Review by Brian

April 1, 2006

Eriya takes ahold of Hitomi with the liquid metal claws. Van charges her in the flesh with his sword and jumps up to save her. They are about to touch hands when the Fate Redirector starts going out of control. Eriya knocks Van away. They plan to capture Van as well, but suddenly the Vione moves over, causing the sun to shine once more. Naria and Eriya weaken and fall to the ground. Hitomi falls from their grasp, but luckily Allen catches her. Folken tells the two to return to the Floating Fortress. However, on the way there Naria's Guymelef blows up and she crashes. Eriya makes it back safely. Later, people hose down the fires and repair the wreckage. Naria hides under a bridge. A large group of people sit in the destroyed town square. Hitomi is upset, thinking it was her fault. Dryden and Millerna come up to her and says it would have happened regardless of what she did. Millerna apologizes, saying it was partly her fault. In the Floating Fortress Dornkirk yells at Folken for disobeying his order while Eriya lays injured on a bed. Eriya says it's alright and that Naria will be okay. Meanwhile, at the castle Naria takes out a guard and jumps over the castle wall. However, she is very sickly and clutches her neck. Hitomi, Merle and the others care for people in the square while Allen and Van talk in the castle. Van says he'll end this by killing the puppet master of the enhanced fortune soldiers, the chief and staff of the military, his brother Folken. Allen is shocked to find out that Folken is Van's brother. Later that night Hitomi slips in the hall and breaks a bunch of dishes. She picks up her shoe, noticing a cut shoestring. Naria sneaks up behind her and kidnaps her. Later, Merle comes downstairs and realizes Hitomi is missing. The Royal Guard heads through the streets in pursuit, and Van heads to Escaflowne. Naria, with Hitomi heads away from Palas. Allen stands on a bridge thinking sadly of Celena and his mother. Meanwhile, Naria holds Hitomi in a boat and clutches her mouth. Hitomi sees a vision of a burning building with two dead leopard people. Naria and Eriya are just children and watch from afar. They head through a rainy forest and then jump off a cliff, to be saved by Folken. Hitomi also sees Naria and Eriya being implanted with enhanced Fortune blood.

Naria heads through the forest on a carriage with Hitomi captive. Hitomi asks her why she's doing this, if it was to repay him for saving him years before. The carriage crashes and they fall to the ground. Naria clutches her bleeding arm and tells Hitomi it's impossible to escape. Hitomi starts walking backwards to escape, but decides to bandage up Naria. Hitomi asks her to come back with her to Asturia, but Naria refuses, saying she can only trust Folken. Hitomi sees a vision of her with Folken. Meanwhile, Dornkirk tells Folken to send Eriya to attack the Asturian port. Dornkirk says since the Fate Redirector is working fine, it will be alright. Folken is hesitant, but Eriya says she'll be alright. Van flies on Escaflowne looking for Hitomi and sees a Teiring Guymelef flying nearby. Allen and Gadess stand at the port when Eriya arrives, flying right by Escaflowne. Escaflowne goes out of control again and starts crashing towards the water, but flies upward at the last moment. Van tries to figure out where Folken is and discovers the Vione appearing in front of him. Naria brings Hitomi to a stolen ship in order to bring her to Folken. Hitomi says what she's doing is wrong, but Naria slaps her, not listening. Hitomi thinks of Vari telling her that she has caused bad things to happen. She also hears her grandmother telling her to believe in her wish. Naria asks Hitomi why she hasn't taken the opportunity to escape yet, and Hitomi says she trusts her and thinks she isn't a bad person. Suddenly Eriya arrives. Van heads right for the Floating Fortress and crashes through the window. He brings out his sword and starts attacking the equipment, disabling the stealth cloak. Seeing the Fortress aflame, Naria and Eriya try to head up there but are extremely weak. Naria gets in the hand of her sister's Guymelef and lets Hitomi go. They head off to the Vione. Allen shows up in the Crusade to get Hitomi. In the Floating Fortress, Folken steps out into the view of Van. Van prepares to kill him, but Eriya pushes him over. Eriya yells at Van, saying Folken is concerned about him and he does nothing in return. Escaflowne's energist glows, causing an explosion that pushes Escaflowne away from the Fortress. Van lands on the ground as the Floating Fortress crashes into the ocean. Folken holds the mortally wounded Naria and Eriya in his hands. Dornkirk shows up saying a reaction took place that will be beneficial to them. Folken says Dornkirk is wrong as the screen explodes. The remains of the Vione crash into the ocean. Van watches as a Teiring Guymelef with Folken inside flies away.

Great episode filled with tons of action and other cool scenes. Lots of things happen in this episode, Naria and Eriya die, the Vione is destroyed, and Folken decides that Zaibach isn't doing the right thing and abandons them. It was nice to see Naria and Eriya get more development in this episode, but unfortunately they die at the end of the episode. Hitomi's extreme niceness as shown in this episode continues to amaze me.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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