How to participate in the liveblog chat:
Option 1: Whenever you watch the episode, comment on this post as you watch with whatever responses you feel like posting!
Option 2: Go to http://webchat.freenode.net/. Enter a nickname, then for the Channels field enter ##rabbitcube, and finally fill in the Captcha and hit Connect! We'll be watching Vision of Escaflowne and commenting there starting at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Chatlog below the cut!
01[22:55] <Froborr> Okay, FINALLY watching the episode.
01[22:57] <Froborr> Who is that?
01[22:58] <Froborr> Um, if Gaea is that close to Earth the stars shouldn't be any different?
01[22:58] <Froborr> Unless this is thousands of years displaced in time.
01[22:58] <Froborr> Oh what the fuck
01[22:59] <Froborr> Oh hey, this guy is in the opening credits.
01[22:59] <Froborr> Allen?
01[22:59] <Froborr> His name is ALLEN?
01[22:59] <Froborr> That's just... silly.
01[22:59] <Froborr> Oh, he looks just like Amano. Interesting.
01[23:00] <Froborr> Oh god it's one of those stupid honor codes.
01[23:00] <Froborr> You're out of your league, guy whose name I can't remember.
01[23:01] <Froborr> So you have a duty to kill him if he draws, but you refuse to kill him?
01[23:01] <Froborr> Da fuck?
01[23:01] <Froborr> Oh, and here's the effeminate sexually deviant villain. Because that wasn't already played out in 199whatever.
01[23:02] <Froborr> I guess the dragon is the mech?
01[23:03] <Froborr> Destiny Prognostication Engine, seems fortunetelling is going to be a major theme if both teh evil emperor and the main character ahve it.
01[23:03] <Froborr> Atlantis AND tarot, wow this thing is going to leave no mystic BS unturned.
01[23:04] <Froborr> Wait, he's leading THIS band? I'm starting to think maybe blondie isn't a villain?
01[23:05] <Froborr> Oh right, Van, that's his name.
01[23:07] <Froborr> Wow, that's pretty hardcore, introduce all those characters, like annoying catgirl, and then immediately kill them off.
01[23:07] <Froborr> Because of course I'm certain that none of them escaped.
01[23:09] <Froborr> Of course Van gets himself in a fight.
01[23:09] <Froborr> ...or not?
01[23:10] <Froborr> I guess yes, Hitomi does stand out more than he deos.
01[23:10] <Froborr> This came after FFVI right? Because Allen apparently is just straightforwardly Edgar...
01[23:11] <Froborr> Wait, what did Allen do to become his enemy?
01[23:12] <Froborr> Van is indeed correct about cards.
01[23:12] <Froborr> Okay, but maybe haunted doom cards can?
01[23:13] <Froborr> I really don't knwo what to make of this thief character but I don't like him.
01[23:18] <Froborr> Yeah, I have basically nothing to say about the mecha duel.
01[23:18] <Froborr> Was that a vision or an actual attack?
01[23:18] <Froborr> Guess I'll find out tomorrow, because it's time for crappy end credits!
01[23:19] <Froborr> ...That episode was pretty meh, I hope this gets better because so far I don't really see why it's a classic?
Due to Froborr's unexplained absence, we watched another episode without him.
ReplyDelete[11:10] <@Sylocat> We'll let you know when the credits are over, Arrlaari
[11:10] <@Sylocat> Click
[11:10] <Arrlaari> Yeah, I'm ready to start when the credits are done
[11:11] <@Sylocat> Credits over
[11:11] <FoME> Credits are over.
[11:11] <@Sylocat> And the recap
[11:11] <Arrlaari> got it
[11:12] <FoME> Death. A great change. And, you know, death.
[11:12] <@Sylocat> Ah yes, those glasses
[11:12] <@Sylocat> Ooh, navigating by stars... but can't he see the Mystic Moon in the sky? Or is it hidden by the trees?
