Why do/don't you love Dilandau?

[Entushka]

I found, that there are lot of us, who love Dilandau. I thought, that Am only one, who crazy enough for that.
I think she's (I like to call her 'she') a good person, who loves her solders more then all in the world. She's just a little innocent and insane girl, who just playing with tin toy soldiers. 'couse highest priority has what we wanted to do, not what we've done, so we can't call her evil. She just does not understand what she doing. I think she doesn't know meaning of word 'death' at all. And I think she does not know about deaths of her soldiers (yes, I've seen all the series).
So, she isn't evil, and I just like her.
But why do YOU like/love/don't like/hate her? Answer please.
Thank you for listening.

[DracoFirst]

:eek:This has series spoilers if you haven't seen the ending.:eek:

I'm a mixed basket on Dilandau...I dislike him for the following reasons:
1.) He's a pansey
2.) He freaks out every time Van gets mad
3.) Snails! You don't eat snails! Bad bad bad!

Reasons I do like him:
1.) His affection for fire
2.) He does neurosis so well
3.) Well..he's really a HER! I mean come on, who wouldn't be screwed up if that happened?!? I loved Dilandau because he/she was such a great plot twist that I really never saw coming (probably because I slept through two of the episodes and didn't find out until the last ep.) I definetly think that was an original plot twist.

[Nairohe]

I love Dilandau because he/she's a unique character. Sure at first glance he/she's just another standard, psycho anime character, but the more you watch and get to know him, there's so many layers that go into his/her character.

As you progress through the series, you see him/her slowly degenerating from seeing his/her men die off slowly by Van's hand... anyhoo, he/she confuses like/crush with hate and death... You know its really obvious that Dilandau has feelings for Van. Pft, its so obvious that it was Hitomi that helped or rather made Van see or gave the attack... (well, she pointed where he/her men where didn't she? technically it really was her fault... blink blink*) Anyhoo, you can see the jealousy when he/she saw Van and hitomi together when they went after the dopeldanger... You also see him hurt those who are closest to him. The dragon slayers and the beat man to name a few... well, that could also explain why he hates (or probably loves) Van so much...

He's not like any other character i've ran into before.. heh, better than any Utena or Yuyu Hakusho Character i can name or compare... which is why i came to love Escaflowne. Odd really, but that's what i like about Dilandau.

[suzaku]

i have one thing to say why i like her...

she's one pshychotic character

[Tenkawa]

I think my only complaint about the character was the way that its *SPOILER WARNING* revealed that she's really Allen's sister transformed. I mean, and maybe I missed the hints, but I would have preferred some more subtle hints then one big fat bomb being dropped when Hitomi hits her with the pillar of light.

[Viola]

Dilandau is a very interesting person that is for sure. Though I have to admitt that I think the obsession with fire is pretty cool. At least you always know when he is around.:redhot:

But there is something really wrong with the fact that she wanted to eat a snail.:vomit:

[suzaku]

YES!!! BURN!!!

[Dryden-san]

Maybe he just really likes escargot...? I like Dilandau, as he's one of those characters that is completely insane, but not 'funny insane.' Scary insanse. He seems to confuse love and hate really easily, but that's just part of his charm. I like him in all his snail-eating glory.

But what did changing his gender have to do with 'fate alteration?' I did catch the hints, but I still don't understand why they had to change him into a man instead of just giving him a blood infusion or something like with the twins.

[suzaku]

well...zaibach scientist wants to alter fate by physical means and dilandau is a guinea pig in this experiment of fate alteration

[Kurai Kodomo]

Originally posted by Entushka
I think she's (I like to call her 'she') a good person, who loves her solders more then all in the world.

Wait a minute! Dilandau is a girl?!?! I thought he/she was a guy.

[Dryden-san]

*SPOILERS!*








Dilandau is actually Allen's sister who disappeared at a young age. Hitomi hears about the abduction in episode three or four. It is not revealed until near the end when Dilandau stars reverting spontaneously back to a girl that the truth comes to light.

Here's another possible theory about the whole sex-change thing. Presumably, the science of fate alteration was fairly crude in Zaibach at the time of Celena's abduction. Later refinements like the fate alteration engine and enhanced luck soldiers were still a good 15(?) years in the future. Perhaps, unable to alter the fate of a human subject in one form, they altered fate by changong the form. I have no idea how they actually changed his gender, but I suspect the process has a lot to do with why s/he's so f*cked up.

