“When I was a child, I thought I wanted to be a fairy…one that flies around everywhere, bringing happiness to everyone.”
– Akari Mizunashi (Aria the Natural, Ep. 26)
With a heart as pure as Akari’s, it is natural for her to make an earnest wish to bring happiness to everyone around her. This wish is perhaps the reason why Akari strived to become a Prima Undine in the first place. We can say that her earnest childhood wish to be a fairy that brings happiness, now translates to her goal of being an Undine: a “water fairy” that brings happiness to customers that rides her gondola. Nonetheless, Akari was able to unwittingly spread happiness to the people around her, even if she was just in training to be an Undine. As Aika states in her conversations with Alice:
Aika:“You see just being with you, she calms you down or so, its just a strange feeling of comfort you might say. Akari is somewhat like this Vaporetto after all. Watching this scenery from the deck like this the same view of Neo-Venezia you’re supposed to be so familiar with becomes so brilliant that it’s almost amazing. One might call it quaint and it might simply be one being slow… but from her perspective, what we take for granted once again becomes stunningly beautiful. Akari is that kind of person.”
Alice:“Somehow if you think it over Akari-sempai is really an amazing person isn’t she?”
Aika:“Akari really is incredible.”
– Conversation from Aria Manga: Vol. 7, Ch. 34
Indeed, Akari is incredible, just by being herself she is able to lead people to see the beauty of the most mundane things and find happiness in the simplest things, as one of her customers, Anno Namihei (Mr. Mailman) remarks:
“You’re great at discovering good things from my eventless day such as this… you’re a master of bringing happiness. There is no customer that wouldn’t enjoy themselves in the presence of a girl like you”
– (Aria Manga: Vol. 12, Ch. 60)
Having that pure heart, having that pure eyes, Akari is able to spread beauty and happiness to everyone around her. This is the reason why she can easily get to know a perfect stranger; this is the reason why people around her find comfort and beauty to the usual mundane sceneries. Her love for all of creation, and the happiness that she feels from that love, spreads like a light. Indeed, one can say that Akari is like a lamp – a lamp which spreads the light of happiness to people around it.
It is easy to see how Akari’s light reached the people of Aqua. Her pure white heart makes it so that it is natural for her to be happy and spread happiness along the way. However, I cannot help but question how Akari became such a wonderful girl in the first place. Unfortunately, in the writings of Kozue Amano (the author of Aria manga), and even in the Anime adaptation of Aria, only a handful of information about Akari’s past was given. Furthermore, Akari never voluntarily talked about her personal past and never mentioned her specific experiences in Man-home (earth). The only information we have about Akari’s past are her general statements about Man-home:
In the first chapter of Aria manga and the first episode of its anime adaptation, Akari differentiates the fast and convenient lifestyle in Man-home (most likely because of technological automation) as opposed to Aqua’s slow and inconvenient lifestyle where several laborious task are not yet automated that which Akari preferred. As she states:
“Yes, [Aqua] is very inconvenient… Cleaning, laundry, preparing dinner, everything has to be done by hand…
The place is ‘inconvenient’ so I can do everything myself. This makes me very happy!”
– (Aria Manga: Vol. 1, Ch. 1)
Besides the lifestyle in her home planet, Akari also points out a few things about Man-home’s environment. During Akari’s group training/vacation on an island (called “Neverland”) in Aqua, she mentioned that people cannot anymore swim in the seas of Man-home (Reference: Aria the Animation, Ep. 5).
Another is when Akari was harvesting sweet potatoes in Grandma’s farm, she said that people in Man-home can’t play on dirt anymore, implying that there is not much accessible natural fertile land there (Reference: Aria the Animation, Ep. 9).
Unfortunately, general statements like this are the only facts that give us a clue about Akari’s past experience in Man-home. Nevertheless, this information alone tells us an important fact about Akari’s life: We can be sure that Akari lived in an technologically automated and environmentally damaged world. That being the case, it can be said that Akari lived in a convenient but broken world. In some sense, her home planet can be called a “dystopian world.”
