Welcome back everyone to the last Escaflowne post of the year! No doubt this is going to be late but considering we are covering 4 episodes, I think thats understandable on my part. Thats right, 4, welcome to the longest post I’ve made since Black Clover. So enough with the preamble! Lets strap in and talk Escaflowne.
First up we have episode 13, “Red Destiny”. This was easily the worst of the 4 episodes I’m going to talk about today. In fact I would go so far as to say it was the most awkward episode Escaflowne has had yet. The whole thing was just paced horribly. We skipped the siege of Freid, skipped Chid and Allen’s relationship, skipped Hitomi’s PTSD, burned through the second siege, and killed the Duke all in a single episode. This could have easily been 2 episodes of content with plenty of character work to break up the big fights. Instead Escaflowne just kind of… sprinted through it. This made for a really unsatisfactory end to our time in Freid even if the fallout of these events in future episodes were really good.
Getting into the contents of the episode it was… fine? I guess? The revelation that Freid had this special key left to them by the Draconians felt like it came from nowhere, even if it justifies why Zaibach is conquering them now. On top of that the 2nd battle was kind of interesting I suppose. Escaflowne went for this “Helms Deep” thing of a protracted defense against the Zaibach but didn’t give it enough time to really work. This siege could have, and probably should have, been an entire episode on its own. Because of this the Duke giving in to despair and essentially cursing Zaibach with success similar to that of the Draconians fell flat for me. He just kind of killed himself, leaving Chid alone to deal with the fallout. Not a very fatherly thing to do if you ask me.
As for the Draconian lore dump, this was interesting. We learn a fair bit about what their civilization was like and where they went. The idea of a super successful civilization falling to its own excess has been done to great success before, Final Fantasy 14 comes to mind as a recent example. So I see no reason why it can’t work here as well. It’s just going to be a matter of what form this “power” takes. Is it something nebulous, like the ability to see the future fitting into Dornkirks stuff? Or is it something more literal like perpetual energy? Whatever the case I look forward to how Escaflowne deals with this and how Zaibach ends up suffering for trying to replicate what the Draconians had. At least… I assume that’s what is going to happen to them.
This brings me to episode 14, “Dangerous Wounds”. If “Red Destiny” was the worst episode yet, this was the best. There was some weird shit in it, don’t get me wrong. The Ispano clan appearing out of nowhere after flicking a switch in the Escaflowne felt like a big teleporting Deus Ex Machina. And the very fact that they still exist as a force in this world, building super Guymelefs with massive flying fortresses, is absolutely wild. It actually makes me question the power balance of this entire world. But aside from that we got Dryden, who I quite enjoy, and the wrench he throws in everyone’s relationships. I actually really like how chill but upfront he is about his betrothal to Millerna and how he finds his own reason outside of that to join the gang. On top of that we have Van’s… well his everything.
The whole thing surrounding the Escaflowne injuring its bearer as a consequence for connecting to it was really cool. I like that there’s not a bit more of a risk-reward system around it since it was always better than most other Guymelefs. This sort of drawback will keep fights interesting despite Van’s growing personal power. Of course that’s heavily dependent on how much Escaflowne actually uses it moving forward. If Van never gets injured in a serious way from this point forward then yeah, it’s going to be kind of pointless. That said with what I have seen of the next two episodes, that doesn’t seem to be a problem.
And if Dryden and the Escaflowne wasn’t enough though we also got the best fight so far. This fight was just so… beautifully brutal. Escaflowne really didn’t hold back this time when it came to caving in skulls, splitting Guymelefs in two and generally fucking people up. And the faces! I’ve said before that Dilandau gets the best faces and thats on full display here. The sweat on his face, the shock and horror as his soldiers are killed so easily before his eyes, the stark lighting inside the Guymelef cockpit. There was a lot of really striking imagery in this sequence and I loved it. And it gets even better when you pair the operatic faux latin music over it. This is what I wanted from the sieges! This is the kind of narrative climax Escaflowne has needed to really hook me again. And it was great.
As for the ending of the episode, this was an interesting cliffhanger. Even after having watched the follow up episode I’m not sure what happened here. Did the spirits of the dead like… take control the Escaflowne? Or shut it down somehow? Does it resonate or connect with the dead in some way? Or did Van himself go unconscious and almost die and thats why the Guymelef went inert? To be honest I still have no idea and if I have one criticism with the episode, this would be it. The Escaflowne shutting down here, while dramatically engaging, doesn’t make any narrative sense. So if I missed something that explains this, please let me know down below. I’m really curious what the hell happened here.
Next up is episode 15, “Lost Paradise”! This is a weird one, not only in content but in structure. The first chunk is all about Hitomi saving Van from what I guess is the spirit realm? Or death? It’s really unclear and this is part of my confusion from last episode. I went into this immediately after episode 14 expecting some kind of explanation as to what happened. And when I didn’t get that and instead got some kind of weird vision quest, I was understandably a bit miffed. Hitomi going in after Van? That makes perfect sense, she’s done it before with Zongi and its part of her Mystic Moon powers. I just wish this vision of the fall of Atlantis and why we got it, either from Van’s blood or the Escaflowne itself, was a bit clearer.
