The other thing that is a bit weird but not that bad is that after transporting to the other planet Gaea, Hitomi does miss home, but she isn’t trying her hardest to get back right away. She’s instead distracted by what Gaea is and how the world works and what situation it’s in. For some odd reason, she’s able to understand what everyone’s saying despite it not being Japanese, something that was reflected when she met Van for the first time. A part of seems to already belong in this world. It’s a good deal different from other fantasy series where characters travel to different worlds; they’re often super perplexed, ask a lot of questions, and want to go home as soon as possible. Hitomi on the other hand takes in everything she observes and is drawn to what’s in Gaea, probably because the special pendant she carries makes her feel safe.
Sometimes shows with mecha can be too much robot fighting and not enough of everything else. I found Escaflowne to be a good balance of both. When the fighting starts, it happens before the viewer knows why it’s going on, which is intentional. As we delve deeper into the story, we discover that the conflict arises from a struggle in power. One nation seeks to unify all for some covert reason, which people presume to believe is for dominance and nothing much else. I was quite surprised by the underlying reason, though it doesn’t come up until near the very end.
The rest of the story is about Hitomi’s interactions with the other characters and their pasts. One of the knights she meets looks strikingly like her high school crush and is extremely skilled with his guymelef (the names they give to those robot battle suits). The ornery boy she met before turns out to be a prince of a small nation, and he possesses a legendary guymelef that everyone talks about. There’s a young princess that is smitten with the knight Allen. A cat girl follows Prince Van around. Allen has a cool crew with him to pilot the air ship as they move from place to place.
The story-building also gives Hitomi a huge load of character development, which I love. She already comes across as a strong-willed character in the first episode, slapping Van for not caring about his own safety, not even stopping to think that she shouldn’t do such a thing since he’s a prince. If you can imagine it, she becomes even stronger. Aside from her occasional yearnings for Amano-senpai, she tries to make herself useful after finding that her tarot card readings that she did for fun on Earth actually come true on Gaea. It seems that her physical strength as a runner in high school is a bit of a catalyst for her emotional growth. If she believes in herself hard enough, thinks positively, and has faith in the ones she loves, she has a lot of power in her hands to change the world. Hitomi is definitely one of my favorite protagonists in anime.
Ah, there’s that little shoujofied element of romance as well. If you couldn’t figure it out by now, Hitomi also has a romantic battle of the heart sometimes in the series, which is more apparent near the last episodes. There’s a particular scenario that a little bit too silly shoujo for me, but otherwise, I’m more or less satisfied with how it turned out. It makes sense for her to like Allen since he resembles Amano-senpai so much and is a gentleman, and Van is someone she admires for his unyielding character despite his hotheadedness. The romance was not a driving aspect of the story until later, which was good because it would have taken away from the adventure.
I have watched very few anime from the 90s, so I can’t say whether or not the animation and artwork are the greatest or not based on experience. I wasn’t a big fan of it in the beginning as I was thrown off by their long and small-pointed noses. But I think back in the day, the animation was probably pretty good. For one thing, I found that their battle sequences weren’t that hard to follow. People’s limbs are a little long, but they’re not giraffes. The robots of course were incredibly detailed, showing wear and tear while fighting and just being super-awesome looking in general. They’re not transformers, but they sure are cool.
I do have to say that one of the greatest aspects of this anime is the soundtrack. Never mind the opening and ending; people always talk about those and a lot of people judge the music of anime based on those. For Escaflowne they were cute, peppy, and upbeat tunes that would definitely attract the attention of the viewers. But let me talk about the actual soundtrack for a moment, the majority of which was composed by Yoko Kanno. I haven’t heard any of her music before, but after watching Escaflowne I have to say that she’s now one of my top anime composers. The piece “Dance of Curse” isn’t an OP or ED, but it definitely grabs one’s attention. In the first second you hear violinists vigorously attacking their strings, choir members chanting “ESCA-FLOWNE” in an occult fashion, and the winds and brass are desperately following along. It’s a brilliant piece that makes you think of a clash between clans, destiny being shaped, tides turning, something constantly moving, etc.
Of course, not the entire soundtrack is filled with similarly tumultuous instrumentals. There are of course other tracks that are more focused on the singing that seems to imitate the style of Gregorian chants, others that have lovely lyrics and even some opera voices, songs with pretty melodies that make you think of wistful daydreams, and many more.
My friend told me I would be binging this series, and that was true, though not at first. In the beginning I was still feeling my way through the show, taking in the historical mecha. I like the pace of the show as well. If I wanted to binge it right away I think that would have taken away from my overall appreciation for how well it turned out. Cliffhangers are well done and not annoying, and each time I watched the episode following I instantly remembered how the last episode made me feel. I became exceptionally excited for guymelef battles. I rooted for a certain shipping. I really wanted Hitomi to be the happiest she could be and for Gaea to come to peace. I feel as if I felt everything that the producers intended me to feel.
“The Vision of Escaflowne” is a series that I would consider watching again, but not right away. It’s the kind of show you’d like to sit and think about after each episode or every few episodes. The characters are great and the storyline is a wonderful imagination. I don’t think I would have given this show all my attention as a child, so I’m happy I was able to enjoy it last month.