[11:12] <@Sylocat> Hitomi, it can't tell you where to go if you don't know where you want to go
[11:13] <Arrlaari> Wouldn't death have been the card for last episode?
[11:13] <@Sylocat> I'd forgotten about this guy
[11:13] <Arrlaari> Okay, if they are faking out there that's a gross thing
[11:13] <FoME> Hedwig to the rescue!
[11:13] <@Sylocat> Aaaaaaaaaand here he is
[11:14] <@Sylocat> Wizard of Oz-esque, kinda sorta
[11:14] <@Sylocat> Ah yes, Chivalry™ and all the pointless carnage it leads to
[11:15] <FoME> Ask your doctor if Chivalry is right for you.
[11:15] <Arrlaari> Maybe instead of talking shit you could have pointed out the actual culprit
[11:15] <@Sylocat> (I like how this series acknowledges Codes of Honor™ as pointless and destructive
[11:15] <@Sylocat> "You don't charge aggressively enough," again
[11:15] <@Sylocat> Ah yes, and we meet our villains
[11:16] <@Sylocat> (for those wondering why the invisible enemies were so pointlessly destructive? Their commander is basically Bishounen Kefka)
[11:16] <FoME> Slappy sounds like he's about fourteen.
[11:16] <@Sylocat> Yes, we were SUPPOSED to think their battle tactics made no sense. That was intentional
[11:17] <@Sylocat> Gee, does this remind you of anything
[11:17] <@Sylocat> It even LOOKS like Vector in FFVI
[11:17] <FoME> At least he has more impressive facial hair than Palpatine.
[11:18] <@Sylocat> I assume "Destiny Prognostication Engine" sounds less clunky in the original Japanese
[11:18] <@Sylocat> Yes, Dornkirk's whiskers are magnificent
[11:18] <@Sylocat> And we meet Allen's entourage
[11:19] <@Sylocat> The obligatory Sky Pirates from every steampunk fantasy series
[11:19] <FoME> I don't suppose one of them is named Cid?
[11:19] <@Sylocat> I'm not sure how many of their names we actually learn
[11:19] <@Sylocat> Ahahah... they're calling him out on his cheesy lines
[11:20] <@Sylocat> Ah, the macho posturing
[11:20] <FoME> Van's pout is kind of hilarious.
[11:20] <@Sylocat> Where IS Escaflowne, anyway?
[11:21] <FoME> In the offscreen impoundment lot.
[11:21] <@Sylocat> "Zaibach," what a perfect name
Delete[11:22] <FoME> Imminent diplomatic incident?
[11:22] <@Sylocat> Oh, he did not just go there
[11:23] <@Sylocat> He's deliberately attempting to flush out Van, isn't he?
[11:23] <Arrlaari> It looks like you are ahead of me
[11:23] <@Sylocat> Oh wait, he's just a nutty teenager
[11:23] <FoME> And cover story is go.
[11:23] <@Sylocat> And what a cover story it is
[11:23] <FoME> Sitcom grade.
[11:23] <@Sylocat> As Black Widow said in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, PDAs make people uncomfortable
[11:24] <@Sylocat> "Your reputation precedes you." Is this Lady and the Tramp?
[11:24] <@Sylocat> And of course, she falls for her own cover story... for a while, anyway
[11:25] <Arrlaari> The villain really dislikes PDA
[11:25] <Arrlaari> "EW LOVE UGH"
[11:25] <@Sylocat> Dilandau really is a teenager... he takes even the slightest embarrassment as something to start a war over
[11:25] <FoME> "EW COOTIES KILL IT WITH MECHA"
[11:26] <@Sylocat> Trippyyyyyyyy
[11:26] <Arrlaari> "You made an enemy of me"
[11:26] <@Sylocat> GAH
[11:26] <Arrlaari> "by kissing someone in front of me that was so gross"
[11:26] <@Sylocat> I wouldn't want to see his face that close to me
[11:26] <@Sylocat> And we thought he was a one-off character
[11:27] <@Sylocat> I forgot Allen's mecha was named Scheherezade
[11:27] <FoME> Scherazade? As in the storyteller from 1001 Arabian Nights?
