Scene 4 - Recap
The white light fades into... oh my god it's Amano-senpai... leaning over Hitomi as she wakes up, dazed, in the nurse's office. Flustered and disoriented, Hitomi sits up, faintly asking, “Amano-senpai? Where…” He holds up his hand and tells her, “You should stay in bed.”
She apologizes [fig. 1-1]. Amano says, “I’m just glad you weren’t hurt.” Hitomi thanks him. He says, “Your form is pretty much perfect, Kanzaki. You’ve been practicing your heart out since junior high to do it.”
[fig. 1-2] Self-conscious, Hitomi says she hasn't broken her personal record of 13 seconds in a timed trial. She then holds her pendant, and says, "I wish I could run as fast as you, Amano-senpai." Amano smiles gently, and tells her, “I think it’s all in the way you come off the blocks.” Hitomi lifts her head in surprise, and [fig. 1-4] Amano says, "You focus everything you've got. And then launch yourself forward."
He then notices and compliments her pendant. She takes it off to show it to him, and says, "It's a good luck charm I got from my grandmother." She holds out out and says, “It’s really interesting, actually.” She flicks her wrist and the sound effect — a reverberant, whooshing sound — of it swinging freely through the air play.
She explains that it acts like a pendulum clock, always completing one cycle per second, never slowing down. Amano asks, “Can I try it?” She wordlessly hands it to him, and he turns around to face the clock on the wall. He flicks his wrist and the sound effect occurs, and with the first right swing, Hitomi counts out loud “One.” Amano takes over with, “Two,” counting to six alone before Hitomi joins in again with him.
Amano stops abruptly at “Thirteen,” while Hitomi continues all the way to "Seventeen," before Amano interrupts her by saying her name. He hangs his head, and says, "The truth is, I...," before turning around and leaning on the bed.
Right before it seems like Amano is going to confess, Yukari interrupts.
Scene 4 - Analysis
Amano tells the audience that Hitomi has great technique as a runner, but the advice he gives her is about how to charge forward — he is talking about her emotional and mental commitment to running. This is important!When Hitomi says, “I wish I could run as fast as you, Amano,” she holds her pendant — and there it is, the answer to what she did in Scene 2 before the race! She wished. We are shown the answer long before the series tells us anything outright, and it is right here, in the fourth scene of the first episode. Because in Escaflowne, the story is always happening.
So, what did she wish for? And I know you’re thinking, “hey, what about the Daruma doll and the left eye meaning wishing/the future and the right eye meaning wish fulfillment/the present?” :^)
Anyway, I adore that when Amano and Hitomi count the seconds together with her pendant, he stops counting at the exact time Hitomi says she hasn’t broken yet — 13 seconds. Amano showed earlier in the episode that his own speed clocks in at 10.64 seconds. Him stopping at 13 seconds and Hitomi continuing to count in this scene is a metaphor for their relationship. Amano is willing to match her pace despite being a faster runner, but Hitomi needs to keep going. On some level, she feels the literal and metaphorical distance between them must be closed before she can be happy.
Which is why her expression is so uncertain when it seems like Amano is about to confess. She is not swooning or enraptured — she looks like she’s dreading whatever is about to come out of his mouth! Kinda weird, kinda important, that after gushing about this guy, Hitomi is not happy right now. Why would that be?
Well, look at who shows up to interrupt — Yukari!
I want to draw attention to the sound Hitomi’s pendant makes when she swings it in the air. It is resonant and vibrating. In the Hindu and Buddhist chakra traditions, the heart chakra is named Anahata in Sanskrit, which translates into English as “unstruck; a sound produced without touching two parts.” Just uhhh keep that in mind.
Scene 5
RECAP
A jaunty little song plays as the camera tilts down from the evening sky to this Christian church. A van drives by, and Yukari and Hitomi follow. Hitomi whines, “Say something, Yukari!”
Yukari stops and says, "I think I can let this slide for a Yuugetsudo strayberry rice cake...". Hitomi makes a noise of surprise as Yukari continues, counting off on her fingers, all of the desserts she wants, "Oh, and maybe a different dessert every day. I think that’ll do it.”
I love this pan background painting, tilting down to the stairs — it’s a complex painting, but the only animated parts are the miniscule figures of Yukari and Hitomi. The illusion of movement is really felt despite how truly static it is.
