Bundled with the “Aria The Natural” Blu-ray box set, the second episode of the new “Aria the Avvenire” mini series is now out.
Titled “Aria the Avvenire ~capitolo 2~ その 暖かなさよならは…”, the first half of this episode tells an all-new story of how Aria Company’s latest single Ai befriends Azusa from Himeya company and Anya from Orange Planet. The latter half of the episode retells chapter 53 from the manga, featuring Akari’s last encounter with Cait Sith.
Featuring themes such as the passage of time, the cycle repeating itself, the manga showed two generations of undine forming everlasting bonds and spending precious moments together. I hence looked forward with anticipation to seeing the story of the initial meeting of Ai, Azusa and Anya, the new generation of apprentice undine.
For an anime original tale, the story of Ai meeting Azusa and Anya feels like it could have been lifted straight from Kozue Amano’s manga. Love how they are developing Ai’s character, building on what we saw of her as a child in the previous anime seasons, they portray her as a young girl with a lively personality that fits Aria Company. Rest assured she is no mere copy of Akari though, she has a unique personality more than different enough from Akari, whose portrayal as an adult prima undine is also very well done.
My initial impression of Azusa and Anya was great, I especially appreciated how the cycle repeats itself with Azusa fearing Akia’s strict teachings, not unlike Aika once did with Akira. On the other hand, Anya seems to be more of an aloof, quirky girl which reminded me more of Athena.
Adore how they adapted the tale of Akari’s final encounter with Cait Sith, a chapter with a magical, dreamlike atmosphere. The anime successfully conveyed that story’s bittersweet emotions and added a whole new dimension to it thanks to the wonderful music and Hazuki Erino’s voice work, as well as the gorgeous background featuring a colorful sunset over Neo-Venezia.
Just like “Aria the Avvenire ~capitolo 1~”, this second chapter features the same opening song as the anime season it comes bundled with, which for “Aria the Avvenire ~capitolo 2~” is the wonderful tune of ‘Euforia’ that was the opening track for “Aria the Natural”. The episode ends with a compilation of background images from “Aria the Natural” to the song ‘Piacere’.
Am looking forward to “Aria the Avvenire ~capitolo 3~”, scheduled to be released with the “Aria the Origination” Blu-ray box later in June.
