Tenkuu no Escaflowne (The Vision of Escaflowne)

Hitomi Kanzaki is just an ordinary 15-year-old schoolgirl with an interest in tarot cards and fortune telling, but one night, a boy named Van Fanel suddenly appears from the sky along with a vicious dragon. Thanks to a premonition from Hitomi, Van successfully kills the dragon, but a pillar of light appears and envelopes them both. As a result, Hitomi finds herself transported to the world of Gaea, a mysterious land where the Earth hangs in the sky.

In this new land, Hitomi soon discovers that Van is a prince of the Kingdom of Fanelia, which soon falls under attack by the evil empire of Zaibach. In an attempt to fight them off, Van boards his family's ancient guymelef Escaflowne—a mechanized battle suit—but fails to defeat them, and Fanelia ends up destroyed. Now on the run, Hitomi and Van encounter a handsome Asturian knight named Allen Schezar, whom Hitomi is shocked to find looks exactly like her crush from Earth. With some new allies on their side, Van and Hitomi fight back against the forces of Zaibach as the empire strives to revive an ancient power.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Escaflowne was originally planned to be a 39 episode series, but after cuts to its budget and an extensive reworking of the plot, the show was reduced to a 26 episode run.

Due to time constraints, certain footage in earlier episodes were cut during its broadcast and later restored on the Japanese home video releases, referred to as the Director's Cut. The North American Bandai Entertainment releases used the TV masters, so their English dub does not sync properly with the Japanese home video masters on those specific episodes. FUNimation later licensed the series and, in 2016, launched a successful Kickstarter to redub the entirety of the Director's Cut edition.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Tenkuu no Escaflowne, Hitomi: The Vision of Escaflowne, Escaflowne: Ishi no Kioku, Escaflowne
Alternative version:	Escaflowne
Summary:	Tenkuu no Escaflowne Recaps

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Fanel, Van

Main

Seki, Tomokazu
Japanese

Kanzaki, Hitomi

Main

Sakamoto, Maaya
Japanese

Schezar, Allen

Main

Miki, Shinichiro
Japanese

Albatou, Dilandau

Supporting

Takayama, Minami
Japanese

Fanel, Folken

Supporting

Nakata, Jouji
Japanese

Merle

Supporting

Ootani, Ikue
Japanese

Fassa, Dryden

Supporting

Kosugi, Juurouta
Japanese

Dornkirk

Supporting

Yamanouchi, Masato
Japanese

Ganesha, Balgus

Supporting

Genda, Tesshou
Japanese

Naria

Supporting

Amano, Yuri
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Kawamori, Shouji

Producer, Script, Storyboard, Original Creator, Screenplay

Maseba, Yutaka

Producer

Minami, Masahiko

Producer

Edit

Opening Theme

"Yakusoku wa Iranai (約束はいらない - No Need for Promises)" by Maaya Sakamoto

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Ending Theme

"Mystic Eyes" by Hiroki Wada

Reviews

Oct 5, 2008

Venneh

Recommended

Title: The Vision of Escaflowne

Manga, Anime: There are three different manga for this anime, and the two that were released around the same time as the anime are worlds apart. In order to understand this, you need to know a little something about the production.

Escaflowne was in development for about five years. Shoji Kawamori (famous for his work on the Macross series and Eureka Seven) came up with the initial idea for the series after a trip to Nepal, and hashed out the basics of the series with Minoru Takanashi at Bandai, with Hitomi originally as a curvy, long-haired, air-headed girl with glasses, ...

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Apr 7, 2012

ramimanify

Mixed Feelings

Don't be fooled by Escaflowne's fantasy setting
Escaflowne is about Love, against fate

that is all, if you think this show is about anymore than that, then you're wrong

True it has its moments when the plot seems to intensify or when you (hope) for a character development that will really change the (gooey) romantic mode, but in the end it is rather disappointing to the fantasy genre as a whole

The soundtracks are good, the battle scenes could have been better, and it could have benefited the series if fighting was really a bit more implemented, and that is why

Escaflowne is for those of you who think that ...

