Just like that, moments after Hitomi finds out of Van’s rather peculiar growth on his back, the show throws us into Van’s past without hesitation. Instead of dragging things out by shrouding his life story with mystery, it allows a continuation of a conversation he and Hitomi had during the last episode. Turns out Van’s mostly dead family is cloaked with its fair share of tragedy, and that certain Judeo-Christian manifestations of divinity have a more negative context on Gaea. A nice twist on convention to be sure, and explains the sad face Van gives to Hitomi at the episode’s beginning.
Reviews
The Vision of Escaflowne Episode 08 – The Great Escape(s)
Either I forgot or I did not notice, but when Hitomi has that dream sequence where Allen is with her in the real world (and who apparently knows how to use a pager, [HA HA! Foreshadowing!]), she dreams him repeating the near exact words Millerna professed to him in the previous episode. It’s a nice touch showing how Hitomi’s teenage subconscious is working inbetween kidnappings by Gecko Men and cities in flames, compartmentalizing a Princess’s statements and refitting them into her new objet d’drool. Then when that pager keeps finding its way into the story proper, she gets hit with a whammy when it is found out Amano is still concerned about her, and will even try calling it in the hopes she will reply. Great set-up and payoff there show, even if you’ve made the poor girl even more conflicted than she was the last episode, and this shot doesn’t help either.
The Vision of Escaflowne Episode 07 – Hot Messcaflowne
Predictably, the cliffhanger in the last episode is resolved without much fuss by a very effective Van, and thus allows us to delve into the topic of this week’s episode: Fiery passions. Although we’ve seen Hitomi gazing with longing eyes over Allen, it has been left on the backburner for the rather paltry endeavours of rescuing Van and brave escapes. With the inclusion of Princess Millerna to the cast, now comes the complications, and the show goes shoujo on us once again.
I don’t say this as a bad thing, since the first episode did it so well, and Van is too intense on his warrior-ring like so:
The Vision of Escaflowne Episode 06 – Meet the Crazed Gunman
If that article subtitle doesn’t seem at all special it’s because you’re not having the small jingle played during most intros of Team Fortress 2’s “Meet The” videos pop up in your head as you read it.
In any case, yeah the scene where Dilandau tries to snipe Van from afar with that one Crima Claw is one of the great moments in the show. It does so much for it, establishing how far Dilandau will go to kill off Van whenever he has a chance, his noticing of Hitomi’s continued presence, how his actions clash with the diplomatic Folken, and the limits of Zaibach’s guymelef technology. It sticks with you, and it helps it is the only time you’ll ever see a guymelef do such a thing, thus cementing its memorability. It’s how Dilandau rolls on the battlefield and even in the capital of a country that is an ally to Zaibach.
The Vision of Escaflowne Episode 05 – The Brothers Fanel
If you’ve been paying attention to the show, the revelation in this episode shouldn’t come as a surprise. After mentions from Episode 1 (Van moments before going off to slay some dragons) and Episode 3 (the conversation before meeting with Emperor Dornkirk), it is finally revealed Van and Folken are brothers. The former’s pretty pissed off that the brother he thought died during the very ritual he went through episodes ago is on the other side, and the latter just likes to be enigmatic as all get out because of some big Gaea-saving Plan the dear Emperor has. It cements all those floating bits of info into one of the major conflicts of the show in a natural way that unveils quite a bit but not TOO much.
The Vision of Escaflowne Episode 04 – Lonely Machine Soldier Boy
Aight. Now that Van and Allen got their little spat out of the way, it’s time for them to confront the true antagonists of the series: Zaibach!
…Or it should be if what happened at the very tail end of last week’s episode came true. Instead, we’re reintroduced to catgirl Merle (who was last seen at the end of Episode 2 yelling her signature line), then Hitomi gets stricken with fever for the first half. Another nice, slow, burn is to be had here. Why? It leads to some great moments with not just the aforementioned ladies, but also Van and Allen. While Merle can be unsurprisingly considered annoying, take note of how Van reacts when she’s brought in by Allen’s men. The moment when Merle tells him the fate of Fanelia, he holds her tightly and with sadness. At the very end of her story, he reveals his gratitude how she is alright. This is a nice tell on how her character may not be as annoying as thought. Through Van treating her seriously and with kindness, the series tells us to do the same as well.
The Vision of Escaflowne Episode 03 – Captain Amano, he is a Schezar.
If there’s any Top 10 List of anime characters who are the greatest in being foils to protagonist whether in life or in love triangles, Allen Schezar has to be in it. Like Hitomi and Van, from the get go Allen leaves a positive impression. His nobility is endearing in its unflappability, he’s easy to look at and listen to (thanks Nobuteru Yuuki and Miki Shinichiro), and he is such a welcome diametric opposite of Van. Where Van is impetuous, inexperienced, and not really sociable; Allen is reserved, worldly, and congenial. Like Hitomi and Van, Allen’s reputation is established by the way his subordinates act around him. Despite their churlishness, their respect for their commander is palpable. Once more my lovelies, we have another main character who is not some strange, social outcast or weirdo who gets sucked into something because of some preordained fate or whatever.
The Vision of Escaflowne Episode 02 – Shut Up and Dance With Curse
First off, hard to believe the stupid losers at Saban and Fox would start here when it aired the butchered Escaflowne on Fox Kids. You’d think censorship and it treating you as stupid (what with all the forced flashbacks) is bad, but the worst part is what they did with the music. No they didn’t replace Yoko Kanno’s score; they kept it, but shifted it around so much that it no longer felt right in the very show it was made for. Even worse, they overused the most iconic BGM in the series, and made it legit tiresome to listen to. That’s like… a war crime, man.
Batman & Robin Eternal #26 (FINALE) Review
Cameo by Batman!
Not to be crude, but when last viewed, Cassandra was screwed, Mother came unglued, and our heroes barely subdued Mother’s brood (she’s so rude!), but the story concludes and the villain’s subdued, and with allies accrued, Batman’s a popular dude! All this includes a confidence that’s renewed and I’m in the mood for the grand finale of DC’s second weekly Batman comic, Batman & Robin Eternal. Harper makes her (pretty predictable) decision on Mother’s offer, Azrael actually does something that contributes to the plot, the Robins reunite to show the melevolent matriarch she doesn’t know shit about Robins, Cassandra becomes an orphan, and Batman returns (not to be mistaken for the movie Batman Returns directed by Tim Burton)! There’s a lot to say, so let’s get started!
The Vision Of Escaflowne Episode 01 – Kiss Kiss Fail in Love
To celebrate 20 Years of Escaflowne, I’ll be following the original schedule of the Japanese run and doing weekly write-ups for its episodes. If you’ve been following my Cross Ange and Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans reviews you know what to expect. Also though, expect with each episode an extra section where I cover a memorable piece of music from the series by the legendary Yoko Kanno. Hope you enjoy.
Is it okay to wax panegyric on a show’s first episode, right from the get go? In Escaflowne’s case it’s definitely okay, because it is one of those shows that make an immediate, positive, first impression. To quote bishounen pretty boy Amano: it focused everything it has got, and launched itself forward. To its great fortune, it didn’t have something to get in its way of being a success, like say… a traveler from another world.