Similarly the last chunk of the episode also threw me off a bit. We get introduced to two more villains, ostensibly to replace Dilanau while they are on medical leave but we will get to that. And in their time, they kick Van’s ass! This is pretty good. Escaflowne is really showing off Van’s PTSD after his little rampage and showing how his “chivalry” can get in the way against some opponents. He isn’t showing them the same respect he did male knights after all. But I wasn’t a fan of how this fight ended. Having Merle show up and then the sisters just… leave felt weird. And convenient. There was no good reason for them to abandon the fight like that. Even if they didn’t want to hurt Merle, or remembered back to their own childhood and how they protected each other, its just not enough for me.
That said the rest of the episode was actually pretty fun! Dryden for instance is growing on me more and more. The guy isn’t forcing himself on Millerna but he also isn’t that concerned about Allen. The guy is just confident in himself, making jokes and researching Atlantis. Oh yeah, did I mention that part when we first met him? Dude is all in on finding Atlantis just for the hell of it. He saw a challenge, a mystery, and dived in head first. Dryden has no idea about their plan, I say plan they have no actual “plan”, to stop Zaibach. He’s just in it cause its fun and Millerna happens to be here. Some might call that a weak overarching narrative, and they wouldn’t be wrong. But I call it a good time because I’ve just accepted the larger narrative has issues at this point.
On top of that we also get some progress on the romance front as Hitomi accidentally confesses to Allen and the girls have a pow-wow. It is here that I’m really thankful for Merle. Because her no nonsense, “Pick one and shut the fuck up” attitude is really pushing Hitomi along here. She has competition on both routes of course. For Van she has to fight Merle and for Allen she has to fight Millerna. But at the same time she’s also help Millerna decide on her own love triangle between Allen and Dryden. All the while Allen has his own choice to make in all of this. Its fun! I’m not usually a big fan of romance, not when they dominate an entire narrative. But when sprinkled into a larger fantasy epic like this I think they can add some much needed spice, and this is doing just that.
Finally we have episode 16, “The Guided Ones”. If we are being honest, this episode was a history lesson. We learn a lot about Hitomi and Allen’s family, some about Dornkirk and a bit about the world. But aside from that not much really happens. Yeah, it was cool learn some of this stuff. Allen’s hatred of his dad for basically abandoning the family and leaving them destitute is certainly interesting. As was the confirmation that Hitomi’s grandmother has not only been here but met Allen’s dad as well. But this is all setup for future conflict. The value of this information won’t be known until Escaflowne has the chance to really capitalize on it in future conversations. Hopefully it does so! I like Allen, I want to see him get a solid character arc. For now though its all a bunch of “what ifs”.
What this setup heavy episode does do though is let me talk about Dilandau! This was some cool stuff. I wasn’t expecting Dilandau to be so affected by the deaths of his men. Yeah, he cared when Zongi killed one. But I looked at that as more him being upset someone broke his toys. Here though he is legitimately grieving for them and freaking the hell out. On top of that we also learn about some “Fate Alteration” procedure? I assume this is part of Dornkirks plan to either see or control the future and Dilandau was a test subject for altering someone’s future? In which case this opens up the possibility for him to become a good guy. That said, I’m really hoping he doesn’t end up related to Allen. That memory of a blonde kid is making me think everyone is related to that guy.
Whatever happens with him though I’m expecting some cool stuff from Dilandau. His story also makes me wonder though, what about Folken? We know that Dornkirk/Zaibach saved him after he got his ass kicked by the dragon, sure. They fixed him up and took care of him. But what if they also used this “Fate Alteration” procedure on him as well? And that is why he has turned so heavily against not only Fanelia, but Van. This could, like Dilandau, lead to a “redemption” of sort. Something where he figures it out and helps them sacrifices himself to save the world. I really don’t know! But the existence of this procedure opens a lot of doors. Either for characters to turn to Zaibach or vice versa.
So yeah all in all these were a fun 4 episodes. 13 was definitely the weakest, and 16 a lot of setup. But 14 and 15 gave my monkey brain plenty of entertainment to hold me through both of those. I definitely feel though that the overarching “Defeat Zaibach” plot is starting to suffer. Its become clear to me that Van and Co really don’t have a plan. They are just getting pushed around by Zaibach, constantly on the run and reacting to things as they happen. They have this nebulous goal of “stop Zaibach” but that’s about it. So far they have managed to be in all the places Zaibach is trying to get. But they don’t feel like they have much agency in it. Hopefully, with this Mystic Valley, that can change and they can go on the offensive. We do still have 10 episodes left after all.
Only time will tell for that though. See you next week when we findout!