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Nov 19, 2014

Dantesoblivion

Not Recommended

*Contains Heavy Spoilers*

So I've been patiently watching the series mainly because I have nothing else to do, and tbh I quite enjoyed the first half of the series. And then they lost me. I mean it's a fantasy anime, so a fair bit of leeway has to be given to the plot. I can make my peace with the hidden power of fate that the MC uses. I can deal with the mana-mechanical transformer-bots in a medieval setting. Hell, I can even swallow the uber ridiculous goal of the antagonist to control fate, and in corollary, control the world. Classic Villain. Pretty easy to swallow. ... Then it got weird.

There are a bunch of reasons I pretty much hated the series.

1. The antagonists are a fucking joke. First there's Dornkirk who is our classic villain in the shadows, pulling the strings, laughing his evil laugh, who not surprisingly at all started out helping people. His goal is to create a world without war. Now thats very ambitious. More ambitious is his chosen method of accomplishing this goal i.e. controlling fate. You would think that he would take some kind of care in choosing his generals and inner circle.
Which brings me to Folken. Seriously dude? You joined his Hitler-esque cause because you didn't want to kill a dragon? Yeah I know, thats not what happened, but take a moment to think about his actual motivation for joining up with Dornkirk. There really isn't any. I mean I get why the fortune twins fell for Folken, they were half cat so it makes sense for them to unconditionally love the person who saved them. Folken's origin story makes me believe his Draconian mother had intimate relations with a fucking cocker spaniel, because in the end he's basically a rescue.
AND WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THIS DILANDAU CHARACTER? I mean seriously. His only motivation to do anything is "I have a boo boo on my cheek and I must destroy the one who did it and anyone in the way of accomplishing my boo boo revenge". Really man? Is that all there is to you considering how many fucking times you battled the MC?

2. Which brings me to my second point. I don't like to be masturbated without the pleasure of a climax. Van has a hard-on for murdering every minor baddie, but for whatever reason when it comes to Dilandau his sword needs Viagra to function. Not to mention Hitomi's nagging also starts ONLY when Dilandau's close to death. Why? Why is this barely one dimensional character still alive in the 3rd act of the series? Even the final plot twist with this character...WHY? And more importantly HOW? His condition just resolves itself because….profit? This character gave me the biggest murder boner simply because the writers wouldn't kill the little bitch off and kept teasing till the very end.
And after all that "cold as ice" acting , Folken's heart suddenly melts? Because his two pussy cats died? Why? Did I miss something? What was your motivation to join Dornkirk ? What was your motivation in leaving him? Were you sleeping while he slaughtered the first few million people, or did it really take your pussy dying for you to regain your empathy? WTF? THIS, if any of the characters from the antagonists should have been the final conflict. Instead, the writers pussy out and turn him into a good guy at the end. Its pathetic. I bet a nun could jerk me off better than this piece of shit anime.

3. Then there’s… Luck enhanced soldiers made by transfusing synthetic blood created from splicing the genes of the luckiest people…….
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!? WHY NOT A FUCKING SPELL? ITS A MAGICAL WORLD!!! A SPELL WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE BELIEVABLE!!!
Unless you’re as nit picky as me, you probably won't notice, but the mythology and the world design is in a clash in this anime. Much of it is ok, since we waste most of our time with the bland and often interchangeable characters, but for the most part...ehhh...the world isn't believable as either fantasy or science fiction.

4. The two main characters finally fall in love. This love is strong. Its history is epic. It will become a tale retold in many forms. It had the power to overcome fate. There was nothing in the way of the two lovers making a life together. Theirs was a perfect ending. “Well, I have go back to Earth for absolutely no reason at all and pine for my lover for the rest of my life” - Hitomi.
Stupid bitch.

In conclusion, I’ve definitely seen animes with worse characters, story mechanics, mythology and plot. Credit where credit’s due. It isnt the worst thing out there, but make sure you don't watch this anime when you actually have the time to watch it. Watch it while you study for a test or something like that. Keep it in the background so you don't notice the flaws, and you only see the magical transformer robots and furries. At least that way you won't pull your hair out from the frustrating stupidity that is Escaflowne.

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Poll: Escaflowne Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) maLakai - Jan 12, 2009	118 replies	by Lockensocke »» Apr 8, 12:23 AM
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Poll: Escaflowne Episode 25 Discussion kage-bunshin - Mar 22, 2009	22 replies	by LotteGiants »» Apr 7, 8:33 AM
Poll: Escaflowne Episode 24 Discussion kage-bunshin - Mar 22, 2009	36 replies	by LotteGiants »» Apr 7, 8:22 AM
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Tenkuu no Escaflowne

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