It's to to Fly away to a magical land! Escaflowne time!

    Escaflowne was a staple of late 90s/ early 2000s anime watching. The show had been released on VHS, and DVD around that time, and it even aired on Fox Kids, partially. This show was not meant to air there- I heard they only got the rights to keep them out of Cartoon Networks hands. What aired was a mess- The first episode was skipped, so much was edited out that episodes had to be spliced together into a nonsensical mess. They even added space noises to spice it up. It was a complete mess. However I saw the diamond and bought all the dvds with my allowance, it took me sometime, but it was the second complete series I owned after Neon Genesis Evangelion.

   As I'm sure the above picture shows you, the series is about pretty men and pointy noses. It's a Sunrise series, so expect robot battles. However Escaflowne is unique in that it was designed to appeal to men and women. Sunrise had had some success with Ronin Warriors and it's cast of pretty boys, so why not give it another go ? An interesting fact is that Escaflowne did much better outside of Japan, even in America, The dvds and vhs sold extremely well, and lead to the creation of the movie.

From left to right- Allen, Hitomi, and Van. The left robot is Sherezade, the right is the titular Escaflowne.

   Escaflowne begins generically enough- Hitomi is a member of the track team, and has a crush on her upperclassmen. She finds out he's moving, and asks for her first kiss if she cans set a new record. Once she begins, a hole in the sky opens, and a young man and a Dragon appear! After a chase, the young boy defeats the Dragon, which is the right of passage to become a king in his land of Fanelia. His name is Van Fanel, and he comes from a planet known as Gaea. Hitomi and Van are then sucked into another portal, to Van's home world,where the earth, known on Gaea as the mystic moon.

    What follows is a story of political intrigue, love, betrayal, furries, pretty boys, and most importantly robots. Van's kingdom is burned to the grown by a supposed ally, Zaibach. Van manages to power up the guardian suit of Fanelia, Escaflowne, and escape with Hitomi. They get separated in the Forrest, and Hitmoi is attacked by a creeper, only to be saved by Allen, who of course resemble her upperclassman in Shoujo fashion. Hitomi instantly develops a crush, though Allen is a Knight, and already has a harem. Poor Hitmomi.

    The basic premise of the series is the Zaibach is attempting to take over the world, and turns on its allies. They have a floating battle ship, robots that can turn invisible, and an army of teenagers, so clearly they're up to no good. No one beleives this of course, so nations keep being burned down, and the survivors band together to fight. Eventually the powers that be decide that Zaibach is clearly evil, and fight back.

    So where does Hitomi fit in ? In the world of Gaea, her latent psychic powers have become freakishly accurate. She can predict the future using tarot cards, and can see the invisible enemies. So naturally. she's an invaluable ally. Since this series needs to get the women on board, she is torn between Allen- a knight with an illegitimate child and a sister complex, and Van- A king with angel wings (he's half Draconian, the lost people of Atlantis.) Clearly the choice is obvious. The series contains many references to mythology and our world, from Atlantis to Sir Issac Newton.

       The best parts of Escaflowne are the pacing, and the music. The series only stops as long as it has to, then it's back to moving on down the line. The music is amazing too, definitely one of the better anime soundtracks out there.


   

Escaflowne can turn into a dragon. Awesome right ?

    The story in heavily influence by Medieval Europe- from the style of dress to the architecture. Even the robots are old school, they're run by pulleys gears, and in Escaflowne's case magic and dragon hearts. There areThere really is something for everyone here. The production values are pretty solid for a mid 90s anime series, compare it to Gundam Wing for lulz. I enjoyed this series and its fun plot twists, this isn't such a straight forward series, though at times Zaibachs plan makes no sense. Something about fate and people having free will, all this coming from raising Atlantis ? Just ignore that and the series is great. Escaflowne-8/10.

          There's a movie as well, but it's just not as good. Hitomi is depressed, and wants to die, so she gets sent to Gaea to help Zaibach with a band of Mercenaries, made up of alternate versions of the television cast. It's okay, though much better than the manga based on early designs and concepts. The less said about the manga the better.