Escaflowne (Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea)

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Alternative Titles

English: Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea

Synonyms: Escaflowne: The Movie

Japanese: エスカフローネ

Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jun 24, 2000

Producers: Atelier Musa

Licensors: FUNimation Entertainment, Bandai Entertainment

Studios: Bones, Sunrise

Source: Original

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mecha, Romance, Sci-Fi, Shoujo

Duration: 1 hr. 37 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.20¹ (scored by 20,535 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score. Please note that 'Not yet aired' titles are excluded.

Ranked: #2635²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1420

Members: 37,181

Favorites: 130

7.20

Ranked #2635Popularity #1420Members 37,181

MovieBones, Sunrise

Episodes: /1

Edit
Synopsis

Hitomi Kanzaki is in a very depressed mood. She only wants to sleep and fade away. Her misery summons Lord Folken who sends her to Gaea. The people of Gaea think she is the Wing Goddess, who can call upon the legendary Dragon Armor called Escaflowne. On Gaea, King Van, the sole survior of the White Dragon Clan, is also in a depressed state. Swearing an oath to get his revenge on the Black Dragon Clan that obliterated Van's kingdom, he lives by the sword. Now that the Wing Goddess has finally appeared, she posseses Gaea's world fate in her heart. Escaflowne will either lead Gaea to peace or total ruin.

(Source: ANN)

Edit
Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

Edit
Related Anime

Alternative version:

Tenkuu no Escaflowne

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Fanel, Van

Main

Seki, Tomokazu
Japanese

Kanzaki, Hitomi

Main

Sakamoto, Maaya
Japanese

Albatou, Dilandau

Supporting

Takayama, Minami
Japanese

Fanel, Folken

Supporting

Nakata, Jouji
Japanese

More staff
Staff

	Minami, Masahiko Producer
	Ueda, Masuo Producer
	Sasaki, Shiro Producer
	Akane, Kazuki Director, Screenplay

Edit Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

Edit Ending Theme

"指輪 (Yubiwa - The Ring)" by Maaya Sakamoto

More reviewsReviews

morningblue

116 people found this review helpful

Other reviews by this user

Oct 24, 2008

1 of 1 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 2

Take Vision of Escaflowne, remove all the character development, writing, humor, romance, and action that made the series the classic 90s anime people treat it as, and throw it out the window. Then replace all that with angst and blood. That's the Escaflowne movie.

While I have to admire Sunrise to attempt to condense the series for those unfamiliar with it, as well as breathe new life into old characters, this isn't the way to do it. Hitomi, instead of being a shy, but head-strong girl, is now a whiny brat who contemplates suicide. Van, instead of being a bickering but brave and powerful warrior, is read more

permalink | report

I found this review Helpful

Venneh

82 people found this review helpful

Other reviews by this user

Oct 7, 2008

1 of 1 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea was produced by Sunrise and Bandai Visual, and was directed by Kazuki Amane, same as in the series. It was released in theatres in Japan on June 24th, 2000, was licensed Stateside by Bandai Entertainment and had a limited run in theatres Stateside starting on January 25th, 2002.

Hitomi Kanzaki is depressed and considering killing herself. One day, a man appears before her and calls her the Wing Goddess, summoning her to Gaea, a world at war, where she is the ultimate arbiter of the God of the Heavens and War, Escaflowne, and, accordingly, Gaea's destiny.

As you can probably read more

permalink | report

I found this review Helpful

Beatnik

48 people found this review helpful

Other reviews by this user

Apr 5, 2009

1 of 1 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

This movie is everything the TV series wasn’t. It’s everything the TV show should have been. You don’t have to watch the TV show before watching this, though you might want to if you're interested in seeing how a story can be dragged from the depths of writers hell into the light of storytelling purgatory.

The main character of Hitomi is changed from a generic plucky cipher into an actual human being, a typical teenager with suicidal tendencies, who actually has a character arc. Her plight is introduced and compressed into about five minutes very efficiently through adept usage of editing, direction, art and music, with a montage of scenes between her and her best friend, who she pushes away due to self-loathing.

Five minutes is definitely enough of watching a mopey girl and sure enough before we know it she's teleported into Gaea for a life-changing adventure with plenty of thrills and drama. The movie is paced so well that it knows how each segment could drag the story if played out too long, but it’s also paced too fast in that the story rolls along without giving the viewer, or characters, time to breathe. It’s one of the main reasons the overall score isn’t higher than it would have been if the story were more simple or the running time longer.

Another fatal flaw is the antagonist of the story, although much better than the beardy old man of the TV series, the motivation and methodology is again woefully lacking. Just what exactly is the point of the bad guy in this story? What does he want? To destroy the world? Eh? Is that it? Why do we not even care? The writer learns his lesson from the TV series by using a better character as the main bad guy and keeping him bad, but again he doesn’t give the viewer an insight into the thought-process of the character, what he wants and why; or why other people would even follow him and do his bidding.

