Agreed! I was so mad when I saw the Japanese version and saw how Escaflowne was gutted and changed like Cardcaptor Sakura. It actually hurt my soul...😢
A lot of the shows that came out at the time were licensed in bulk. One Piece, for example, was picked up by 4Kids as part of a package deal with them not even realizing what kind of show it was until they had to somehow edit it for a children's cartoon block. Most of the time, the companies knew what demographic they had to air a show for, but didn't know what show they were going to have to use to do it. And that's why you get these hack jobs.
"She emotionally attached her self to a distant violent man because he's dark and mysterious" I think you just summed up and defined 90's anime in one sentence.
It could be just me, but I didn't see a problem with the girl being depressed. I took the movie as a story about dealing with depression. Hitomi just has general depression, Van is inwardly sad at the state of the world and what he has to do in it. Van's brother is spiraling so hard he just wants to end everything. Falkin seems to feel utterly alone in his recognition of how bad life is for them. Depression as a whole isn't logical, and yeah, it's easy enough to make light of by calling someone emo. But it's like having someone constantly follow you around, pointing out every flaw and mistake you've ever had for every moment you're awake. It's not easy to deal with. The bond between Van and Hitomi, along with Falkin's interactions with them, to me anyway, imply that all they really need is to understand they are not alone in their pain. This is something people with depression deal with; feeling like they are utterly alone in their situation. I should also add that I've never seen the show.
I can see how the movie is full of subtext about depression, but it still fails to be a movie where you can care about most of the characters. At times, it fails to be a movie with coherence. If it weren't for the excellent animation and art direction, there wouldn't be any reason to watch it. In the end, it doesn't even do much to pay off how anyone other than Hitomi or Van have dealt with their feelings. Plus, with so little in the way of character development, does it seem like either of them deserve the ending they get?
I freaking love the design of the Escaflowne. I know it already has a model kit out there, but it isn't great. I wish it would something like a Figure-rise Amplified kit.
@The Great Red Dragon Linkin Park is not nearly as "emo" as every two bit AMV shitting TH-cam scrub would lead everyone to believe, now Evanescence on the other hand....
4 years later and I finally started and finished the original series. Freaking fantastic! Gonna watch the movie next for the pretty animation, but man, the OG series was so good and pretty nice on the years too. Such a unique vibe from that show, great characterization, and a really intriguing story and mythos that really appealed to me
Cramming a twenty-something episode series into a ninety-plus minute movie was a travesty to the fans of not only the Escaflowne series, but also to the fans of good storytelling. Thank you, Sage, for reviewing this!
I agree with pretty much everything you said, except the Dilandau part. The plot twist with him being Allen's long lost sister is what I consider to be one of the most brilliant parts of Escaflowne. One thing I love about the show is the incredible amount of detail in it, and I pick up new insights into it every time I watch it. The sister plot twist is actually something hinted at in the very first episode Dilandau's introduced in. I'll spare you from my hardcore fan theory rant, since I could go on for a really long time about it, but Dilandau being Selena has all kinds of unfortunate implications for his minions.
I passively watched this film years ago with my mom and siblings. I can't remember much except for two details: the song & the bar scene 19:57. I remember this bar scene *because* of this brilliant dialogue (*heavily paraphrased*): Song starts playing: Wing ton...blah blah blah blaaaahhhh... Hitomi: I've heard this song before! That song is pretty! I wonder what it means? Van: It's a folklore song. My mom used to sing to me every night. It means that Dragons are coming to destroy the world. Siblings, my mom, and me burst into laughter.
Hey Bennett, not sure if you will see this or not. I just wanted to thank you for making these, my wife and I always watch an episode before bed at night and it is SO amazing to see a show this well done for anime. You are really doing a lot for the industry and I just wanted to say thanks.
Here Here! I look forward to every single episode he makes; me and my partner do the exact same thing! The best part is how detailed the Sage is around his analysis of the films. I really hang out to watch each episode as they come. Not a huge fan of the nuts and bolts stuff though [ducks for cover] xD but love the analysis here.
I seriously expected this comment to end with something about how you and your girl start making love for hours the minute you hear the phrase "Long live Bennettopia!" But yeah, Sage is one of the best, and he just consistently gets better. :D
Bahahaha xD This had me in stitches mate xD It's so difficult to find reviewers like Sage that don't grate on you after a while. He is consistently balanced, and doesn't push an opinion to one way (IMO). So I find him relaxing to listen to :D. Seriously though, that was hilarious xD
Ah Digimon the Movie, the Frankenstein mess of three digimon movies spliced together into a nearly incoherent mess of a narrative. Even when I was younger I still looked at it with a blank stare and a "whaaaa?!", when trying to piece together what the hell just happened.
The entire Digimon series is terrible. I wanna see Tie and friends die a horrible bloody violent death either eating by their own Digimon or turned into sand and disintegrate as they scream.
Actually, Summer Wars was Our War Game (that part of the Digimon movie to which you are referring) with the Digimon stuff removed. The director just wanted to remake it without Digimon in it, but Our War Game came first. It's actually pretty good on its own. But yeah, Summer Wars is actually the imitator here (self imitation, but imitation none the less).
Escaflowne...this is one of the toughest anime for me to recommend. It's not good for beginners, and those with knowledge can see its flaws readily and may hamper enjoyment. Even I had trouble getting invested in the series in the beginning when I first saw it. It's worth watching, but when exactly the best time is is really hard to say. Oh, wait, we're talking about the movie, not the series? That makes things simple-don't. Just...don't watch it. (Its the first anime movie I watched after watching the respective series, and it's also the first anime movie ever to piss me off.) Also, I never knew Millerna was the brunette in the movie. My head was already reeling from all the changes so the name likely just passed through my brain at the time, and with so many characters missing, I just stuck her in the 'not appearing in this film' category. Besides Hitomi, there was another character that really annoyed me, but I only sat through the movie once and that was years ago. I don't even remember who that character was or why they annoyed me, and this review didn't spark the memory.
Don't laugh, if DiC could get away with focusing Sailor Moon into "The Adventures Of Tuxedo Mask", they would. See the US version of Card Captor Sakura (into Cardcaptiors).
I love a review I read for this movie that said something like "If I were adapting a series that was heavy on both romance and mechan battles, my first order of business would not be to remove all the romance and mecha battles." This movie is as beautiful to look at as it is empty.
I wonder how PISSED OFF I'll get at Bennett while watching this. Side note: I consider the series and movie to be 2 separate universes. Side Side Note: Nice job. I applaud you for it.
They are two separate universes, lol. There was a manga series for Escaflowne that started in 1994, before the anime, that was pretty different as well so none of it is really connected aside from having similar premises.
I 100% agree with this. It's going to be on par with his Perfect Blue review for me. The films is specifically completely separate from the series, acting as an alt-world or 'what if' scenario.
It's almost as if jamming 8-9 hours worth of content from a TV show into a 90 minute movie is an awful idea or something. Although I should thank you for making me remember this one. I'm going to have to dig out my old DVD copy and give a rewatch. Haven't seen it since I was a teenager so here's hoping it holds up. I remember it being something special.
I remember hearing Escaflowne was good while I was first getting into anime. Not knowing there was a TV series, I rented the movie from Blockbuster and was sorely disappointed. All I remember is the scene where main chick is failing to help unconscious Van and the enemy lion guy is explaining shit for no apparent reason. It was just so baffling.
Ah Escaflowne. I never finished watched this series but I do remember watching it as a kid. Two scenes that I still remember are the time Hitomi made a long jump to escape a crashing airship, and the first time Vahn revealed his wings.