Now that it has been established that Akari once lived in this kind of damaged world, what can this tell us about Akari’s past? With so little information about her personal life, the only thing that we can emphasize about her personal history is her decision to stay and work in Aqua at the young age of 15.
(Reference: Aria the Animation, Ep. 1; Aqua: Vol. 1, Ch. 1)
Akari said that her initial reason for coming to Aqua is because she admired the Undines in Neo-Venezia, but as she arrived in Aqua she has grown to love it, as she states:
“At first I came here [Aqua] because I admired the cool undines. That’s all it was, but now I like Aqua and Neo-Venezia, the inconvenience, the slow-moving time… All of it. The city is made of miracles. That’s right. On this planet that didn’t have water or air. The feeling of the people who wanted to build a city gave birth to a wonderful miracle.”
– Akari Mizunashi (Aria the Animation, Ep. 1)
Akari calls Neo-Venezia a city of miracles. Indeed, Neo-Venezia and Aqua would appear to be a miracle for her, all because she came from a barren planet. Since Akari was so used to the seemingly dystopian Man-home, she saw Aqua as a miraculous place, a utopian world that she has never seen before. Certainly, because of Akari’s perceptive nature, she can see almost every little thing that makes Aqua different from Man-home. Each beautiful things that she encounters in Aqua, that is not present in Man-home, will be something very valuable and wonderful for her, no matter how mundane or little it is.
The natural air that people breathe in Aqua; the beautiful seas that covers the whole of Aqua; the slow but fulfilling work the people from Aqua do in their everyday life – A person who has lived in Aqua since birth may not notice these little beautiful things but, for Akari, its different. Because she came from a dystopian world, she is more perceptive and more appreciative of the things that a native citizen of Aqua may overlook.
From this perspective, Akari is certainly not a naive optimistic girl who is ignorant of the ugliness of the world; she is a girl who genuinely appreciates beauty to the fullest, all because “ugliness” was once normal and ordinary for her. In this sense, Akari’s filter – her pure perception – is not “pure white” because it is a unstained by any kind of darkness; rather, it is a perception that is very sensitive to light because it once came from the darkness.
Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how “dark” Akari’s life was in Man-home. For all we know, she might be an orphan, or maybe worse. Nonetheless, no matter how dark Akari’s experience in Man-home is, it is certain that her pure perception and seemingly pure white heart came from that strong contrast – the contrast between the dystopian Man-home and the utopian Aqua. Yes, this is what makes Akari different from the rest of the characters in the Aria series: Because she came from an ugly and dark world, she can see the tiniest colors and the faintest light, thus enabling her to see the beauty and value in the most mundane things.
In a sense, Akari is not really a special girl. She is just an ordinary girl who is more perceptive than others; an ordinary perceptive girl who just happens to skillfully contrast Aqua from Man-home. Yes, that is why, like any other growing girl, Akari was also afraid of change. Because she has experienced very wonderful things in Aqua, she was scared of losing them. This can be seen on how difficult it was for Akari to part with her old gondola and, also, how attach she was with her nightshine chime:
(Reference: Aria the Natural, Ep. 17; Aria Manga: Vol. 8, Ch. 36)
(Reference: Aria the Natural, Ep. 12; Aqua: Vol. 2, Ch. 7)
Evidently, Akari’s reluctance to accept change is also the reason why she was initially very scared the moment Alicia decided to retire as an Undine, as Akari states:
“I finally understand it now. I was… terrified. Alice-chan’s double promotion, Aika-chan’s promotion and assignment to the new branch… Alicia-san’s marriage and transfer to the association and also my graduation. Even though all of them were things to be really happy about. Even though it isn’t like we’ll never meet again, I couldn’t help but to feel anxious and scared.
Maybe somewhere in my heart, I thought that doing the same things in the same places was the place I belonged, where I was supposed to be. That’s why I was so afraid of all of it changing. That’s why I tried to stop everything in its tracks. When we’re walking together we feel like everyone is walking the same path. But that’s wrong, everyone is walking their own path. Their beginnings and their destinations are all different. There are never two paths that are the same they are all each person’s own, unique path.