The movie's not perfect and these flaws do irk, but they do not make the movie unwatchable, they simply prevent it from getting a high score. Escaflowne remains a memorable experience and worth a watch because it’s not long enough to overstay its welcome.

The TV series is, or bloody well should be, notorious for its completely out of control plot holes, twists and meaningless revelations. The movie veers away from this childish nonsense for the most part and opts for more streamlined and concise storytelling, however cliché it may appear, it’s at least solid in narrative and consistent in theme.

Now, whenever inexplicable stuff does happen, it’s dressed in abstract tones so it feels more cohesive and natural, it’s more like dreamy art that doesn’t have to make conventional sense, but relies more on mood to convey information or feeling to the viewer. Maybe I’m going too easy on the anime, but you can’t deny the powerful imagery and composition in this movie, its effective. It feels like Mamoru Oshii versus David Lynch.

Escaflowne concerns itself with fate, space and time, so its skilful editing in the movie can be understood as part of the theme, whereas in the TV series the editing was conventional yet the story made no sense. This is the key difference between TV series and movie. One is dressed up in conventional tones yet is weak narratively, while the other is an abstract enigma that makes somewhat logical sense underneath the mystery.

People who give this movie undue flak either have suspect taste or are too literal in their criticism of this reimagining of the TV show. And it is a reimagining, not a condensed version of a 26 episode show, because that would be futile and foolish.

This is the writer doing what he should have done the first time round, this is taking the core premise of Escaflowne and fulfilling its potential by working with the rest of the cast rather than doodling random crap together by himself and worming his way out with deus ex machinas every five minutes. This is a near-perfect melding of all departments of the production team gelling together to bring to the viewer a unique vision of another world and its impact on a teenager at the end of her tether.

Character designs are more 'realistic' than the TV series as expected, but what stands out the most is the world design which feels mystical and dreamlike, very memorable and unique, it feels like Escaflowne and not a random generic fantasy-land. The music by Yoko Kanno recycles some motifs from the TV series but includes a few new compositions and songs, all of the standard you'd expect from the master composer.

Escaflowne itself is one of the best mecha designs I've seen in anime, truly a beast of a 'machine', literally taking the flesh and blood of whoever the poor user of it is, a real tool of war, one that is a double-edged sword, quite literally. And when Kanno's amazing music is playing it’s a sight to behold.

The last 10 minutes of the movie revert back to TV levels of idiocy with childish plot devices and character behaviour, but if you're forgiving enough you'll overlook these flaws and just revel in the imagery coupled with Yoko Kanno, the likes of which you'll not see anywhere else. read more

permalink | report

I found this review Helpful

theGreenDeath

6 people found this review helpful

Other reviews by this user

Feb 1, 2016

1 of 1 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Warning there will be some spoiles for both the movie and the show Escaflowne in the brief review that follows. Before I get to that, I'll give a capsule review: this is a very nice movie that takes the characters and basic plot structure of the TV show and crafts them in a way to talk about an entirely different set of themes. To get the most out of the movie some familiarity with the characters will be helpful, however being too tied to characters behaving and doing the same things as they did in the show will invariably lead to disappointment.

SPOILERS AHEAD (I can read more

permalink | report

I found this review Helpful

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for October

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for October Week 1: October 4 - 10 Anime Releases Blood-C Complete Collection Blu-ray & DVD Combo (S.A.V.E...read more

Oct 3, 10:19 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (14 comments)

FUNimation Announcements at Anime Expo 2016

The FUNimation panel announced at Anime Expo 2016 that they have acquired international rights from NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan for the upcoming TV anime Drifte...read more

Jul 3, 2:02 PM by Snow | Discuss (10 comments)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

	Poll: Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea Episode 1 Discussion Confucius - Oct 14, 2011	11 replies	by shizu »» Mar 26, 6:40 PM
	Ending in the movie guidodi - Oct 25, 2009	2 replies	by RaymanM »» Mar 28, 2010 8:34 AM

Escaflowne

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Edit
Related Anime

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

More staff
Staff

Edit Opening Theme

Edit Ending Theme

More reviewsReviews

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

More featured articles
Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreTop Upcoming Anime

Top Page Views

MoreMost Popular Anime

Escaflowne

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

EditRelated Anime

More charactersCharacters & Voice Actors

More staffStaff

Edit Opening Theme

Edit Ending Theme

More reviewsReviews

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

More featured articlesRecent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreTop Upcoming Anime

Top Page Views

MoreMost Popular Anime

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Edit
Related Anime

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

More staff
Staff

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

More featured articles
Recent Featured Articles