I've always heard this film was kind of made for Korean audiences because of the fact the TV show garnered high ratings and Sunrise worked with a Korean company on it but I didn't realize they put what looks like hanboks, a traditional Korean dress, in the film. Pretty cool to see it in anime because hanboks are nice.
Yeah By the look of it Sage, This Escaflowne movie is not really canon to the Series, Much like the Mighty Morthin Power Rangers movie not being Canon to the Show.
I was actually introduced to Escaflowne via the movie, long before I actually started watching the series proper, but the time gape between those viewings was years apart, so I had forgotten just how much they had changed. Good grief @.@
in my country (germany) we were fortunate not to get the saban recut but the full show with all the scenes of Hitomi intact. I was able to watch it back in the day and loved it. i remember being initially excited about the movie. then i saw the first 5 minutes, noticed it had nothing to do with the show except for the character names and design so i decided to turn it off and never finished the movie. i do not regret that decision.
HAHA! The US only got 10 episodes of Escaflowne, but in Canada we got all of the English episodes aired! And we also got the first episode telling us how Hitomi actually got to Gaia. We also had repeats! Escaflowne was my favourite anime growing up, so I don't want to imagine what it would have been like to not be able to watch all of the series. It would have destroyed me not knowing what would have happened. The Movie...was meh. It just supports my belief that television or mini-series has more opportunities to develop a story than a movie.
Holy shit, thank you Sage! I remember seeing brief clips of this on TV once as a kid, and I've been wondering for almost over fifteen years now what the hell that show was! Just seeing this I know for sure that it was this show! I'm totally checking this out!
I'm getting some weird Twilight flashbacks with this movie's main couple, what with the whole "life means nothing unless you're happy" thing. Great review as always Sage. Also, this new design for the antagonist looks like if the goblin king from Labyrinth cosplayed as Sephiroth.
Oh, god, not the Digimon movie. That's gonna hurt. I was WAY too much into Digimon when that came out, and even I could see how bad that was. The pre-movie short with the screechy-voiced and super-annoying Angela Anaconda should have been warning enough...
Yeah, there's one or two liness of the English dub of the movie that I genuinely laugh at (the scene where a van swerves to avoid a fairly large Agumon with the driver apparently sleeping at the wheel) but yeah....the movie's attempt to bridge like 3 movies doesn't work (then again, I got some issues with the anime...like Ryo being in Ken's flashback but he doesn't age a day in Tamers. Not sure if Tamers and 02 are connected, I do recall one character in my local dub mentioning remembering the events of 02 and they usually stick to the original script so I don't know)
Digimon Tamers was an alternate universe from the Adventures and 02. In that world, Digimon was just a TV show and a card game, then all the sudden DIGIMON ARE REAL, Y'ALL!
Both those shows are terrible. Does anyone remember when that main kid Tie was slapped and yelled at by his parents for not knowing his sister was too sick to do shit (even though they left the two alone without adult supervision). That's when I know Digimon was the very worst. People give 4kids shit for cutting out scenes of bloody violence and references to religion and culture but gave Saban a free pass for thinking kids wanna see domestic violence and naked kids on TV. I think Heim Saban was a meth-addict. Why else would he think that's stuff okay to show to kids. I don't I ever liked anime until Fullmetal Alchemist and Wolf's Rain. Nearly everything before and after were bad.
I rewatched this with my sister this weekend and I do love the movie for what it is but Hitomi claiming they are kindred spirits was hilarious every time she gave that little speech. She learns Van is depressed and suicidal because his brother murdered the rest of his family, all of his people, and thrust him into a never ending cycle of violence and pain that he forces himself to endure so he can kill his brother and avenge his loved ones. She placed second in a race that one time and then was a bitch to her only friend who consistently checks on her. Truly, she understands his pain. In the scene where she's like 'I wanted the world to fade away too, I also thought I was all alone' we were just laughing yelling 'TELL HIM WHY HITOMI. TELL HIM ABOUT THE TIME YOU PLACED SECOND' at the screen.
This actually looks like an interesting anime to watch, the original series. I wonder if the german version was based on the japanese original or if it used the heavily edited version. and talking about the Preview: Oh no, not that movie... Badly frankensteinmonstered together from 3 different full-lenght movies, it was a mess. I like that it feels like the japanese company took a jab at this monster of a movie by making the 4th movie an actual continuation of the plot from the 2nd movie.
So I watched the Fox Kids version along with a few friends, we were all surprised when it was quickly canceled. It wasn't till years later when the box set was released and I saw the entire show that I realized Fox probably suffered the same fate as all anime fans, and was only getting about 3 episodes at a time (so much money wasted on DVDs with just 3-4 episodes instead of waiting for box sets) so imagine the shock of seeing the incest cat girl make out scene and realizing there was no way they could edit that into a kid friend show and just scrapped it for Monster Rancher, which it also canceled.
I was in high school at the time this was out. I went to an anime club at the time and they happened to show the whole series fansubbed. It finished there before it got licensed in the west and was aired on Fox. So I'm one of lucky ones who was able to watch it beforehand. Btw, I also got all three of the original Japanese soundtracks for the series.
14:00 YAY BIOSHOCK INFINITE BURIAL AT SEA REFERENCE FOR THE WIN! Given the direction and mischaracterization of this movie I'm surprised that Ghost Nappa didn't show up.
Rathorc Lemenger The Blu-Rays have much better video & sound quality, while retaining all of the worthwhile extras (except the PlayStation game footage), the original Japanese and English audio tracks, and a brand new English dub featuring veteran VA's. The Blu-ray release is superior in nearly every way.
I have the redubbed blu-ray release and it's fantastic. Image quality is far superior to my DVD release and the new dub is 100x better. (It's essentially an FMA reunion.)
Funnily enough, even though I hardly remember anything about the anime itself, it does bring back fond memories as it was one of the anime shown on an excellent anime slot in the early 2000's that was broadcast on Canal + (a French TV channel), which also allowed me to discover other classics such as Cowboy Bebop, Excel Saga, Samurai Champloo, Fullmetal Alchemist and Noir (I won't hold that last one against them). Incidently, those are also the only few anime I can think of to get genuinely good French dubs (except Noir). Thankfully, the version shown in France was not the heavily edited one mentioned by Sage, which is a pleasant surprise considering the usual policies of French channels regarding anime (not helped by the fact that they insisted on showing stuff like Fist of the North Star on kids' shows because "it's a cartoon! It can't not be for kids!").
If only Sasuke and Itachi died, then it can just be about Nasferuto becoming leader with no conflict... I never watched the show beyond that filler arc that came after the kids wanted to know what Kakashi looked like under his mask.
Finally!!!! I had been waiting for this review! I have both of the series and movie on dvds. And I did remembered the style of the anime when I was kid, but didn't know the name until years later. And many thanks to my uncle for his animation collentions! ❤
I remember not hating Escaflowne. When it got canceled, I was super confused because I had no idea that sorta thing could happen before a show could finish its story. This series was my introduction to cancellations, which got me prepared for what would become of Clone High (God, I miss Clone High).
I keep forgetting the Fox version existed. Atleast bandai released the series uncut on vhs. That's how I got to see the show. I've since picked up the blu-ray rerelease. I'm glad they included bandai's dub in the rerelease, since I prefer it over funimation's (only tolerated it for the director's cut of the beginning episodes).
