The Vision of Escaflowne | Retcon_404
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2022
- Released in 1996 The Vision of Escaflowne is a fantasy mecha romance show created by the man behind Macross. Despite a massive marketing push from Bandai, Escaflowne missed sales targets in Japan, but was a hit in the west. So join me on a foray into a world of Action, Romance, Mecha and ...furries.
-- THIS VIDEO CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE --
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Adding shoujo elements into mecha was a brilliant concept. Add in the fantasy setting, ties to mythology & a real life figure and it's a top tier series.
Escaflowne was a goddamn masterpiece and criminally underrated
Yes! It is one of my favorite Anime!
Escaflowne introduced me to the idea that prescience is actually a *BAD* superpower. Characters can only "look" for the outcomes they can imagine - thus preventing all the futures that are BETTER than they can imagine.
For example, letting Van die on earth would have prevented nearly all the events of the rest of the series.
Yep. Seeing the future isn't a good thing, because every time you change it you can inadvertently make things worse. Hitomi's power is pretty terrible, because it isn't just that she sees the future... she's in some way _creating_ it, manipulating fate on an unconscious level. She does naturally what Isaac is trying to do with his machine.
if Escaflowne had a low budget and looks THAT good i struggle to understand why other shows with better budgets can't compete. it's gorgeous. the animation is damn near perfect. 10/10.
I don’t think Escalowne was low budget. It’s budget wasn’t high enough for the intended 30+ eps and they did 26 eps, which was the norm at the time.
The time given can sometimes matter more than budget
Escaflowne is an all time classic. Did Isekai before everyone ran the genre into the ground, did Mecha anime in an interesting way that is never really done, did hot androgynous boys with katana's and angel wings before Final Fantasy 7 and Kingdom Hearts and everyone else did it. Escaflowne really was very ahead of it's time. Would love an AI powered shot for shot 4k remaster.
Nah. There were a handful of other worlds titles out and ff7 and escaflowne we're almost neck and neck when it came to releases.
It was a title that had a lot of fans though and a lot of people loved it.
If we're talking about who did it first, that belongs to Dunbine. First on screen/tv at least. The prototype isekai is a shojou manga (I forget the name) that had a girl who wakes up in ancient egypt and becomes the target of the pharaoh's interest.
@@nicodalusong149 TBH, until I watched this video, I hadn't realized just how much this parallels Heero and the princess in Gundam Wing, with Van being Heero, and Hitomi being Relena.
like even the weird ending stuff, and I believe there was something with Heero and the gundam's piloting system affecting his brain (though the OG version of that, at least that I recall was either 8 man or Technoman Blade, with the latter having a time limit before his suit warped his mind)...
What's hilarious is that the original isekai is another mecha anime... Aura Battler Dunbine.
Fushigi yuugi, El hazard, Rayearth. all isekais before Escaflowne.
8:11
There are two types of mechas in Vision of Escaflowne: Melefs and GuyMelefs.
Melefs are shorter mechas, standing at 6 meters tall in general and are generally simpler versions of the GuyMelefs. The mechas used by Fanelia's army are all Melefs for example.
GuyMelefs are the bigger mechas, they stand at 8 to 10 meters tall. Escaflowne, Shereazade and the Zaibac empire's mechas are all GuyMelefs.
Escaflowne's music is what impacted me the most when I first watched it; it still stands as one of my favorite soundtracks ever.
Yoko Kanno is amazing
That string riff before you hear “Esca…Flone”, like CHILLS every time!
Zaibach r the enemies
I honestly believe in my heart that the opening scene in the movie is the greatest opening scene in anime movie history
The op is so epic, it was sorely missing from the movie (though I haven’t seen it since it was released)
I see the "zone of absolute fortune" in a completely different way. Isaac's goal was to manipulate fate so that every whish was granted, every fortune became perfect; the same goal that had brought down Atlantis: the whish for perfection. So, everyone in the zone basically is free to pursue their whish and sort of gets it... the problem is that in the real world everyones' whish is different and they tend to clash. A world where everyone gets what they want is impossible.
