The Vision of Escaflowne

Episode 9-10

When it comes to families, Van most assuredly did not win the lottery. That's not because they weren't good people, but rather due to the spectacular way in which they derailed. That Van's dad married his mother against the wishes of his people is perhaps not an excellent omen. Royalty rarely gets the chance to marry purely for love, and being a Draconian, a race mistrusted that seems to be mistrusted by humans, probably just exacerbated things, especially when at least one son was born with the ability to sprout wings. Then, with his father's death, Van's brother failed in his quest and ran off to join the bad guys, and his mother, presumably mourning her husband and elder son, also vanished, leaving Van alone and with the continuation of his kingdom on his young shoulders. That's some Victorian novel level plotting, but it's also all combined to put Van in several untenable positions, leaving him emotionally fragile and prone to blaming himself when things go wrong. If it turns out that his mother's still alive and simply returned to her roots rather than staying to help her elementary school-age son, Van could well be pushed to the breaking point.

Dragons from Atlantis aside (and it's no more bizarre than Lynsay Sands' Argeneaux series of romance novels about vampires from Atlantis), things aren't looking all that good for, well, anyone right now. The Vision of Escaflowne really is a series that deals more in emotional damage than physical, although we certain get our share of fight scenes this week to go with it. But it's becoming clear that psychological warfare is much more in Folken's line, and it's a weapon he knows how to use quite well. The simple act of sending Zongi, the shapeshifting genderless doppelganger, to poison one country against another by setting Allen up as a traitor is more than enough to completely destroy Allen's attempts to stymie Zaibach, not to mention sets two formerly allied nations against each other. Folken may not have known that Millerna would be visiting, but it's certainly a boon for his side, because she's a ready-made political prisoner who can be exploited for one of three countries' benefit, depending on who uses her and how. Van's got much less worth because Fanelia's basically gone; Millerna's nation is not only still valuable, but it's also already poised to side with Zaibach, making her a perfect pawn. If Folken has to sacrifice Miguel, one of Dilandau's squadron, so be it–it's not like Dilandau losing it is anything new, after all, and Folken may be able to manipulate his rage as well.

There's just one major spot on his glass: Hitomi. Not only are she and Van growing closer (they appear to have a genuine friendship at this point), but her powers are what have largely been keeping him out of Folken's grasp, and Dilandau is about to learn that simple fact. (Miguel managed to pass it on to Zongi before his untimely demise.) That Hitomi has been teaching Van how to find invisible enemies with the power of his mind doesn't make her less dangerous, because she's still the only one who can read the Tarot cards, which is looking like it might not only prevent Zaibach's incursions, but also makes her privy to information other nations don't want her to have–she definitely implied that Chid is Allen's son with Millerna's deceased sister Marlene, not the Duke's. Even without any proof, that's an accusation that could really mess everything up for pretty much everyone, and it certainly isn't going to endear her to Millerna, who does appear to be making an effort to be less snippy with the Earth girl.

This brings me to two points that stand out in a not-so-great way in these two episodes. The first is the uneven portrayal of Gaian technology–they have giant mechs and Earth-circa-1996-level surgery, complete with scrubs and face masks, but not electricity? Flying ships but no cars? It's beginning to feel a little haphazard, but that could be due to the wartime nature of the series, because all bets are off when war wreaks havoc on a place. The bigger issue is really the Tarot cards. I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that any Tarot reader worth anything, even if she learned from the booklet that came with the cards, would know that the blank card(s) aren't “extras,” but indicative of a gap in what the cards are able to show or what the reader or questioner is meant to know. The cards of the Major Arcana are also looking a little suspicious (both linguistically and in terms of what the Arcana are), but that's perhaps less important because if Hitomi can use them to help, that's really all that matters. Still, it's kind of the anime equivalent of Italo Calvino's The Castle of Crossed Destinies in terms of depictions of Tarot, so maybe keep that in mind.

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The Vision of Escaflowne is currently streaming on Funimation.