[Kurai Kodomo]

Hmmm...I bet they could of used doppleganger DNA to achieve that.

[yue]

Dalandau is funny but i dont really like him all that much hes to crazy and mental he spazzes out everytime he sees Allen or Vahn. I like Celena better shes more...well...not mental!:D

[Drizzten]

Dilandu is probably my second-favorite character after Folkien.

Dilandu is straight up scary. I like such raw emotion in a character.

[meilinrei]

The more I seen Dilandau the more I like him. He's just such and interesting character and he's sooo amusing to watch :D

[warlock]

Well at first, I hate Dilandau for all the chaos and havoc he had cause but after finding out who he or rather she really is I pity her.

You couldn't blame someone who had been brainwashed for all the crime she committed considering the fact that she has no awareness of this. So in the end I kinda like her.

[Fenix]

Originally posted by meilinrei
The more I seen Dilandau the more I like him. He's just such and interesting character and he's sooo amusing to watch :D

I agree. He's my second favorite(after Folken-sama)
Moero...MOERO!!!!! ^_^

[kakerjak]

Dilandau just adds this little touch of insanity to the show with I love. I hate his 'morals' and how he acts, but I love the character.. it's so interesting to try to understand a character like that :)

[Nulani]

... BURN, BURN!!!... *incert manical laughter..

Personally I've always been freaked by Dilandu; He/she really lightens the anime up with a arrogancy and insanity..

+ I just love the obsession with fire... BURN, BURN!!!

Edit; Massive typo wrong.. <Typosians> *snicker*

[elvenfire]

I love Dilandau! With so many noble and honorable anime villains out there (Ashram, Treize, Zagato, Folken) it's nice to have someone who really doe live for destruction, death and pain without any inhibitions. It doesn't hurt that he's so beautiful either (baka face-scaring Van!).

[warlock]

Dilandau adds some spice to the show. He creates the suspense and kinda gives me chills.

Anyways as they say there is a thin line between love and hate so probably Dilandau could prove this. The more you hate him the more you love him.

[AsukaLangleySohryu]

so is dilandau a male or female at the end

[Fenix]

Dilandau becomes a girl at the end.

[EVA fiend]

Dilandau is one screwed up character..., I actually liked this character more after it was revealed that "he" was a female..., it gave a reason to why the character was so demented..,

[AsukaLangleySohryu]

i wonder how SHE change back to female again.

at first i though she is a female,i continue watching and people call him a HE,then there is a scene where dilandau have bandages all over,no breast seen,i confirm that she was a HE,then at the end she dress like a girl and is Allen sister.

after so much,it is normal for her to be so crazy.happy to see that she is normal finally

[kakerjak]

Originally posted by AsukaLangleySohryu
happy to see that she is normal finally

How can a person even be near normalicy after going through what Dilandau went through?

[Raven]

Fire!! :redhot: I like Dilandou for the same passion for fire that I have! Insanity is a plus too!

[mahal44]

he scares me.....or is it she?.....:o

[theredhood]

Dilandau, I like. S/he is my current #1 Escaflowne character.

Psychopathic characters draw me, twisted characters draw me, and tragic characters draw me. Dilandau is all of these things rolled into one.

~the red hood (oh, and this thread's sentiment that 'fire is good' is right on)

[kokoruchan]

Dilandau - a dark psycopathic villain with a humain twist and unexpected past - I like - esp the way s/he's always messing with the gash on her face - ads nicely to the insane personality :heh:

[Teddy]

Who doesn't like him? I guess at first I liked him because he was playde by andrew francis who I at that time knew him as "genki"
anyone like monster rancher? As it went on I liked the way he acted I mean he was evil he was cold hearted but he cared but man I hated it when I found out it was Allen's sister all along which made me mad because as her he was all nicey nice and innocent I like him better as dilandau then that girl.
Dilandau=:smash:
That girl= :stareup:

[theredhood]

Originally posted by Teddy
I guess at first I liked him because he was playde by andrew francis who I at that time knew him as "genki"
I haven’t watched the English dub, and after seeing the entire thing in its original Japanese, it just wouldn’t be the same without Dilandau’s passionate cries of “MOERO! MOERO!!”