And if you look at it closely, that IS actually the leitmotif of the whole series. Characters who want things that are at odds with each other... unrequitet love, power, peace, conquest, loneliness, memory, lost time, family, belonging, riches, etc. Even Hotmi's initial motivation was wanting something without taking in account others' feelings, plans and worlds.
I get the feeling that people give Escaflowne's thematic consistency very little credit. Yes, the mechs and the soap opera-like character interactions steal the show allong with the stellas sound track and the well designed and otherworldly setting... but in the end, even with all the rush from the shortening of the series, it mannages to never really lose its thematic center.
Something simmilar can be said about the movie, which is (imo) a big rumination on depression and the impulse to self-erase, to cease to exist (which is interesting, because unlike what people think, most depressed people don't want to die as much as to not-be anymore). In the film Folken appears as someone who is in this nihilistic depression and wants the world to end as a way to escape from it; and he finds in Hitomi someone similar (Hitomi is clearly portrait as depressed at the start of the movie). The whole film revolves around the search for a drive to live (and love).
Escaflowne is just such an absolute gem. It tries to do everything and somehow succeeds, even if it doesn't do it perfectly.
I've always loved how Escaflowne did controlling of the mecha. Its one of my fave ways and I've used it in stories/DnD ideas before
White Wolf's game Exalted employs Warstriders, which are literally Melefs, and I friggin love it. XD
Escaflowne is probably the greatest multilayered thematic character driven pieces of television I have ever seen. It is still my favorite TV series ever and favorite soundtrack and is what got me interested in classical music, Lord of the Rings type stuff, and collecting double and single edged sword.
I also really love how Arthurian the Escaflowne itself is based off of. With Excalibur, draw the sword of power from the stone, turn the entire destiny of the kingdom. With Escaflowne, draw the Guymelef of power, Escaflowne, from the stone, and you turn the destiny of the world. Its magic uses all of the stone that it is in, for itself. Notice how, after the Escaflowne kneels before Van, there are no pieces of the stone left that it's magic was in?
I love that Allen can be a master swordsman but also a charming man that had a shameful affair but also a man who gets to understand his father etc.
Folken and all the cast are the opposite of being one note characters and Hitomi understanding her power, willing to help yet not willing to be used as a weapon is sometimes annoying (because you wish our side the victory) but very much understandable and good writing
The struggle and wants of every character is well defined and it puts this show among my favorite show ever
@@stefanswiss3760 Allen probably was my favorite over all an van kind of grew on me. They're both two sides of the same coin..both are flawed but are being or trying to be, good men in their sphere. I really found it interesting how with folkien, he really was trying to protect his brother, but it was through imperfect reasoning.
But, he partly succeeded, because there were multiple times, that if folkien hadn't of done what he did, then Dornkirk would have won and Van would have been killed. Another really great message on the series comes in that, you can't just try to change people and places and things, without it effecting you and hurting others. "I just want everybody to be happy", will lead you down the path to becoming evil. Because people need to support and believe in others and help them to fulfill their potential. Instead of trying to make them fulfill what you judge to be it.
Escaflowne hit two pleasure centres of my brain, mecha and Final Fantasy VI. I didn't know it was intended to be a conventionally shounen-style series in its inception. While It's hard to say what we would've gotten had they continued in that diection, I do think the highly romanticized shoujo-style that it was developed into was what ultimately made it so memorable.
You are so right when you describe it as a cross between robot-mecha and Final Fantasy. This is another show that caught anime fandom by surprise with it's melding of a fantastic but believable story, loveable characters, gorgeous animation and a beautiful soundtrack (I have all 3 of the CD's). I also built a Merle model and a Scharazard model. Didn't care much for the movie, though. They used the Escaflowne characters in a totally different plot not related to the TV series.This is a good series to introduce people to the art and story of anime who may have misgivings or misconceptions about it ("It's all porn" is one i've heard). It's worth checking out wether you're a newbie or hard-core fan.
James Staley
Jones, Ok.
Anime fan 4ever
this series was a binge series for me during the pandemic. opening was a bop and the animation for the combat felt heavy. every swing from the mechas felt like killing blows and the feeling of someone's demise felt imminent. classic show, great review.
i still listen to Mystic Eyes to this day. 😂
This soundtrack is simply the best
I remember how moved i was when Van and Hitomi meet again because they need each other.
