The Vision of Escaflowne - Reviews

Alt title: Tenkuu no Escaflowne

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Xuchilbara's avatar
Aug 23, 2013

I'm not going to give this a perfect score, but I would say this was almost perfect. (No anime is perfect.) It's one of the most underrated animes in America, and I think the reason is because of the shoddy English dub. Don't watch that version, the music and vision was changed way too much, to the point where it barely resembles the original. That being said I am reviewing the Japanese version. This will contain light spoilers.

Animation: The animation is fantastic! I watched this when I was 14, which was 12 years ago in 2002. Back then the animation for then was up to par despite being about 7 years old. (It came out in 1996.) I re-watched it recently and it still holds up. If you compare it to other  anime around that era such as Slayers for example, it doesn't hold up the test of time. This is a rare anime that does hold through time.

The other thing that makes the animation that fantastic is that the show is geared as Shonen, but the style of animation is Shoujo. So, it comes off as being very beautiful and exquisite. The little bits of computer animation they use cause the animation to have this organic flow to it. It works in harmony with the rest of the animation. 10/10

Sound: The sound is also something to look into. It has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. Even through the 12 year period I still remember the theme song, so when I had heard it after so long I could still remember the lyrics! The music is insanely memroable.

Yoko Kanno does the score, who is quite a famous anime composer. They worked on Cowboy Bebop, which is totally different musical score, but fit the show. The music mostly does fit the show. The reason why I took some points off, however, was because the ending theme song really does not fit Escaflowne. It really doesn't. Maybe that has to do with the fact that this show was originally intended as Shoujo and was changed during production. I'm not sure, but that's why it's not as high for me as the animation. But, I still consider this one of the best anime OST's. 9.8/10

Story: The story is pretty epic. When you watch because of both the animation and the musical score you will get this 'epic' feel. I am not even kidding. The atmosphere comes off very good when all these elements work in harmony.

The story is set in the fantasy world of Gaia that resembles a beautiful medieval fantasy world. However there is mecha/technology in it as well. Thus, assembling it as both scifi and fantasy. It combines magic and tech in a very good way. As a mech-fantasy it works in better harmony in this show than one would think.

Another aspect of the story that is great is because the story features a mix of Shoujo and Shounen themes. It's mixed up more than what you would garner from other animes, to the point where I would say the themes are almost entirely equal. While the story is still a mecha anime and there is emphasis on battling, as the story progresses there's likewise an emphasis on the relationships between the characters.  But not too much! If it were too much it would be mellow dramatic as some Shoujo is, however, it's not. (This is probably why it did not sell much in Japan.)

When the story starts out in the first half, the characters relationships takes a backseat. As the story progresses you'll start to realize that almost every character as a important purpose in the series and they're all intertangled in the intracet web of the main story. There's parts where the story could get confusing but it pans out into a nice flow towards the end.

Now as for the bad parts, I would say the ending is bad. Not because what happens to the main character and her decisions, I think it was super awesome they didn't go for the type of predicable ending as seen in Inuyasha. But because there were parts of the story that were not wrapped up correctly, such as the Dilandu stint. (That was the big one, actually.) This could be due to the fact that they had made the story way too flowing for a 26 episode anime.

Another bad part of the anime is that they have the vast fantasy world of Gaia to work with, yet the series is pretty short. I wish it were longer because I think this anime could have worked as a semi-long series. Maybe in the style of the first 3 seasons of Slayers rather than something on the scale of Dragon Ball Z. Again, this may have been due to the fact that it really didn't do good in Japan. (It did however, sell well in places such as Korea.) 8.8/10

Characters: The characters are great. I want  to focus on the main character Hitomi. As previously mentioned this show had gone through a few major changes in production. If I recall it was supposed to be shonen and Hitomi was this big-breasted, curvy, air-headed, cliche type female protaginist of shonen themes whose role was probably down played compared to male characters. Then it was thought to be shoujo, so Hitomi changed into a more realistic athletic school girl fallen into a rich fantasy world far from home. Then changed to Shonen again, but this time a lot of the new Shoujo elements were kept.

One of these is Hitomi. She becomes something unique compared to most Shonen. She has short hair which isn't styled sexy, in fact she is not sexualized at all. She has a normal body type. And despite being unable to battle she plays a key role in the events unfolding in Gaia and in the fighting, she's a very useful character to others.

Development of her character questions this as she feels the others use her and she develops into someone who despite depending on others when she has to, is able to come to her own conclusions and make her own descisions. She no longer feels powerless. She's also not a damsel in distress and is able to rescue herself and do for herself on several occaisons. (I think she's a very "feminist" character, personally.)

Allen is a swordsman and mecha pilot. He's considered a "playboy" but I wouldn't call him one per se. He just has a history and an illegitimate child out of wedlock, so that makes him controversial in some sense. However, he remains a fairly good character and treats women well. He is one of the first of the characters to treat Hitomi as a person, rather than a tool to be used.

Vaan, his opposite, and pilot of the Escaflowne is young and green. He doesn't have the experience that Allen has as an adult. But his character grows into being a lot more understanding than at the beginning. At the start he was treating Hitomi as a tool which offended her, later on he is more well rounded and comes to realize his feelings for her. No longer does he treat her as such, but rather he and Hitomi grow feelings for eachother and they are able to work together for the goals despite their differences.

Princess Milinia, well she surprised me. When she's introduced the audience is convinced she's only a plot device to make Hitomi come to terms with her feelings and she intentionally rallies up Hitomi's jealousy over Allen. However, as you learn more about her you learn how important she is. She doesn't want to be a princess, she wants to be a doctor. Since she studied the doctor texts she is able to use her medical training to help during some of the fights. Though she doesn't fight herself, her inner self develops into a very stong woman. One who knows what she wants, in spite of what she's told. She then does things her way, contrary to what is expected of her.

Dryden, he was one of the characters who made me laugh. I can understand why he tries to avoid all those battles though and he seems, though it doesn't look like it at first, to genunially care about the others. He is very learned and he has a very eccentric personality. He's a scholar trope, but one that isn't typical in shonen so much as it is in fantasy. He's also the voice of reason among the characters, as being very scientific, and doesn't believe in that mystic stuff Hitomi is into.

Folken, is pretty much a poor and doomed soul. Probably Dilandu-sama as well. They both have some tragic backstories that made them side with the main antagonist. (Dilandu, against his will however.) I don't want to spoil too much. So, I'll save some space and just say that it would be better if you saw this for yourself.

Merle, while I love Merle, I find her the most useless of the characters. She has some part in the story but mostly it's comic relief between her and Hitomi. Also, she follows Van around to the point where it can get to be annoying. She is probably the only character I have a lot more negative things to say about, but as I said. I don't hate her. I like her. I just see that she could be seen as very obnoxious. 9/10

Overall: I give the series a 9/10. No series is perfect. Some of the character development is stalled at the end. Merle can get annoying. Ending theme song doesn't fit the show at all. (I don't think the show is long enough. ) There's not enough exploration of the world. But, the characters are great. The story and atmosphere, epic. The animation gorgeous. It has a nice balance of some of the good things about Shonen and some of the good things about Shoujo. I highly recommend this, even to people who aren't into mecha anime.

8.8/10 story
10/10 animation
9.8/10 sound
9/10 characters
9/10 overall
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MrChearlie's avatar
May 18, 2014

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

?/10 story
?/10 animation
?/10 sound
?/10 characters
7/10 overall