The Vision of Escaflowne Discussion

[bluesilo]

ANN Link:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=240

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Anyways I just finished this show and wow was I missing out on a classic. I wanted to discuss my thoughts about the ending and the show in general so this thread will most likely contain spoilers throughout. I decided to watch the series since the movie was headed to blu-ray and I wanted to see the tv show first, (I've have now found out they are not very much in common, but that's besides the point).

This first post is reserved.

_______________Spoilers May Follow_____________________

[bluesilo]

Okay now that is out of the way. There are a few thoughts I have.

1) The musical score is fantastic, one of Yoko Kanno's best. I think I watched the OP 20 out of 26 times I could've just because I enjoyed the opening so much. The ending grew on me. Although, it took me at least half the series to realize the glove that flashes at the beginning of it was Van's and not Hitomi (don't know why I thought that).

2) Sure the story of girl being magically taken to another world has been done to death now, but this world was truly believable. I could see myself living in a world similar to that.

3) I guess I'm sort of peeved at the relationships never coming to fruition even though the whole series is based on relationships. Allen turns robotic after the fate switch episode and goes after Hitomi and it never truly gets resolved he just becomes more consumed by the fact his sister is still alive. I wish Hitomi would've stayed on Gaea. The ending didn't make much sense if there love bond was so strong why didn't it keep them together. It sort of left a bad taste in my mouth that almost made the series from perfect to excellent (a 10 to a 9). In the end the pluses out way the ending it will become one of my most recommended shows.

4) I'd recommend the series to just about anyone. I watched the first half dubbed and then subbed the rest of the way. I don't prefer one to the other although I did mention in #3 that Allen in Japanese sounds robotic near the end of the series.

...Anyone have thoughts on the ending and series?

[Suwako Moriya]

...Anyone have thoughts on the ending and series?

It's been awhile since I saw the series. It had some interesting elements to it, but over all I ended up being disappointed by it. That's the best way to put it for now.

[something]

I haven't seen this show in years, although it's one show I think I'll be able to rewatch in the future which is more than I can say for most. As for the ending, that sort of thing often irks me in many series but... I actually can't remember if it bothered me in Escaflowne. Couldn't have been too bad, if I still liked the show to watch it multiple times and consider watching it again. Maybe I just never really got into Hitomi x Van to begin with, at least not deeply enough to be miffed over it.

I think what was interesting about Escaflowne for me is that I watched it when I was still a relatively new fan and had the typically more narrow tastes that new fans tend to have. So it was almost certainly my first shoujo-influenced series (I know it's very intentionally and successfully a crossover series, of course, which I was probably okay with since it was wrapped in an action/fantasy story. I imagine it opened my eyes a bit more to the idea that, yes, I could find romance interesting and there was nothing wrong with that. Though it wasn't until Full Moon wo Sagashite that I really saw a 100% shoujo series.

[tadakichi]

...Anyone have thoughts on the ending and series?

I'd actually heard of Escaflowne long before I got into anime and even watched a random episode when it was airing on Fox Kids back in 1999. The 3-disc special edition of the movie was included in my first-ever order of anime DVDs back in 2004, along with .hack//SIGN Vol. 1, Vampire Hunter D, and Princess Mononoke. Finding the movie to be fairly enjoyable, I jumped on the limited-edition series boxset when TRSI got a limited quantity of them later that year and spent the next couple of weeks watching it from beginning to end. I've never gotten beyond the first disc on a rewatch attempt since then, so my memories of the show are really murky, but my general impressions are positive. I remember liking the character and mechanical designs, and the score is vintage Yoko Kanno. Oh, and the OP is excellent, both visually and aurally. I wouldn't mind rewatching it at all, though my previous attempts have stalled.

[joelgundam01]

It been a few years since I've seen the series, but I really enjoyed it. The ending wasn't too bad IMO, but it could definitely have been better.

[tangent]

The Vision of Escalflowne was the first anime series I purchased. It is one of my all-time favorites, and it still holds up today I think. Great characters, engaging story, cool mechas, and beautiful music. Highly recommended.

It's been a few years since I last watched the show, but I'll share some of my thoughts.

The ending I thought it was very well done. Hitomi is from the Earth and that is her home. I felt it was natural for her to want to go back there. Even though she made a lot of good friends in Gaia and spent a lot of time there, I think she felt she never really belonged there and she knew she would go home some day.

Allen never truly loved Hitomi either I think. He only became interested in her when Van was helping her. I think Allen felt a rivalry with Van and that extended to Hitomi. Allen then got more messed up by the fate alteration machine. That machine forced Allen to love Hitomi. When the spell was finally broken Allen realized he only really wanted to find his lost sister. Remember Allen was also involved with Millerna the princess of Asturia, and he ended their relationship too.

I think there was a romantic connection between Hitomi and Van, but it never really had a chance to be explored in the series. I guess there just never was a time where just the two of them could sit down and just talk. In the end Hitomi went back to Earth, and Van went on to rule Fanelia.

These are my thoughts as best as I can recall the series.

[Sekiraku Bunchou]

Still one of my all-time favorites. Kind of funny that it turned out that way when I think back about it too because, when I first heard of the show, I wasn't really sure if it was something I'd enjoy since I had never really seen much of any series with a lot of mecha in it. Thankfully somebody helped convince me that it had a lot more to it than simply giant robots warring and fighting each other, and indeed, when I saw it I was just amazed at how deep and thoughtful a show it really was.