And how melancolic the ending was, when Hitomi disappears in a ray of light.
That show was everything when i watched it back in 2000´s
I saw Vision of Escaflowne back in the early 2000's. Episode two, Van activates Escaflowne and says, "They're coming." Takes one step forward as Dance of Curse starts playing. Still to this day one of my favorite anime moments of all time. Chills.
The mechs in the show uses an arm-slave system akin to what full motion body suit does for the fighter pilots in G gundam. Also, the arm-slave system is also present in Sakura Wars and in some mechs in the Full Metal Panic universe, such as the Arbalest and the M9.
Gotta say Escaflowne was one of the first animes I ever owned on VHS thanks to a family friend working at Bandai USA at the time. As a kid I would rewatch it until the tape itself's fidelity was to be questioned but heck I was a kid and really didn't understand how analog media degraded over time.
I gotta praise Escaflowne for really committing to the high fantasy aesthetics, where in the 90's a lot were produced but was leaning towards more of a fast fantasy mimicking jrpgs tropes. I haven't come across any other series that really doubled down on the fantasy mech genre of the gigantic suits of armor like this series. Knights and Magic does, but it's far too lenient of the fantasy tech side of things than the gritty side of medieval warfare with mechs.
Narratively, Escaflowne was rough around the edges and now hearing about its production issues, I see why that was. It still enraptured myself as a kid and I still find the story to be engaging enough as an adult for a rewatch.
Escaflowne was the first anime that I watched that really had an emotional impact on me. I'd watched a few other series and thought they were cool, but this series really hit me. There was a depth to it and it asked big questions. Can fate be changed? How much would precognition truly suck? Is it a good thing for everyone to be granted their wishes? (Lookin' at you, Disney.)
Hitomi strikes me as a realistic teenager (given the batshit craziness of the story). She's overwhelmed by circumstances, crushes hard on boys, can be snippy and immature and jealous one moment and then mature the next. What I found interesting was just how dangerous her power was. There's a scene in a late episode where you see a possible future: an army of Ispano Guymelefs destroying Zaibach easily, and leading them isn't Van... but Hitomi, standing on Escaflowne and holding her pendant with a cold look on her face. Having someone who can not only see the future but change it is a terrifying foe to face. And she can do by herself what Isaac spent countless years and many lives trying to accomplish.
And I loved the ending. Whether Hitomi and Van reunite is left entirely to the viewer. She doesn't play the Disney princess, doesn't give up her life to stay on Gaia... but that isn't to say that they won't see each other again. One thing I love about older anime series is that often they didn't have more than one season. My favorites (like Escaflowne, Kurau Phantom Memory, and Ergo Proxy) all told their stories and then were done. The story is over, the plot resolved, and that's that. As I've gotten older I've come to realize that for stories to mean something they have to _end._ Not tell endless tales with the same characters.
Anyway, great recap/review. Definitely subscribed.
I was lucky enough as a kid to have a cool older goth/punk cousin (complete with buzz cut) who was somehow able to get her hands on the Japanese version of this show (not the horribly butchered and censored 4Kids version) in the 90s. I watched it with her on the afternoons she babysat me, and it was absolutely a formative work on my journey into anime as a whole. So I know my opinion of the show is dripping with nostalgia, and I'm glad that others who don't have the rose-colored lenses of childhood memories to look through can still enjoy this old classic.
Thank you so much for this insightful video essay on the show! I can really tell how much work you put into making it, and appreciate the look into its development. 🙂
Hidden gem . Childhood memories
Nice overview! I chalked up Allen's change of heart with Hitomi to the fate alteration device ... basically, it seemed to really eff things up with various characters feelings/fates with each other. Before it, it seemed clear that Allen had conflicted feelings for Millerna, but then things got messed up by the machine. Of course, Hitomi's false fortune telling didn't help either.
But yes there is a LOT of the story, especially in the latter parts, where you just have to go along with it and not think to hard because it's just ... look, it's just not the sort of story that's crafted to fit together like a fine clockwork mechanism.
As for Dryden's giving back Millerna the ring and stuff ... nah, that's no change of heart. It's just his M.O. His style is to make grand romantic gestures to move a gal's heart. He knows what he's doing ... and it does work.
