It yanks the rug a second time, and that's the point. You barely settle into the initiation ceremony for Qawool Towles, all of seventeen and beaming, before Arjah shows up and dumps the whole cast into Creteria, a grey industrial grind under a despot named Dall that could not be further from El-Hazard's sun-bleached spires. The show trades spectacle for slow burn, letting the strangeness of the new kingdom sit instead of exploding, and the alien architecture and machinery do a lot of the talking. Be honest with yourself going in: the linework does not hold a candle to the OVAs, and that soft J-pop ballad over the credits belongs to a completely different anime. But the reason you stay is Shayla-Shayla, arms crossed, refusing to smile at the new Priestess of Water while everyone else fawns.

A new Priestess of Water, seventeen-year-old Qawool Towles, comes to Floristica to take over from Miz, who is stepping down to marry Fujisawa. Nearly everyone greets her warmly, though Shayla-Shayla does not. During her initiation ceremony, a mysterious entity called Arjah appears and sends the whole group into an alternate world. Stranded once more, Makoto and the others find themselves in Creteria, a bleak industrial kingdom under the rule of a despot named Dall. To return to El-Hazard, they must uncover the secret of an ancient artifact known as the Spring of Life, and time is short, since the spring appears to be dying. The result is a fantasy adventure with a comedic streak.