Dragons And Destiny [DVD] [NTSC]

She meets this strange boy again although in the flesh. This happens one night when she hears about Amano leaving to another country. Hitomi asks for her first kiss by Amano if she can complete a run in 13 seconds. When her sprint is interrupted by a physical clash with this mysterious boy in armour she finds out who she is. He is Van Fanel. Van is puzzled with where he is but warns Hitomi, Amano and Yukari (Hitomi's best friend) that there is a dragon coming. Sure enough a dragon emerges from the shadows and comes in with an attack. Warning the three strangers to run away, Van tries his best to fight this dragon but the dragon is faster than him and follows Hitomi and her friends.

After an exciting five minute action scene, Van successfully brings the dragon down by stabbing it into the chest and takes out a glowing red stone. Somehow this stone causes a pillar of light to shine around Van and Hitomi and sure enough, they are whisked into the air to another place, which ends up being Gaea.

In episode 2 we see that Van and Hitomi are not on good terms. Van's impolite behaviour gets on Hitomi's nerves (he didn't say thank you when Hitomi helped him in that fight against the dragon -- she had a vision of where the dragon was going to attack him). This episode pretty much shows Van's role in his world. He is the new king of Fanelia and had just defeated a dragon in order to obtain a Dragu-energist (the stone). You also meet Merle for the first time. She's a feline who very much admires Van *in a big way*...and warns Hitomi to stay away from him (you can tell a triangle has emerged ~_^). Enemies known as Guymelefs come to attack Fanelia and Van has been told to awaken his own Guymelef called Escaflowne. Fights between these machines take place. During these fights, however, Hitomi and Van are transported through the same pillar of light.

Episode 3 introduces us to the knights of Asturia as well as the main players of Zaibach. This is a favourite of mine since it introduces Allen Schezar, a handsome gallant knight who shows he is a gentleman (well knights are meant to be like that). There is one scene where he pretends he and Hitomi are an item but that is to wipe off the suspicion around Dilandau's face. What he did to annoy Dilandau* was funny even though it caused a shocked reaction from the crowd ^.^;; *Dilandau Albatou is the leader of the Dragonslayers/Ryuugekitai, who belong to the enemy Zaibach. Folken is the Strategos of Zaibach who listens for orders from Emperor Dornkirk.

Episode 4 gives us more insight to Zaibach. They are on a mission to capture the dragon, which in this case is Escaflowne. As you can imagine, Escaflowne is a unique Guymelef. Aside from the usual Guymelef style, it can change into a dragon form when it feels like it. The last episode of this volume is merely about a game of cat and mouse. Van is being chased by the Ryuugekitai and Dilandau is enjoying this game a lot (okay he is a little crazy ^^;;).

OVERALL COMMENT: I have to say I was blown away from start to finish on this volume. It was that exciting. Each episode was great and I didn't want to get out of my seat. Did I mention that the opening song is great? 'Yakusoku wa Iranai' is sung remarkably by Hitomi's Seiyuu Sakamoto Maaya. As well as this song the background music in Escaflowne is great. Bow to Kanno Yoko. She is the goddess of music. She composed Cowboy Bebop music too BTW. Music and episode spoilers aside, I have a huge suggestion to those new to Escaflowne - ignore people saying how the animation is bad because it isn't as horrible as you may think (okay so what if the noses look long that didn't even detract my enjoyment one bit). The characters are all interesting and the storyline through the series is amazing!!!! You have to see Escaflowne for yourself to see what I'm talking about.