Otakuism

Dear Tokyopop,

I would like to tell you that you have the permission of all us fans of ARIA to actually use the term “Prima” in the story, since this is the term the author came up with. You don’t need to translate it to the incredibly awkward phrase “full-fledged Undine.” I do not want to have to read “full-fledged Undine” five times within two pages. Furthermore, they’re called Singles, not journeyman, even if that’s what they technically are. Just use the original terminology dammit!

And why the hell are you using a different translator than the one you used for AQUA, who actually got the terms right, when they’re basically the same freakin’ story?! And the biggest mystery of all is, why the hell does ARIA have an older teen rating? I don’t know what you’re smoking, but I didn’t find any nudity, fanservice, or alcohol use in my ARIA volume. The main point is, use the competent translator you already have and don’t use “full-fledged Undine!” GAH! Damn tokyopop.

Alice-chan is dekkai awesome!

Watching ARIA is always like revisiting an old friend. The friends may be a little older and a little wiser, but always essentially the same. Which is never really a bad thing when talking about ARIA. How do you improve perfection? It’s amazing that ARIA has managed to maintain this same outstanding level of quality for so long. This mixture of quality nostalgia and wish to see old friends is really what makes me continue to watch ARIA.

So the Origination isn’t anything different. Same staff, same animation, same awesome music, save for new OP and ED songs. The only thing that’s really different is that it’s aired in widescreen now, which is pretty nice. This first episode is a simple story about the three girls envying their senpai’s, but it really hints at what will probably be the core themes of this final season: looking towards the future while remembering the past. ARIA has always included this theme somewhere, but it will probably really come into focus here. I’m not sure if this season is thirteen episodes or twenty-six, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy every minute of it.

Best ” OVA ” - ARIA the Arietta

Ok, actually ARIA the Arietta was probably the only OVA from this year I saw, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Like everything about ARIA, it was great; calming, funny, whimsical, and slightly melancholic. Fortunately the OVA did not signal the end of the great ARIA franchise, but as a detour on towards better things. I’m sure almost everyone will be checking out ORIGINATION in the coming weeks.

Best ” OVA that didn’t come out this year but I finally saw ” - Giant Robo

Now tell me that’s not awesome?

Best ” Artsy Show ” - Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei

It was a toss up between Sayonara Zetsubuo-sensei and ef ~ a tale of memories ~ for this category, but ultimately I enjoyed SZS’s stylistic flair more. From the orgasmically surreal OP (BURE BURE BURE BURE) to the several design quirks that characterize Akiyuki Shinbo’s work, it is impossible to say SZS didn’t have style. The style could either enhance a joke to something truly hilarious, make an incromphrensible joke even more cryptic, or stand alone in silent beauty. I’m looking forward to see what the second season will showcase in its artistic melting pot, but as in SZS tradition I have to ask: SUBS?!

Best ” I couldn’t believe it could turn out this bad show ” - Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

It’s amazing to see how StrikerS went from the darling anime of the year to being derided by almost everyone, even hardcore fans. I tried to put up with it, but there were just too many flaws and I dropped it shortly after Vivio was introduced. The endless training, introduction of too many characters, poor villians, shoddy animation, bad pacing, Vivio, disappearance of old characters we loved; all a perfect mixture of fail. The only good things to come out of StrikerS were Subaru and Teana; Subaru’s a great character all around who deserves a better show, and Teana just because I think her design is sexy. They do make one hell of a lesbian couple, another thing that couldn’t save StrikerS.

Best ” Show that’s halfway finished ” - Code Geass

Great plot, great action, great characters, great pizza, great ass. I look forward to more in the spring.

Best ” Honi Honi ” - Potemayo

I had to give Potemayo something. There is not a more sugary sweet, diabetes inducing moeblob in all of anime. The show never took itself seriously and had fun with its characters, creating a great comedy show all around. Also desperately in need of a second season.

