The Girl From the Mystic Moon

The Girl From the Mystic Moon (幻の月の少女, maboroshi no tsuki no shōjo) is episode 2 of The Vision of Escaflowne anime series.

Plot
Van and Hitomi are in the field where they landed after coming from earth in a beam of light. They are surrounded by a pack of wolf-men, when one of them recognizes Van, and offers him a ride back to his home. During the ride, he finds out that Hitomi comes from the blue moon (the earth) which hangs in the sky, called the Mystic Moon. They ride into Van's home of Fanelia, where Hitomi finds that Van is given a hero's welcome as their prince. A strange cat-girl named Merle greets Van, hugging and licking him. A council of knights comes to Van, verifying that he has completed the rite of dragonslaying.

Hitomi finds herself daydreaming of home and her friends, when Merle shows up, cross at the relationship Hitomi has with Van, and steals Hitomi's pendant. They run through the halls of the palace when Hitomi is distracted by a sight through a door. Van and the knight Balgus are practicing sword technique. Balgus rebukes Van for not attacking agressively enough. Van balks at swordfighting, and he expresses his reservations about becoming king.

Meanwhile, the caravan of wolf men leave Fanelia, smell something in the forest, but think nothing of it. We then see shimmers and a piece of hardware sticking out of the trees, while Van is coronated as the king of Fanelia. Guards at the main gate see shimmers across the ground, when they are attacked by large robot warriors - guymelefs - with invisibility cloaks. The city tries to fight off the intruders, but are unable to fight an invisible enemy. Fanelia's knights, in their own melefs, quickly fall to the enemies, while Van goes to get his own melef Escaflowne. Hitomi recognizes Escaflowne from her first vision when she fainted, and helps Van fend off the invaders. She divines the presence of the enemies, warning Van of their position. Van successfully destroys a few of these invaders with the help of the knight Balgus. Balgus tells Van to flee with Hitomi, but is killed soon thereafter. His last instruction is to take Escaflowne and flee, to return and rebuild Fanelia another day. Van is soon surrounded by the enemy, but Hitomi's pendant alights, and she, Van and Escaflowne are fleeted away in a beam of light.

Characters

 * Hitomi Kanzaki
 * Van Fanel
 * Merle
 * Balgus

Trivia

 * The items Merle found in Hitomi's bag are a pouch, a lipstick, a compact, cotton puffs, lotion, antiperspirant, a pager, a sewing set, a nail clipper, 2 tissue packs, 2 handkerchiefs, 6 tampons, 6 pain-relievers, 9 cut bandages, a student notebook, 4 textbooks, socks, undergarment, 2 sports towels, shoes and a shoe bag, a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, a jersey, a portable ("Discoman") CD player, headphones, batteries, and 2 CDs (including one by "trff").