*I really enjoyed this movie, I really like the mecha's movie designs and I agree with this one person about it being a different universe.* Also for me I didn't really care for the people scenes, mostly the Mecha battle. *I do agree about Hitomi though.*
I look forward to the next review. Especially since I love Digimon so much. Pokemon may have been my first taste of a monster themed show, but evolved because of Digimon. Every season was great in its own right but Digimon Frontier is my downright favorite season of digimon. Plus, I love watching the middle movie of Digimon the movie, getting goosebumps every time I see Omnimon appear to finish off Diaboromon.
*OMFG I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS MOVIE FOR YEARS AND I FINALLY FOUND IT OMFG ALL I COULD REMEMBER WAS THAT I SAW IT ON ADULT SWIM WHEN I WAS A KID, THERE WAS A HIGH SCHOOL GIRL WITH A NECKLACE, A BIG FIRE HAPPENED, AND THERE WAS LIKE A FIGHT IN THE SKY. FUCK I'M SO HAPPY I FOUND IT*
After Evangelion, Vision of Escaflowne is my favorite Mecha anime by far. Though I usually don't like mecha anime, so my list is short. I have a beautiful jewel case DVD box of the complete series. I came with the movie, but, despite my collection, I donated that DVD to future unsuspecting customers are a library. Same with the Madoka Rebellion atrocity.
I remembered watching Escaflowne on Fox back in the day and wondered why it was short. Then eventually I saw the real version and saw why the real version was better. I've never seen the movie before but I would have been a little disappointed with it.
Seeing that Vision of Escaflowne is one of my favourite anime series of all time, I am so glad you ripped into this god awful movie version. One of the things that made the original series such a classic 90's anime show, outside of the amazing art style, music and direction, was watching these characters flesh out over the course of 26 episodes. But in the movie, most of the characters that weren't Van or Hitomi had no reason to exist, especially Allen and Millerna, but not only that, this movie completely ruined Hitomi's character, going from a girl with a relatable and endearing personality, who had realistic goals for herself and was useful to the other characters with her tarot card readings to predict the future, to a whiny, moody teenager, full of "DARKNESS" and "NO PARENTS" for no reason whatsoever. It also didn't help that the 98 minute run time of the film severely hamstrung the character progression, ESPECIALLY when it came to Van and Hitomi. - Spoilers for the TV series incoming - With the series, the love triangle between Van/Hitomi/Allen was one of the main driving forces of the story, so when it came to the moment when Hitomi realised that she loved Van, it felt earned because we saw these characters change and grow over the course of the show that it was satisfying when it paid off. But with the movie, Hitomi comes to Gaea, meets Van and then 35 minutes later, she already declares that she wants to be with him. Hey, movie? *YOU DID NOT EARN THAT!*
My god. Thanks for refreshing my memory sage! I remember watching this every Saturday after Digimon back in 2000 in 3rd grade. I didn't realize till now it was Escaflowne! I moved to my home town around it's airing and never found out it was cancelled.
"As the sole survivor of my people... I must kill my.... Brother.... Says I... the Sole, only, solo, alone, solitary, individual, survivor who is lonesome and without others of my people..."
At Sakura-con this year, I actually got my hands on the complete Escaflowne series for a really good price. I was asked if I wanted the movie, and my guts said 'Don't touch it, it's poison, /they always are/'. I'm so glad I skipped out on it, now that I've seen your review.
Despite its problems, I can't bring myself to dislike this movie, even though I feel it should've been longer. I've come to believe/tell myself that the movie is an AU much like the manga, which has also been ripped apart by fans but is an adaptation I still like, and that's why I don't do comparisons between the movie and the TV series. I actually like the idea of believing _Escaflowne_ has different stories to tell within it, and I'm probably alone in this, but it helps me look at the movie as its own stand-alone thing, which doesn't help the problems, but at least I can still divide it into a three-act structure. The best part of the movie was indeed Dilandau, I just love Andrew Francis' performance here. And the movie soundtrack has been an all-time favorite since I was 13, very atmospheric and knows how to set the mood. Looking forward to the Digimon movie review. It's become almost as big of a dead horse as the first Pokémon movie, but after you defended Saban in the _Teknoman Blade_ review, I'm curious about the criticisms you'll have for them (which was touched upon here).
It happens the same to me; I can't hate the movie even with all its flaws (I think that's why there is a CD drama of the movie too, to explain stuff that the short time of the footage wasn't enough to present). To me, the four versions of escaflowne can't be compared between each other to see which one is better, all have their good points and bad points, but all are enjoyable and that's one of the reasons I love escaflowne 'cause you can make your pick depending of what you like more too. One of the things I liked the most about the movie is the fact that Dilandau and the slayers are alive in the end tho.
Both CDs of the drama are translated, sadly the site they were is already dead. I still have the translation tho, if you wish to check them drop me a message!
Awww it's always a shame when an informative site dies. TH-cam's been acting up on me lately, but I'd like to read these translations, so I'll send the message when I can.
I remember watching this movie when I Was younger and not minding it so much, probably spellbound by the art and animation. I agree with the bit about Dilandau
I'd like to see a review of Lodoss War at some point. Also consider maybe some Studio Ghibli films, perhaps compare Hayao Miyazaki's work with his son Goro (still very good IMO, but not quite as good as his dad).
i adored the vision of escaflowne series, its truly my favorite anime of all times, though i was quite saddened to see what they did with the movie...tho quite happy with the quality of the animation, tho theres a lot of shadow which makes it hard to see any details :(
You know, I kind of want to see a movie about Dilandau and his Dragonslayers going out to do senseless killing sort of. I know that sounds horrible, but DIlandau's just so entertaining about it, and you know it'd be better than this.
I'd forgot about this! Oh man. Years ago I caught on Adult Swim while at a friend's house (without seeing the series). As a 14-year-old at the height of emotional angst and anime fandom, it seemed like something I'd enjoy, but no. I just remember the whining and insanely-sparkly eyes. I wanted to like it, and probably was too young to comprehend the plot... but it was hard to sit through. It's a shame that they changed everything from the series. Didn't know that.
Heh! I caught Escaflowne when it first aired on Fox, too. And, well, while I oppose the edit job Saban did purely on principle, and it's something I never would have done myself...I still kind of like it. Compared to the unbutchered (even dubbed) version on DVD that I got to see a few years later, the pacing was much peppier; the expository cutaways harvested from footage from later episodes, if spoilery, did help in getting quickly immersed in the setting and lore; at least some violence and action was still present, at least to the point that it wasn't immediately, and obviously hobbling the story, or go to really eye-rolling extremes to bowlderize it away; editing down Hitomi's part (again, not something I'd personally do, no matter who the protagonist was) at least didn't cut her out entirely, but had the interesting side effect of making the show feel more like an ensemble work... But, most importantly, there was enough of the original left in-the story, the acting, the wonderous score, the delicious worldbuilding-that it whetted my appetite for more of the "real thing." It's like the popcorn shrimp version. Or, to be very generous (or very ungenerous), the Giorgio Moroder version of "Metropolis" to the remastered, restored footage Criterion Collection version of Metropolis. If it's a travesty, at least it's a one with a measure of charm to it. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for a catchy techno theme.
And they all die screaming. Sora, Matt and Tie stab each other and each their own organs, Kaori cuts her own face and TK wears it while shitting. Seriously, Digimon brings out the worst in me.
