Winged Hijinks

WARNING! Spoilers Ahead! Go to the Conclusion to avoid them.)

Angels & Demons is the third installment in Bandai's eight disc release of Escaflowne. Unfortunately, the episode count has dropped from 4 to 3 for this disc. However, this isn't unheard of for a series of this popularity, and what we do get is quite good.

The first episode, "Memories of a Feather," tracks Allen, Millerna, and Van, Hitomi, and Merle as they purse their separate paths to Freid. This episode reveals a lot of very interesting information regarding Van's past, including an explanation as to where he got those snazzy looking wings. This episode also includes a great fight scene between a group of Zaibach Guymelefs commanded by Dilandau, Van's Escaflowne, and Allen's Scherazade.  As a result of this battle, Allen is severely injured. The episode ends as the three separate groups of travelers are united and Millerna begins to operate on Allen to save his life.

"The Blue-Eyed Prince" is the next episode, and it begins with Allen successfully surviving Millerna's operation and the whole group arriving in the Duchy of Freid. Here they are introduced to Prince Chid (pronounced SHE-d), who is the child of the Duke and the guy in charge since the Duke is away (This is really surprising, considering that Chid looks to be all of 6 years old!). Allen manages to deliver a warning of Zaibach's attack, but our whole group fall victim to intrigue. The Prince asks a priest named Plaktu to attempt to determine the truthfulness of Allen's claims, but Zaibach assassinates him and replaces him with a doppelganger, a creature who seems to be able to assume the form of others. This Zaibach agent succeeds in convincing the Prince that Allen is a renegade. This causes everyone, including Van when he arrives, being taken prisoner.

The final episode on this disc is "Prophecy of Death." In the opening scene, the doppelganger impersonating Plaktu interrogates Hitomi. During the interrogation, their two minds touch and Hitomi sees the doppelganger for what it is. During this time, Hitomi has a disturbing vision of the doppelganger's death that leaves her apparently dead. However, Van is able to resuscitate her, but even after she regains consciousness Hitomi is clearly very shaken by what she sees. Allen and Van manage to convince Chid to release them, and they go after the doppelganger. They reach him right as he is being murdered by Dilandau, in accordance with Hitomi's vision. Van, Hitomi, and the Escaflowne are rapidly brought under attack by Dilandau's forces, but Van is able to escape with Hitomi's help.

Whew! To call these three episodes action-packed is an understatement. There is a good balance of action and character development in these episodes, which makes them fascinating to watch. About the only aspect of the story that is not addressed in these three episodes are the love interests. A few references were present, though. For example, there are rumblings of some sort of Chid-Allen connection, but we don't know the full story here yet yet.

I find this volume to be a very strong installment in the series. It is really neat to get a few important revelations about some of the main characters so early in the story line. There almost seemed to be too much action in these episodes, but it never becomes overbearing to the point that you lose interest. I just hope that the next volume will deal with the romantic interests between the characters a little more.

Escaflowne continues to sound and look great. I really fell that the English voice talent really nailed their parts, and I tend to regard the dub and sub versions of this anime as interchangeable. The extras consist of another installment of Club Escaflowne, which is a candid discussion held between the various Japanese voice talents in a bar setting. I know it sounds like a really weird concept, but despite the oddity of it all this turns out to be a very effective and interesting way to reveal behind-the-scenes information on the series, as well as put faces to the voices you here on the show. However, PLEASE listen to the disc's own warning regarding spoilers. Some of the show's biggest plot twists are clearly revealed in these segments.

Conclusion (Spoiler Free!)

I feel that "Angels & Demons" is a well rounded installment of Escaflowne.  There is a good amount of action and many significant character developments take place. In addtioion, this disc continues the high production values seen thus far in Bandai's release of the series. However, this disc isn't perfect. For one thing, the episode count has dropped to 3, and the extras are so spoiler-ridden that I heartily recommend skipping them until you have seen the entire series.

By Andy Rucker