As to the ending, I honestly think it was pretty much perfect. I never really felt the romance factor to the show was ever that truly serious and that the point was more about Hitomi learning to believe in herself and coming to better understand and face up to her own strengths and weaknesses as a person rather than her simply trying to figure out who it was she had the hots for.

Also, I believe it's worth sharing, so I'm pasting it below... A while back someone pointed me to a posting supporting the ending somebody made on another forum that presented a very interesting viewpoint about how they looked at the relationships in the show as being sort of just symbolic in a way. The thread where it was located is gone now, but I was so impressed with his/her perspective and how eloquently it was worded that I saved it.

"Escaflowne can easily be interpreted as a mishmash of symbols, characters and stories stolen from all over the world. Or these diverse elements can be interpreted holistically around the overall story goal and the inner struggle of the main character (which is how I prefer to look at it). The central theme is pretty common to shoujo stories. Hitomi's ordinary struggle at the beginning is with her lack of courage, or more specifically, her lack of the self-reliance characteristic of her more mature self. As circumstances are changing with Amano-sempai, Hitomi feels she lacks strength to deal with outcomes and a future which she can't control. But her destiny is to realize that all the externals which oppress her are actually created by her own fears and insecurities. The whole background of Atlantis is about the power of the mind to control external elements. Along complementary lines, Zaibach is obsessed with manipulating outcomes and building the future through intentional effort. Both nations reflect the lust for power which accompanies Hitomi's ordinary schoolgirl fears. Escaflowne is highly integrated and unified in theme. Gaea is the Greek goddess and synonym for Earth. The people, places, and events on Gaea symbolically unfold the drama of Hitomi's rise to maturity and self-confidence. Gaea is Hitomi's inner planet. Her inner struggle is the foundation for all existence on Gaea.

Van is basically the incarnation of Hitomi's latent courage. His development directly parallels Hitomi's gradual awakening. Van, his kingdom of Fanelia, and Escaflowne are synonymous with dragons. In Eastern myth, serpents and dragons represent the latent life energy of humans and the rest of nature. In the Bible-influenced West, nature is considered a power to be subdued and controlled, so dragons and serpents are generally associated with the devil and negative traits. Van's development in this sense is a movement from the Western toward the Eastern view. Beginning with the initial dragonslaying, Van's encounters with dragons (including Escaflowne itself) map out his development from fear to courage, which are two sides of the same coin as symbolized by the dragon motif found throughout the anime all the way from small details like the sea dragon statue at the Asturian harbor to larger events like the confrontation near the end with the two dragons in the ruins of Fanelia.

Many people are disappointed with what happens at the end with Van and Hitomi's relationship. But the whole story is about Hitomi's struggle to let go of certain attachments. Her farewell to Van is her final act of love. Van likewise retires Escaflowne, the symbol which, by his relationship to it, had been the emblem of his development throughout the story.

She begins the story with some serious attachment to Amano-sempai and her future. This kind of attachment breeds the fear and anxiety that plague her (her scary visions are the most obvious example) throughout most of her sojourn in Gaea.

For Hitomi, what is the difference between attachment and non-attachment? By going back to Earth at the end, she gains her true home. And by going back to Earth, she also gains all of Gaea, and most importantly, she gains Van. It's not a choice between two different worlds. Like I was saying before, Gaea is Hitomi's inner planet - that entire world's existence is based on her inner struggle for the courage and self-reliance of maturity. By going home, she gains the best of both worlds. Attachment created the duality of the two planets. You can see at the end how Hitomi found peace of mind in non-attachment. Non-attachment is the beautiful monistic Vision which crowns all of Hitomi's lesser visions. Non-attachment means one world, not two. By the end of the story, it's not logical to say that Hitomi has to choose between Earth and Gaea. Gaea and Van are in her heart, so she can leave them both without remorse, because there's no such thing as parting when two worlds have become one."

[Ty]

That was an interesting and well-written read. Thanks for sharing.

[Fencedude]

I still like the movie more than the TV series.

Though I wouldn't mind rewatching the series, though not enough so to actually track down a copy.

[Keith Palmer]

Also, I believe it's worth sharing, so I'm pasting it below... A while back someone pointed me to a posting supporting the ending somebody made on another forum that presented a very interesting viewpoint about how they looked at the relationships in the show as being sort of just symbolic in a way. The thread where it was located is gone now, but I was so impressed with his/her perspective and how eloquently it was worded that I saved it.

That was a really interesting interpretation, and thanks for sharing it. Perhaps I'm intrigued by "let's look at this on a symbolic level" suggestions because they seem different from the sense I sort of have about how many stories seem to be interpreted these days, as "documentary" works opening on something larger but where everything just seems to be taken on face value... although maybe that thought still risks "symbolic" interpretations as being seen as "fallbacks" in the face of criticism, or something.

In any case, Escaflowne was one of the very first "TV-length" anime series I saw from beginning to end, and as such did make an impact on me (I also remember it being popular at my university's anime club a decade ago). I rewatched the series last year and enjoyed it again.