Whoa, I had no idea Hitomi was mostly edited out of the Fox Kids run; glad I dodged that bullet. I don't think it was done because she was a girl but because she was a tarot card reader. Real-life arcane stuff like that was a big no-no back in those days (and hell, maybe even today). In spite of the movie's flaws, I consider it a guilty pleasure of mine. It says on Escaflowne's Wikipedia page that people who see the movie first tend to like it more than those who see the series first. After 24 episodes, a viewer can tend to grow attached to the characters, so it'd be a shock to suddenly see them look and act differently and in a completely different situation (such as there being no Zaibach Empire).
Not sure if I am the only one, but when ever I see any of the characters gain those wings, I only get the scene from Garzeys Wings and Puma Man music. That may of actually made this movie better now, after thinking about it.
... My biggest problem with this was always that they removed Emperor Sir Isaac Newton. It was always just so delightful after that reveal in the original series since it just took the whole concept WAY too seriously.
The only thing I remember about Escaflowne was in high school when my friend Leana saw a hentai picture of that feline looking girl and she first questioned what catgirls must smell like. :P That same friend would have probably written all sorts of "interesting" stories about the characters in this. What's this? Redheaded lady calls Hitomi cute? That must mean redheaded lady is a futa ready to pounce, and Hitomi will be her nubile yet willing catch of the day! Eeeeh, we had so much fun back then... XD
Hey, don't bash the Fox Kids airing pf Escaflowne too much... It was that short run of the heavily edited, rather obscure anime that got me into anime as a whole. It was the first "real" anime I was exposed to outside of the typical "Dragon Ball Z", "Pokémon", "Digimon", and "Gundam Wing" stuff that western audiences were eating up so ravenously at the time. I mean, I suppose it wasn't the FIRST first, since I did watch "Ronin Warriors" throughout basically it's entire run on Toonami. However, Escaflowne ended so abruptly that it left me dying to know what happened to Van, Hitomi, Dilandau, and Folken. The internet, at least as we know it today, didn't exist back then. We only had physical media. Oddly enough, I ended up finding the first half of The Vision of Escaflowne on VHS by accident at the fucking LOCAL LIBRARY, as well as the feature length movie reviewed in this video. This was probably circa mid 2001. So I took my finds home and watched the movie first, which even my 11-year old brain discerned as "less than enjoyable" when compared to the series. I thought the mechs looked cool though lol. As for the series, while I was disappointed I was stuck re-watching story aspects I've already seen, I was totally surprised by how much was cut out. I realized that I was getting an entirely different story with the full-length material, not to mention that world building, context adding first episode. It blew me away, and I HAD to have more. As luck would have it, perhaps even benefitting from a bit of providence, a comic store opened in the town next to the area in which I lived, and this store had a focus on anime and manga. I convinced my mom to have us stop in there one day after she finished up some clothes shopping. I was absolutely gobsmacked upon entering this store. Major sensory overload. You have to understand, I grew up in a suburb of Augusta, Georgia. We didn't have access to anime and manga related merchandise, let alone even copies of physical anime media. That shit was hard to get back then, especially in our area, let alone for any kid like me who was fascinated by it and relied on their parents for transportation, money, and access. I should say too that as much as my parents tried to censor the things I was exposed to (it was an on and off thing. It's hard to explain), they did let my interest in anime pretty much run its own course. Frankly I just think they weren't aware of the nature of that manga and anime had. They probably just assumed cartoon = automatically kid friendly lol. Anyway that segues into my point. During my visit to this store, I found the remaining portion of "The Vision of Escaflowne" on VHS and got super excited. When mom saw how hella hyped I was she just offered to buy it for me, which left me even more dumbfounded. Especially considering that the box artwork was a VERY naked Hitomi being embraced by an equally nude Van, his wings poised to envelop the two in feathery warmth while some awkward mid-air coitus was likely to ensue. Honestly I don't know if she just didn't see it, or she did and either just didn't care or didn't want to bring it up haha. At any rate, it ended up being the entire series and I watched all of it from the beginning over the span of about two days. After that, I was utterly hooked on anything anime, and I suppose it's as they say that 'the rest is history'. Fortunately for me, internet access became more common and I could access various media much more freely, and I had a friend who even had "high-speed" DSL network access and a couple file sharing programs that allowed me even more access to my beloved shows. I never would have imagined back then that we would have all the cool shit we have today. Pretty awesome actually.
"This like re-editing Sailor Moon to make it about Tuxedo Mask."
Which is exactly what they did to Cardcaptor Sakura.
Agreed! I was so mad when I saw the Japanese version and saw how Escaflowne was gutted and changed like Cardcaptor Sakura. It actually hurt my soul...😢
I was just thinking that.
Why even bother with a female protagonist? I figured that it would be cheaper to buy a show that you didn't have to edit to hell.
A lot of the shows that came out at the time were licensed in bulk. One Piece, for example, was picked up by 4Kids as part of a package deal with them not even realizing what kind of show it was until they had to somehow edit it for a children's cartoon block. Most of the time, the companies knew what demographic they had to air a show for, but didn't know what show they were going to have to use to do it. And that's why you get these hack jobs.
Well, that explains a lot...
"She emotionally attached her self to a distant violent man because he's dark and mysterious" I think you just summed up and defined 90's anime in one sentence.
Is not the 90's anime, but most of the stories with shojo demographics as a whole
Summed up my love life in that sentence as well
Ichigo is more likeable than Sasuke
Also most harlequin novels.
well said. 😂😂😂😂
It could be just me, but I didn't see a problem with the girl being depressed. I took the movie as a story about dealing with depression. Hitomi just has general depression, Van is inwardly sad at the state of the world and what he has to do in it. Van's brother is spiraling so hard he just wants to end everything. Falkin seems to feel utterly alone in his recognition of how bad life is for them. Depression as a whole isn't logical, and yeah, it's easy enough to make light of by calling someone emo. But it's like having someone constantly follow you around, pointing out every flaw and mistake you've ever had for every moment you're awake. It's not easy to deal with. The bond between Van and Hitomi, along with Falkin's interactions with them, to me anyway, imply that all they really need is to understand they are not alone in their pain. This is something people with depression deal with; feeling like they are utterly alone in their situation.
I should also add that I've never seen the show.
I can see how the movie is full of subtext about depression, but it still fails to be a movie where you can care about most of the characters. At times, it fails to be a movie with coherence. If it weren't for the excellent animation and art direction, there wouldn't be any reason to watch it. In the end, it doesn't even do much to pay off how anyone other than Hitomi or Van have dealt with their feelings. Plus, with so little in the way of character development, does it seem like either of them deserve the ending they get?
I freaking love the design of the Escaflowne. I know it already has a model kit out there, but it isn't great. I wish it would something like a Figure-rise Amplified kit.
This movie was so angsty it came pre-packaged with a Slipknot CD and razor blades.
13 Reasons Why can go fuck itself.
Eh, Slipknot angst is at least better than Limp Bizkit angst.
Ughhhh...
I think you mean Linkinpark. Slipknot is the kind a thing that if you have razor blades with it, it wants you to commit violent murder upon someone.
I think you're confusing angst with murderous tendencies.
@The Great Red Dragon Linkin Park is not nearly as "emo" as every two bit AMV shitting TH-cam scrub would lead everyone to believe, now Evanescence on the other hand....
I love Eska Flonase, the nasal spray really helps my allergies.
Holy shit, that's what my friends and I called it as kids because of the noses!
Your videos make me fall in love with anime all over again. Every time
4 years later and I finally started and finished the original series. Freaking fantastic! Gonna watch the movie next for the pretty animation, but man, the OG series was so good and pretty nice on the years too. Such a unique vibe from that show, great characterization, and a really intriguing story and mythos that really appealed to me
Cramming a twenty-something episode series into a ninety-plus minute movie was a travesty to the fans of not only the Escaflowne series, but also to the fans of good storytelling. Thank you, Sage, for reviewing this!
