The Vision of Escaflowne

This is another of my favorite Animes. This series came out in 1996 with 26 episodes. And in 2000 a movie was also released. Each episode is about 22 minutes, with the movie being about 1.5 hours. This is one of many Animes that involve Mechs, or large machines used to fight in a multitude of situations. But almost a constant is that Mechs need a human pilot to ride within to fight. The animation is also well done, shadowing and intensification makes it look amazing.

Escaflowne follows teenager Hitomi Kanzaki. She is your average schoolgirl, runs track, and does Tarot card readings for friends. But all her life her Tarot predictions have been a bit more accurate than most people. It goes through her teen angst and wanting her first kiss from Amano, a sexy older classmate. She makes a bet with him if she can run really fast then she gets that kiss. When suddenly big blue light and she runs into Van of Fanelia. Then a huge, fat, fire-breathing Dragon appears. Hitomi has a vision and thus saves Van's life. Van kills the dragon and takes its heart(energist). When suddenly both him and Hitomi are transported back to Van's world known as Gaea. And all of that is just in the first episode. You learn about Van and his background. Hitomi is constantly in teen angst about liking Amano(eventually she pretty much completely forgets about him), liking Van, and liking the Valiant Knight Allen. Catpeople, dog/wolf people, all kinds of odd animals, and odd customs surround her and overwhelm her for awhile. But she eventually adjusts. You learn that Escaflowne is an Ispano Guymelef(guymelef being the term used for mechs in the show). A very powerful and well built Guymelef that can turn into a flying dragon. Oh and if you pilot it too much you create a physical connection to it, meaning that when the Guymelef gets cut, so do you. If your Guymelef gets stabbed in the arm, you also get stabbed in the arm.

The show continues with 3 main antagonists. One is sad and doesn't actually agree with the Zaibach Empire but does their bidding. One is insane, his insanity increases exponentially as the series goes on. This just makes him less and less predictable and more and more dangerous. And the last one is the mastermind old guy who wants all of his dreams to come true. Which involves complete chaos and destruction. Allies are introduced, by the end you see that all the girls in the show are pretty angsty with liking multiple guys at the same time. Figuring out who to be with and so on. The guys are slightly oblivious to this/ignore it completely and let the girls pretty much instigate the moves. Big Guymelef fights, murder, visions, dreams, Tarot card themes, burning cities, pervert mole-man, and a Badass guy who can wield a sword at least twice as long as he is tall. He was awesome, taking on Guymelefs with a sword that a Guymelef would use. And he beats those he gets to. Oh and did i mention Atlantis? There is a lot of stuff to deal with that and what it really was and so on. Its pretty cool.

So the fight scenes are great, the teen angst gets to be a bit much at times. But the music and the battles are really good. Especially the music, it pretty perfectly gets you into the scenes. Making you ready for the destruction and pain that is going to occur. The show has some fascinating ideas and philosophies.

Some side information for you. The show did not do as well in Japan as the producers hoped. But worldwide, especially in the US the show did fantastically. Out selling many other Gundam shows at the time. As well as many other animes that were released at about the same time.

Like I said, this is one of my favorite anime shows. With the intense battle scenes and the connection you eventually feel for the characters make this a wonderful anime to watch. I give it a 10 out of 11. The teen angst is the only real downside of the show. But its ignorable at times.

Additional side info for you. The movie is also very well done. The animation is more intense. It is pretty obvious that a lot more time and effort went into its production. The movie however is not an extension of the show. It is separate. The real interesting thing about the movie is that it features almost all of the characters from the series, but in different roles. The movie also incorporates psychic abilities instead of Hitomi's visional type things. The movie is far more violent, and shows far more blood. It is fast paced and several scenes are stunning. The movie also incorporates a deity-like prophesy character being The Wing Goddess. I really enjoyed the movie, and i especially enjoyed seeing familiar characters in new and sometimes awesome roles. Many of the characters in the movie are far more Badass than they were in the series. The movie can be seen on its own and still be good. But i would recommend watching the series first.