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

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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

Feb 6, 2023

SgtSalamander

Recommended

The Vision of Escaflowne is an exquisite audiovisual experience, with art and sound which effortlessly immerse the viewer in a world of immense imagination and adventure which manages to be an aesthetic tour de force from start to finish. However, wreathed in the glory of this achievement, there is a story which is simply adequate, failing to rise to the occasion in a way which keeps this work of art from being a 9 or perhaps even a coveted 10. To begin with the story, which is the weakest link by far, it must first be said that it isn't a bad story. Indeed, it's ... a perfectly fine story, which would serve any average work quite well, but Escaflowne is no average work, and as a result it stands out. It even almost achieves greatness in its own right by episode 14, which is the most exemplary episode, where all the elements which make this anime what it is come together in an epic showing indeed. Unfortunately, just as it gracefully drifted upwards towards this point with increasing quality, like a feather on a gust of wind, it falls in perfect parallel, the story making less sense and character motivations getting more confused until a rather lackluster finale. Once again, I must stress here that by no means is this story bad, in fact it sets a classic stage for a tale of high adventure and romance, and uses this setup to its utmost advantage for more than half the show, but it then loses the thread, devolving into prosaic unremarkability. Moving on to the art, I can easily say that Escaflowne is one of the most stunning anime I have ever seen, combining an unfathomable degree of creative vision with a technical skill that results in a highly detailed world, alive with color, vibrancy, and awe, which is animated with a graceful, effortless fluidity. From the very first opening shots I was floored, absorbed by the beauty on display even before arriving on Gaea, which of course is a feeling which only deepened once that world became the primary setting. Gaea is blessed with some of the best visual worldbuilding I have ever witnessed, housing within it characters with intriguing and engaging designs that feel unique and compelling even today. This art is something which is extremely rare to see at all, let alone with such unbroken consistency throughout, but yet this absolute feat is still not the strongest aspect of Escaflowne. That honor must go to the sound, but more specifically, the masterpiece of a soundtrack composed by the inimitable Yoko Kanno. The music is the leading influence on this anime, and exhibits a sheer range of emotion which is essentially unbelievable. It ranges from soaring Wagnerian operatics all the way down to the softest of tender melodies. Never once does it miss, never once does it get stuck, never once does it fall flat. If a scene needs more joy, it inspires, if a scene needs more anguish, it terrifies, if a scene needs saving, it saves it. The music I heard here will stay with me for the rest of my life. The rest of the sound design also pulled its own weight, with detailed sounds of life and impassioned voice work. The characters are themselves wonderful occupants of this world, and were a joy to accompany throughout their journey, even if they're complicit in what happens to the story later on. While their characterization isn't a master class like other aspects of Escaflowne, the characters are engaging and feel like they fit snugly in the world they were created to inhabit. It's rather difficult to choose favorite characters from amongst this particular cast, but I still feel like Folken and Van are the best here. Folken as an engaging villain with a nonetheless humanizing set of motives to contrast him against Dornkirk, and Van as a classic hero archetype who grows through his struggle, and serves as an excellent interacting contrast to Folken. Overall, simply as an audiovisual experience, Escaflowne is a masterpiece, but as an anime, it is an incomplete masterpiece. The art and sound bring something to the table which is transcendentally beautiful, and I would recommend watching it for that alone. However, when viewed as a whole, it is undeniable that the story is lacking. It is also worth mentioning that there is a movie, though it fails to solve any of these issues and in fact makes them worse. Simply put, I highly recommend this anime. Even if it could have reached greater heights, the view from where it is remains a breathtaking sight.

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Apr 30, 2023

Scandalous21

Mixed Feelings

My thoughts on Escaflowne are very simple. It is something that could have been good, but unfortunately the budget was cut and the plot moved way too quickly all of the time. Even if the other parts of the series are of high quality, this nonetheless completely ruins the experience for me. If you like extremely fast paced anime, then you've definitely found your recommendation. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it. The theme of revenge is also very overdone; I don't think this needs to be expanded upon.

Numerical rating:
Visuals and sound - 7
Value - 7
Script - 4
Characters - 7
Enjoyment - 4
Overall - 6

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Feb 12, 2022

reizamundi

Not Recommended

A disappointing and predictable series riding on the mesmerizing musical compositions of Yoko Kanno.

The story of Escaflowne had the opportunity to incorporate engaging and complex explorations of predeterminism and how one’s state of mind is the catalyst to one’s destiny. The inspirations drawn from archeology and ancient mythology could also have had immense potential to support the theme.

Nevertheless, the narrative failed to dive into the underlying philosophical and rich subject matters. It is a pity that such powerful motifs were not thoroughly illustrated or perhaps the implicit aim was to cater to the generic audience. Either this or the writer gave up on the ...

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Poll: Escaflowne Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) maLakai - Jan 12, 2009	111 replies	by JVskunkape »» Oct 17, 1:11 AM
Poll: Escaflowne Episode 2 Discussion Beatnik - Apr 1, 2009	27 replies	by JVskunkape »» Sep 30, 5:32 AM
Poll: Escaflowne Episode 1 Discussion Veethorn - Dec 7, 2009	33 replies	by JVskunkape »» Sep 28, 5:04 AM
Remember when people thought this was one of the greatest anime ever? Schlockendale - Jan 13, 2022	10 replies	by Lucifrost »» Sep 17, 11:18 AM
What if Toonami got a hold of Escaflowne instead of Fox Kids? funtime43_tr - Sep 17	1 replies	by Lucifrost »» Sep 17, 11:15 AM

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Tenkuu no Escaflowne

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Kanzaki, Hitomi

Schezar, Allen

Albatou, Dilandau

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Merle

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