Best ” Romance Show ” - Genshiken 2

I’m not much of a romance guy. Too much romance in anime seems forced and unnatural to me, and often times it is, but Genshiken 2 got romance right. Genshiken had the benefit of being a slice-of-life/romance show, so it never had to rely on romantic intrigues to carry the story but could also insert gundam references. The natural love between Ohno and Tanaka and Sasahara and Ogiue grew throughout the series, and in the case of the later couple hasn’t even come to fruition yet. Hopefully we’ll get some OVA’s to finish up that story.

Best ” Other show made by SHAFT this year ” - Hidamari Sketch

For that other awesome show made this year by SHAFT. Also can’t wait for the second season airing soon.

Best ” Show of the Year ” - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann

Could there be anything else but Gurren-Lagann for best show of the year? Everything about it is perfect. Stellar animation, manly GAR characters, and an epic plot that encompasses the entire universe. It had a couple problems in pacing halfway through, but nothing could stop this juggernaut from reaching the top. The spirit of this show - its characters, its emotions, and its many great monologues - will definitely stay with me in the coming year.

On a personal note, it’s been a pretty good year overall. The blog reached one year old. Readership increased dramatically, declined dramatically, and finally leveled of. My fanboyism of Type-moon reached new heights with the Fate/stay Night patch, but due to the lack of any new games has settled down to a kind of pessimistic cynicism. My fanboyism in touhou was similar, with much reading of doujinshi and playing of games at the beginning of the year leading to me not even thinking about touhou now. Too much too fast I guess. I discovered a love for mecha and tokusatsu which does continue now and have been watching as much as I can in those areas, which has definitely been reflected in the blog. And I got a cute girlfriend who I love, which was the best part of the year. And she has seen the blog and agrees: otaku make great boyfriends.

Finally, in mimicry of what one of my favorite bloggers does, let’s look at which post each month you readers most commented on and, I assume, liked.

January - Series Review: Black Lagoon Second Barrage - several people seemed to agree with me on how great this anime was. A third season is still sorely missed.

February - Saigar Update: Quarterfinals Match 3 aka. Good Night Sweet Prince - Archer’s lost in Saigar prompts a discussion on what the hell GAR is.

March - Greatest Haruhi Pic Evar - still rings true.

April - I have found it! - video of the first live action attempt at Lucky Star dance. Not to be viewed by the faint of heart.

May - Claymore Manga: Awesome, Claymore Anime: Meh - everyone agrees the girls of Claymore are moe.

June - Game Review: Fate/stay Night - FATE Route - still waiting for UBW patch.

July - Impressions: Sayonara Zetsubuo Sensei - the beginning of the madness.

August - One Year Anniversary Extravaganza - looking back, it wasn’t that big of an extravaganza.

September - Final Thoughts on Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann - the end of a legend.

October - Tomoya’s Dating a Retarded Person - more people really need to watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

November - Prelude to the Ultimate Battle of Manliness V.2 - it’s on in a couple of days.

December - I Hate Keyches - I love inventing new words.

Well, that’s it for 2007. Happy new year everyone and I’ll see you in 2008!

Story:

In the year 2301 Mars has been successfully terraformed and renamed Aqua, due to 90% of it being covered in water from the melted ice caps. On Aqua lies the city of Neo-Venezia, modeled after the Earth city of Venice. In Neo-Venezia girls trained to be gondolier tour guides are called undines and are the symbols of the city. Akari Mizunashi has just arrived on Aqua to begin training as an undine at the ARIA Company. She will quickly realize how truly magical Neo-Venezia and Aqua can be.

Impressions:

AQUA is the two-volume predecessor series to ARIA that first shows Akari arriving on Aqua, meeting Alicia and Aika, etc. Finally the first volume is available in english. I swear, the wait was at least a year. Fortunately, the wait was well worth it. Despite coming earlier there is no difference in charm between AQUA and ARIA. It’s wrong to even call them by different titles. The same themes of discovery, mystery, friendship, and nostalgia are all present here.

