Singing to the End of Spring
This is part 2 of a series of posts inspired by Aria anime. Hopefully each iteration is more embarrassing than the previous! This one might be a bit of a spoiler, hopefully very minimally.
It just occurred to me just now that I’ve never really gave Aria a proper shakedown. It is still a story about a girl, for a very simplified description. Plus, it’s a good excuse to reminisce. Aria is all about reminiscence after all. That said, this post isn’t about that even if I reminisced a lot while writing it.
(Hmm, another story about a girl. Guess what kind of song matches her?)
An aria is a song. A typical aria is a solitary vocal accompanied by instruments. It is no surprise that there were a few of them in Aria itself. I was trying to figure out if I can apply the same musical dynamics to the structure of Aria itself, and I think there’s definitely a case to make. For starters, a lot of classical arias are pretty yawn-inducing. It definitely helps if you are awake when you listen to them.
Traditionally, arias are also something beautiful. It’s a passive sort of beauty that beckons you by its subdued but fierce tension, almost a mystery-like substance which lures the listener to follow the music at its own pace. That is the first step to submergence–the key ingredient to a slice-of-life anime.
Unlike a typical world-building story, however, a slice-of-life show lays its foundation not through suspense and mystery, but child-like curiosity and a penchant for something fancy and new. An aria drives on to establish its idea, but it doesn’t take the effort to explain itself; no more than a sonnet would. The audience listen and understand it because there is an established method to do so, and the audience are given all the tools they need to think it through. What’s more, arias have narratives, driven by a performer’s voice. The vocalist is our undine; the accompaniment, the sea; the aria is Neo Venezia.
Yep, promotions for Alice was in order all right.
Is it so corny to equate Alice’s love for her own song matches Akari’s love for her new home? Isn’t that the trick after all?
Perhaps where my own opinion of the quality of Aria deviates is where an aria ends–namely, arias are not huge-longcat-long. Operas can go on for hours but arias are short pieces within. Aria the anime, on the other hand… Well, that’s why it is like watching paint dry. It is something of an acquired taste to have the endurance to keep with it for so long, over so many moons. Maybe Aria is a substance that is best tasted over time, perhaps repeatedly. Even if it is quite pretty.
At the same time, because arias are pieces that don’t jump on the audience, the audience have to take an active step to walk at its pace. It’s the same for Aria. Maybe the analogy is like a skipping stone, jumping across a quiet lake; sometimes you just can’t get into it. Perhaps at the end of its tiresome journey? I guess it is time to find a grassy, flowery knoll and feel the breeze; to enjoy a beautiful, simple song.
Congrats
You have just made me want to watch this series
Haha, your act of equating Aria to music was what made me want to watch it. After all I live for the simple, beautiful and melodic. =D
Now, to find those episodes
If reading this post makes you want to watch Aria…you probably won’t be disappointed. I think.
I can safely say that, after recently finishing the first season of Aria, I don’t think you’d be disappointed either.
I find it’s best enjoyed one episode at a time rather than marathoned - the relaxing nature of it loses its magic after too long. In the same way, I love weekends but if it were sunday every day I’d never get anything done…
Great post - I never thought of ARIA in this sense. And after listening to that aria you linked earlier, the last paragraph was just that much more striking.
You’ve helped me out with this. Thanks. :P
Helped you how?
And yes, listen to some actual arias can help to appreciate what they are, much better than my words can describe them anyways. Thankfully many of them are public domain material so you can find them easily.
I’ve officially read the words ‘watching paint dry’ enough times that they don’t register with m brain anymore. That could be considered an analogy for Aris itself, actually.
I like how you misspell Aria. By using the word as the name for the show and the word for what it means in music I am also going to make the word not register with your brain.
It’s like air.
omo: You’re trying real hard there to justify watching something as mundane as “paint drying” by comparing it to sleep-inducing-music. lol.
Although i do enjoy Aria, i’m going at it as slow as the anime’s pace. I just couldn’t find the drive to complete season 2 (after 6 months!). Perhaps said paint takes forever to dry, forcing paint observer away for other more pressing matters before returning to watch it dry again.
Rant: Aria so far hasn’t (probably will never) portrayed the various other aspects of life in Neo Venezia. Poverty? Crime? Enforcement? Expensive rental? Life’s too polished in Neo Venezia….very fairy-tale-like. Its like nothing bad ever happens there, and with the power of love, everything in life will turn out all right. But that’s just the cynic in me ranting.
I think the comparison comes pretty naturally. There is a degree of stretching, yes, but some episodes in Aria the Origination make the link plausible and I explicitly referred to a couple of them. If you haven’t seen it you probably won’t get it though.
Well, you won’t find out if you don’t watch it. Or you could just read spoilers.
Will you ever see other aspects of life in Neo Venezia by watching paint dry? I don’t think so. A show about drying paint is going to show drying paint. Perhaps the insight to realize is: why you can finish season 1 and not season 2? What’s different?
i think its 13 episodes of paint drying vs 26 episodes of paint drying, that makes the difference. XD
wolfx: Maybe it was a different color of paint for you in the first season compared to the second season. Or something like that. :/
omo: You helped to get my thoughts together for a post. Sort of. :P
Hm. I just have an idea for a new post. Thanks you two.