Hidan no Aria (Aria the Scarlet Ammo)

Pic from episode intermission.

So Season 1 has officially ended. Aria is in my top 5 favorite anime series now. It's a little disappointing that they rushed the story through the first three light novels for the season but that's not a big issue. I still think it progressed rather well. The end of the season (ep 12) differed slightly from the end of book 3. Kinji still saw Kana, but the anime shows it as being seen in passing on the street while Aria is shopping for a swimsuit, whereas in the book Kinji gets called out by Kana to meet through a message from Riko where Kana politely asks Kinji to help her (*cough*) kill Aria. I think they changed it to save their skin in case they don't make enough profit from season one's sales to make the second season. Which they are already saying...but from my findings I'm thinking they set themselves up for failure. Reason I say this? Take a look around at Amazon or some other retail sites that sell official anime and see how many episodes you get with each single volume. From 2 to 4 on average, right? Well J.C. is trying to pull a not-so-smooth profiteering act by putting out single episode discs for practically standard prices. Sales are crazy low, and honestly, I wouldn't want to buy it that way either. I'll wait for the complete season.

I do hope a 2nd season comes though, since I love this story. Click the Aria link above to get the gist as always.

Now, I'm sure some people who've not read the books are wondering where the whole "Scarlet Ammo" thing comes from. Well, if you don't intend to read the books then you'll figure it out about halfway through the 2nd season (if there is one) since it comes to light, finally, in book 5 titled "Overture's Fine". This series is like a mix of "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" with a lot of the standard rom-com harem animes. The whole part about each of the main characters being descendants of some great influence in history (both fictional and non), makes the story much more entertaining. Which brings about a lot of the story due to Sherlock Holmes involvement as the current leader of EU and a metal ore (-kane) that comes in several colors and each has their own special powers. The ore that was put in Aria, is extremely rare and even more difficult to use. Of course during the beginning she has no idea that Sherlock is alive still, to this day, nor anything of the ores.

I strongly suggest reading the books if you like to read. Since Light Novels hold a ton of dialog versus detailed filler like regular novels, they move along fairly quick and you still get the same enjoyment as you would any other full size novel. The first 6 (7th is extremely close) have been fan translated and available on Baka-Tsuki. I hope they don't mind me putting their name here, but like them, I want to spread the enjoyment of Light Novels. Since I can't translate, this is my only real way of passing it on. But so far there are 9 novels, I've read the first 7, own originals of all 9, and am quite excited to read more since the story took an interesting turn after book 5. Book 6 starts off with Reki taking Kinji for herself, by force, and forcing Aria away while not letting Kinji talk to her properly. Book 8 should prove a clearing of the air between Aria and Kinji, but until it's translated, I'll never know. Go, read, enjoy. And if the 1st season of Aria comes out for sale, I'll update my post with a link to find it.