The Vision of Escaflowne – 17/18 [The Edge of the World/The Gravity of Destiny] – Throwback Thursday

Hello everyone and welcome to another week of The Vision of Escaflowne! This is wildly late, prepping the new season and our Yearly awards, along with snowstorms knocking out my power, take up a lot of time. My apologies for that. Feel like I’ve had a lot of those lately. Without further ado though lets dive into the episodes!

First up we have episode 17, “The Edge of the World”. Escaflowne did a lot of things with this episode, most of them I like! From answering questions and explaining the mechanics of the world to a clever twist on Hitomi’s power, there was a lot to love here. Take for instance the history of Gaea: The confirmation that this Atlantis is the same Atlantis from our Earth myth actually does a lot for me. I always suspected something like this. But I was never sure if there was a legitimate connection or if Escaflowne was just borrowing western myth and words without truly connecting them like so many anime do. So this confirmation that Gaea and Earth are intertwined rather than just existing parallel to each other is great.But the connection goes even farther!

I’m of course talking about the fact that the Draconians created Gaea. Some might say this came out of nowhere or isn’t that relevant to what is going on. But I think it explains why they disappeared from Earth, why they are so few on Gaea and just how powerful their machine really was. Gaea is a world of dreams. A place created, and functioning by, sheer will. I’ll grant you that not everything makes sense, Escaflowne has taken a lot of liberties with it’s world building. Stuff like how Humans got here or if they were made with Gaea was, who the Ispano are, how the Escaflowne got connected to all of this, etc. But Escaflowne still has 8 episodes left to try and answer some of these questions. And so far? I’m feeling pretty satisfied by the answers I’ve gotten. And as for Hitomi’s power? That’s even better.

I cannot understate how much I like this “twist” on her power. The idea that Hitomi hasn’t been predicting the future with her readings but causing them? And that the only reason they were bad was because of her own anxieties and fears? Her own lack of confidence in peoples abilities? She, in a way, caused many of the very deaths she was upset about because of her lack of faith. Escaflowne has re-contextualized everything she’s done. Remember when I was annoyed by the lack of explanation on how her power worked? Or about how convenient it was? Well now it fits into the core premise of the show. It doesn’t make everything perfect but as far as Hitomi’s character goes, I love it. And I really hope that Escaflowne explores what this means for her. It already has her holding back on wishing. Now deal with the fallout.

As for the rest of the crew, they get their own little revelations this episode as well. Allen for instance gets to confront his dad and the fact that, despite leaving them, he still loved them. That the man had followed the status quo his whole life and, just once, wanted to go off on his own thing. Only realizing by the end that he had already had what he wanted most. It’s rather tragic when you think about it. The only reason it falls short is because we really haven’t spent that much time with him. Had Leon, Allen’s dad, been an important character from the start I think this would hit harder. As is though I care more about Allen’s reaction to it all, and how this changes him, than I do Leon himself.

Meanwhile Van meets his own father figure, Balgus (Chadgus), and must confront his soft hearted nature. I think this is a decent conflict. Going from a bright eyed youth who only sees the glory in war to a soldier disillusioned with the death to a true knight, resolute in his duty while recognizing the brutal nature of it all, is a good arc. But if I can skip to the next episode for a moment, it feels like Escaflowne might be rushing through it. In the span of these two episodes Van goes from not wanting to fight anymore to screaming “Kill Dornkirk”, with no in-between. I like the idea here, I think its a good one. Like with Hitomi’s PTSD though Escaflowne doesn’t seem to be taking the time it needs. Maybe the remaining 8 episodes will fix that! I really hope it does. For now though, I’m worried.

Moving on we come to episode 18, “The Gravity of Destiny”, the LORE DUMP EPISODE. I swear that’s only a little bit of hyperbole. Seriously though, a large portion of this episode felt like more setup and more exposition. And while the information itself was interesting the way we got here was most assuredly not. Like… our lead three just teleporting here out of nowhere? Was this caused by the Fate Alteration Machine? If so that wasn’t made clear at all. It feels like they got teleported here for no other reason than to meet Dornkirk and get an info dump. To go back to a previous issue I had a few weeks ago, it felt convenient when it really didn’t need to be. Aside from the whole teleporting thing being awkward though, it wasn’t bad.

As for Isaac’s history itself, this was… interesting? We already knew he was from Earth and it could be assumed he built up the Zaibach Empire from there. But the speed we see him build the Empire, and with which their technology grows, feels really weird. He came to Gaea already an old man. Yet he managed to do that much even before he needed the chair to stay alive? I realize this is a nitpick but it’s staying in my head. On top of that the odds that Dornkirk is actually Isaac Newton, the famed mathematician from the late 1600s makes it even weirder. Maybe I’m off, maybe this isn’t Newton. But whoever Dornkirk is, this backstory feels like it was poorly thought out even if the concept itself is interesting.

On the other end of the spectrum though is Van. I really liked what happened with Van in Zaibach. The inversion of his relationship to the Escaflowne, how its pain is his but he can control it without being inside of it, is clever. It’s a cool extension of an established system. The way the realization happened as they were literally ripping out his heart via the gem on the Escaflowne made for an engaging scene. And after that we see a further extension of the Draconian power of belief as Van’s desperate push for speed unlocks MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, I mean turbo mode. I thought this was all pretty good! How we got here is still up for contention but at least the results worked out, right?

Finally the last big thing of the episode is Allen and his realization that he is losing this love triangle. It wasn’t any big moment, no shocked reaction or shouted exclamation. Just a bunch of little scenes and looks adding together. Him noticing how Hitomi acts around Van, the trust she puts in him and the concern she shows. How Van is always there to get her out while Allen is always falling just short. The way he gets jealous, hugging her to hard when her eyes are focused on Van. It’s like the difference between a teen crush and a truer, deeper love. And I think Allen is figuring this out. Hopefully over the next 8 or so episodes we get to see some kind of confrontation or acceptance of this.

So yeah all in all I think these episodes were pretty good. A few minor issues here and there. If anything though my biggest issue with Escaflowne now is that it feels like we are only just getting started. We are 18 episodes into this 26 episode series and it feels like we just finished the setup. Now that Van is resolved, Dornkirk is known and everything is in motion, we are finally able to begin this epic proper. And yet over the next 4 posts we are heading into the finale. It feels like Escaflowne was meant to be much bigger than it is. An epic spanning many years and many seasons. Hopefully that isn’t the case and it manages to wrap everything up well. For now though? I can’t shake this fear that the ending will be rushed.