First off, lemme say how being an adult animation (never mind animu) fan makes you notice things you never did back when you were young. When I was young, I saw only the story in this block of episodes. As an old fogey, I see not just the story but also one dealing with a very low budget. Take a gander up at those four featured shots, and it pretty much entails a good portion of this episode. A character is in the foreground or background, and either is alone or conversing with the person on the other side.  Had this been a lesser show, it would have been a rather underwhelming episode. Yet since this is Escaflowne, a show always trying its damndest to be topflight no matter what, even as they skimp on animation. read more

Seems legit. Before our heroes go to the Mystic Valley, where the formerly great Atlantis once resided, we have an entire episode inundated with lore from a very distinct individual: Allen’s father. The seeds planted as far back as Episode 5 (where we find that Allen has daddy issues) have now taken root. How this takes place is another great example of building from long ago laid foundations. Our first instance of Allen thinking about his dad once again is in Episode 14 when he thought to himself about how all these revelations remind him of ‘him’, then Dryden asked for his father’s journal the next episode, and now it is snowballing into a full on confrontation with Allen’s past. It’s a very natural progression, and the speed it acquires does not feel in the slightest bit shoehorned, since it ties so well into the plot. read more

Well, best laid plans am I right? One minute you’re all “I’m gonna merge with Escaflowne and we’re gonna kick ass and be awesome n’ shit!” Next minute, your guymelef gets wrecked in a battle and somehow, despite not even getting wounded much, YOU suffer for it. You suffer so much that the only way to actually alleviate said suffering is to repair your guymelef’s body. That’s gonna be painful.

So much for a breather episode after that last one, instead we are reeling from an unanticipated event, but also being mired in Gaean lore. It is not just any Gaean lore mind you; it is lore about Escaflowne itself. In a situation rather reminiscent of when Millerna just happened to be on the same airship our heroes were on after Allen’s noble sacrifice to save Hitomi, an Asturian convoy they come across houses their key to Van’s salvation: Dryden Fassa. The son of the merchant who hung around the King of Asturia many episodes back, Dryden is a rather… interesting character. Like Millerna, it is hard to glean from his appearance on how much he will be liked down the line. Right off the bat the show reveals he’s not some playboy though, but a man who seems to live up to his hype in terms of wealth and intelligence. read more