I agree with pretty much everything you said, except the Dilandau part. The plot twist with him being Allen's long lost sister is what I consider to be one of the most brilliant parts of Escaflowne. One thing I love about the show is the incredible amount of detail in it, and I pick up new insights into it every time I watch it. The sister plot twist is actually something hinted at in the very first episode Dilandau's introduced in. I'll spare you from my hardcore fan theory rant, since I could go on for a really long time about it, but Dilandau being Selena has all kinds of unfortunate implications for his minions.
I passively watched this film years ago with my mom and siblings. I can't remember much except for two details: the song & the bar scene 19:57. I remember this bar scene *because* of this brilliant dialogue (*heavily paraphrased*):
Song starts playing: Wing ton...blah blah blah blaaaahhhh...
Hitomi: I've heard this song before! That song is pretty! I wonder what it means?
Van: It's a folklore song. My mom used to sing to me every night. It means that Dragons are coming to destroy the world.
Siblings, my mom, and me burst into laughter.
Hey Bennett, not sure if you will see this or not. I just wanted to thank you for making these, my wife and I always watch an episode before bed at night and it is SO amazing to see a show this well done for anime. You are really doing a lot for the industry and I just wanted to say thanks.
Here Here! I look forward to every single episode he makes; me and my partner do the exact same thing! The best part is how detailed the Sage is around his analysis of the films. I really hang out to watch each episode as they come. Not a huge fan of the nuts and bolts stuff though [ducks for cover] xD but love the analysis here.
same here!! I watch Sage before Nostalgia Critic's new episodes. His take on these anime old series are awesome and I always look forward to them.
I seriously expected this comment to end with something about how you and your girl start making love for hours the minute you hear the phrase "Long live Bennettopia!"
But yeah, Sage is one of the best, and he just consistently gets better. :D
Bahahaha xD This had me in stitches mate xD It's so difficult to find reviewers like Sage that don't grate on you after a while. He is consistently balanced, and doesn't push an opinion to one way (IMO). So I find him relaxing to listen to :D. Seriously though, that was hilarious xD
The way you presented this, it seems Dilandau is the most entertaining character in this movie. XD
He really is. Andrew Francis' performance was just amazing.
"It was canceled after 10 episodes." Great review....wait, (18 minutes left) Damnit!!
Ah Digimon the Movie, the Frankenstein mess of three digimon movies spliced together into a nearly incoherent mess of a narrative. Even when I was younger I still looked at it with a blank stare and a "whaaaa?!", when trying to piece together what the hell just happened.
Isnt that the movie that you could pop in at any time and get the same outcome, sad and confused?
The entire Digimon series is terrible. I wanna see Tie and friends die a horrible bloody violent death either eating by their own Digimon or turned into sand and disintegrate as they scream.
wasn't one of the movies just summer wars with a digimon paint job?
Actually, Summer Wars was Our War Game (that part of the Digimon movie to which you are referring) with the Digimon stuff removed. The director just wanted to remake it without Digimon in it, but Our War Game came first. It's actually pretty good on its own.
But yeah, Summer Wars is actually the imitator here (self imitation, but imitation none the less).
Dude. Whoa.
The ONE thing i loved about this movie was the soundtrack.
Raw Cd audio soundtrack came with special release. Sounds sooo good on modern audio equipment.
"We are kindred spirits, Vann..." transition: We are both suicidal nut-cases, so we belong together.
So story-accurate Romeo and Juliet.
@@jordanloux3883 🤣🤣🤣🤣😜😋
Escaflowne...this is one of the toughest anime for me to recommend. It's not good for beginners, and those with knowledge can see its flaws readily and may hamper enjoyment. Even I had trouble getting invested in the series in the beginning when I first saw it. It's worth watching, but when exactly the best time is is really hard to say.
Oh, wait, we're talking about the movie, not the series? That makes things simple-don't. Just...don't watch it. (Its the first anime movie I watched after watching the respective series, and it's also the first anime movie ever to piss me off.)
Also, I never knew Millerna was the brunette in the movie. My head was already reeling from all the changes so the name likely just passed through my brain at the time, and
with so many characters missing, I just stuck her in the 'not appearing in this film' category.
Besides Hitomi, there was another character that really annoyed me, but I only sat through the movie once and that was years ago. I don't even remember who that character was or why they annoyed me, and this review didn't spark the memory.
Oh god, the Digimon movie's next.
Bsword640 Time for 2000s pop songs!
Sailor Italy I still have the soundtrack.
Time for 90's pop song bingo!
I've been waiting years for him to review it.
Can't fucking wait for that one! Finally, after all these years!
Don't laugh, if DiC could get away with focusing Sailor Moon into "The Adventures Of Tuxedo Mask", they would. See the US version of Card Captor Sakura (into Cardcaptiors).
Dic didn’t do that
@@dwainsimmons3447 Thank god they didn't do that.
@@stanleyteriaca2184 I think that New York can do it justice.
I love a review I read for this movie that said something like "If I were adapting a series that was heavy on both romance and mechan battles, my first order of business would not be to remove all the romance and mecha battles."
This movie is as beautiful to look at as it is empty.
I wonder how PISSED OFF I'll get at Bennett while watching this. Side note: I consider the series and movie to be 2 separate universes. Side Side Note: Nice job. I applaud you for it.
They are two separate universes, lol. There was a manga series for Escaflowne that started in 1994, before the anime, that was pretty different as well so none of it is really connected aside from having similar premises.
Oh yeah. I forgot about the Manga. And to think, I HAVE one of the Manga issues here in my house.
THANK YOU. I thought I was alone in this :'D.
I 100% agree with this. It's going to be on par with his Perfect Blue review for me. The films is specifically completely separate from the series, acting as an alt-world or 'what if' scenario.
Rathorc Lemenger Same here, I consider the movie an alternate re-telling of the series, sorta like the Tenchi series. Or at least a side-b of a cd.
It's almost as if jamming 8-9 hours worth of content from a TV show into a 90 minute movie is an awful idea or something.
Although I should thank you for making me remember this one. I'm going to have to dig out my old DVD copy and give a rewatch. Haven't seen it since I was a teenager so here's hoping it holds up. I remember it being something special.
The best part of this movie is Dilandau and his homicidal desires riding off into the sunset.
Escaflowne is awesome.
I remember hearing Escaflowne was good while I was first getting into anime. Not knowing there was a TV series, I rented the movie from Blockbuster and was sorely disappointed. All I remember is the scene where main chick is failing to help unconscious Van and the enemy lion guy is explaining shit for no apparent reason. It was just so baffling.
Ah Escaflowne. I never finished watched this series but I do remember watching it as a kid.
Two scenes that I still remember are the time Hitomi made a long jump to escape a crashing airship, and the first time Vahn revealed his wings.
Very underrated anime series, I like the series more than the movie.
So Folken is like Ardyn Izunia mixed with Seymour Guado.
Dilandau is played by Megaman.EXE's english voice actor Andrew Francis... before his balls dropped...
I've always heard this film was kind of made for Korean audiences because of the fact the TV show garnered high ratings and Sunrise worked with a Korean company on it but I didn't realize they put what looks like hanboks, a traditional Korean dress, in the film. Pretty cool to see it in anime because hanboks are nice.
Yeah By the look of it Sage, This Escaflowne movie is not really canon to the Series, Much like the Mighty Morthin Power Rangers movie not being Canon to the Show.
