MrChearlie

Setting (Good : 1.5) : This is something quite memorable and it is worth the watch, is like code geass of the 90s, but quite better, why? because its a combination of so many genres: mecha, adventures, fantasy, sci-fi, romance around a massive war between two sides, and it is not pretensious as CG. At the same time it feels so similar to an rpg game due the cliches it has, I swear they could make one, and people wouldn't recognize wich one came before without telling them the answer. So it was very refreshing and enjoy it very much. It also had reference to our world such as Italy, Spain, China and of course, Japan. Interesting? sure it is, there is a lot you could work with it; Unfortunately, it was too much to handle, they explore the world so well at the beggining and everything was so genuine because they had time to focus on it,  but it backfire after the middle were the deadline was closer, they add a lot of bread but they couldn't make a bigger basket, so a lot of substance was lost way to the end.

The Presentation (Great : 2 ), it's almost perfect,  but before I tell the major flaw lets go with all the fun. The animation is quality hand-drawing, just that fact always makes me happy, and its very impressive, the style maybe a little different for newcomers, but give it some episodes and it will grow in you. The body language, as well as for the emotions, are really well portrayed and give a lot of presence to the characters. The setting has a lot of detail in visuals and is very sweet how they bring life to different cities, you feel very welcome, even behind screen.

The music was very distracful at times for me, more for personal reasons than else, they just keep saying ESCAFLOWNE! and I was like, I KNOW I AM WATCHING FUCKING ESCAFLOWNE, you don't have to remind me of it! jeez, but I get used after a while, also Michael Jackson on the Ending. Outside of that everyone says it is masterpiece, and I agree; it is amazing as music, and as soundtrack, so, the athmosphere is there for you to feel captivate for the presentation. My only major problem was the pacing, it began in a sublime way, but after the middle they start to rush things and some parts couldn't breath as they should and it really bother me.

I loved the Characters (Great : 2), they are not complex, they are pretty simple and stereotypical, but the excecution is beautiful; everyone is so vibrant and easy to sympathize, when is drama time, you can take all of them seriously, when is fun time... is not gold comedy but you have a good time. The support cast doesn't have too much insight as I would like, but their personality is there and it was never off. For example: you have the bad guy that thinks that what he does is the correct thing and everyone is wrong, that kind of stuff, but even so, it is fun to watch him, or there is this crazy Dilandau woman that I didn't have fucking Idea of what was on her mind, but I love her, she is so over the top and so well founded personality, that I didn't care if it didn't have sense how she had a such high rank, all I knew was: if she is there, she would look for revenge of any kind and I will enjoy the heck of her madness.

As for the main characters... I just want to open the menu and check the stats, It is a damn RPG Party; they go to one town, and SURPRISE! you have a new member and they all are memorable, I love the cat girl have to say. As well, all have their fears and motivations and deal with this without getting out of the rails, and the dynamic between them, and pretty much all the cast is quite diverse. A subject "A" to "B" conversation will not always turn out like Subject "A" to "C" and that is always a big plus for me.

So now it boils down to the Themes (Good :  1.5), I think it has great material, but as I have said, lot to handle, they start losing focus, they went faster, the pacing starts lacking of consistency, and I got bored at some moments, it wasn't as exciting since it was kind of a mess, my favorite part was the romance department since it was the aspect they take care the most (The action as well but I give more credit of that to the presentation rather themes)  beside that I sometimes was indiferent due to this mess.

But even a newcomer can see the effort put in this show and appreciate that, and I do. I mean, everyone complains about the end (not telling)  but the reasons of this is not because it is bad, if something, really dissapointing, but that it is because everything before of that was outstanding.

So not the best, however, a classic oldie that I highly recommend and there is also a movie remake that is a souless generic action adventure story that use the same names but is garbage compared to the series.

Scoring for website purposes and personal purposes, if you don't like how I score, sincerely, I don't care. It is a number, Read the review if you truly want information.
Overall: 7