I watched the downloaded AVIs about three years ago and finally bought the DVD boxsets at a Forbidden Planet sale last October. Jotting down some notes of my third viewing of this series; hopefully this retro-blogging will be of interest to some of my readers.
Episode 1. Fateful Confession: Hundred metre sprinter Hitomi Kanzaki prepares to snag her first kiss from leavin’ on a jet plane team captain Amano. Swordsman Van Fanel appears on the track, followed by a proto- Kagutsuchi land dragon. Hitomi’s premonition saves the day but after Van harvests the Drag-energist from the slain beast, the pair are transported, pillar of light-style, to Gaea.
The earlier run-through vision of Van in the afternoon, the tarot cards and her grandma’s pendulum pendant indicate that Hitomi may be one of those espers that Haruhi-sama is searching for and that she may have a link to Van’s homeworld.
Episode 2. The Girl from the Mystic Moon. Van turns out to be Prince and then newly crowned King of Fanelia. But the festivities are cut short when Hitomi’s visions of invisible giants razing the Valley of the Mountain city-state come to pass. Van activates his giant robot Escaflowne to fight to the last but he and Hitomi are Recalled away.
Van’s ‘fight to death’ complex is linked to his elder brother complex. I’ve always wondered what powers the normal Melefs (as the normal giant robots are called) since Escaflowne is powered by special dragon heart gem. Scifi meets sword and sorcery. The four samurai generals and catgirl Merle made me realize that H-anime Himekishi Lilia has definitely taken supporting chara ideas from Escaflowne. orz
Episode 3. The Gallant Swordsman. Blondie bishie Allen Schezar, a Knight of Asturia, brings Hitomi, Van and Escaflowne to his border fort. But the baddie Emperor of Zaibach Donkirk, sends Strategos Folken and Lord Dilandau with Laputa Castle in the Sky after them. Allan knocks some sense into Van; a warrior sacrifices his life for the sake of others rather than for vain glory.
Allen’s being set up as the love rival of Van for Hitomi especially with the resemblance to her crush Amano. Hitomi’s visions are getting stronger but she has trouble getting those around her to believe in them, well, at least they didn’t burn her at the stake. So the Empire of Zaibach is revealed to be behind the stealth Melefs - objective Escaflowne - but Donkirk senses a disturbance in the Force - that’s the power of high school girl fortune telling for you!
Episode 4. The Diabolical Adonis. Dilandual launches his attack on Allan’s fort but being a good strategist, Allan employs the 36th stratagem: run away run away! But the Zaibach metlefs can transform into Valkyrie types: they can fly! But Escaflowne has a henshin mode too: dragon form! Van soars into the skies to draw the enemy away from the fleeing Crusader airship.
At least Van learnt the lesson that Allen taught him pretty quickly and applied it within an episode too. He’s still got to work on his not aggressive enough charge though. Catgirl Merle is always LOL: why did I get the bench!? *hiss* I also liked how the girl in a strange world story was also contextualized within the politics of Gaea and how a trio of remarkable individuals threatens the might of an Empire and the attempt to order the future and the fate of the world; prognostications gone awry a la Dune.
Hitomi was Maaya Sakamoto’s debut role and there were definitely some nervous quivers in the first episode but she settled in quickly and all was right in the world again - all hail the voice of Lunamaria Hawke! She definitely carries off Hitomi’s spunkiness well. Glad to see that the heroine and her harem are all capable, non-whiny but also reasonably complex characters.
Definitely a SUNRISE production which bears their trademark scorching pace and cliffhanger upon cliffhangerï¼›I had planned to just watch the first episode this evening but ended up watching the whole DVD at one sitting. It’s this seductiveness of SUNRISE productions that makes me so wary of their more recent work because they can suck me in, get me to love their characters and then dump me into the pit of despair that is a WTFBBQ ending for the OTL and remember to buy our merchandise, b1atch!
From the ancient times, (gachapen desu!) the 1996 art style really bothered me in the first episode, recalling the dominant characteristics associated with anime like Ranma 1/2 and Slayers with gleaming eyes and very sharp chins. But the story gripped me strongly enough that I managed to forget about it. And the 4:3 ratio too. Goes to show how much good scripting and an interesting story are still the most important foundations for an enjoyable anime.
Oh god, I loved Escaflowne. I started this in my dub watching day. I recently saw it again subbed and it was such a different experience…
I had wanted to buy the DVDs but I can’t find them at my usual haunts, so I will probably have to go into central london to find them…
Escaflowne was my intro to anime years ago… Still is a personal favorite to this day..
I took a detour with Escaflowne by watching the movie first before attempting the TV series. Big mistake because I didn’t touch the Anime for more than a year thinking it wasn’t worth the time (shame on me for taking on one of the classics this late). But lo, what a delightful surprise it was upon forcing myself to watch it. Maybe because the movie was an alternate retelling and the way the story was told didn’t appeal to me at all. I’m glad I pushed myself to watch the Anime and discovered the execution of the plot to be a lot better. Definitely one of Sunrise’s masterpieces.
*Stares at desktop wallpaper*
Isn’t that from Fujieda-sensei’s calendar? Argh!! I can’t find it on any online shop! Need to find a website which doesn’t require patrons to pay by credit card (I’m one of those sad people who doesn’t own a credit card). T____T
Deranged, I’m pretty sure that the Forbidden Planet at Shaftesbury Avenue still has stock but, price-wise, there are some fabulous bargains on Amazon.co.uk
kiryuu, ah first love stays sweet forever!
Dav, I haven’t seen the movie but the art looks even more ancient! And quite incredulous that the story could be comfortably fitted and developed within such a short time.
Yeap, that’s Fujieda-sensei’s GL calendar. Unfortunately I only have the scans though - IIRC it’s was C73 limited edition item. Erica Friedman more or less flew all the way to Tokyo to get her hands on that item! :D
LOL blame the movie poster’s artist for bad advertising. Luckily, the animation is better. The movie is newer after all.
Thank you for the info! Oh darn, that means I’ll just have to wait for my trip to Japan one day to purchase it, and I’ll probably have to settle for the current year calendar coz I doubt they keep calendars from previous years. *Want posters of Iono-sama and Alice Quartet’s gang* (;_;)