I've never clicked a notification so quickly.
“Inuyasha!”
“Escaflowne!”
Admit it, you read it in their voices.
I feel like there a missed opportunity to put some sonic music to Van rolling
I was actually introduced to Escaflowne via the movie, long before I actually started watching the series proper, but the time gape between those viewings was years apart, so I had forgotten just how much they had changed. Good grief @.@
in my country (germany) we were fortunate not to get the saban recut but the full show with all the scenes of Hitomi intact. I was able to watch it back in the day and loved it. i remember being initially excited about the movie. then i saw the first 5 minutes, noticed it had nothing to do with the show except for the character names and design so i decided to turn it off and never finished the movie. i do not regret that decision.
HAHA! The US only got 10 episodes of Escaflowne, but in Canada we got all of the English episodes aired! And we also got the first episode telling us how Hitomi actually got to Gaia. We also had repeats! Escaflowne was my favourite anime growing up, so I don't want to imagine what it would have been like to not be able to watch all of the series. It would have destroyed me not knowing what would have happened. The Movie...was meh. It just supports my belief that television or mini-series has more opportunities to develop a story than a movie.
Holy shit, thank you Sage! I remember seeing brief clips of this on TV once as a kid, and I've been wondering for almost over fifteen years now what the hell that show was! Just seeing this I know for sure that it was this show! I'm totally checking this out!
I'm getting some weird Twilight flashbacks with this movie's main couple, what with the whole "life means nothing unless you're happy" thing. Great review as always Sage.
Also, this new design for the antagonist looks like if the goblin king from Labyrinth cosplayed as Sephiroth.
Charlie Christakos make no mistake, the goblin King was influence to Sephiroth.
Dilandau really is the only good thing about the movie. And nice to see Bennett also dislike the swerve they did with the character in the show.
I thought it was super weird how they made Escaflowne a bizarre semi-organic thing that drills into Van's neck.
Oh, god, not the Digimon movie. That's gonna hurt. I was WAY too much into Digimon when that came out, and even I could see how bad that was. The pre-movie short with the screechy-voiced and super-annoying Angela Anaconda should have been warning enough...
I think the movie isnt that bad, if you cant hear or see.
Yeah, there's one or two liness of the English dub of the movie that I genuinely laugh at (the scene where a van swerves to avoid a fairly large Agumon with the driver apparently sleeping at the wheel) but yeah....the movie's attempt to bridge like 3 movies doesn't work (then again, I got some issues with the anime...like Ryo being in Ken's flashback but he doesn't age a day in Tamers. Not sure if Tamers and 02 are connected, I do recall one character in my local dub mentioning remembering the events of 02 and they usually stick to the original script so I don't know)
Digimon Tamers was an alternate universe from the Adventures and 02. In that world, Digimon was just a TV show and a card game, then all the sudden DIGIMON ARE REAL, Y'ALL!
Doesn't explain why Ryo exists in 02...and Tamers.
Both those shows are terrible. Does anyone remember when that main kid Tie was slapped and yelled at by his parents for not knowing his sister was too sick to do shit (even though they left the two alone without adult supervision). That's when I know Digimon was the very worst. People give 4kids shit for cutting out scenes of bloody violence and references to religion and culture but gave Saban a free pass for thinking kids wanna see domestic violence and naked kids on TV. I think Heim Saban was a meth-addict. Why else would he think that's stuff okay to show to kids.
I don't I ever liked anime until Fullmetal Alchemist and Wolf's Rain. Nearly everything before and after were bad.
20:34 HOLY SHIT, DUDE! Points for the FFX reference, lol.
I rewatched this with my sister this weekend and I do love the movie for what it is but Hitomi claiming they are kindred spirits was hilarious every time she gave that little speech. She learns Van is depressed and suicidal because his brother murdered the rest of his family, all of his people, and thrust him into a never ending cycle of violence and pain that he forces himself to endure so he can kill his brother and avenge his loved ones. She placed second in a race that one time and then was a bitch to her only friend who consistently checks on her. Truly, she understands his pain.
In the scene where she's like 'I wanted the world to fade away too, I also thought I was all alone' we were just laughing yelling 'TELL HIM WHY HITOMI. TELL HIM ABOUT THE TIME YOU PLACED SECOND' at the screen.
This actually looks like an interesting anime to watch, the original series. I wonder if the german version was based on the japanese original or if it used the heavily edited version.
and talking about the Preview: Oh no, not that movie... Badly frankensteinmonstered together from 3 different full-lenght movies, it was a mess. I like that it feels like the japanese company took a jab at this monster of a movie by making the 4th movie an actual continuation of the plot from the 2nd movie.
So I watched the Fox Kids version along with a few friends, we were all surprised when it was quickly canceled. It wasn't till years later when the box set was released and I saw the entire show that I realized Fox probably suffered the same fate as all anime fans, and was only getting about 3 episodes at a time (so much money wasted on DVDs with just 3-4 episodes instead of waiting for box sets) so imagine the shock of seeing the incest cat girl make out scene and realizing there was no way they could edit that into a kid friend show and just scrapped it for Monster Rancher, which it also canceled.
Somebody nominate that lint on Bennett's shirt for an academy award.
i freaking love dilandau
"Kids show" has murder every other episode lol.
I was in high school at the time this was out. I went to an anime club at the time and they happened to show the whole series fansubbed. It finished there before it got licensed in the west and was aired on Fox. So I'm one of lucky ones who was able to watch it beforehand. Btw, I also got all three of the original Japanese soundtracks for the series.
14:00 YAY BIOSHOCK INFINITE BURIAL AT SEA REFERENCE FOR THE WIN!
Given the direction and mischaracterization of this movie I'm surprised that Ghost Nappa didn't show up.
I LIKE THE MOVIE THOUGH
well the first 10 minutes and most of the designs
oh shit there's a blueray?! I'm gonna get that!
If I were you, I'd go for the original DVD's, if you can find them. The reason is that I find they're better overall.
+Rathorc Lemenger I didnt notice a difference.
Rathorc Lemenger The Blu-Rays have much better video & sound quality, while retaining all of the worthwhile extras (except the PlayStation game footage), the original Japanese and English audio tracks, and a brand new English dub featuring veteran VA's. The Blu-ray release is superior in nearly every way.
I have the redubbed blu-ray release and it's fantastic. Image quality is far superior to my DVD release and the new dub is 100x better. (It's essentially an FMA reunion.)
Get the Funimation Blu Ray since it has a new superior English dub. ;)
Funnily enough, even though I hardly remember anything about the anime itself, it does bring back fond memories as it was one of the anime shown on an excellent anime slot in the early 2000's that was broadcast on Canal + (a French TV channel), which also allowed me to discover other classics such as Cowboy Bebop, Excel Saga, Samurai Champloo, Fullmetal Alchemist and Noir (I won't hold that last one against them). Incidently, those are also the only few anime I can think of to get genuinely good French dubs (except Noir).
Thankfully, the version shown in France was not the heavily edited one mentioned by Sage, which is a pleasant surprise considering the usual policies of French channels regarding anime (not helped by the fact that they insisted on showing stuff like Fist of the North Star on kids' shows because "it's a cartoon! It can't not be for kids!").
I absolutely loved that movie.
23:11 - WHY?,CAN THE UCHIHA BROTHERS GET ALONG FOR ONCE. -_-
Momo Woods I thought exactly the same thing! What a disgrace of a film
If only Sasuke and Itachi died, then it can just be about Nasferuto becoming leader with no conflict... I never watched the show beyond that filler arc that came after the kids wanted to know what Kakashi looked like under his mask.
