Hidan no Aria AA – Episode 1 – Hidden Potential

While I watched Hidan no Aria ages ago, it felt like another Kugimiya Rie Tsundere shows, especially since it was made by JC Staff.  Instead of getting a second season, we now have a spinoff involving a girl named Mamiya Akari who looks up to Aria despite being dead last in the Butei rankings. I know it took awhile, but it’s here now.

As you would expect, Akari is definitely one of those girls that has a cheerful personality. Aside from kicking her younger sister in her dream, she apparently idolizes Aria, who is top of the class to the point where she can stop criminals in their tracks without fail. This time, Aria managed to stop a bank robber gang who is trying to escape by boat without any help.

From the look of Akari, I wasn’t surprised that she would fail badly. Sure, she is very motivated to do good so she can get a good rank, which would allow her to reach her dream of working with Aria. Sadly, reality bites when she realized how hard being a “Butei” really is as she hides in a corner while being unable to land a hit on her opponent. In short, she was 144 out of 144 in terms of ranking, which is very embarrassing if you ask me.

On the other hand, she can improve by applying for a mentorship, referred to as a “Amica,” it’s quite obvious who she chose. Yep, it’s Aria and while she struggled on the test, she never gave up, not even to the bitter end. While it’s funny to see her grip the side of the train before she got saved, it looked like she was no match for Aria until she reached the top of the bridge.

However, I have to give her some credit. She has a lot of potential even though she is reckless. She managed to save Aria from getting hit by a car without any major injuries besides a bump on the head. Moreover, she managed to take the car keys from the robber’s car and in the last part of the test, managed to perform a counterattack and take back her gun for a few minutes before Aria took it back. This makes me wonder if Akari is just plain lucky or if she has hidden potential that she doesn’t realize.

In the end, Akari barely passed the test, which it makes me curious if she will make it pass the three-day probation as mentioned in the preview.  We’ll find out soon enough. Even so, I wonder what hidden skill she has, which gave her the fighting chance against Aria despite being the lowest possible rank Butei out there. Hopefully with Aria’s guidance, Akari will improve as time goes on. After all, she is just a first year student. Still, I think the series have a good start, especially since Aria in the spinoff is actually a very enjoyable character compared to the main series. ¶