I just wish we got more of Dryden honestly, he's probably the most useful character in the entire show lol.
@@Retcon404 Well, maybe a _little_ more of Dryden. If they kept him around for too much longer, they'd have to show us how he's all messed up like everyone else also in some freaky way or something.
Well, given the fact that there are essentially three different versions of the show that were broadcast on television, two of which were dubbed in english and the original japanese, I'd say it isn't surprising that there are things that got lost in translation. Especially if you watched any of the english dubs because one of the english releases not only had certain scenes but entire episodes removed in order for it to be broadcast in the west.
The original japanese version of the show however actually does fit together like a fine clockwork mechanism because as Vahn's mother explains to Hitomi, the true power of Atlantis is the Zone of Absolute Fortune and that it has the power to make everyone's wishes come true. That's why everyone goes insane during the final battle. Their wish to win the war at any cost causes the Zone of Absolute Fortune to begin running rampant because up until that point, Dornkirk had only been able to use his machine to influence events on a minor scale. Forcing Allen to fall in love with Hitomi being one of them because he was able to synchronize Falken's fate with Allen's and Hitomi's with one of the catgirls and forcing them to kiss. A scene which is then followed by her sister asking if she can share the taste of Falken's lips to which the other replies, only if she can give her back her dreams. A reference to the fact that both wished for Falken to fall in love with them. This dream is later reflected in one of Hitomi's visions because as Vahn's mother explains to her, her visions aren't visions at all but a reflection of her wish for everyone around her to simply live in peace with each other. A wish that the Zone of Absolute Fortune is attempting to make real but can't due to the fact that the very thing she's wishing for is in conflict with with what other's actually want or believe can be achieved.
TLDR: Anime in the nineties was often a weird mix of censorship, terrible dubs and bizarre localization choices that were influenced by cultural and aesthetic values that are rooted in a completely different story telling structure. Fun to watch side by side to see where things got lost in translation if you've ever studied japanese aesthetics. Confusing as all hell if you try to make sense of things from a purely western perspective.
@@twilightiger FWIW, I never watched either of the English dubs, so I don't know how much or how little they changed the story. All of my opinions are from watching the original version, not too much after they aired (some delay for release on laser disc).
The visuals and music of this anime is One of my favorites, Love It!
BTW, if you haven't looked at Heat Guy J, it's an interesting one to take a look at with Escaflowne in the back of your mind. I'm not sure, but I think that Nobuteru Yuuki said that he loved doing the character designs in Heat Guy J because it was one of the few times he got to do truly original designs rather than designs based on others work.
Well, if that's the case, then he must have felt REALLY creatively constrained by Escaflowne (that's heavy sarcasm, btw). Like, seriously, you could start watching Heat Guy J in the middle and take a few moments before realizing you weren't watching Escaflowne. There's even a fun cameo character voiced by Maaya Sakamoto where she tweaks the Hitomi look-alike.
Anyway, there's a lot of stylistic touches in Heat Guy J that feel reminiscent of Escaflowne, such as the steampunk touches of technology, and even some of the music feel (although a different composer).
Looking up Heat Guy J, I see that apparently it's not well regarded by fans, or something? I dunno ... I didn't really participate in any sort of anime fandom discussion at that time, but I thought Heat Guy J was pretty fun and an entirely enjoyable ride.
As a huge fan of this show as a kid it utterly baffled me to hear people in the current era referring to isekai as a strictly male appeal genre.
Wow, that's truly bizarre ... I mean, back then it was largely dominated by shoujo manga like Fushigi Yuugi and Rayearth, IIRC.
@@IsaacKuo I think that shows you how much the anime fandom in the west has grown, and how little older anime has held up in the zeitgeist in terms of recognizable franchises (to us). Portal Fantasy and the Isekai variant of it has been around forever, and yeah in the 80s and 90s a lot of it manifested as either shoujo romance or in some rare cases lady action that had a more split audience.
@@andrejg4136 Well, we are talking almost three decades ago, so I'm not surprised that much has been forgotten to modern audiences.
