried rating individual episodes of the Natural to come out with an average.
6 = Average
7 = Good
8 = Very good
9 = Excellent
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Came out with an average of 7.27 and comes out slightly lower than The Animation (7.46). The Natural didn't really have a huge "WOW" episode but was consistently good throughout.

4 comments:

WiLL said...

If I remember well, ep6 was one of the most important episodes during my "healing". Maybe because, I has a same personality as Alice.

(However, unlike Aria, when I "opened" up to everybody, they started to hate me more...)

Anonymous said...

I'm planning to rewatch every season again :D But yeah, as you pointed out, Natural had less moments of epiphany and surprise, though it was loaded with emotion once in a while. Thinking about the Opening Song switch during the Gondola episode (must've been around episode 14 or 16, gah forgot), I still get the goosebumps. I guess that's the most memorable episode I remember from Natural.

This might be a more general appreciation of the three series of ARIA, but I find it pretty impressive how all the many objects (and concepts) that usually are perceived as banal in everyday life are attributed a certain emotional value. And, in most of these stories, as you pointed out in your post, you do get a light piece of morale as well. In b4 hazukashii serifu kinshi *gets slapped by Aika*

Inthernet said...

@Will
Unfortunately opening up is one thing, but you have to do "filtering". For example I will never open up to be an anime enthusiast if I live in Japan due to its association with "otaku" and the social stigma attached to it. Life's tough. :|

@natsuneko
Agreed. I go to talks organised by a meditation group sometimes and what they teach me is actually something I already know but have all too-easily forgotten, much like the stuff in ARIA.

North Glendale Water Features said...

Thannks great post