This is the second ARIA novel release. This time, it's actually a compilation of four short stories, each written by a different author.
The first story, taking place in spring, is about a young man who is planning to go to Man-Home (earth) to pursue his dream of becoming a paleontologist. He's like Akari, full of enthusiasm and love for things around him. The only difference is that he's going from Aqua to Man-Home, whereas Akari came from Man-Home to Aqua. Basically, it's a relatively light story about young people and their pursuance of dreams.
The second story, taking place in summer, is even lighter hearted love story, focusing on Aika and Al. That part is just fine, but it has too much fluff involving beach activities. And although the film festival is not a bad plot device to get everyone together, I feel like the jokes went too far. Yes, most sequels suck. We all know that.
The third story is my favorite among the three. Actually, I didn't like it at first because it puts a lot of negative light on many characters. Once it gets going, though, that negative tone switches over to deep and meaningful story. This story is the most serious story among the four in this book. Atena always ends up with the task of giving the last chance exam for "pairs" who failed to become "singles." Most (all?) of them fail again and end up leaving Orange Planet. They don't leave in despair, though, because Atena manages to give all of them "something," without even realizing it herself.
The last story is about Alicia's old childhood friend coming back to Aqua to open her own cafe. I imagine everyone who reads this story will try to imagine this new character before she actually shows up. And I bet everyone does a double-take when she actually does get introduced. (^^) It's simple, yet heart-warming story. Hmm, maybe I like this one more than the third story, overall, anyway.
As always, artwork is by the original creator and manga author, Amano Kozue
