Escaflowne Rewatch: Volume 5. Dilandau/Raving Psychosis is my OTP!

[timepiececlock]

Episode 15 has:

-the dramatic mental sequence with pretty PRETTY and shippy and glowy finish
-Van suffering more and more mental trauma trying to control the Escaflowne
-ghosts
-Merle being useful again (yay!). I remember not caring for Merle when I first watched this show, but I'm appreciating her more with the rewatch.
-Hitomi again going out of her way to use her powers to save Van
-Alan being intensely noble and annoying chauvanist and vain at the same time (like every episode! I love Allen even though I would probably hate him IRL.)
-Hitomi almost confesses to her crush, but runs away again
-DRYDEN! Shamelessly dumping 80 million dollars at the drop of the hat to impress a woman, and not even hiding his motives. Dryden and Allen have a lot in common, but I'd be annoyed as fuck by Allen IRL while I'd probably fall insanely in love with Dryden. It might be because he constantly wanders around with a book to read. Millerna doesn't know the grief she's being saved in the future.
-the hilarious "I have this friend..." conversation between Millerna and Hitomi.
-Merle jumping in with "Before you do a reading for someone else, try sorting out your own feelings first." Which, YES. Someone had to say it. Because Hitomi's being blind to it.
-the arrival of the Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee catgirl pilot assassins
-Dilandau/Raving Psychosis OTP! with some hints as to the root of his crazy


Episode 16 has:

-Folken being creepy. I thought that first time I watched, and I still think so.
-Dryden: "We're going on a adventure! You're all coming with me. Yep, everyone. Because I say so, and I am always right. Right? I thought so."
-Allen's dad is a dick. Of course, Allen's a dick too, so that makes sense. In fact, his dad's actions explain why Allen seems to treat women so dismissively. Women are either objects to be protected or objects to be covetted. Or women are the magical vagina through which a man can find salvation. Or the demon temptation that leads a noble man into sin.
-Isaac Newton!
-Allen's Dad: "I am obsessed with you and travelled across continents to find you."
Hitomi's Grandmother: "Who is the creepy man who keeps talking to me? Oh thank god, here's the white light to take me away."
-Dryden acts like a jerk to Allen, because he knows Millerna prefers Allen. It's pretty juvenile, considering Dryden is mocking some deeply personal issues about Allen's parents and family honor. Allen rises above (he's noble like that). Everyone else: "Whao, is this awkward. Are we there yet?"
-Everyone thinking dramatic thoughts, and Dryden thinking "This better not cramp my vacation style, dammit!"
-more things fall into and out of the sky. Apparently the "gate" to Atlantis is the same technology the Ispano builders use for their ship travel.


Episode 17 has:

- individual vision quests
- the slowly creeping truth about Dilandau's madness
- classic sci-fi ideas (ex: the will-to-matter machine that wipes out a civilization)
- how Gaia the world came to be
- Atlantis!
- racial memory
- Van admittng that fighting and warring is not as noble or great as he always believed. In fact, it sucks dead eggs.

- Allen's Dad: "How's your mother?"
Allen: "Dead."
Allen's Dad: "Oh I see."
Allen: "I KEEL JOO HARD!"

- more ghosts
- Hitomi's power is again being tied to the power of Atlantis. She's indirectly tapping into the Atlantian power. And since Hitomi is uncertain, pessimistic, and morbid, she's creating darker futures and imposing that will on others.

- Van's Mom: "Everything bad that's ever happened to anyone is your fault, Hitomi."
Hitomi: "But..."
Van's Mom: "Cuppa?"

- Allen's Dad: *dying* "Where are you my looooooove?"
Hitomi's Grandmother: *appears out of nowhere*
Hitomi's Grandmother: "Oh damn, am I back here AGAIN? Maybe if I accept the necklace he'll stop calling me. I was on my way to a picnic and everything."

-"The PAIN of WAR."

Van's Mom: "Van. It's your will that determines the world's future. It's all up to you."
Van: "Mother?!"
Van's Mom: "Don't fuck it up, dear. Bye!"

Comments

[gojira007.livejournal.com]

I always feel like I missed out when it comes to "Vision of Escaflowne": I could never find time to watch the dub when it aired on Fox Kids (who then promptly hosed it, making me wish it had found its way to Toonami somehow...), I don't feel comfortable sinking a sizeable fortune into the DVD Collection, and my only complete "Escaflowne" experience is the pretty-as-all-get-out-but-ultimately-mediocre movie.