Finally!!!! I had been waiting for this review!
I have both of the series and movie on dvds. And I did remembered the style of the anime when I was kid, but didn't know the name until years later. And many thanks to my uncle for his animation collentions! ❤
I remember not hating Escaflowne. When it got canceled, I was super confused because I had no idea that sorta thing could happen before a show could finish its story. This series was my introduction to cancellations, which got me prepared for what would become of Clone High (God, I miss Clone High).
I keep forgetting the Fox version existed. Atleast bandai released the series uncut on vhs. That's how I got to see the show. I've since picked up the blu-ray rerelease. I'm glad they included bandai's dub in the rerelease, since I prefer it over funimation's (only tolerated it for the director's cut of the beginning episodes).
*I really enjoyed this movie, I really like the mecha's movie designs and I agree with this one person about it being a different universe.* Also for me I didn't really care for the people scenes, mostly the Mecha battle.
*I do agree about Hitomi though.*
I look forward to the next review. Especially since I love Digimon so much. Pokemon may have been my first taste of a monster themed show, but evolved because of Digimon. Every season was great in its own right but Digimon Frontier is my downright favorite season of digimon. Plus, I love watching the middle movie of Digimon the movie, getting goosebumps every time I see Omnimon appear to finish off Diaboromon.
*OMFG I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS MOVIE FOR YEARS AND I FINALLY FOUND IT OMFG ALL I COULD REMEMBER WAS THAT I SAW IT ON ADULT SWIM WHEN I WAS A KID, THERE WAS A HIGH SCHOOL GIRL WITH A NECKLACE, A BIG FIRE HAPPENED, AND THERE WAS LIKE A FIGHT IN THE SKY. FUCK I'M SO HAPPY I FOUND IT*
After Evangelion, Vision of Escaflowne is my favorite Mecha anime by far. Though I usually don't like mecha anime, so my list is short.
I have a beautiful jewel case DVD box of the complete series. I came with the movie, but, despite my collection, I donated that DVD to future unsuspecting customers are a library. Same with the Madoka Rebellion atrocity.
I remembered watching Escaflowne on Fox back in the day and wondered why it was short. Then eventually I saw the real version and saw why the real version was better. I've never seen the movie before but I would have been a little disappointed with it.
Seeing that Vision of Escaflowne is one of my favourite anime series of all time, I am so glad you ripped into this god awful movie version.
One of the things that made the original series such a classic 90's anime show, outside of the amazing art style, music and direction, was watching these characters flesh out over the course of 26 episodes.
But in the movie, most of the characters that weren't Van or Hitomi had no reason to exist, especially Allen and Millerna, but not only that, this movie completely ruined Hitomi's character, going from a girl with a relatable and endearing personality, who had realistic goals for herself and was useful to the other characters with her tarot card readings to predict the future, to a whiny, moody teenager, full of "DARKNESS" and "NO PARENTS" for no reason whatsoever.
It also didn't help that the 98 minute run time of the film severely hamstrung the character progression, ESPECIALLY when it came to Van and Hitomi.
- Spoilers for the TV series incoming -
With the series, the love triangle between Van/Hitomi/Allen was one of the main driving forces of the story, so when it came to the moment when Hitomi realised that she loved Van, it felt earned because we saw these characters change and grow over the course of the show that it was satisfying when it paid off.
But with the movie, Hitomi comes to Gaea, meets Van and then 35 minutes later, she already declares that she wants to be with him.
Hey, movie?
*YOU DID NOT EARN THAT!*
I AGREE 100%
My god. Thanks for refreshing my memory sage! I remember watching this every Saturday after Digimon back in 2000 in 3rd grade. I didn't realize till now it was Escaflowne! I moved to my home town around it's airing and never found out it was cancelled.
"As the sole survivor of my people... I must kill my.... Brother.... Says I... the Sole, only, solo, alone, solitary, individual, survivor who is lonesome and without others of my people..."
At Sakura-con this year, I actually got my hands on the complete Escaflowne series for a really good price. I was asked if I wanted the movie, and my guts said 'Don't touch it, it's poison, /they always are/'. I'm so glad I skipped out on it, now that I've seen your review.
Despite its problems, I can't bring myself to dislike this movie, even though I feel it should've been longer. I've come to believe/tell myself that the movie is an AU much like the manga, which has also been ripped apart by fans but is an adaptation I still like, and that's why I don't do comparisons between the movie and the TV series. I actually like the idea of believing _Escaflowne_ has different stories to tell within it, and I'm probably alone in this, but it helps me look at the movie as its own stand-alone thing, which doesn't help the problems, but at least I can still divide it into a three-act structure.
The best part of the movie was indeed Dilandau, I just love Andrew Francis' performance here. And the movie soundtrack has been an all-time favorite since I was 13, very atmospheric and knows how to set the mood.
Looking forward to the Digimon movie review. It's become almost as big of a dead horse as the first Pokémon movie, but after you defended Saban in the _Teknoman Blade_ review, I'm curious about the criticisms you'll have for them (which was touched upon here).
It happens the same to me; I can't hate the movie even with all its flaws (I think that's why there is a CD drama of the movie too, to explain stuff that the short time of the footage wasn't enough to present). To me, the four versions of escaflowne can't be compared between each other to see which one is better, all have their good points and bad points, but all are enjoyable and that's one of the reasons I love escaflowne 'cause you can make your pick depending of what you like more too.
One of the things I liked the most about the movie is the fact that Dilandau and the slayers are alive in the end tho.
I didn't know there was a CD drama, that does sound helpful. Is a translation available?
Both CDs of the drama are translated, sadly the site they were is already dead. I still have the translation tho, if you wish to check them drop me a message!
Awww it's always a shame when an informative site dies. TH-cam's been acting up on me lately, but I'd like to read these translations, so I'll send the message when I can.
A link to the folder: 1drv.ms/f/s!Akl2TQpCwHFVgSgEuu1cQEy2kjLM
It has lots of escaflowne material from the four versions!
(Reads anime title) "Never heard if it."
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
*Escaflowne-The Movie:* "NUH-UUUUUUUH!!!"
I remember watching this movie when I Was younger and not minding it so much, probably spellbound by the art and animation. I agree with the bit about Dilandau
To be honest this adaptation feels like a room of teenage boys watched half of the original and went “this is too girly” and rewrote it
Dilandau would probably make a great commissar in the 40K universe.
Holy cow it was 20 years or more that i bought the series on DVD.
I'd like to see a review of Lodoss War at some point. Also consider maybe some Studio Ghibli films, perhaps compare Hayao Miyazaki's work with his son Goro (still very good IMO, but not quite as good as his dad).
I didn't like the movie. They destroyed Hitomi's character. The violent parts of it was closer to the manga at least.
i adored the vision of escaflowne series, its truly my favorite anime of all times, though i was quite saddened to see what they did with the movie...tho quite happy with the quality of the animation, tho theres a lot of shadow which makes it hard to see any details :(
I think Bennett should review the Rayearth OVA at some point
You mean the 3-part one that completely ignored a good chunk of the original story?
Victor Cain I would like to see him tackle Rahxephon or Break Blade.
Victor Cain OMG yes
I remember reading the manga in the MIXXzing/Tokyo-Pop magazine and really enjoying it. I made the name CLAMP known to me.
The dub got Tara Sands, Amy Birnbaum, and Lisa Ortiz.