Originally posted by Teddy
but man I hated it when I found out it was Allen's sister all along which made me mad because as her he was all nicey nice and innocent I like him better as dilandau then that girl.
‘That girl’ is the best part of Dilandau IMNSHO. I love characters that have been warped like s/he has been. And if Dilandau had been born as Dilandau, he would not have become Dilandau, the pyromaniac that we know and love. He is who he is because he was taken in as a young girl, and tWiStEd. He has the nature of a child interrupted, never given the chance to grow and learn; it was all crammed into him: the programming to make her a him, to make her gentle childhood into his bitter raging youth. He is volatile, impulsive, unforgiving, quick to judge and condemn, and everything a normal rebellious teen might be, only multiplied to Dilandau proportions. I don’t think Serena’s gentle nature could handle the Dilandau personality, the factor that likely made him into the unstable psycho he is. And even though they showed the reversion at the end of the show, I don’t think after what s/he has gone through that s/he can ever truly revert. Dilandau dominated for over 2/3rds of her life! It’s never so easy............ Plus, nice and innocent generally doesn’t coincide with the eating of snails or the crushing of butterflies. ^.^

~the red hood

[Constantine Dragomirov]

First off, Dilandau Albatou is a male... the female is called Celena... 2 different characters, thus no need for "s/he".

Now, to why I like Dilandau so much. "Escaflowne" is an Eva-generation anime, which tries to break the boundaries; one of these beakthroughs is the attempt to make new, original villain types. Be it Folken, Dornkirk, or Dilandau, they're painstakingly twisting anime antagonist canon - and sometimes this can be as annoying as following it to the letter... merely a mirror image.

Folken and Dornkirk are both "good/bad" initially, and to the end turn completely good. "The enemy is not persona, but human nature itself" blah blah blah. This pathetic proclamation in its mediocrity was worth the entire Escaflowne (hopelessly losing to Eva, IMHO).

One of the few real innovations was the Dilandau character; never have I seen psychosis pictured so vividly and realistically in anime. His little gestures, such as finger biting, scar fondling, bottle scrapping, the easiness in dispersing pain yet being shocked by a merest scratch - form a believable and indeed original persona.

However, his plot line turned out to be a big joke... I don't have much against sadistic inhuman experiments, and indeed to be screwed up in the head department one usually needs a reason... but turning Dilandau into a submissive mute girl? In a moment's notice? Forever? I have several problems with that.

1. The final fight sucked. Actually, most of the later Dilandau fights suck - he and his underlings are just beaten up mercilessly, reducing the fearsome commander into a babbling idiot scared almost to death. But the final fight really rubbed it in. After the "readjustment" I was hoping to see a new and improved Dilandau, who would finally put up some resistance to that annoying pest Van... tough luck. If anything, he became even less competent.

I understand the authors' desire to make an unusual battle - between the two "good guys", one of which is protecting the "bad guy", how much more original can you get? But that doesnt excuse Dilandau's -----poor fighting abilities.

2. The instanteneous metamorphosis... yeah sure, the Wish fulfillment field was around. But was it Dilandau's wish to turn into that... plushie dolly of a person Celena is? I could hope the battle itself, and Jajuka in danger, would sparkle some rage in Dilandau's maniacal soul, so that like a shooting star he'd go down in a blaze of glory...

In fact, since most people wished for war, and it affected Allen & Van in particular, wouldn't it push Dilandau into battle rather than making him think about his... "tender, cute, feminine side" (ack)...

So, all-in-all, the Escaflowne crew did a great job in making the Dilandau character, but in their blind pursuit for "originality" spoiled his life (and the series, actually) by the ending. I can only hope that next time Celena steps on a bug, Dilandau will return and take over the world... and then BURN it.

[Drizzten]

I mostly agree with you.

While psychosis is by it's nature hard to predict and can swing wildly from emotion to emotion...the unrealistic swing from unrelenting and murderous warrior to benign and demure sister was a bit too much.

The Esca team could have extended the final climatic battle to a better length. The series had really good animation, very impressive guymelef designs, and a solid mastery of large-scale swordfighting...if only they had pulled out all the stops in the climax.

However, these weaknesses didn't spoil the anime as a whole for me.

