All out war now consumes Gaea as Dornkirk moves to make
his ideal future a reality. Hitomi
finally feels the weight of the world collapse upon and seeks to return home,
away from the fighting. With the woman
they both love moving further away from them, Van and Allen head for the
frontlines to destroy Zaibach once and for all.
Love and fate, destruction and rebirth, the end and the beginning all
come together in one epic final battle that will see loyalties change,
revelations appear, and, one way or another, a new future for Gaea come into
being.
The second half of Escaflowne has become one of the most
irritating pieces ive ever had to watch and I find myself wondering how I
actually enjoyed this show once upon a time.
Did it have it’s moments, oh yes lots of good ones. But now that im watching it from a critical
standpoint, I’ve gotta say, this really confusing and it actually made me long
for the day when villains just liked to kill everything for world domination
rather than be super freaking cryptic about their plots. Dornkirk’s quest to control fate and seek the
rebirth of Gaea seemed like a very simple plot extended into a very
unnecessarily complicated matter that could have just been simplified without
over explanation and…sigh it’s just not the strongest point of this series. Maybe a rewatch down the line could clear
things up but my mind needs a break from it, sorry.
Before I get too far into the finale, should probably go
back and address the wrapping up of last weeks events. Naria and Eriya’s special luck blood (yeah
that’s still a thing) ended up shorting out causing them to weaken and
eventually die. Hitomi’s attempt to bond
with Naria was kind of touching but I’m with Naria in wondering how Hitomi can
trust so easily despite all sorts of harm coming her way from Naria, Eriya and
even Folken. I get that she wants to
hope for the best in everyone…but some things like kidnapping and being used to
alter fate are pushing it. Still Naria
and Eriya stayed true to their love for Folken til the end and losing them
finally got Folken to see straight….just after Van brought down his floating
fortress single handidly which was pretty awesome.
This also resulted in Hitomi saying enough was enough and
returning home the day before she went to Gaea.
Much like last week when we briefly saw Hitomi’s friends talking to her
mother to see if Hitomi has turned up, I didn’t think this was worthy of an
entire episodes worth of time. Heck they
spent half of an episode most times with these character examinations. It just felt like time was being wasted
getting to the big reunion between Hitomi and Van. And when we do get back to Gaea, all hell has
broken loose and war has erupted…and we missed a great fight scene watching
Hitomi mope about her feelings on Earth…boo.
Also…DILANDAU IS ALLEN’S LONG LOST SISTER!!!
HUH!!!??????? Yes, as it turns out young
Selina was captured and altered by Zaibach to become the blood thirsty war
jackal who has been one of the most consistent entertaining parts of this
series. I feel like this came out of
nowhere though and is really only in place so that when Van is about to kill
Dilandau for good, Allen comes to his/her/I don’t know’s defense which
means…ALLEN vs VAN. Overlooking
Dilandau’s last minute thrown in backstory, it was good to see him again after
a couple of weeks out of action. He may
be wild and crazy still, but at least he makes more sense than Dornkirk as a
villain.
Van, Hitomi, Allen and even Folken had to wrestle with
their own feelings to finally figure out what they wanted in the end. And I’m glad to say, all the right choices
were made in the end: Folken turned on Dornkirk and tried to make amends for
his actions even at the cost of his own life, Allen let go of Hitomi (cause
let’s face it at the rate that was going he was becoming an ass towards her,
threatening to lock her in a birds cage to keep her safe and all that) and Van
and Hitomi finally quit being idiots and admitted how they feel about each
other. The animation was most definitely
on point this week for the grand finale.
The free for all in the series finale is simply breathtaking to watch,
especially Van and Allen’s showdown. And
really, any scene with a floating in the sky Van and Hitomi felt like a moment
long craved for and earned. We may not
have gotten a kiss at the end but hey if Korrasami has taught us one thing, a
kiss doesn’t need to shout “I love you”.
Sometimes a long lasting hug is all that matters.
So Gaea becomes peaceful at last, Van lets go of his
Gundam, feeling his fight is now over, and Hitomi heads back home while the
reconstruction begins. As far as final
scenes go, the end of Escaflowne is pretty great and almost makes you forget
that there was a whole land of confusion to get through to get there.
So how was Escaflowne as a whole? Well it’s a good blend of fantasy and mecha,
something that I don’t think has been attempted much in Anime. The animation, despite it’s constant need to
cut between 2D and 3D pretty unevenly, is classic and nostalgic. The music is the stuff of Yoko Kanno legend. The story? It’s ambitious at times but too
ambitious when it comes to the motivations of the villains and the overall
endgame. And the characters float back
and forth between charming and cool to annoying and frustrating. But at least many of them got sorted out by
series end, even if it did feel last minute.
What works in Escaflowne really works from the action to the music to
the classic animation (more than the 3D as I said). Plus you had a mecha that could change into a
Dragon…really how cool was that?
7/10
And with that, Escaflowne concludes it’s time in the
Anime Corner. Next week we head into an
OVA that featured many of the same creative talents behind this series. The Top Gun of Japanese Anime finally arrives
next Monday…with Macross Plus.
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