I find it more interesting what _is_ still around. For example, I find it funny when folks on tumblr point to Britney Spears as a really cool mom for throwing her children birthday parties with Pokemon or Sailor Moon or Dragonball themes...
... like, younger fans are completely unaware that Britney Spears is actually the perfect age to have been into those shows herself when she was young.
You watched the funimation dub but you should have watched the OG! The cast is THICC with gems.
Domon Kasshu as a twink? Check. Ryusei Date as a chad knight? Check. Conan Edogawa as a reverse trap? Check.
Also commenting on Allen's love for Hitomi coming out of nowhere, I felt it came a bit from his feelings on his sister turned to something different from that weird thing with Folken and the catgirl staging romance in front of the fate alteration machine.
Escaflowne is literally perfection, think of shows of that era and very few can match it, Eva that came out a few years earlier and Cowboy Bebop a few years later are some of those shows.
This was actually the first anime (besides pokemon) that I had ever seen as a kid, and it remains one of my all time favorite shows. I didnt know the original plan was for a longer show but the fast paced plot it produced when shrunk in length makes it very tense and enjoyable to me.
Thank you so much for making this video! I’m very glad that people are still discovering this hidden gem of anime. I have the fondest memories being a 14 yo school girl in the 2000s and watching this anime after school.
Btw, the OST is brilliant! It was the last collab for Yoko Kanno and her ex husband… also the debut of a very young Maaya Sakamoto, who is now a very popular singer and voice actress in Japan.
For me, this anime has a very special place in my heart and I still keep thinking fondly about it. The characters and the world build are very well thought imho.
Man I remember watching this and loving it as a kid and years later realizing how much better it actually was when you notice more of the story and character details.
I literally found and finished escaflowne last week after it stopped airing in Canada way back when (it's on funimation) This was my childhood entry to anime and I loved this video. Thank you, what a delight to so randomly find
Thanks so much for watching my favorite anime of all time! It's cool to see a review that isn't clouded by nostalgia. Props for watching the original dub, by the way! This was also one of my first anime that had a more mature and constant plot (DBZ and Sailor Moon were my earliest exposure to anime). Although, honestly, Fox Kids stopped airing the show after the episode where we learn about Van's heritage, so I had to wait around and guess about what the heck happened for YEARS.
Definitely feel the crunch of those missing episodes. The Yspano, as you pointed out, really needed some expansion, and also I think a bit more information/history on the cat twins, and Jajuka and Dilandau/Celena's relationship would have been very nice to have.
However, I thought it was a really unique twist that Van and Escaflowne were bonded the way they were, and the fact that Gaia was made because of the Atlanteans was very interesting. Also, why Isaac Newton? But then again, why not?
I really appreciate the slower pace the love story takes here; it's not just horny infatuation like modern isekai. Escaflowne just feels more genuine. I miss isekai like this where it's not just a male fantasy power trip with a harem and a bunch of boob envy and panty shots.
Overall a great series that had a lot of impact on me over time, even if I had to wait for ages to see the entire thing!
17:54 Pretty fair, TBH, her last vision included the doppelganger screaming in pain and horror as he was crushed into paste, and most of the ones before that were similarly brutal.
I had a huge crush on Hitomi when this came out back when I was in highschool. English version Hitomi took over Rei Atanami's spot in my heart. May I also recommend that you guys check out Five Star Stories which is pretty much if Dune, Giant Robots, and Escaflowne had a baby.
I think one of the things I really enjoyed about Escaflowne was the worldbuilding. Even with the rushed pace and condensed script, the setting and world of Gaia actually felt lived in, it felt almost real. Everything was very nicely realized, from the various nations and kingdoms, the underlying tensions, and the gymelefs themselves. It all felt real and legit, and it allowed me to suspend my disbelief and immerse myself.
Compare it to like 99% of Isekai today where their worldbuilding is paper thin, meant only to serve as a background for the overpowered MC to rampage across it with nary a care, there's almost always a very belief-shattering reliance on 'modernism' in most of them, with magic often just seeming like it was created and distributed by Apple or Sony what with stupid magic UI and other such modern gamer contrivances. It can work if the character is legit teleported to a video game world, but that is rarely the case and instead just makes the whole setting feel fake.
