"The Vision of Escaflowne" is an interesting Japanese anime series that is a mix of adventure, fantasy, science fiction, mecha, romance, and steampunk. The series was directed by Kazuki Akane and produced by the Japanese studio called "Sunrise" which is also responsible for such works like "Cowboy Bebop." The Vision of Escaflowne was aired on two Japanese TV networks: "TV Tokyo" and "Animax." From there, there was a manga that circulated for eight volumes, a videogame, and a theatrical movie. The movie and the series have to different stories and feel from each other. Vision of Escaflowne revolves around several characters: Hitomi Kanzaki, Van Slanzar de Fanel, Allen Crusade Schezar, Folken Lacour de Fanel, Dilandau Albatou, Merle, and Millerna Sarah Aston.
Each character has something to bring to the series. Most of the story revolves around both Hitomi and Van throughout most of the series.
Hitomi is the only character who is from Earth. She is a high school student and track star. However, a young warrior named Van appears on the track field as he combats a dragon. The two of them get transported back to the world of Gaea. It is revealed that on the planet Gaea, Hitomi can see Earth and its moon up into the sky. Earth is also dubbed as the "Mystic Moon" or "Phantom Moon." Hitomi’s powers of clairvoyance are strengthened as a result of Gaea’s atmosphere. However, Hitomi is then dragged into the ongoing war against the powerful Zaibach Empire that wishes to dominate everything on Gaea.
Hitomi has a fascination with the use of tarot cards. On Gaea, the ability to play tarot cards is invaluable throughout the series. She has the ability to warp people’s visions of the future.
It is revealed that Van is a young king of a land called Fanelia. His part of bloodline of beings known as Draconians. Van also pilots Escaflowne which is a giant humanoid mecha that can be transformed into a dragon. It uses the power of a dragon’s heart. But due to Van’s heritage as a Draconian, he feels the pain whenever Escaflowne gets damaged. In order to heal Van, Escaflowne must be repaired. This is one of the biggest points of Escaflowne, which is the mecha. If Escaflowne gets destroyed, Van will die along with it.
There is Allen who is an elite knight from the nation of Asturia. He is an incredibly skilled swordsman with his own reason for taking on Zaibach. It is revealed that his sister Celena was kidnapped by the Zaibach Empire. Allen fights against Zaibach in hopes of freeing his sister.
Folken plays the role of hero/villain in the series as he is the older brother of Van. The relationship between Van and Folken plays a very integral part to The Vision of Escaflowne series.
Overall, The Vision of Escaflowne is an interesting fantasy series to watch. This is one of my personal favorites to watch. So far, the series wasn’t released to network TV across North America. However, there was a broadcast of the Escaflowne movie a few years back on the Cartoon Network channel. But the movie is very much different from the series as it’s a bit more bloody and violent.
The mechas in the series aren’t present in the movie except for Escaflowne. There were many elements in the series that is influence from European style fantasy. But in the movie, it has more Asian elements. The movie is a great anime to watch in its own right. But the two of them should be watched as two separate and non-related entities.
It is unknown if and when the series will be released to North American television.
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