About ARIA * The Manga * The Anime * The PS2 Game * Characters * Aqua * People
ARIA the ANIMATION * ARIA the NATURAL * ARIA the OVA ~ARIETTA~
|
That Undeliverable Letter... その 届かない手紙は...
In an unusual reversal, this episode begins at sunset. Akari, Aika and Alice are out training. Aika is showing off her single prowess to Alice, and Akari and Alice are lagging behind enjoying the beautiful sunset. Aika eventually notices this and stops to berate them both, then is flustered when Akari and Alice tell her that she looks like she's in a picture. This happy scene is broken up by the arrival of a man on a hover bike (Woody), who almost crashes into Aika.
After a quick exchange of greetings with Akari, Woody takes off into the sky again. In a voice over, Akari tells us about the sylphs, the wind messengers of Aqua (of which Woody is one). The three girls sit and enjoy some tea at the side of the canal as they watch Woody disappear, and Akari muses about how nice it must be to deliver people's feelings to them. Aika prohibits this embarrassing comment.
Back at ARIA Company, Akari tidies the oars away for the night and Alicia is cooking dinner. She asks Akari to buy some bread, and Aria-shachou goes with her. Later, Akari walks through a busy market carrying Aria-shachou in a basket. She stops to admire the view. Suddenly, Aria-shachou wriggles his way out of the basket and hits the ground head first. Seemingly unharmed, he runs away along a dark passage and Akari follows him through the darkening streets. Eventually, she reaches a courtyard filled with cats and bathed in a strange yellow light.
A strange little girl looks out from behind a tree at Akari. Akari walks up to her, and the girl gives her a letter, begging her to deliver it. Akari promises to deliver it, and the girl runs away. Back at ARIA Company, Akari is in bed, using her laptop to discover the location of the address on the envelope. She isn't having any luck - even the name of the person doesn't bring up any results. She puts her laptop away and goes to sleep.
The next morning, Akari has taken the letter to the postman. He tells her that there's a really old data card inside the envelope, and that this is a really old way of communicating, though not impossible due to the existence of postmen like him. He takes the letter and promises to look up the address and return that evening.
Later, Akari and Aria-shachou are out on their gondola. Aria-shachou directs Akari into a narrow canal branching off the main one, and they come out into another canal lined with small buildings. The cat girl appears again and asks Akari whether she's delivered the letter. She insists that Akari is the only one to do it, as she was the only one to see her. Akari tells the girl about the postman looking up the address and promises her that she'll deliver it. The girl smiles and says that feelings can be delivered over time and distances. A voice calls her by the name Ami, and she runs back into the house.
Back at ARIA Company, Akari is daydreaming. Alicia shocks her with an ice lolly, then gives her the lolly. Akari tells her about the letter. The three sit and eat their lollies, and Alicia tells her to hurry to deliver it once she's found the address.
In the evening, Akari hurries out to meet the postman. He tells her that the address no longer exists, but that a place with that name does, or did. It's a colonization base from long ago when people were first making the oceans on Aqua by drilling into the ground for water. He tells her that no one lives in these places anymore, but Akari insists she must deliver it. The postman gives her a map - the location is far away on an island - a month away by gondola. Suddenly, Woody appears on his hover bike with a food parcel for Aria-shachou and a foot acupuncture set for Alicia. As he leaves, Akari begs him to deliver her to the island.
The next morning, Akari apologises to Alicia for leaving at short notice. Aika and Alice appear to see her off. Woody arrives, and Akari climbs onto the back of his hover bike amid worried questioning from Aika. With a loud roar, the hover bike takes off and zooms away into the sky. After her initial shock, Akari begins to enjoy herself. Woody agrees and talks about being fish as if the sky was the ocean. They speed up so talking is very difficult, but Woody decides to take a break on an island nearby.
Over tea, Woody and Akari discuss the letter. It's the furthest away from Neo-Venezia that Woody has ever had to go. Akari tells him how she admires his job, being able to deliver people's precious feelings. He agrees, but describes the undine's job as helping to create those feelings. They set off again.
Not long passes before they reach the island in question. There seem to be no settlements, but Akari spots something on the ground and they head down to check it out. It's a graveyard. Woody spots something and pulls his hover bike over to the edge of the cliff they're standing on. Switching on his light, it illuminates a building on the sea bed below. They stare in amazement. Determined to find the recipient of the letter, Woody and Akari look around the graves for clues.
Suddenly, Alicia and Aria-shachou appear on a hover bike Alicia borrowed from the florist. She has news for Akari - she's done some research on the colonization of Aqua, and this base was accidentally flooded and submerged under the ocean a long time ago. There was no record of what happened to the people there, and the letter must have been sent before news of the accident reached the city. The letter was lost when it no longer had anywhere to go.
Suddenly, Woody calls them over. He's found a grave with the name of the letter's recipient on it - and the year of the letter matches the year of his death. Aria-shachou produces a card reader from his backpack, and Alicia gives the card reader to Akari. Aria-shachou puts the card into the reader, and Akari holds the reader in front of the grave. The message is a video of the man's wife - it was their wedding anniversary and she's looking forward to his return once the water excavation is finished. She's lonely, but happy as the excavation will mean Aqua will become a happy place. A cat (Ami) interrupts the message, and Akari turns the screen round. She realises that the place in the video is the same as the place she visited the day before with Aria-shachou. The woman in the video expresses her love for her husband, and the video ends.
As the group share a touching moment and return to Neo-Venezia across the setting sky, Akari's voice over begins another e-mail to Ai. She tried to find the canal again, but it had disappeared. Ai is glad she delivered the letter, and comments that Aqua must all be made of miracles, not just Neo-Venezia.
New characters met: Woody, Ami, the postman, Ami's owner.
|
