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The Vision of Escaflowne ( Japanese: 天空のエスカフローネ;Tenkū no Esukafurōne or Escaflowne of the Heavens) is a 26-episode anime television series by Sunrise. It originally aired in Japan between 1996-04-02 and 1996-09-24. It has elements from the genres of shōjo, shōnen, romance, and mecha, and has since inspired a shōnen and shōjo manga series, and a Escaflowne theatrical movie.
Backround Information
This series focuses on the heroine, Hitomi Kanzaki, and her adventures after she is transported to the world of Gaea, a mysterious planet where she can see the Earth and moon in the sky. On Gaea, Earth is known as the Mystic Moon ( Japanese: 幻の月 maboroshi no tsuki or Phantom Moon). The design of this world mixes fantasy elements such as knights and medieval fashion with science-fiction technology such as floating ships and the giant armors known as Guymelefs. The latent psychic powers of Hitomi are enhanced on Gaea and she quickly becomes embroiled in the conflicts between the Zaibach Empire and several more peaceful countries. As the series progresses, many of the characters' pasts and motivations, as well as the true nature of the planet Gaea are revealed.
An important part of this anime are the huge mecha battlesuits, called Guymelefs, which are used by the Knights of this world to battle each other.
Escaflowne, which is mentioned in the title, is one of those Guymelefs.
Characters
Hitomi Kanzaki — A girl transported from Earth to the world of Gaea. Hitomi is a track sprinter at school and practices tarot card reading as a hobby. She discovers she is clairvoyant, an ability to begins to warp Dornkirk's visions of the future.
Van Fanel — The brash young king of Fanelia who must learn to cope with drastic changes in his life after Fanelia was destroyed by Zaibach. He pilots Escaflowne, a mystical armour, to which he is connected by blood. His destiny and Hitomi's are linked.
Allen Schezar — The gallant knight of Asturia who seems to provide a foil for Van. He lost his younger sister, Celena, his father disappeared, and mother died shortly afterwards, when he was a child. While he captures the heart of Princess Millerna of Asturia, he is a noted womanizer.
Folken Strategos— The Strategos ( Japanese軍師 gunji or tactician) of Zaibach, Folken is revealed to be Van's older brother. He and Van are the last of the Draconians, a race descended from the people of Atlantis and can grow wings.
Dornkirk — The emperor of Zaibach and main antagonist of the series. He is said to be the equivalent of 200 Earth years old and continually tries to see into the future with his destiny prognostication machine. Hitomi's visions of the future and Van's connection to Escaflowne continually interfere with his own visions of the future.
Merle — A cat-girl and close companion of Van. She is jealous of Van's increasingly close relationship with Hitomi. She eventually sees that Hitomi means no harm to Van and warms up to her.
Millerna Aston — The third princess of the kingdom of Asturia who is in love with Allen Schezar. However, she is bethrothed to the merchant, Dryden Fassa. Millerna's ambition was once to become a doctor but was forced to give up her medical studies by her second sister, Eries. Her eldest sister, Marlene, is deceased and was once the wife of Duke Freid and the mother of the Duke's son, Chid.
Dryden Fassa — A knowledgable and generous merchant and part-time scholar, Dryden is engaged to Millerna. He's perceptive and open-minded and well aware that Millerna is in love with Allen.
Dilandau — The leader of an elite group of Guymelef pilots in Donkirk's army. He is also somewhat of a maniac and his mysterious past becomes key to the conclusion of the series.
Places
Gaea — A mystical world the sky where the series takes place.
Mystic Moon — This is what the residents of Gaea call Earth. It has a reputation for being a cursed place among the people of Gaea.
Fanelia — A small kingdom is Gaea that Van is king of. It is demolished by Ziabach near the beginning of the series.
Asturia — A major kingdom in Gaea that was initially allied with Ziabach before leading an alliance against them.
Freid — A small duchy in Gaea that has a mysterious artifact which attracts the attention of Ziabach.
Zaibach — A large powerful nation ruled by Donkirk that possesses very advanced technology. They seek to create a new era of peace by controlling the world.
Atlantis — An ancient, mysterious civilization on earth that was destroyed. The reason why it fell is important to the conclusion of the series. The few survivors are known are known as Draconians.
Seiyū and Composers
This series marked the anime debut (in a lead role) of Maaya Sakamoto as the voice of the main character Hitomi Kanzaki and the singer of the opening song Yakusoku wa Iranai, as well as many other songs in the series.
The music, composed by Yoko Kanno and Hajime Mizoguchi, is of a decidedly Middle Eastern flavor, though it also incorporates different styles such as contemporary, classical, and Gregorian chants.
Releases
As there are so many different releases and spin-offs of Escaflowne, this section will help with discerning the differences.
Bandai's now-defunct Anime Village label released a "Special Edition" in North America created by Bandai Visual in Japan. This "Special Edition" was the entire 26-episode story arc condensed into three VHS tapes. In 1998, Anime Village marketed this edition as the Vision of Escaflowne Best Collection.
Escaflowne briefly aired on the Fox Kids network in an edited form between August and October of 2000, but was canceled. This Escaflowne was modified for content and to fit the tastes of teenage boys. Because of this, it has been nicknamed Foxcaflowne.
A 23-episode version, heavily cut for content and timing, and with a different title sequence, aired several times on the Fox Kids channel in the UK.
Vision of Escaflowne has aired on YTV in Canada under the title Escaflowne and with the some problems that the Foxkids version had.
The unedited 26-part series has since been released on bilingual DVD box sets in the US and UK. In October 2004 Bandai again released an Escaflowne box set that uses slim DVD cases, but the content appears unchanged from the original box set release from 2002. This re-release also includes Escaflowne, The Movie.
TokyoPop released the shonen manga in English in 2003. (The shōnen manga series actually debuted in Japan before the animated series did, due to the animated version's long pre-production process.)
Trivia
Escaflowne was originally a story known as Air Cavalary Chronicles. In fact, much of the nation and mecha names originated from that pre-production outline. (Certain design elements of Air Cavalary Chronicles were eventually adapted into various elements of Macross, a franchise co-created by Shoji Kawamori.)
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