Some series have extraordinarily powerful characters or devices, and tonight you'll learn that The Vision of Escaflowne is no exception. Ispano no Guymelef: Escaflowne. Van's machine was made by Ispano (or the Ispano -- I'm not sure if they're a country or a race or a company). We've heard them mentioned a couple of times so far, like when Van defeated 3 mercenaries in the challenge of the king of Astoria. The king said that he had expected that from an Ispano guymelef. In episode 14, the Ispano show up, and they are vastly overpowered for this show.

Before I go further, I'd like to go over some examples of mighty things that you may be familiar with. My introduction to anime was also my introduction to a device far more powerful than it should have been. The space battleship Yamato (U.S. TV's Argo from Starblazers) had the wave motion gun, which could take out enemy space fleets in a single blast. Similarly, the SDF1's reflex cannon had even greater power with its four-mile-wide beam. I guess the Death Star falls into this category too, but all of these could be destroyed by enough enemy firepower. The Yamato, for example, is eventually destroyed by "the bad guys." The OAV series Gunbuster was chock-full of overpowered mecha, especially the ridiculous mega-egg-shaped thing with Jupiter inside of it which blows up half the universe; but Gunbuster is really a parody of sorts. Along that line, many individual characters have too much power for comic effect. Lina Inverse from Slayers or Dark Schneider from Bastard! have more magical power than they should, but these aren't the most serious of shows. Some would say that Dragonball is more serious; others might disagree, but either way, they can blow up whole planets with their mighty fireballs -- it's ridiculous. Other shows and characters might include Baoh from the anime of the same name, Ken from Fist of the North Star, Dio and Iggy (and maybe Jotaru) from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and selected characters from Rurouni Kenshin, just to begin a list. I prefer characters of intellectual might myself, like the younger brother from Moldiver or Washu from Tenchi Muyo!; the grand master of brains is obviously Patlabor's Chief Goto.

I have digressed, however, from my topic -- this evening's episode of Escaflowne. Let us review the past episodes. First, this girl annoys Van in his dragonquest, and then she overstays her welcome in his kingdom (which is subsequently destroyed). Next, she travels with him and Allen (a dirty arrangement I assure you), and she gets the nice bed instead of the bench! Meanwhile, we learn that Allen's been with someone else's wife. That girl gets too close for comfort to both of them and keeps predicting horrible trauma. And there's a big battle in blonde boy's kingdom, and they run away, but Van won't come out of Escaflowne. In tonight's episode, we meet Dryden, the rich, scholarly, and bored fiancé of Millerna. He has all the brains, and he helps the gang contact Ispano -- the creators of Escaflowne.

Ispano is way too mighty. You'll understand when their ship appears -- they could easily save all of Gaea all by themselves, but like all of the truly powerful, they're out for money. Don't let their Jawa-ish appearance fool you; the Ispano built -- well, manufactured -- Escaflowne; they could build hundreds or thousands if they wanted to. Why did the writers or whoever put such a tremendously powerful group of beings in the middle of this show? They never show up again, and we'd believe whatever cool things Escaflowne can do without it being backed up by a cameo of its mega-mighty creators. Maybe they wanted to put the content of the upcoming episodes (stay tuned to CJAS to learn about the Dragon Clan's past) into perspective. I don't know, but I do know that Ispano is just way too mighty for the series they're in. Don't miss my upcoming article when I discuss who'd win in a fight between Escaflowne and Evangelion!