If you ever feel like you need more Escaflowne, the movie is beautiful and surreal
I'll never forget the scene of Vahn going through the airship near the beginning. Wonderfully animated film.
God I loved this show when I was a kid, damn shame they couldn't get funding to give it a really great ending.
I love these longer videos, so I'm glad that this one went over the expected run time honestly. I'm also stoked to hear that you'll be continuing to stream on YT, it is much more likely I will manage to catch a stream of yours on here than I would on twitch. Keep up the awesome work and take care brother!
This is my all time favorite anime. It blew my mind in the 90’s, and I watch it every few years and feel like I pick up on things I missed each time. It’s just so so good!! Thanks for featuring it ☺️
I remember watching this on YTV in Canada when it first came out and it’s still one of my favourite anime to date, I love the ocean dub cuz dilandaus VA is just so unhinged, it is burned into my memory as one of the best villains ever. Probably to over the top now and didn’t age well but it has a special place in my heart, also yes brian drummond as Allen is absolutely epic.
I remember thinking the stealth cloaks on the zaibach guymelef were one of the coolest things when I was 12 years old and still think there some of the best designs to this date. They fly they cloak they move with grace. Just so cool.
This show was just so dope and the remaster is a treasure I definitely backed when it came out and keep at home to this day.
Thanks for hitting all the nostalgia in this review
I love Dilandau's Ocean VA's acting (Andrew Francis is listed, but this role isn't actually listed on their Wiki). It is a bit corny now, but holy crap did Dilandau have a TON of personality because of it!
wait, this is a series? holy shit that animation and pencil work is insane
This is one of my favorite anime of all time
Escaflow is in my top 5 anime list, one of the best series I have ever 2qtched. Thank you Fox Kids for those episodes aired, they ignited my thirst to look for the series in the future and watch it. And what an experience it was
Same
I blame fox kids for this.
Dang I haven't watched this show in years. Made me want to rewatch it.
Perfect! That's my whole goal with this channel!
28:00 isn't that supposed to be an effect of her wishes twisting fate and hurting his free will?
Yep. And Isaac who made them a thing to prevent her from eventually getting with Van, which didn't work.
This show is damn near perfect a 9.5 out of 10 you feel you are in a real other-ly world and the MUSIC!!!
Thanks for spotlighting this one boss. Escaflowne was one of the key anime series from the 1990's that I missed out on for whatever reason. I vaguely remember it being on the Fox Kids network I believe in the USA for a while, but I just never felt the pull to get invested. Years later I find myself trying to recollect anime series from the 1990's and early 2000's, and I think after watching your review I'm going to pull the trigger and get my hands on this show. This and Record of Lodoss War.
Dude, this was great! Took me back to my little dude days. The story plot totally blew over my head as a wee young lad. Glad you brought it up to speed over 20 ish years later 😆
First time here. Escaflowne was the first anime I ever watched as a kid, essentially before I knew what anime was. It sparked my interest in writing which I'm still keeping up with today. Loved the review and the use of another hidden gems OST in the background (PS1's The Legend of Dragoon) Hope you keep up this content. (Though I gotta say it stings when I hear people pronounce Dilandau's name as "Dylan-Dao" It's a symptom of watching the original Bandai dub where its "Dilandow" Keep up the work!
Hated the ending when I watched it, was all in on Hitomi and Vaan staying together in the same world, and wanted Folken to survive smh lol
Same! I'm still mad about that!
I gotta admit the ending was more of a talk-no-jutsu, but I gotta love the whole series. The visuals and music still holds up to this day. I am not ashamed to admit that I had rewatched the series quite a number of times since pandemic started. it is one of the few isekai anime that I can watch in one seating lol.
Loved Escaflowne. It was pretty popular in France despite that it was on a paid/for subscribers channel at first.
This show hits me in my nostalgia heart. I love that the series and movie tell different stories that are equally unique and great in there own way.
Realy liked the ost on the show also it has 3 cats girls and you can't go wrong with cat girls
I actually remember parts of this show. Dang the mech controls were so dang cool.
Not counting the european-ordered stuff like Heidi and Wiki, this was the first anime I've ever seen long before anyone even knew the term anime over here.
