The Lies of Akari Mizunashi
I was going to touch this up but I wasn’t actually ever going to get around to it, so in the best interests of posting it while it’s mostly fresh I’m going to… well… post it. While it’s mostly fresh. This is partly fanfic, partly speculation, partly analysis. Spoilers for the ending of the Aria series. Enjoy!



IcyStorm 2:27 am on August 30, 2009 Permalink |
I’m disappointed that this has no other comments! I enjoyed reading it.
Something bothers me about this fic. I found it rather odd that the Akari we know, always excited and genuinely happy, would seem so… desperate and unenthusiastic. I would think she’d be a bit more optimistic about her life on Earth despite the conditions. It’s understandable that the drab and lifeless state of Earth is restricting her and doesn’t give her much to be happy about, Akari’s actions don’t seem to reflect much of her hopefulness and kindness.
Also, if this was canon, it would seem weird how upbeat Akari is to the reader or viwer after learning of her past. The genki, easily amazed, smiling Akari used to be so sad?
Sorry if this comment doesn’t seem to make sense. It’s 3:27 AM and I’m sleepy and my head is pounding. FFFFFFFF
ghostlightning 4:40 am on August 30, 2009 Permalink |
I think behind genuine happiness is a history of sadness, and a memory, perhaps even an appreciation of it.
It makes sense how someone who could be awed by the simplest of things, appreciates them because of a prior life utterly deprived of wonder.
What makes her special then, if the above seems so ordinary and reasonable? What makes her special is how she never brings her past into play, never juxtaposes and compares, for the ends of appreciation. To do so is ordinary and is expected, but Akari is special. She can and does love her boat because it’s wooden and sturdy and floats on the water; not because there were no boats in her childhood.
This to me, is power too.
lolikitsune 8:08 am on August 30, 2009 Permalink |
@IcyStorm: I’ll admit I’m grasping here. But you’d be surprised: often the happiest people are those with the most tragic pasts. People who are extreme in some respect are often those who used to be extreme in some opposite respect.
And while we could speculate about Akari maybe looking back fondly on Earth now that it’s in the past (nostalgia?), keep the following points in mind:
1. Akari never visits home.
2. Akari never talks about home, except for when she is explaining to Ai-chan that this or that is better on Mars than on Earth (baked potatoes, the slow pace of life).
3. The only Earth tradition Akari brings to Mars is moon-viewing. Gazing off into a surrogate moon—a hologram, a picture, an illusion in a domed sky—seems exactly like what someone who wishes to be somewhere else might do. It’s like staring at an ocean and wondering what’s beyond it.
Finally, is Akari -really- that wonderful? Go back and rewatch the beginning of the show. She’s insecure. She’s afraid. She doesn’t think she can ever live up to Alicia. And when Alicia leaves, Akari breaks down. I would argue that insecurity lurks behind her smile at many turns of the show.
@ghostlightning: I don’t remember if I ever talked to you about this speculation of mine before I wrote this and showed it to you, but yes, for a long time I have been working on the assumption that Akari’s history must have been pretty lame for her to be so enthralled with all these ‘wonderful’ things. Now, that history doesn’t need to be sad, per se, but I felt like dramatizing it a bit.
And as you pointed out, it is amazing that she never juxtaposes her past and the present.
Again, the above are just my own thoughts, and not necessarily “what I think happened.” Just something I felt like sharing, and something I feel it’s fun to think about. Where does Akari come from? Why is she the way she is?
It’s hard for me to imagine that a young teen would have the will, guts, and courage to leave her home planet behind in order to begin a working career if she has two loving parents and learned her ‘wonderful mode’ from them.
Then again, it is manga.
I wonder what KA would say…
TJ 6:35 pm on August 30, 2009 Permalink |
Ughhhh damn it now you’ve made me feel sorry for Akari.
lolikitsune 6:40 pm on August 30, 2009 Permalink |
That’s my victory, then!
Glad you liked it. :)
bluemist 7:24 pm on August 31, 2009 Permalink |
LOL, Aria the Deconstruction. So dark yet still in line with the way Akari may think. I noticed that throughout the series Akari doesn’t give us any deep thoughts at all, what we see in her is always of face value. She’s smiling and saying hazukashii serifu all the time but there’s a side of me that always thinks as if Akari is faking sometimes. Especially towards the end of Origination, who knows how deep she worries about herself when Alicia is starting to leave Aria Company all up to her.
Alar 3:09 pm on September 9, 2009 Permalink |
How very pleasant.
Choux 2:32 pm on September 19, 2009 Permalink |
Aww……..
nMirror 12:36 am on July 4, 2010 Permalink |
Wonderful thinking in depth there.
I knew there must be something deeper in Aria, and am glad that someone here thinks the same. Here is something quoted by Akari which is very interesting.
“This place is ‘inconvenient’ so that I can do everything myself ”
can be further translates as
“This place is ‘inconvenient’ so that I can do everything that I want to do to take control of my life and destiny. This is something that I cannot do in the past. And now by doing so is making me very happy.”
I will pop in again to post a bit more about the strangeness of the Aria world.
lolikitsune 1:05 pm on July 4, 2010 Permalink |
thanks for the thoughts — did you see this post linked on melative?