I dont think any episode of bebop is underated i mean that entire series is basically the godfather of anime
You know, I kind of want to see a movie about Dilandau and his Dragonslayers going out to do senseless killing sort of. I know that sounds horrible, but DIlandau's just so entertaining about it, and you know it'd be better than this.
I'd forgot about this! Oh man. Years ago I caught on Adult Swim while at a friend's house (without seeing the series). As a 14-year-old at the height of emotional angst and anime fandom, it seemed like something I'd enjoy, but no. I just remember the whining and insanely-sparkly eyes. I wanted to like it, and probably was too young to comprehend the plot... but it was hard to sit through. It's a shame that they changed everything from the series. Didn't know that.
Dude, I would LOVE a series about Tuxedo Mask. Usagi's terrible anyway.
I'm glad he's getting to this. I was expecting this in his last video and was genuinely surprised to see this video was the next review.
Van and Hitomi reduced to two angsty teens in love. What is this, InuYasha??
Heh! I caught Escaflowne when it first aired on Fox, too. And, well, while I oppose the edit job Saban did purely on principle, and it's something I never would have done myself...I still kind of like it.
Compared to the unbutchered (even dubbed) version on DVD that I got to see a few years later, the pacing was much peppier; the expository cutaways harvested from footage from later episodes, if spoilery, did help in getting quickly immersed in the setting and lore; at least some violence and action was still present, at least to the point that it wasn't immediately, and obviously hobbling the story, or go to really eye-rolling extremes to bowlderize it away; editing down Hitomi's part (again, not something I'd personally do, no matter who the protagonist was) at least didn't cut her out entirely, but had the interesting side effect of making the show feel more like an ensemble work...
But, most importantly, there was enough of the original left in-the story, the acting, the wonderous score, the delicious worldbuilding-that it whetted my appetite for more of the "real thing." It's like the popcorn shrimp version. Or, to be very generous (or very ungenerous), the Giorgio Moroder version of "Metropolis" to the remastered, restored footage Criterion Collection version of Metropolis. If it's a travesty, at least it's a one with a measure of charm to it.
Or maybe I'm just a sucker for a catchy techno theme.
HEY DIGIMON HEY DIGIMON.
Monster friends to the boys and girls!
Champions of the Digital World!
And they all die screaming. Sora, Matt and Tie stab each other and each their own organs, Kaori cuts her own face and TK wears it while shitting. Seriously, Digimon brings out the worst in me.
Stephen Mc Devitt I think you're in the minority there.
Stephen Mc Devitt - Not so gr8 b8 m8.
Whoa, I had no idea Hitomi was mostly edited out of the Fox Kids run; glad I dodged that bullet. I don't think it was done because she was a girl but because she was a tarot card reader. Real-life arcane stuff like that was a big no-no back in those days (and hell, maybe even today).
In spite of the movie's flaws, I consider it a guilty pleasure of mine. It says on Escaflowne's Wikipedia page that people who see the movie first tend to like it more than those who see the series first. After 24 episodes, a viewer can tend to grow attached to the characters, so it'd be a shock to suddenly see them look and act differently and in a completely different situation (such as there being no Zaibach Empire).
That episode of Bebop's underrated? I love that one. So much emotion and power in it.
My girlfriend watch this with me and she is a huge fan of the original, agrees with everything you said in this review.
sora is the best escaflowne song
Not sure if I am the only one, but when ever I see any of the characters gain those wings, I only get the scene from Garzeys Wings and Puma Man music. That may of actually made this movie better now, after thinking about it.
4:06 And we cut to Alucard and Trevor Belmont having it out... O_O
Common, Van’s attack on the crow’s nest was brilliant and only possible BECAUSE he can fly!
He even uses the sun the hide his approach
I really thought that perverted guy would show up when Sage was mocking the girl saying how nice Van was just at the 3 foot katana line.
... My biggest problem with this was always that they removed Emperor Sir Isaac Newton. It was always just so delightful after that reveal in the original series since it just took the whole concept WAY too seriously.
I like when Pescaflowne taught us fish can be the real heroes
The only thing I remember about Escaflowne was in high school when my friend Leana saw a hentai picture of that feline looking girl and she first questioned what catgirls must smell like. :P
That same friend would have probably written all sorts of "interesting" stories about the characters in this. What's this? Redheaded lady calls Hitomi cute? That must mean redheaded lady is a futa ready to pounce, and Hitomi will be her nubile yet willing catch of the day! Eeeeh, we had so much fun back then... XD
Hey, don't bash the Fox Kids airing pf Escaflowne too much... It was that short run of the heavily edited, rather obscure anime that got me into anime as a whole. It was the first "real" anime I was exposed to outside of the typical "Dragon Ball Z", "Pokémon", "Digimon", and "Gundam Wing" stuff that western audiences were eating up so ravenously at the time. I mean, I suppose it wasn't the FIRST first, since I did watch "Ronin Warriors" throughout basically it's entire run on Toonami. However, Escaflowne ended so abruptly that it left me dying to know what happened to Van, Hitomi, Dilandau, and Folken. The internet, at least as we know it today, didn't exist back then. We only had physical media. Oddly enough, I ended up finding the first half of The Vision of Escaflowne on VHS by accident at the fucking LOCAL LIBRARY, as well as the feature length movie reviewed in this video. This was probably circa mid 2001. So I took my finds home and watched the movie first, which even my 11-year old brain discerned as "less than enjoyable" when compared to the series. I thought the mechs looked cool though lol. As for the series, while I was disappointed I was stuck re-watching story aspects I've already seen, I was totally surprised by how much was cut out. I realized that I was getting an entirely different story with the full-length material, not to mention that world building, context adding first episode. It blew me away, and I HAD to have more. As luck would have it, perhaps even benefitting from a bit of providence, a comic store opened in the town next to the area in which I lived, and this store had a focus on anime and manga. I convinced my mom to have us stop in there one day after she finished up some clothes shopping. I was absolutely gobsmacked upon entering this store. Major sensory overload. You have to understand, I grew up in a suburb of Augusta, Georgia. We didn't have access to anime and manga related merchandise, let alone even copies of physical anime media. That shit was hard to get back then, especially in our area, let alone for any kid like me who was fascinated by it and relied on their parents for transportation, money, and access. I should say too that as much as my parents tried to censor the things I was exposed to (it was an on and off thing. It's hard to explain), they did let my interest in anime pretty much run its own course. Frankly I just think they weren't aware of the nature of that manga and anime had. They probably just assumed cartoon = automatically kid friendly lol. Anyway that segues into my point. During my visit to this store, I found the remaining portion of "The Vision of Escaflowne" on VHS and got super excited. When mom saw how hella hyped I was she just offered to buy it for me, which left me even more dumbfounded. Especially considering that the box artwork was a VERY naked Hitomi being embraced by an equally nude Van, his wings poised to envelop the two in feathery warmth while some awkward mid-air coitus was likely to ensue. Honestly I don't know if she just didn't see it, or she did and either just didn't care or didn't want to bring it up haha. At any rate, it ended up being the entire series and I watched all of it from the beginning over the span of about two days. After that, I was utterly hooked on anything anime, and I suppose it's as they say that 'the rest is history'. Fortunately for me, internet access became more common and I could access various media much more freely, and I had a friend who even had "high-speed" DSL network access and a couple file sharing programs that allowed me even more access to my beloved shows. I never would have imagined back then that we would have all the cool shit we have today. Pretty awesome actually.
Man everytime I see moping kids in Mecha anime I immediately see Kamina..... That's the stuff....