Jerry Springer Would be Proud

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

Past And Present marks the halfway point of the DVD release of Escaflowne, being the 4th of 8 discs. It includes the episodes "The Secret Door," "Red Destiny," and "Dangerous Wounds."  In terms of episode count, this disc actually goes past half way as "Dangerous Wounds" is episode 14 and there are only 26 episodes.

The "Secret Door" is where I pulled this review's title from, at it deals primarily with the question of "Who is Prince Chid's Father?" The answer, of course, is Alan. However, the Duke of Freid still insists on claiming Chid as his son. In the background, we see Freid preparing for Zaibach's coming assault.

"Red Destiny" begins in media res, as the opening scene shows how Freid's capitol was sacrificed to allow the Duke to escape to a distant temple. Once there, we discover that Freid is the protector of some "Power of Atlantis," which is Zaibach's true objective. Of course, Zaibach moves in to attack, and in the ensuing battle the Duke is killed, and Cherezade and Escaflowne are badly damaged. Before he dies the Duke commands Chid to surrender the power to Zaibach, which he does. Alan, Van, and company are granted free passage out of the area on the Crusade. This episode ends with the chilling scene of blood dripping out of the cockpit of Escaflowne. 

In "Dangerous Wounds" we discover that Van has been grievously injured, because he has become so bonded to Escaflowne the when the Guymelef is damaged, Van incurs a corresponding wound. Fortunately, the group runs into a man named Dryden, who happens to be Millerna's rich playboy fiancé. He succeeds in making contact with the Ispano Clan, a group of Jawa-like creatures in a huge ship who built Escaflowne. The Ispano repair the Guymelef, and by doing so heal Van. The scene ends with Dilandau and his nefarious posse chasing down the Escaflowne. Van defeats all of them but Dilandau battle, but is held back from killing Dilandau by his followers spirits. Dilandau flees, and the Escaflowne collapses to the ground and turns from white to black. 

These episodes are probably the bloodiest yet so far in this series. There are a number of very large battles, and the final sequence of "Dangerous Wounds" is particularly violent and graphic in nature. However, there is still a lot of character development going on during all of this fighting. We finally discover the connection between Chid and Alan, for example. We are also introduced to Dryden, which opens up a whole new angle on the Millerna-Alan-Hitomi love triangle. These episodes are quite satisfying, in terms of plot, too. We are finally getting some indication of what Dornkirk's ambitions are, although what we are finding out doesn't make a whole lot of sense yet.

The dubbing continues to be of a high caliber, although I feel the English actor chosen for Dryden tends to lay it on a little too thick at times. Hopefully, this will fade as the character grows.  I feel that the Japanese actor has done a better job on this character, at least in these episodes. Overall, though, I still consider the dub and the original Japanese track pretty much interchangeable in terms of quality.

The extras on this disk continue with the "Club Escaflowne" series of interviews. However, the focus shifts from the voice actors to the production crew. In the installment of the interview contained on this disc, much of the information didn't really have a whole lot to do with Escaflowne but instead offered a neat glimpse into the way anime shows in general are made. While the setup for the "Club Escaflowne" segments is rather melo-dramatic and campy, they nevertheless continue to be very interesting.

Conclusion (Spoiler Free!)

It is hard to believe that I am only halfway through the series. So much has been packed into the first 4 discs it gives one pause to wonder what surprises the rest of the series will contain. For example, this disc is the first one to really give a good indication of the goal of the Zaibach Empire are, and also brings the Atlantis theme to the forefront. There is a lot of action and a few twists for the characters to overcome in these three episodes, making Past And Present a very entertaining disc.

By Andy Rucker