It's more Aria, which we would've never imagined happening after Aria the Origination in 2008. Origination wrapped up the journey of the main cast and their senior undines very nicely, and to this day, it is still considered one of the finest iyashikei (healing slice-of-life) shows ever produced. 3 years after Origination, the voice actress for Athena Glory, Tomoko Kawakami, passed away. Avvenire was released in 2015 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Aria S1's original airing. As a sign of ultimate respect, they didn't recast Athena. Instead she only appeared as a cameo, and a stock audio recording of one of her past singing performances was used.
Fast forward six years later, and the second part, Crepuscolo, is finally out. What you'll immediately notice is this one isn't animated by the original studio that did Aria TV and Aria the Avvenire. Instead, it's animated by JC Staff. This decision was probably because they did Amanchu, which was by the same author as Aria, and also directed by Junichi Satou. The background art, which has always been one of Aria's strengths, was stunning as usual. But JC Staff revamped the character designs, and despite everyone looking more detailed, this is one of the few times where the detail update makes the aesthetic worse. It's jarring and off-putting, as everyone now looks too sharp and "Amanchu'd", as the style suggests they jumped out of that show. The original designs were softer and simpler, with more rounded outlines, which invited a sense of relaxation and comfort.
The main issue I had with Avvenire was that the three new singles weren't given enough time to make the movie theirs and launch a new generation of undines. Crepuscolo doesn't do this either, as the movie is squarely focused on Athena and Alice. It is clear now that the new singles will play second fiddle to the Aria TV cast for the whole movie trilogy, which is a shame. But what's worse is that they did the unthinkable: they recast Athena, and then made her one of the main characters.
Yes, it's more Aria, and fans will take anything they can get. But I felt that they disrespected Tomoko Kawakami's legacy by recasting Athena. Her story, along with the other senior "Water Fairy" undines Alicia and Akira, had concluded nicely. They didn't need to be in this movie. Two of them have moved on from being an undine. The movie trilogy should've focused on the new singles and their mentors. But the author was content on just having this be a supplement to Aria the Origination episode 9. Certain scenes from that episode are re-animated here, so at times this felt like a rehash rather than something new like Avvenire. As a result, this one didn't have the tranquil magic of Aria that I so fondly remembered.
The synopsis for Benedizione makes it appear to have a more substantial story, so hopefully Crepuscolo was just a rare miss and that JC Staff is able to conclude the movie trilogy in a satisfying manner.