[Sheex, The Dark Stalker]

Well, just like in Eva, budgetary and production problems resulted in sub par endings. Unfortunately, Escaflowne did not have the option to remake the ending to what they originally intended. :( It may be mega rushed, but I still thought it was good :P

[Ura]

I really liked the Dilandau, and believe it or not I had it worked out by episode 7 that he/she was Alans sister. I largely thought it from the character designs.

Anyway I agree with the MUERO! MUERO! Hahahahahaha! attitude that makes him a good character. He is one of the few that conveys true insanity in anime. Not just sadism.

Now the Dilandau in the movie is slightly different. He is always a he, and has dragon blood in him, like Van and Folken. So why is he insane? He was raised by beasts I guess but I got the impression that he couldn't handle the power given to him. I found it really interesting that he was essentially the same character but didn't have the major problems that he had in the series.

[Callisto]

The only reason I don't like Dilandau is because he turned out to be Celena in the end. But that's not to say he's a girl. He was a totally new person who was based on Celena. They were 2 seperate people who were struggling for control of the same body. In the end, Celena surfaced. And all that bashing of Dilly's dub voice. C'mon! It's not THAT bad! Maybe it's cause I'm Canadian, and Andrew Francis (dub voice, duh) has done voices in many cartoons up here. oh well, that is all.

[serinity rose]

*bows*
Hello all, I am from the shack and well, I AM ABSOLUETLY IN LOVE WITH DILANDAU-SAMMA!!! He is my dream guy(yes I know, weird).
He has a intense fire to him, he is commanding and he has the most georgious eyes I have ever seen. I don't really know why I love him but I do. :) He is my pyro god and I am his ~goddess of fire~ (yes I am the goddess of fire, um, long story....)

[Phantom Angel]

i am not a big fan, but i still think he's really really really kool. heh, serinity rose changed my views on dilandau. i think he's quite mistunderstood. oh and yes, i m a shacker too. hehe, i hope we'll all get along here. heh.... yes... i like dilly-sama. he's really kool. and i think that him turning out to be celena was something interesting. tho some say it ruined it all. i dunt think it did. yes..... hehe. yes.... no idea...

---------
~&Goddess of Judgment&~ (another loooong story)

[Chesta chesta chesta]

I love Dilandau-sama cos he is utterly completely INSANE!

and he surrounds himself with young boys..*sniggers* Hates Van hates Allen.....actually everybody apart from himself.

How can you not love that?

And he just looks yummy in red....

[Fyre]

Dilandau is GOD! or should that be Satan??
He's a cool character coz he's odd and twisted, looks great in the uniform, and is just an all round lunatic, like me...not to mention the whole pyro thing which just suits me fine! :D

[Callisto]

Ah yes, others pointed out another reason to love Dilandau-sama. Because he is sooooooooooooo cute!!!!!!!!!!! :p

[Chesta chesta chesta]

I thought up another reason.....

Without Dilandau my friend Mikey wouldn't get pissed out of his brain and then stand at top of a bar screaming throughout the pub 'I WANT TO SEE DILANDAU STRUT HIS STUFF!'

That was truly a funny night....

[waterfireGirl]

:rolleyes: ok then..... Dilandau is so chibi cute! MOREOOOOOOO

[Fenix]

Who doesn't like Dilandau? Maybe because he's a pyromaniac...maybe that's the reason I like him. Cause I'm a slight pyro myself. :D
Moero, MOERO!! http://www.plauder-smilies.de/rough/flamethrower.gif

but he can't hold a candle to Folken-sama......

[SunshineKitten]

Dilly-sama is awesome! I mean, how could you not love a guy who likes blood, fire :kaioken: and butterflies. :smash: And besides, I like villains. Because there's something so attractive about a committed person - they have a plan, an ideology, (no matter how twisted). They're motivated. And Dilly, he's the best of them all, so... sadistical. :heh: I'm weird. I know. :kawaii:

"If knowledge is power, and power corrupts, what does absolute
knowledge bring?"
- Unknown

[Hitomi_333]

Ah yes... Dilly...

I love him (I will in fact say him, as Dilandau will always be a "him" to me.) I've gotten rather used to his... um *cough*... "quirks." I think the thing that really did it for me was the esca comedy fan fics where they depict Dilly as being really cute and child-like. I'll never be able to see past the cute version of him, like when he grins those little grins that he does ^_^
I don't like the Celena thing, though I do understand it...
Um, all in all... he's psychotic but I love him for it ^_^