The Vision of Escaflowne
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| The Vision of Escaflowne | |
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| 天空のエスカフローネ (Tenkū no Esukafurōne) |
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| Genre | Adventure, Shōjo, Shōnen, Romance, Mecha, Fantasy, Steampunk |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Kazuki Akane |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network |  TV Tokyo, Animax    Animax GMA Network, QTV Channel 11 TV Azteca MTV YTV TVN (2001), Etc...TV Animax Fox Kids |
| Original run | April 2, 1996 – September 24, 1996 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Manga: The Vision of Escaflowne (shōnen ver.) | |
| Authored by | Katsu Aki |
| Publisher | Kadokawa Shoten  TOKYOPOP Carlsen Comics |
| Serialized in | Shōnen Ace |
| Original run | December 1994 – January 1998 |
| No. of volumes | 8 |
| Manga: Messiah Knight: The Vision of Escaflowne (shōjo ver.) | |
| Authored by | Yuzuru Yashiro |
| Publisher | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Serialized in | Monthly Asuka Fantasy DX |
| Original run | May 1996 – February 1997 |
| No. of volumes | 2 |
| Movie: Escaflowne | |
| Directed by | Kazuki Akane |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Released | June 24, 2000 |
| Runtime | 98 min. |
The Vision of Escaflowne (天空のエスカフローネ Tenkū no Esukafurōne?, lit. Escaflowne of the Heavens) is a 26-episode anime television series created by Sunrise and directed by Kazuki Akane. It premiered in Japan on April 2, 1996 at 6:00 p.m. on TV Tokyo and ended September 24, 1996. It has elements from the genres of shōjo, shōnen, romance, and mecha, and has since inspired a shōnen manga and shōjo manga series, a video game, and an Escaflowne theatrical movie.
Contents |
[edit] Background information
This series focuses on the heroine, Hitomi Kanzaki, and her adventures after she is taken to the world of Gaea, a mysterious planet where she can see Earth and its 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 common fantasy elements from different cultures (such as knights and medieval fashion alongside samurai) with steampunk technology such as floating ships and the giant mechanical armors known as "Guymelefs" which are the equivalent to the mecha of other series. Hitomi's latent psychic powers 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.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Main characters
- Hitomi Kanzaki (神崎ひとみ Kanzaki Hitomi) — 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. A dimensional rift opened a fabric of reality between Van's world and Hitomi's world. In the middle of Van's ritual ascension (dragon slaying), Hitomi was dragged into Van's world after saving his life. Through her time in Gaea her latent abilities manifest to allow her senses to find people or destinations through dowsing and accurately read the future through tarot card reading. She discovers that she is clairvoyant, an ability that begins to warp Dornkirk's visions of the future. At first she was romantically interested in Allen Schezar, but towards the end develops a relationship with Van. Her destiny is connected with Van's. Her birthday is December 9. Hitomi also has an unseen younger brother.
- Van Slanzar de Fanel — Van Fanel is the brash young half-draconian king of Fanelia who must learn to cope with drastic changes in his life after Fanelia is destroyed by Zaibach. He pilots Escaflowne, a mystical armour made by the mysterious Ispano tribe that can transform into a flying dragon. He made a blood pact with Escaflowne (he fed a small token amount of his blood into the energist crystal) to which he is connected by body and soul. This also means when Escaflowne is damaged so is Van, the wounds will not close unless Escaflowne is repaired and if it is destroyed, he dies. His destiny and Hitomi's are linked and he is initially dependent on Hitomi's clairvoyant abilities, especially after she saves his life more than once. He also has a grudge against Folken for leaving Fanelia for Zaibach and Dornkirk for his grand ambitions. Due to being half-human/half-Draconian, when he wishes to he can sprout wings which allow him to fly.
- Allen Schezar — The gallant knight of Asturia who provides a foil for Van and a second potential love interest for Hitomi (he bears an uncanny resemblance to Susumu Amano, Hitomi's first love from school). When he was young, his younger sister Celena was kidnapped by the Zaibach, his father disappeared mysteriously, and his mother died shortly afterwards. While he captures the heart of Princess Millerna of Asturia, he is a noted womanizer, perhaps because he wants to protect any woman he cares for to make up for his inability to help his mother and younger sister.
Allen is a member of the Knight Caeli, Asturia's elite knights. He was a gifted (yet rebellious) swordsman at a young age, becoming one of the most skilled fighters of Gaea under the expert tutelage of Balgus of Fanelia. During his early knight career he and Princess Marlene fell in love and she bore his child. During that time the princess had married Duke Freid, but never openly revealed the true father of her pregnancy, instead she wrote it in a hidden diary that was later found by Millerna. Chid displays a strong connection and trust for Allen, though unaware of their true connection as father and son. Later, Allen was briefly romantically involved with Hitomi through Dornkirk's influence, and even wanted to marry her, but finally decided to let go, nudging Hitomi toward Van.