When Hitomi denies collapsing on purpose, Yukari replies, “Oh, really? I bet you’re wondering if something would've happened if I hadn't shown up." Hitomi says, "Jerk," and they both burst into giggles.
Cut to another shot constructed like the last, a tilt down pan painting, where the only movement ends up being a red car.
They stop walking under a road bridge when Yukari asks, “Hitomi? Have you ever done a reading for you and Amano?” Hitomi says, “No,” and Yukari asks, “Why not?” Hitomi explains, "Well, what if it said it wouldn't work out?" Yukari just says, "Oh," before we finally see her expression:
Yukari emotionally tells Hitomi that she heard the upperclassmen talking, and they said that Amano is going to move abroad and won't be in the prefectural track meet. Yukari says, "Look, I know how you feel about him, Hitomi... You should tell him. You’ll regret it if you don’t. I know you'll regret it if you don't..."
ANALYSIS
WOOF!!!
Personally, the first time I saw this scene, I was really surprised by the tone at the beginning. But having seen the full series, I really love it, and think it works so, so well.
Yukari’s behavior at the start felt odd after she was shown actively acknowledging Hitomi’s feelings towards Amano — but Hitomi doesn’t seem to think it’s odd. She whines, begging Yukari to say something after presumably going silent after the previous scene, unafraid of whatever is causing Yukari to act this way.
It’s only after the audience is made to sit through Yukari’s behavior post-Scene 4 that we are given her reason for it; “I didn’t collapse on purpose, okay?!” The structure of this moment is subtly drawing the audience out of Hitomi’s pov again, and into one more objective by drawing specific attention to Yukari. Think about what it would feel like if this scene opened with Hitomi saying, “I didn’t collapse on purpose, okay?! Say something, Yukari!” and then played out with Yukari demanding compensation. It would evoke different feelings in the viewer.
So far, all that the audience is shown regarding the tarot card readings is that Hitomi is known for doing them for others, and that she is too afraid to do a reading for herself and Amano. She admits to being afraid of being disappointed. This is significant, because it gives us insight into how the tarot cards play a role in her life: she believes in what the cards tell her of past and future events.
But what about her expression in Scene 4? What does it mean that Hitomi is now admitting that when in private, she can’t face her future in the tarot cards, and when faced with her crush’s potential confession, she recoils in dread? What about when Hitomi apologized to Yukari, and quickly turned away from her to look for Amano? It means Hitomi is avoidant. She avoids her own emotions/self (Scene 4 and now 5), and is easily distracted by her immediate interests and wants (Scene 1), leading to… ? Well, you’ve seen the show, you know lol.
Scene 6
RECAP
Opening on an exterior establishing shot of the Kanzaki household, Hitomi's mother (unseen) is calling for her, letting her know the bath is ready. Cut to an interior shot of an open window, curtain open and wafting in the breeze, where the full moon glows warmly in a starless sky.
We see The Tower tarot card, and Hitomi says sadly, “The card of distant separation… No…!” She hangs her head and laments that she'll never see Amano again. Tearfully, she lifts her eyes to, "The Ace of Serpents...? Courage?"
ANALYSIS
Hitomi isn’t doing a reading for her and Amano. She already told us what the specific question she is asking in the opening:
“It all began on that day I asked the tarot cards if I’d find love.”
Hitomi was unwilling to ask this question until Yukari told her that Amano is leaving, effectively dooming the relationship before it could ever begin. She can only be brave now, when consulting the cards out of despair.
In her vision, Hitomi sees a tower crumble and hears Van and Balgus talk about a dragon, and that imagery repeats here in the cards. She does not connect it to her vision at all! I’m getting ahead of the episode here, but the cards are “right,” as in, they do show Hitomi a future that will come to pass. But if she is a person who avoids herself, if she avoids seeing the world around her, what informs her interpretation of the future? Well, I said it in the last scene: she is easily distracted by her immediate interests and wants.
To put it another way, she’s 15 years old, lol.
Now, to be more craft-focused and speak to the series on the whole, the function of the tarot cards in Escaflowne is as a vehicle for Hitomi to channel her psychic abilities, and as a visual tool for the audience to understand the mechanics of those abilities.
