ARIA The Origination 9

The Alice apotheosis episode. I was chuckling at how her fangirl asked for her second button; isn't that a confession of love? Perhaps yuri isn't as big a deal on Aqua as in Japan.

Ok, that's enough about Alice and back to the Athena worship.

For some one so clumsy and insecure (relative to Akira and Alice), Athena's got a great 'hiding something up her sleeve' look.

I was surprised too at how much progress Alice had made in solving one of her three greatest weaknesses: her Scary Face problem. And I was thinking about where I had seen that poise, that expression, that tone of voice before: Alice has learnt well from Akari-senpai indeed. One of the great benefits of having a great manga animated well with decent art and excellent voice acting.

Similarly Alice has overcome her Safety Hazard Soft Voice problem due to constant nagging by Aika. She also displayed the results of the training by a 'strict senior' in knowing the sights of Neo Venezia like the back of her hand. Another skill absorbed from the company she keeps. At this point, I was thinking of Ren Woxing's Star Sucking Skill.

Athena's usually dopey but she has the nurturing mentor thing well in the past. This was probably the first time I've seen her so focused and serious, having all the more impact with the results to be seen just moments later.

And the dekkai surprise was Alice's beautiful canzone, almost as big a surprise as Athena's first performance in front of Alicia and Akira in Ep 11 of the first season. Now she's even mastered a skill that her mentor is most famous for, I'm thinking of the Murong family skill of being imitate any attack used against them and defeat the attacker with their own skill (????????)...

Just loved the attention to detail, how gently Athena removed the gloves and how tenderly she held Alice's hand - the touching of fingertip to fingertip was really nice, give how that's the most sensitive part of the hand to the stimuli of touch.

Mmmm... Athena-senpai chest dive and face rub...

Alice certainly deserves praise and credit for making history as the first person ever to get a double promotion straight to Prima Undine but it is also a testament to all her seniors and especially Athena; I think that one of the surest signs of a successful teacher is producing many students who equal and then surpass the teacher; failing to do so was the main reason why Ren Woxing only had half-praise for Priest Chongxu of Wudang - great skill, shame about all the crappy disciples. Athena rightfully shares Alice's glory in this respect.

Related posts:

1. ARIA The Origination 1
2. ARIA The Origination 8
3. ARIA The Origination 6