Aria the Animation - Episode 6:That Thing You Want to Protect...

A challenger has appeared!

This hurts Aria more than it hurts Alice.

Akari and Alice are riding a gondola together when they pass an orange company employee with an angelic voice. Alice ignores her fellow employee and punishes her left hand since she deems it as useless and dependent on the right hand.

That's the cleverest thing I've ever heard.

It's just too funny.

Alice tells Akari that she is raising a cat right now. Alice does it in secret because pets aren't allowed in Orange Company. In Alice's room, Alice keeps her pet cat hidden in the closet. The cat is named Maa since the sound that it makes sounds like maa. Maa immediately bites President Aria on the stomach when he gets close.

Watering my hand.

Watering the ground.

Watering my head.

Totally fine.

As Alice puts Maa into the closet, her roommate enters the room. Alice's roommate tries to poor a glass of water but pours too much water and spills some water while trying to clean it up and ends up pouring the rest of the water on herself. Akari realizes that Alice's roommate looks like the person who was singing before. Alice confirms that it is the same person and that she is Athena, one of the three water fairies.

My calzones are especially famous.

Know your place.

Akari decides to stay over at Orange Company for the night and changes into their uniform so she doesn't stand out. Akari is surprised by how fancy the Orange Company dining room is while Athena does some more clumsy stuff. Alice criticizes Athena about her clumsiness and compares her to her left hand but she doesn't seem to mind or notice.

I heard this ruins your eyesight.

Lalala.

After the three girls get ready to sleep, Akari and Alice notice that Maa is crying in the closet. Soon after this happens, Athena gets up and starts to sing by the window. While she does this, Alice retrieves Maa from the closet and comforts him.

That book.

Alice gets ready for school the next day and says goodbye to Akari, who has the day off. At school, Alice notices that her left hand, which she was punishing for being useless, is supporting and helping her in little ways that she didn't notice before like holding her book when she reads.  When Alice thinks about this, she remembers the first time she met her clumsy roommate.

Silly Alice. That's not Maa, that's a closet.

So it's YOUR fault.

That would have been much more useful earlier.

Your worse than a lot of things.

Alice goes to her room after school but finds that the closet is open and Maa isn't in there. Alice runs outside in a panic and asks Akari to help her find Maa. Alice starts to think that Athena found Maa and told the company but soon after, two Orange Company employees tell her that they accidently let Maa escape. Akari also tells Alice that Athena already knows about Maa and that her singing last night was to cover up Maa's cries. Alice realizes that she has been taking Athena for granted and starts to cry.

The Athena mobile.

What's wrong with it's mouth?

Bingo.

Who's clumsy now?

Bad career choice.

At that moment, Athena shows up singing on her gondola. Maa hears her singing and heads towards it. Alice soon finds Maa and they are re-united thanks to Athena. Alice thanks Athena for helping her find Maa. Alice realizes that Athena has been singing to help her the entire time like when she couldn't sleep and Alice feels really bad. Athena tells Alice that her singing is supposed to be heard by others so it's okay. Athena also tells Alice that Maa is the new president of Orange Company since he has blue eyes, even though they're small.

Hoping for more Alicia Athena.

Analysis:

This episode goes more in-depth about the Orange Company gondola company. Orange Company is much more bigger than both Himeya and Aria Company. Orange Company is bigger so the rules are stricter there.

Athena is finally introduced in this episode also. Athena is the mentor of Alice. Athena is one of the three water fairies and is said to have the best voice. Athena is clumsy but she cares for Alice and does everything she can to help her.

Maa is the small cat that Alice takes in. Maa has a tendency to bite onto President Aria's stomach and has small aquamarine eyes. Since the old president of Orange Company died, Maa is now the new president.

The theme of this episode is that you shouldn't take things for granted. Ever since Alice moved into Orange Company, Athena has been there to support her but Alice hasn't noticed this entire time. Alice thinks that Athena is just clumsy and useless like her left hand. After Alice notices that she has been taking her left hand for granted, she also realizes that Athena has been supporting her for a while now. Ai sends Akari some mail about how she made her own buttered potato and how her dad only said it was okay. Ai didn't think that was nice but she appreciates that her dad ate her cooking.

The title of this episode is "That Thing You Want to Protect" because the episode focuses on how Alice protects Maa and how Athena looks after both Alice and Maa.