Allen also harbors a great deal of anger towards his father, Leon, for traveling and leaving his mother and family behind; it is later revealed that Leon loved Allen's mother greatly and that he was murdered by Dornkirk's soldiers for the secrets of Atlantis.
Folken, telling Allen about Zaibach's experiments on children...
- Folken Lacour de Fanel — The Strategos (Japanese軍師 gunji or "tactician") of Zaibach, Folken is revealed to be Van's older brother and the original heir to Fanelia. He, like Van, is half Draconian and thus he also has angelic wings. After he failed to kill a dragon, he lost an arm to the beast and was later picked up by the Zaibach, who nursed him back to health under Dornkirk's instructions and fitted him with a mechanical arm. He originally joined the empire in hopes of realizing Zaibach's ideals of a world free of war, but is later disillusioned and defects. His wings turn black, a portent that his life is coming to an end, as it does when he travels back to Zaibach to confront Dornkirk. Although Draconians have a long lifespan, Dornkirk's experiments have taken their toll. Folken finally dies when the tip of his sword breaks off (just as he cuts Dornkirk almost in half, the blade strikes the platform they are on) and strikes him in the heart, then falls painfully to his doom.
- Dilandau Albatou — The leader of an elite group of Guymelef pilots called the Dragon Slayers in Dornkirk's army. He is also somewhat of a maniac and abuses his soldiers, although he is shown to be very emotionally-dependent on them as well (he gladly and messily kills anyone who has caused any serious harm to them, like the Doppelganger Zongi). Toward the end of the series it is revealed he is actually Allen's long lost sister Celena, who was brainwashed and mutated by Zaibach's fate alteration machines. Dilandau eventually regains his/her memory and returns to his/her original female form, Celena.
[edit] Other major characters
- Dornkirk — The leader of Zaibach and main antagonist of the series. He is said to be the equivalent of two hundred Earth years old and is strongly hinted throughout the series to be the scientist Isaac Newton. He continually tries to see into the future with his destiny prognostication engine to create an ideal future for Gaea by unlocking the secrets of Atlantis, which Hitomi's visions of the future and Van's connection to Escaflowne continually interfere with. His idea of an ideal future is the creation of a "zone of absolute fortune", in which everyone's dreams would come true. However, it is that very power that destroyed Atlantis in the first place.
- Merle — A 13-year-old cat-girl, mascot and childhood friend of Van. She is jealous of Van's increasingly close relationship with Hitomi, but eventually comes to accept Hitomi and warms up to her. An orphan, she has since devotedly followed Van since she was picked up by the Fanelian courts; in fact, the twins Eriya and Nariya spared Van's life once when Merle hauled herself in front of him, seeing their past selves reflected on her. She doesn't seem to wear anything other than the shirt, necklace and sandals, and occasionally throughout the series, her buttocks are visible.
- Balgus — One of the three master swordsmen of Gaea and a general of Fanelia's army, Balgus served under Van's father in his younger days and later left to travel around Gaea, searching to improve his skills. He met Allen and trained him for a time, but when Van's father died he returned to Fanelia to look after Van and his mother. When Zaibach destroyed Fanelia, he died while saving Van. An unofficial translation of his name is "Vargas". Though he perished early in the series he continues to affect the lives of the main characters through what he's done.
- Millerna Sarah Aston — The third princess of the kingdom of Asturia who is in love with Allen Schezar, though she is betrothed to the merchant prince 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 the wife of Duke Freid and the mother of Allen's son, Chid. She later runs away from Asturia to join Van's troupe and fulfill her dreams. She is upset by her engagement to Dryden, but gradually comes to appreciate her fiancé's good qualities. However, at the end of the series they left each other on good terms, with Dryden saying: "I will come back when I'm more deserving of you". Millerna then realizes that she can't depend on others to make her happy.
- Dryden Fassa — A knowledgeable, successful, and generous merchant who is also a part-time scholar. He is engaged to Millerna through his father Meiden, a friend of Asturia's king. He's perceptive and open-minded and well aware that Millerna is in love with Allen, yet he still flirts with her.
[edit] Minor secondary charaters
- Yukari Uchida
Yukari is Hitomi's best friend. In the animated series and movie she is also Hitomi's track manager or former track manager.
- Hitomi's grandmother
As a young woman, Hitomi's grandmother came twice to Gaea in the same night, though years had passed on Gaea between her two visits. She gave Hitomi her pendant that was given to her by Leon Schezar.
- The Dragon Slayers
The Dragon Slayers are fourteen mecha pilots, plus Dilandau, their commander, dedicated to the capture of the Ispano guymelef, Escaflowne. Though there are quite a few of them, only six from the television series have names and only four of them speak at all.
