Amazon.com: Escaflowne is a sprawling adventure saga that infuses sword-and-sorcery and mecha elements into the popular "magical girl" anime genre. The girl is Hitomi Kanzaki (voice by Kelly Sheridan), a withdrawn teenager who wishes she could just leave everything behind and vanish. When she's magically transported to the alternate world of Gaia, she gets her wish--in spades. The dashing Van (Kirby Morrow) of the White Dragon Clan is pitted against his twisted brother Folken (Paul Dobson), the leader of the Black Dragon Clan, in a succession war that threatens the very existence of Gaia. Hitomi is hailed as the long-awaited "Wing Goddess," and her power over the invincible dragon-mecha suit Escaflowne confirms her status. Although the tangled story line has been pared down, the feature remains a reworking of the 26-part TV series The Vision of Escaflowne, which aired briefly on Fox Kids and is available on DVD. Fans of the television series will find that many of the familiar characters have been redesigned and reduced to minor roles, among them Allen, Princess Millerna, Dryden, Merle, Naria, and Eriya. Some of the story's more outré elements have been dropped, but there are still more prophecies, conflicts, and relationships than the filmmakers can resolve satisfactorily in 96 minutes, despite a pat happy ending. Escaflowne boasts some impressive action sequences, which Kazuki Akane directs with panache. The film opens with a spectacular sword fight, as Van single-handedly dispatches the guards on an enemy airship to capture Escaflowne. MPAA rating: PG-13. Contains considerable violence. --Charles Solomon
Crossover If you like animes that have crossed over the movies, then you'll love Escaflowne.
Upon watching the opening scenes of this movie, the feeling of the grassy-mountainous-hills of a foreign country, is immediate. The scene is interrupted though when a warlike airship appears, and the feeling of peace is completely lost.
This here sets up the main theme of the movie. War is ravishing the world of Gaia (or Gaea) and the fallen and now King, Van, is trying to regain is honor and slay his brother, who massacred the royal family, by using the legendary mecha called Escaflowne.
In enters the heroine, Hitomi. A normal Japanese high school student who has the same reoccurring childhood dream all of her life. Life goes normal for Hitomi until she starts hearing voices and is inevitably transported to Gaia. Upon arrival, Hitomi discovers that she is locked inside the cockpit of Escaflowne, which by now, Van has discovered and is calling for it's aid. When the cockpit opens, Van and Hitomi meet, and Van instantly deems her the Goddess of Wings. The Goddess of Wings, as explained later on, is seen as an omen. In Gaia, when the Goddess of Wings appears, she will us the power of Escaflowne to destroy the entire planet and then to start civilization all over once again.
Beautifully animated, Escaflowne is just one of those crossover movies that you don't want to miss. Just because its an anime, doesn't mean that it doesn't target situations in real life. War, revenge, honor, love, and hope are some of the themes that are depicted in this movie.
On the downside, you're kinda left in the dark. Literally and metaphorically. If you haven't watched the anime series, you're probably not going to have any idea to what the story is REALLY about. So if you want to know what is going on, what the story is about and who the characters are, you might want to look it up. And no doubt about it, the artwork and animation is wonderfully created, but I personally think that it's often too dark and the scenes are sometimes too dark and you can't tell what is what.
All in all though, I found that Escaflowne is one of those animes that was captured and reproduced very well as a movie. It's a must see.
A good showing, despite a few negative reviews on this site. So, okay, it seems a few people here don't "get" anime and some of the rules, or lack thereof.
Whereas in the "western" audience, there is a certain expectation of continuity or similarity with respect to "plot" or "world," it seems that manga and/or anime is not necessarily bound to this convention. IE, similar or the same characters may be put into a similarly named world in different series. However, it's not always the case that continuity from one series spills over into the next. One might think of anime an an infinite number of "alternate realities." IE, the people and names may be the same, but the overall history and current events may be wholly different.
That said, anime movies are sometimes (but not always) a "re-imagining" or "alternate reality" of what is contained in a given "series" or "complete collection." For example Magic Knight Rayearth: TV Series Season One and Two vs. Rayearth. Both are based on the same world and concept, but take it in rather different directions with different themes and execution.
So, in saying that a movie is disappointing because it doesn't follow the same continuity as the main series, one is only showing one's ignorance of how anime works. Personally, I think the movie stands on its own just as well as any other anime movie (regardless of whether it's attached to a specific "series" or not).
I specifically watched the movie FIRST in order to not be tainted ni my expectations of what the movie should be. At least partly because others had mentioned online that the movie is significantly different from the series. Being something of a recent anime fan, I'm not off-put by the dissimilarity, as I understand there are differences between eastern "anime" and western "cartoons" or "animated series."
That said, the movie is considerably darker than series. There may be some reliance on viewers having seen the series. But it provides as much "back story" as many other anime movies (IE, very little). This isn't entirely unexpected to the seasoned anime watcher (which I'm slowly becoming).
The visuals are decent, on par with stuff from the same period. The story is interesting, if about as believable as many other animes (marginally). I might have preferred a bit more, and might have been rather reminded of "Magic Knight Rayearth" in some of the themes. But overall, I wasn't disappointed.
That said, if you go into watching it with the expectation of it being exactly the same as or a continuation of the series, you're both short changing yourself and the film. Give it a chance on its own merits, with the understanding that it's its own work. Loosely based off the original mangas (japanese comics), but not "the same as" the series (different continuity, look, feel and themes). Call them "separate but equal" if you will.
Overall, I was pleased with it.
Not much to say... As far as anime movies go this one isn't ground breaking. It has the impact of a feather dropped from waist height. If you purchased the Escaflone series be happy with the great series you just purchased, and let this one sit in amazons warehouse.
This is my armor This anime movie based on the popular japanese cartoon series is one of the best. The armor is amazing and very different from most mechas seen in anime. I give this anime the tops in stars.
Different but Enjoyable Excellent movie! I f your like me and get confused easily I suggest that you watch the series first. The movie is different from the series and many people may not likle the changes of the characters personalities, but I enjoyed the story going in a different direction. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
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