Your description of the episodes here serves only to deepen this feeling. I WANTZ MA ESCAFLOWNEZ!!! TT_TT

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

The movie and the tv show are like... like Arby's cheapest hamburger to a $35 steak. It is one of the best anime tv series to date. AnimeAcademy.com, a popular review/resource website, has some ranks it in second place out of hundreds of completes anime series and movies they've reviewed. They have two really useful-but-not-spoilery reviews of the show, as well, if you click on the name in the link.

[gojira007.livejournal.com]

The movie weirded me out; the potential for it to be great was there, but it felt ridiculously rushed. Shame, that.

And like I said, I always feel like I missed out with VoE, because everyone I know who's seen it LOVES it passionately. What little I've seen of the sereis certainly suggests it's worthy of the praise, and the soundtrack, which I've sampled extensively, DEFINITELY has me interested (I could listen to "Dance of Curse" and "Yakusoku wa Iranai" all day).

Thanks for the link to anime-eden, by the way; I've already registered and hope to start my VoE journey soon. :)

[serhenya.livejournal.com]

LOL, I agree with a lot of your reactions, particularly the Hitomi's grandmother/Allen's dad situation. To me, she looked like she had a clueless look on her face as Allen's dad kept rambling on and on. It didn't even look like she even said a word to him or even had a chance to explore Gaia.
Seriously, did she even explore Gaia? She was there at least twice. It would be a bummer if it was her destiny to just sit there in one spot, next to a babbling mad man.
Argh, I can't stand Allen. I remember thinking when I first saw this series years ago, that he'll probably be good for a one night stand, but it's Van that's the guy you want to be with for life. After he grows up a little, of course.

Dilandau is an interesting character, but I don't want to say more because I can't remember what happens in what episode and dont want to spoil you.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I think the memories or visions in this episode (and the journal scenes being read aloud) are more... loose in meaning and interpretation. They're symbolic, figurative. The stuff from the journal is the raving of a wandering guy who might or might not be crazy, and the other scenes are visions that happen in Van, Hitomi, and Allen's minds while under magical Atlantean influence. I'm sure they're real in essence, but whether Hitomi's grandmother literally stood in the snow like that, who knows. She might very well have had as much of an adventure as Hitomi did, but is only remembered in that limited capacity.

Argh, I can't stand Allen. I remember thinking when I first saw this series years ago, that he'll probably be good for a one night stand, but it's Van that's the guy you want to be with for life. After he grows up a little, of course.

As a character I love Allen, because he's both charming and frustrating. I would probably hate him in person, but he's fun to watch on screen. He's so sincere and true when it comes to fighting the good fight and being noble and doing no wrong and being a paragon of chivalry. They're not an affectation, they're really how he lives. Which makes him quite heroic and inspiring as a knight. But chivalry comes with inbuilt sexism and a certain way of looking at men and women that would drive a modern person up the wall. Hitomi experiences this herself a few times when he just brushes her off, or orders her to do something. Allen is the perfect knight, right down to his idealized love for a higher-ranked lady whose affections he can never attain... but that kind of purity doesn't translate well into reality.


I know all about Dilandau; this is a rewatch for me, as I saw the series several years ago.

[helga-b.livejournal.com]

Oh, Escaflowne. ♥ I never get tired of this show, or reading reactions to it. I rewatched it (again) recently too, and it's still my greatest anime love. And Dilandau's still the craziest anime character ever, and Dryden's still my anime husband. So much awesome.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Vash the Stampede is probably my anime husband. Well... if polygamy is okay, I'll take Vash and Wolfwood. Even now, after all this time, and all the anime series to come since.

And Dilandau's still the craziest anime character ever,

That storyline has yet to be topped, indeed. Akito from FB is like Dilandau-lite. Tucker from FMA is just as creepy, but I got the feeling he was more just sociopathic than crazy. When it comes to crazy, knife-on-class dementia, Dilandau takes the cake and skewers it.

[hex-the-ex.livejournal.com]

Not sure if I properly thanked you yet or not for pointing me to Escaflowne.
I started off my summer with watching the whole thing in under a week, and fully enjoyed it just as you said I would. Its the perfect fit for its genre and seems to me on of the definitions of the classic, excellent anime shows. I'm just thrilled you convinced me not to abandon the whole thing after watching the movie a few years back.

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

I was spoiled for Dilandau's Big Secret. *sobs a little* It was one of my first non-childhood anime series and a lot of the hints made it past me, so once I was spoiled, it was like an anvil to the face, aimed from left field, as in "WHERE ON EARTH DID THAT COME FROM!" That is THE spoiler of my life, the one that gets you on your heels, man. I mean, I was even spoiled about Spike near the end of Cowboy Bebop and that wasn't nearly as memorable.

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

Actually, okay, to be honest, this was my own fault. ;_; It had a warning and everything, but I still highlighted it because I am an idiot. Needless to say, I am NEVER doing that again.