If you’ve seen the anime then you’ve already seen all the stories in this volume. The only new ones would be Akari meeting Alicia and Aika, although elements of those stories are already animated. It’s particularly funny to see how much Aika comes off as a lesbian stalker of Alicia’s in the early stories. The other stories included in the book are when the aqua alta hits the city, the first meeting with Cait Sith, and Akari’s graduation to Single on the Hill of Hope. Reading them again reminded me how much I loved the stories the first time I saw them, especially the Cait Sith one. There’s such a supernatural element to it that is rarely matched elsewhere in the series.

The art hasn’t changed much than what we see is ARIA. The same clear, beautiful images, with Kozue Amano rendering both SD figures and realistic cityscapes with ease. President Aria appears to be drawn bigger here in the beginning, which takes some adjustment, but that’s more a minor quirk than anything. The usual tokyopop quality applies. The binding is suitable and the cover is quite nice, and I really saw no issues with the translation compared to what I know. I wish they would of included the original full color spreads, however. I’m sure ARIA fans have already gotten their hands on this manga, or are soon. For non-ARIA fans it’s a good place to be introduced to the magical world of Akari and friends. Of course, watch the anime, too. Ah, this is really getting me pumped for the third season. Tokyopop reallys needs to put the release date for the second volume on their site already. Damn site. Can’t find anything.

The star of the ARIA OVA is really the excellent animation. If you thought ARIA looked pretty before, which almost everyone did, then you’ll be blown away by the OVA. Everything is just so much more detailed, from the characters to the city. Neo-Venezia is really shown as a character in its own right in this OVA, more so than usual.

The actual story is pretty good, too; normal ARIA fare. Akari dreams of becoming a Prima and losing Alicia, which leads her to ask Alicia if she’s felt like that and why she chose Akari. Get a nice flash back to the undines earlier days when they were just starting out as Prima’s. Sidenote: Athena looks hawter with the longer hair. Then back in the present Alicia takes Akari up the Campanile, the big tower in the main square, and shows her that even if things change their love for Neo-Venezia won’t. Cue credits and tears.

A dream sequence Ai-chan is fine too.

A wholly satisfying thirty minutes especially with the excellent animation. I wish the third season would get this kind of budget. I don’t know how much longer I have to wait for more ARIA, but as long as I love it everything will be alright.

ANN reports that ARIA will indeed have a third season made, not including the new OVA that’s going to come out soon. Junichi Sato will again be directing like he has the past seasons and the staff is mostly the same. No air date was given, but this season has been in production since spring. Best news I’ve heard in a while. Looks like they’re determined to animate every single story from the manga. More ARIA is always a great thing.

I’m finding it hard to say something new about ARIA that I haven’t said before. It is impossible for my opinion of the series to go any higher, and I have praised it every opportunity I have had to talk about it. It is the epitome of the slice-of-life anime, healing anime. Such is ARIA’s greatness that you might as well just replace both those terms with its name. This is suppose to be a review, but it didn’t quite turn out that way, so just think of it as my fan favings on ARIA.

ARIA the NATURAL is not so much a sequel than a continuation of the first series. It excelled at what the first season introduced: heart warming self-contained stories. I’ve always marveled at the ability of ARIA to tell self-contained yet meaningful stories, whether they be regional folktales, legends, the supernatural, exploring the character’s lives, or just about Neo-Venezia itself. You really feel like you’ve learned something special after watching the show. The characters are all great; pure, yet filled with their own individual quarks. I honestly love all these characters, even the crazy old mailman guy.

The last two episodes were great. 25 was adapted from a manga story I remember, except with Athena and Ai added in. I love how obsessed Alice is with Grandma, and the Ai/President/Athena dance was hilarious. 26 was pretty much just an Akari episode, but it had a nice feeling, like the circle is complete now. Also one of those episodes where you want to go “why the hell can’t I live in Neo-Venezia?” A good ending to the series proper.

So, basically ARIA is one of the greatest “slow” anime ever, and NATURAL is a great continuation of that. Now go watch it you heathens. Now it’s just time to wait for the OVA and marvel at how beautiful and heart-warming it is. One thing I want to see: Alice being promoted to prima. That’d be perfect.