- Mr. Mole
Mole Man is, as he says, a humble thief, and not even a very good one. He first comes into the television series when he nocks Hitomi down and tries to steal her pendant, Hitomi of course takes this all the wrong way and refers to him as 'The pervert' after that. He later follows the gang around Palace and Freid and is to be seen hiding for the purposes of eavesdropping and theft.
- Ruhm
Ruhm is the alpha male of a pack of wolves living in the woods on the outskirts of Fanelia. In the animated series his pack finds Hitomi and Van on his return to Gaea and gives them a ride back to the Fanelian capitol. Suggestions that he was mayhap friends with Folken back in the day.
- Amano-Senpai
Amano-Senpai (upper classmen) is pretty much the same object of every young girl's affection. Both Hitomi and her best friend Yukari/Yukiko are mad about him as the story begins, yet of course neither have the courage to say it.
- Adelphos Gein
Adelphos is one of the four generals of the Zaibach army. He leads the Copper Army and is directly superior to Dilandau.
[edit] Countries and places
- Gaea — A mystical world in the sky that Hitomi visits and where the series takes place. Earth can be seen as a moon in the sky. It was created by the Atlanteans.
- Mystic Moon — This is the Earth. It has a reputation for being a cursed place among the people of Gaea. It appears as though the people of Gaea know nothing about what the Earth really is, although Hitomi is hinted (and later shown) not to be the first person to come to Gaea from Earth.
- Fanelia — A small kingdom in Gaea ruled by the Fanel family of which Van is king. In order to become king, the heir to the throne must slay a dragon, remove the energist from inside of the dragon, and take it back to Fanelia. It is demolished by Zaibach near the beginning of the series and is rebuilt at the very end of the series. Fanelia bears some similarities to feudal-era Japan.
- Zaibach — A large powerful nation ruled by Dornkirk that possesses very advanced technology. It was once a small and frail place to exist. People were facing hunger, sickness, neighboring attacks, and in constant fear. Dornkirk is a well educated man of science and used his knowledge to rebuild Zaibach was one of the most respected and feared countries. People of Zaibach have committed their lives to the vision of Dornkirk. They seek to create a new era of peace by controlling the world and are led by Dornkirk. Zaibach is similar to Industrial Revolution-era England.
- Asturia — A major kingdom in Gaea that was initially allied with Zaibach before leading an alliance against them. The country is a monarchy and its greatest warriors are known as the "Knights of Caeli". Asturia bears some resemblance to Renaissance-era Venice.
- Freid — A duchy in Gaea that is ruled by the Freid family. It has an ancient artifact that Dornkirk needs to complete his plan to revive the power of Atlantis. This artifacts draws the attention of Zaibach who invades Freid. Freid is said to have been based on Thailand.
- Atlantis — An ancient, mysterious civilization that was destroyed after its inhabitants created a device to turn human thoughts into energy. Atlantis was an advanced technological society, and its inhabitants artificially evolved themselves into angelic beings, considering themselves gods. Their ego and their advancements caused their device to destroy themselves, and their city. It is unknown how many Draconians (who inhabited Atlantis originally) are left. Most of the main characters of the show visit the ruins of Atlantis late in the series. The remains of Atlantis still had partial function and the power to influence human thoughts. Atlantis exists physically on earth (or The Mystic Moon), but is linked to Gaea through a large portal found in the Mystic Valley, which in turn can be found in the dark continent of Asgard.
[edit] Voice Actors and composers
[edit] Voice Actors
This series marked the anime debut (in a lead role) of Maaya Sakamoto as the voice of the main character Hitomi Kanzaki and as the singer of the opening song "Yakusoku wa Iranai" as well as of many other songs in the series.
| Character | Japanese Seiyū | English Voice Actor |
|---|---|---|
| Hitomi Kanzaki | Maaya Sakamoto | Kelly Sheridan |
| Van Fanel | Tomokazu Seki | Kirby Morrow |
| Allen Schezar, Susumu Amano (series only) | Shinichirou Miki | Brian Drummond |
| Folken Strategos | Jouji Nakata | Paul Dobson |
| Merle | Ikue Ohtani | Jocelyne Loewen |
| Dilandau Albatau | Minami Takayama | Andrew Francis |
| Millerna Aston | Mayumi Iizuka | Venus Terzo |
| Dryden Fassa | Juurouta Kosugi | Michael Dobson |
| Naria | Yuri Amano | Nicole Oliver |
| Eriya | Narumi Hidaka | Saffron Henderson |
| Balgus | Tessho Genda | Don Brown |
| Mole Man | Chafurin | Terry Klassen |
| Dornkirk | Masato Yamanouchi | Richard Newman |
| Yukari Uchida | Mayumi Iizuka | Saffron Henderson, Willow Johnson (movie only) |
| Sora (movie only) | Mayumi Iizuka | Sylvia Zaradic |
[edit] Music
The music, composed by Yoko Kanno and Hajime Mizoguchi, is of a decidedly European flavor, though it also incorporates different styles such as contemporary, classical, and Gregorian chant.