Mainly because it and Gundam Wing were literally the only anime not made for children to ever reach free TV in Austria at the time. Weirdly enough it was aired on MTV for some reason.
But unlike Wing, I am still fond of Escaflowne. I love this anime.... except the very ending. I like how the big conflict is resolved, but the romance? They take the entire series to realize they are in love with each other only to go to seperate planets after the realization? WHY?!?
To have Isaac Newton as the big bad doing a Warhammer 40K Emperor impression is quite something too. Not sure if that something is awesome, funny or both. ^^
Escflowne is a rare example that it had 2 different manga, shojo version and shonen version
This and Tekkaman Blade were the first Anime shows I watched back on Fox Kids.
I was gonna mention that it feels like an entire episode may have been skipped, since there was a point at which Folken uses the fate machine to purposefully make Allen fall in love with Hitomi which is a whole other can of worms- but also why he just kinda out of the blue decided he loved her. Sucks for him that he gets to live the rest of his life with emotions that don't really belong to him. This is one show I feel def deserves some expansion so that it gets the time and budget it needs to tell its story.
There's something about 90s anime that just makes it look better. The characters' proportions aren't off, the shading is great and ... oh God, the shading is excellent. Modern anime can't do shadows in real-time to save their lives. It's so fucking blocky.
One of the best soundtracks of all time
reached the end and wow, long story! Escaflowne is one of those animes I heard of as a kid but never saw it
Was waiting for this, thanks.
I think Dryden's gesture was fine. It was obvious over the series that Malerna is just not interested.
Escaflowne was one of my first mecha anime. I freaking loved it, and it still influences a lot of my thoughts on the combining of fantasy and sci fi
I don't know how I found this channel, I don't really like anime, but I've been subscribed for a month and actively look forward tou your videos. Great work, my dude.
That's super interesting to me actually, Do you mind if I ask what keeps you coming back to my channel as a non-anime watcher?
@@Retcon404 honestly, I just like listening to people who are passionate about the subject their talking about. Also. Not to be weird, but you got a nice relaxed voice. Very pleasant on the ears.
One of my all time favorites
I can't listen to people quoting the Funimation dub names. For both Allen Schezar and Dilandau the only pronunciation I'll ever accept is the ocean dub. Can't do it.
Both dubs are amazing
I'd love a modern remake that explores the world they set up so much more.
Aw man wanna watch it again. Remember way back when it aired on tv then stopped several years later finally saw the whole thing.
Thank you for the hard work you put into the shows!……..Please do Outlaw Star next :)
I own the 2222 pieces limited CE with Hitomis Tarot-Cards! It was for me one of the first Animes I every saw and still holds a place in my heart till today (and I feel nostalgic everytime I hear Dax Riders 'People'). I only have one additiong (?) of your video, Hitomi tryed once to alter fate and exchanging a Tarot Card with another bcz she belived she had the power to do so (or did she just lie and tell the fate different from the cards? Sorry, its like 20 years since I saw it), only for it to backfire in a very monkey paw-esque style turn of events, I think that would add more to her powers and the story of fate. But amazing video! Shoutout to Demlichen who introduced this video to me!
Over the years I have seen the Good Smile Company snap togehter mech kits and had no clue how cool the tech they had illustrated inside their workings was so cool because I didn't know anything about this Anime.
Awesome video. I actually met Shoji Kawamori back in Asia Pop Comic Con and had him sign my Escaflowne Dvd. Had him sign my Dangaio box art. Gundam box art and box of that jet he designed for the Thunderbird. Good times
Remember watching this on fox five when I was young and always loved it. Think it was my first mecha anime outside of Gundam Wing.
Back in Philippines, i was looking forward to see the series every Friday night primetime. Even more amazing was our local channel acquired the rights from Ocean Studios so we enjoyed the English dub just like the video you used.
What hook me to the show was the fire breathing turtle in episode one. Lol
I love Escaflowne! I think I still have my vhs tapes in a box somewhere because I couldn't get rid of them, even though I can't watch them anymore. Maybe I should try to find a vcr someday. I had a lot of trouble getting all of them but I was so amazed by it after they showed a few episodes on Fox kids before cancelling it. I think Fox cut out the first episode for some reason but showed some of the scenes as flash backs? The last time I watched it was when I showed it to my partner when we were first dating which must have been years ago now. I should watch it again soon.
