I will watch the rest of Aria at some point; I’ve got at least one more blog post about the first season to get through first, though. I must admit, it’s a little hard for me to imagine how it could get much better.

@ghostlightning

“Absences and non-events” sounds about right…to be honest, the first time I’ve even delved into the topic of causality was for this post, so I’d imagine you know more about it than I do.

I, too, suspect there will be more romance somewhere down the road. As to the intentional fallacy, the view I normally go with is one articulated to me by IKnight a while ago: what is the Word Of God but one more interpretation? Though authorial intent isn’t by any stretch of logic the be-all, end-all meaning of a text, there certainly doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with considering it as just another interpretation, and thinking of the author as a critic of sorts.

The idea I was getting at when I mentioned sematics is that, while I’m reluctant to adhere to one position over others when all positions articulate identical points with different words, I’m not sure that such a situation is common (if it’s even possible) in narrative interpretation and analysis, given that it all relies so heavily upon very subtle differences and shades of meaning. In criticism, everything is a matter of semantics, to some degree — how I interpret this sign vs. how others interpret it — and even when we articulate the same point with different vocabulary, our word choices are, perhaps, very revealing of our individuality as readers. Maybe that’s true of all semantic quibbling. Or maybe I’m crazy.

Oh, one last thing:

(unless there’s a yuri end lying in wait)

YES

Causality is a favorite topic of mine that I don’t like going into much because I don’t understand it as much as I’d like. I really like the idea of causal relationships of absences and non-events (did I even get that right?). I don’t have the sequels yet, but I do think that Aria may have chosen (look at how I assigned agency to the text and not the author! I’m tsundere for the intentional fallacy – but in this case it’s because I know nothing about the creators) to develop love arcs later on.

It still reminds me of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, where romantic ideas are only -hinted- at up to the very end. I hope Aria doesn’t go this way because it doesn’t feel right to me that Alicia will go long without male companionship (unless there’s a yuri end lying in wait).

Lastly, I noticed a reticence towards pursuing a semantic point. Is this a discrimination towards semantics? I’ve found myself apologizing for what I feel are/were “semantic quibbling”/splitting hairs, but I fail to truly understand why I do so or why others would find it problematic.

(though I suppose the baby is evidence enough of their…efficacy)

Could be adopted orphan from some less-than-suteki slum on Earth. That’s where Ai’s family is from, right? ;)

In any event, good post. Do you intend to continue with Aria at some point? It only gets better imho.