[11:27] <@Sylocat> Hitomi's luggage goes where she goes
[11:27] <FoME> All it needs are a thousand legs and a bad attitude.
[11:28] <@Sylocat> Of course, Van is an idiot too (but then, Van just saw his country get burned to the ground, so of course he's gonna be emotional)
[11:28] <@Sylocat> Uh, Hitomi, Van is definitely not going to listen to Allen right now
[11:28] <FoME> Well, there's no way this is going to end well.
[11:29] <@Sylocat> And one of Dilandau's henchprettyboys is watching the whole thing from afar
[11:29] <@Sylocat> Again, totally not phallic, that
[11:29] <FoME> Oh, not at all. Now, for the penis fight.
[11:30] <@Sylocat> I think we'd established that, Allen
[11:30] <@Sylocat> Ah, I'd forgot, Allen's heard of Balgus too
[11:30] <@Sylocat> (Balgus's badassitude is renowned everywhere)
[11:30] <Arrlaari> SHOBU
[11:31] <@Sylocat> Ah, he got in a shot after all
[11:31] <@Sylocat> They really are mean with the cliffhangers
[11:32] <FoME> Seems Escaflowne boosts Hitomi's vaguely defined psychic abilities.
[11:32] <@Sylocat> Well, Escaflowne's "heart" does look to be made of the same stuff as her pendant...
[11:32] <FoME> I actually hadn't made that connection.
[11:33] <FoME> Cliffhangers and next episode previews don't go well together.
[11:33] <Arrlaari> I can't tell if that was a vision or the ambus
[11:33] <@Sylocat> "Ambus?"
[11:33] <Arrlaari> ambush
[11:33] <@Sylocat> Oh... right
[11:33] <Arrlaari> It just ended for me btw
[11:33] <@Sylocat> Ah... were we that far ahead of you?
Delete[11:34] <@Sylocat> Yikes...
[11:34] <@Sylocat> Maybe you should grab a torrent after all
[11:34] <@Sylocat> All right... any final thoughts, and who wants to copy-paste this to the comments at Froborr's blo?
[11:34] <@Sylocat> blog
[11:34] <@Sylocat> (I did it too!)
[11:35] <Arrlaari> I have a text editor with good search-and-replace for dealing with <> characters
[11:35] <@Sylocat> Alrighty then...
[11:35] <@Sylocat> Thanks for coming, everyone... hope next week has fewer technical issues
[11:35] <FoME> Not much to add. They're still introducing the players and setting the stage.
[11:35] <Arrlaari> Anyway, it was Not A Good Decision to imply sexual assault when the mole-man was trying to mug Hitomi for her pendant
[11:36] <@Sylocat> Yeah... that looked way worse than it actually was
[11:36] <FoME> Agreed.
[11:36] <Arrlaari> That's a decision the authors made, to make it look worse than it turned out to be. A bad decision.
[11:37] <@Sylocat> I'm not sure it was deliberate... not that it matters
[11:37] <Arrlaari> It totally was, because Allen took it to be worse than it was when he saw them
[11:37] <@Sylocat> Did he? The subtitles on my version were less clear on that
[11:39] <FoME> See you all next week.
[11:39] <Arrlaari> "petty theivery not enough for you" he thinks it's not just a robbery. "taken to attacking helpless women" tells us what he thinks was going on.
[11:39] == FoME [49a040a2@gateway/web/freenode/ip.73.160.64.162] has quit [Quit: Page closed]
[11:39] <@Sylocat> (of course, what Allen was doing looked just as bad to Van)
[11:40] <@Sylocat> Well, petty thievery is different from mugging/banditry, but yeah, you're probably right