And it was also because I didn’t stop in the middle of my path, that I was able to come to Aqua and join Aria company. To meet Alicia-san… to meet everyone. That’s why I won’t stop anymore because I want to see what’s waiting for us ahead. I want to see everyone’s beautiful futures.”
– (Aria Manga: Vol. 12, Ch. 59; Aria the Origination, Ep. 13)
Like any other growing person, Akari needed to overcome that fear of change. And she did. She realized that wanting everything to stay the same is wrong because her decision to live in Aqua (a decision that changed her life forever) is the reason why she experienced several wonderful things, with Aika, Alice, Alicia and everyone in Aqua. Yes, even though Akari is, at first, reluctant to accept change, she gathered enough courage to face the future and await the possible wonderful events that it will bring.
Akari cannot be more right. Her desire for change, her decision to live in Aqua changed her life so much. Truly, Akari led a very wonderful life in Aqua. I will even dare to declare that her life in Aqua is the most wonderful thing that happened to her.
While it is true that Akari is just an ordinary girl that is more perceptive than others, her very perceptiveness became so special and so valuable because she finally finds a place that she can perceive and love. Since Akari came from the darkness of Man-home, her perceptive nature allows her to see the beauty and wonder of the most ordinary things in Aqua, in turn, she also unwittingly shows this “hidden” beauty to the people around her. This is precisely the reason why Aika and Alice finds Akari amazing; this is why Alicia thinks that Akari is like a pure white snow that is able to purely perceive the beauty of the world; this is why Akari is called the miss expert of happiness and a master of bringing happiness to people around her. In a sense, Akari is really like a light – a light that brings happiness to several people.
It can be said that Akari’s light (her perceptiveness) was once floating in the empty darkness of Man-home, but now that she came to Aqua, her light became a lamp that illuminates every little thing that comes in its way. In this sense, Akari’s light is no longer an isolated one, it found its home and refuge in the water planet: Aqua.
Yes, looking at Akari’s name: Akari 灯里 (light), Mizunashi 水無 (no water): “light without water,” it is as if she is destined to be the light that shines upon the waters of Aqua; it is as if Aqua is the only place that can complete her being. This, for me, symbolizes perfectly how Akari was born to live in a wonderful world such as Aqua. Man-home was obviously a place that is sufficient and efficient but lacks a certain aesthetic value that Akari was looking for. That is not to say that Akari does not appreciate Man-home at all; rather, her light – her love for life – can only be fulfilled to the highest extent in Aqua.
Indeed, Aqua welcomed Akari with open arms. Aqua showed Akari mysterious things, wonderful encounters, and lovely people to be with. In turn, Akari brings the light of her being to each person and each encounter she received from Aqua. And, of course, in Aqua, Akari fulfilled her earnest childhood wish to be a fairy that brings happiness: She became a Prima Undine; a water fairy that brings the wonderfulness of Aqua to each and every person that rides her gondola. By becoming a Prima-Undine, Akari becomes Aquamarine the “distant blue” that lights her surroundings with the love of her pure white heart.
Similar to how the distant blue in the horizon of the sea is colored by the sun’s light, coloring the sea Aquamarine; Akari’s light, her being, is fulfilled to the highest extent by being Aquamarine – by being a water fairy that emits light in the seas of Aqua. This is the light that lets everyone around her experience a radiance of happiness, this radiance enables them to see even the tiniest colors and the little beauties that is within Aqua. In a sense, Akari really completed her childhood wish to become a fairy that brings happiness. Indeed, Akari Mizunashi, the light without water, finds her completion by becoming Aquamarine. Truly, Aquamarine is the completion of Akari’s light; it is the completion of her being.
Continue Reading
Next Chapter: My Aquamarine, My Distant Blue
This write-up is part of a larger tribute to Mizunashi Akari
Read the previous chapter here:
Akari’s Pure White Heart
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