Hidan no Aria AA – 03

Avast! It’s a pirate prince and fairy princess Amica!

Boom! Three AA posts in a week! Yummy! This episode concentrates on the supporting cast of Reika and Shima. But it doesn’t forget to give us some more depth in Akari’s story. Also, no one trusts Riko…

The Art of the Amica

Shima thinks, “I need more giraffes”

Well, Shima certainly has interesting dreams that much is for certain. But it’s all there to establish one of the defining traits of most Butei, and that’s stalking, uh I mean, surveillance, as this is one princess in search of her prince, and Raika fit’s that bill for her. Just don’t ask about the giraffe toys. Well, maybe you should, seeing as how your life and limb may depend on it. But soon after that cold open – which the show is riding high on for all three episode so far with dreamers and their crushes – we are into the proper introduction of Butei assessment.

Shino (155 cm) on the M4, Raika (165 cm) on the FAL, and Akari (139 cm) on the P90?

It all starts of school-life enough, with basic weights and measurements. But in this school things are much more hand to hand. Time to kick senpai’s ass. To put it short and mild, Aria kicks all their collective asses. But I don’t think the famed writer Arthur Doyle, or the semi-famous engineer Barton-Wright had twin-tails in mind for self defense with either baritsu or bartitsu. But it was nice to see a Holmes reference in conjunction with Aria, regardless of it’s goofiness; one of the charms I love about this franchise. This is more than Taiga with Guns.

But these are raw recruits when all is said and done, and they’ve got a mountain to climb, yet Raika does manage to come out on top in physical form and fortitude, in addition to being stalked, uh, surveilled, sparking Shima’s part in the story. But all this isn’t without a wrinkle for both her character and the story-line. For Raika, kicking a man’s ass is far easier and cleaner than having to deal with the back-talk. Sure it comes from a hot-headed stupid dude who can’t reconcile being beaten by a stronger opponent, but the insult still cuts her deep.

She’s been hiding those sorts of mental cuts for so long, and perhaps a little too well, that even her best friend in Akari can’t pick up on it; a state of affairs that Akari will be forced to look at in way other than just this one. We’ve had three stories so far show how the awareness of others and their surrounding can shape perception, something that Akari has trouble with, speaking a great deal about her potential characterization. But Shima and Aria can sense Raika’s ill at ease attitude, one underscored by a chance ruin in with Riko of all people. This stops Raika in her thoughts, and she wishes to be that type of pretty instead of the awesome pretty she already is. In that case the grass is only greener over the septic tank, Raika, as Riko is pure trouble.

Akari Warnings

But then we swing back to Akari and her troubles. After spying Aira getting cozy with cameo-character Kinji, her jealousy radar starts to kick in hard; so hard it derps her stalking, uh, surveillance, uh well let’s say common sense. So she follows him, badly. Kinji gets the drop on her soon enough and finds out the score. First, Akari doesn’t appreciate that Aria wants him as a partner and he is just all no-bro about it, and second, suspicions always follow a late time school transfer. Every anime trope screams something being up.

This will dovetail into what Aria is going to learn later on about her possible Amica partner. Akari is a blank slate in many ways. She claims to come from a regular sort of background, and that might even be true, but sometimes a background can be too clean. Before this goes any further, a sly wind gets the drop on both Akari and Kinji…one that I wonder if it tripped Kinji’s Casanova sense? I loved that bit with Fuma dropping out of nowhere and diving in to save him.

The Prince and the Princess

After this we pick up Raika’s part of the story. Shima formally asks her to form an Amica, and Raika flatly refuses her. But the wily princess finds a hole in her armour in just mentioning that Riko had a temporary one with her just last year. Soon, Raika overhears the guys of Butei ranking the girls of their class by looks, and they are putting her near bottom. She tries to shrug it off, but Akari knows something is up by now. It’s getting to her but Raika does have a way of coping with the stress, and it’s actually effective and interesting. Girly Cosplay! Why she want’s to keep this a secret is probably shy teenager vibes. This is something Shima is further able to exploit. Raika can depend on Akari to keep this a secret, but it’s gonna take more to keep the princess quiet.

To put it short and mild, Shima’s playing Raika like a symphony and pretty much overwhelms her prince – Raika gives in without much of a fight. I think the combination of the pretty lolita school uniform, how much Shima really wanted to form the Amica, and Raika’s need to be needed for who she is, decided the fight before it even began. Or maybe it was Jonathan #3. I told you to look out for those giraffe…So now the two are officially a partnership, and it looks like Raika is going to have her hands full as this princess can probably pack more than a cute punch. It’s just to bad Riko had to come back and add a spoiler to the cute moments. Yeah, who didn’t think she was up to something plot-worthy?

For my money, pretty gothic lolita pretty much beats anything….going all the way back to Coyote Ragtime Show

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Well, I’m still pretty much taken by this show. They’ve packed a lot of characterization into it in short order, and I like the combination of Akari’s mysterious past, and how her own nakama is being built around her shaky piece by shaky piece. Shima is dogged in her pursuit of a partner so much that has to be a plot point for later on; one that might have some ugly legs. That’s a shame as the two of them are adorable together. But we’ve got more story to get into, and it looks like next episode we are on the first of a two part story. I wonder if this one is going to tie into the previous series. As of now, I can’t tell if Aria AA is running parallel to it or is after it. LN and Manga folk, clue me in! Ah well, three in and we’ve got a good building point for the meat of the story.

I’ll see you then…