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Episodes four through eight of Escaflowne introduce some new players, but mostly give the main characters -- Van, Hitomi, Allen and Merle -- more time and space in which to develop.

Van, for example, seems to be maturing both mentally and physically, as Allen notices. We are given a pair of tiny little peeks into Allen's past, which seems to be an unhappy one. But the most significant information comes from the mysterious Falken, who turns out to be -- yes, it's a spoiler, but if you've come across this review, you've probably already learned the entire plot of the show, right? -- Van's older brother. He seems to have become a True Believer in the Evil Zaibach Empire. The parallel I mentioned in my previous review between Escaflowne and Star Wars was no coincidence: on this disc, we see Falken urge his younger brother, "Join me, so that together we can rule the empire!", we find out that his right arm has been replaced with an artificial one, and we watch the daring rescue of a prisoner from a giant floating fortress, complete with low, wide docking bay.

The nice touches continue: wierd anthropomorphic creatures populate the world of Gaea, which, with their human bodies and animal heads, remind me of the characters from Omaha, the Cat Dancer (though, since this is not a hentai series, they don't act the same. Boy, would THAT be strange). Yoko Kanno's vaguely Eastern music sets a menacing, almost spooky mood which suits the court intrigues very well. Neither Van nor I can figure out why his brother tossed him the royal sword and did nothing to prevent his escape; that's good, a little mystery never hurts (as long as we eventually are given a good explanation). And I just loved seeing Hitomi chug the wine :-)

Does anyone else think that Gaddes, Allen's right-hand man, is a dead ringer for Nicholas D. Wolfwood?

It's not great -- there are a bit too many stock supporting characters, and we've seen Hitomi experience a vision of Van's death and rush to save him, arriving JUST in the nick of time, about as many times as I can take it. But it's solid entertainment.

The extras this time around are only live-action interviews with some of the seiyuu. I didn't watch them because the menu warns that there may be spoilers. This brings the packaging rating down to a reasonable level.

Equipment used when writing this review:
Sony DVD player, JVC 27-inch TV, stereo speakers

Content: 7 Video: 7 Sound: 9 Packaging: 8 Menu: 7

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Other reviews of this disc:

Escaflowne Vol 2: Betrayal And Trust by CmdrTaco (Rating: 7.80) I don't think I gave Escaflowne Vol 1: Dragons and Destiny a truly fair shake. I watched it, and thought it was pretty cool, but I also watched it on an airplane and I was really tired at the time. When I sat down to watch disc 2, I...(continues) Content: 8 Video: 8 Sound: 8 Packaging: 8 Menu: 7 Escaflowne Vol 2: Betrayal And Trust by rgmoore (Rating: 7.60) The second disk of Escaflowne slows things down a bit from the hectic speed of the first, but there's still a lot going on. There's a bit less straight fighting and more exploring the nicely detailed world that the creators have laid...(continues) Content: 8 Video: 8 Sound: 8 Packaging: 7 Menu: 7 Escaflowne Vol 2: Betrayal And Trust by guiler (Rating: 8.60) Escaflowne is a far-reaching epic, the first series from the creators of Cowboy Bebop, and their first collaboration with Yoko Kanno. That said, there isn't a whole lot of originality about it; but don't take that as evidence to ignore...(continues) Content: 9 Video: 9 Sound: 9 Packaging: 8 Menu: 8

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