The albums released for Escaflowne include the following:
- Vision of Escaflowne Original Soundtrack
- Vision of Escaflowne Original Soundtrack 2
- Vision of Escaflowne Original Soundtrack 3
- Vision of Escaflowne: Lovers Only
- Escaflowne The Movie Soundtrack
- Escaflowne Prologue 1: Earth
- Escaflowne Prologue 2: Gaea
[edit] Releases
There have been different releases and spin-offs of Escaflowne.
[edit] Broadcast television
- The Vision of Escaflowne was later broadcast across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax, who also aired the series later across its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and other regions. Animax have also dubbed and translated the series into English for broadcast across its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia, their adaptation being unedited and retaining all of the original plot and character elements.
- The first 11 episodes of Escaflowne were aired on the Fox Kids network in an edited form between August and October of 2000, but were cancelled. This Escaflowne was significantly modified from the original version, including the removal of the entire first episode, and is often derided by fans.
- 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 during 2001 and 2002. As with the version aired in the U.S., the first episode was removed during the original run, but was played at the end as the 23rd episode after the series had ended.
- Vision of Escaflowne has aired on YTV in Canada under the title Escaflowne, though it featured some of the same problems as the Fox Kids version. Unlike Fox, YTV aired the complete series twice before retiring it.
- Vision of Escaflowne aired as a whole in Mexico on public television. TV Azteca aired the whole series uncut in two different occasions. In Chile, TVN and Etc. TV aired the whole series, first censored and later uncut.
- Vision of Escaflowne was aired in the Philippines by GMA Network last March 24, 2000. The Philippine airing predates the North American airing by at least 4 months and features the English dub as shown on video/DVD. December 4, 2006 when GMA 7's sister station, QTV 11 airs its Filipino-dubbed version.
- The Vision of Escaflowne was aired on MTV Germany in 2002 (therefore viewable in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and because of its success the whole show was aired a second time. The German version was translated from the French version and therefore had some minor translation errors, but beside this, all episodes were aired in their original sequence (unlike to its airing on some other networks; see above).
[edit] Video
- 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.
- The unedited 26-part series has since been released on VHS and 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. There have been several DVD versions of the movie, including the "Ultimate Edition", which included a bonus features disc and the soundtrack CD.
[edit] Manga
- TOKYOPOP released the shonen manga in English in the United States 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.) The American translation was imported to Australia by Madman Entertainment.
- The shōjo manga of Escaflowne has not been licensed. It is only available in English through scanlations downloaded from the Net.
[edit] Trivia and allusions
Escaflowne was originally a story known as Air Cavalry Chronicles which utilized the more typical transforming fighter-plane mecha in lieu of more knight-like Guymelefs. In fact, much of the nation and mecha names originated from that pre-production outline. (Certain design elements of Air Cavalry Chronicles were eventually adapted into various elements of Macross, a franchise co-created by Shoji Kawamori.)
The name Escaflowne itself is said to derive from a place name in the Arthurian legends, Escavalon. The names of Van and Allen of course come from the Van Allen radiation belt, while that of Dryden has a similar reference.
Fans speculate that with Dornkirk's role as a 17th-century scientist before his death on Earth, his obsession with gravity and the occult, his original Earth name Isaac, his explicit mention by one of Hitomi's teachers during a classroom scene, and general appearance, that he is actually supposed to be Isaac Newton.
The "hero"-type unit of the Goliath mech in the game StarCraft was named Alan Schezar, in homage to the Escaflowne character Allen Schezar (notice the name is spelled slightly differently); it made an appearance in the bonus campaign called "The Enslavers" in StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War, as the player's enemy, a space pirate named Alan Schezar.
The setting, characters, and Guymelefs from Escaflowne have appeared in the Super Robot Wars series of video games. The series was featured in Super Robot Taisen Compact 3 for the WonderSwan Color.
In the webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ethan and Lucas are shown to be fans of Escaflowne (Ethan misses a date to watch an Escaflowne marathon, which contributes to his break up with his first known girlfriend as well as a poster visible in the background of several comics)
Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack cited Escaflowne as one of his main influences.
In the Canadian novel Refused Classification, one of the main characters cross dresses as Hitomi Kanzaki at a costume party.
Basram (a member of the allied forces) uses a bomb which utilizes the power of the drag energist to produce an explosion by crashing several pieces of the energist together to wipe out most of the Zaibach forces. This is most likely a reference to humanity's invention of the nuclear fission bomb which crash pieces of sub critical uranium in the ‘gun-barrel’ type bomb, and pieces of sub critical plutonium for the implosion type version of the bomb, to trigger immensely powerful explosions measured in thousands of tons of TNT.