Absolutely love Escaflowne and still have my transforming Escaflowne from back then that is a prized possession of mine. Its so rad : D
The music was really good for what was ostensibly a middling level anime. The art style was pretty nice for what it was, the themes were interesting, and it melded the mecha trope with fantasy really well, none of that jarring steampunky attempts you so often see.
Lastly it seemed to have something for everyone. A modern but very faithful-to-the-genre romantic epic. I'm not going to say it's Lord of the Rings or King Arthur or anything like that, but it well and truly earned the right to be in the same room as those as a peer.
It never got to the point that Evangelion did (becoming almost THE anime people think of when they think 'anime', at least the 90s era), but it's imo far more solid and objectively better than many modern anime that is popular.
Another show from my school time, so good~
I adore Escaflowne. It's still in my top five favorite anime of all time. The fantasy setting is great and I found the way they added mecha to fit the world naturally. I revisit the series often whenever I feel nostalgic for older fantasy anime. Slayers and Record of Lodoss War too.
I love this show! This is the first anime I ever watched, my mom showed me this cause she watched it as a teenager and we watched the whole thing together. It's always gonna be something special to me and thank you for getting the word out there! More people need to know about this incredible show.
Till the end card! Great video!
Is that Chrono Cross I hear? Good god man, you deserve SO many more subscribers!
One of my favorites!
this anime is ahead of it's time.. my fave mecha next to gundam wing back in 1999
I know this is a weird thing to pick out, but the Chrono Trigger music just stood out so much to me. Helped make the video.
It was my first anime 🥺 was also made the year I was born so its extra special to me
I used to watch it on repeat as a kid and force all my friends to watch it 😂
Hey man, I just found your channel and I love what you are doing here. You are basically giving a synopsis of different shows I used to see when I was a kid. And Escaflowne was one on Fox Kids.
Let me ask if you could do a segment talking about Fox Kids? I know it's not about a show but I feel like a lot of your audience can relate to that because a lot of these shows came from programming blocks like Fox Kids and Toonami.
Escaflowne was on the Fox Box when I was a kid and I gotta thank that particular saturday circuit for getting me into some pretty neat anime.
Fox Kids
love this anime in my childhood days in late 90s specially the ending song mystic eyes
This was one of my favorite anime back in the 2000s when I picked up the set from Best Buy. Loved the story and animation. Don't really remember if saw the movie. Wish they have another season or something.
*looks at poster in the background*
"Don't be a dick"
Hmm, words to live by.
Always great to see an old favorite. I'm surprised you didn't mention the initial broadcast version were Fox tried to reduce the "girly" content and make a mecha show for boys before realizing this wasn't an anime that they could dumb down like the 90s did to so many other anime. Ironically, how the romance was handled here was one of the things that stuck with me from the show. You can actually see the pivotal moments that cause one character's perspective of another to change.
The FFX soundtrack makes this video even better
This is one of my favorite anime and one of my first introducing me to anime back in the 90s along with sailor moon 🌙 and the ronnin warriors
I got into this show from, no joke, the abridged series. It was one of the first handful that actually got finished, back when the idea was pretty new.
Escaflowne was great. I do remember getting lost a bit because of the details and the because of the local dub though. Still, it was a fun watch overall.
So, just a thing I want to bring up is a little game called Epica Stella or better known by its western name Vanguard Bandits. The mechs look like they would not be out of place in Escaflowne (heck, how they are controlled and powered is almost nearly the same or inspired by the show). It plays like Super Robot Wars but with positioning (side and back attacks are a thing) and stamina management. The leveling works like Shin Megami Tensei but certain characters learn certain moves if they meet the stat requirements (and some gear/mech requirements). There are a total of 5 routes to play: Kingdom (Good/Bad ending), Empire (Princess/Spy ending) and Chaos (I would also like to note that the game was meant to be replayed with the very first playthrough purposely being set to the Kingdom bad ending unless you know how to switch over to the chaos route). It's a good game and I suggest trying it out.