hontou ni sou omou?

Episode 12. The Secret Door: Duke Freid has returned and war preparations are underway. Hitomi feels the stress of Zongi’s death prophecy and the pressure of everyone’s expectations but she manages to give some kind advice to the shota prince Chid. Donkirk looks forward to seeing her power for himself and of meeting *surprise surprise* a fellow Earthling. But her tarot cards and Millerna’s discovery of Marlene’s diary point show that Allen x Marlene = Chid.

There was plenty of foreshadowing since the episode entitled ‘The Blue Eyed Prince’ so it was not particularly surprising. Having set up Allen as someone for Hitomi to fangirl over, this proves to be a serious knock on her image of him which foreshadows how Hitomi’s relationship with Van holds the key to the fate of Gaea.

Episode 13. Red Destiny: Van and co flee the fall of Godashim but not before Voris manages to lure some Zaibach forces into a trap. Freid’s last stand is at the temple of Fortana where the duke reveals that the mission of his royal family is to safeguard the ancient power of Atlantis which eventually resulted in their own destruction. Zaibach forces break through and just as it seems all is lost, the duke decides to hand over the sealing sword to Zaibach and dies to take responsibility for the past and his decision.

So everyone knew about Chid. Except for Millerna and Chid himself. But I really have to hand it to the shota for holding himself up and then taking over from the person who regards as his father. Freid’s change of mind was particularly interesting - the people of Gaea may not suffer the fate of those of Atlantis and perhaps could make use of this forbidden power differently.

Episode 14: Dangerous Wounds: In exchange for handing over the sealing sword, Folken allows the Crusade airship to depart. Meanwhile Hitomi realizes that Van’s high synchronization ratio with Escaflowne causes its damage to manifest as wounds on his body. Enter Dryden, son of Meiden and fiancee of Millerna, who summons the Ispano clan and pays the repair fee that saves Van but the Ispano chief engineers warns that the warranty does not apply to those of Draconian blood. Dilandau and his Dragonslayers catch up but Van decimates them in a blood rage of vengeance. But his blood causes him to see the spirits of Dilandau’s slain men who attempt to draw him into death with them. Escaflowne goes black and collapses as Dilandau flees.

Given that Dryden’s dad was the Shylock-looking person who had the geckos abduct Hitomi for his harem, the son himself was honourable and charming in his own unusual way. Very very neat, of course, how the gang would run into him near to Freid and convenient that he would know how to contact the manufacturer, pay for the repairs (no insurance and the warranty is void). So after getting saved, Van goes off and gets himself into big trouble again.