Animanga/Anime| Information
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Animanga/Manga| Information
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Animanga/Manga| Information
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Animanga/Movie| Information
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'' ( and ended September 24, 1996. It has elements from the
Genre s of shōjo, shōnen, romance, and
Mecha , and has since inspired a
Shōnen Manga and
Shōjo Manga series, a video game, and an ''
Escaflowne '' theatrical movie.
This series focuses on the heroine, Hitomi Kanzaki, and her adventures after she is transported to the world of Gaea, a mysterious planet where she can see the Earth and moon in the sky. On Gaea, Earth is known as the Mystic Moon ( and
Medieval fashion alongside
Samurai ) with
Steampunk technology such as floating ships and the giant mechanical armors known as "Guymelefs" which are the equivalent to the
Mecha of other series. Hitomi's latent psychic powers are enhanced on Gaea and she quickly becomes embroiled in the conflicts between the Zaibach Empire and several more peaceful countries. As the series progresses, many of the characters' pasts and motivations, as well as the true nature of the planet Gaea, are revealed.
- (神崎ひとみ ''Kanzaki Hitomi'') — A girl transported from Earth to the world of Gaea. Hitomi is a track sprinter at school and practices Tarot card reading as a hobby. A dimensional rift opened a fabric of reality between Van's world and Hitomi's world. In the middle of Van's ritual ascension (dragon slaying), Hitomi was dragged into Van's world. Through her time in Gaea her latent abilities manifiest to allow her senses to find people or destinations through dowsing and accurately read the future through tarot card reading. She discovers that she is Clairvoyant , an ability that begins to warp Dornkirk's visions of the future. At first she was romantically interested in Allan Schezar, but towards the end develop a relationship with Van. Her destiny is connected with Van's. Her birthday is December 9.
- — Van Fanel is the brash young half-draconian king of Fanelia who must learn to cope with drastic changes in his life after Fanelia is destroyed by Zaibach. He pilots Escaflowne, a mystical armour made by the mysterious Ispano tribe. He made a blood pact with Escaflowne (he fed a small token amount of his blood into the energist cyrstal) to which he is connected by body and soul, like all the Kings of Fanelia that preceded him. His destiny and Hitomi's are linked. He also has a grudge against Folken for leaving Fanelia for Zaibach and Dornkirk for his grand ambitions. Due to being half-human/half-Draconian, when he wishes to he can sprout wings which allow him to fly.
- — The gallant knight of Asturia who provides a foil for Van and a second potential love interest for Hitomi (he bears an uncanny resemblance to Susumu Amano, Hitomi's first love from school). As a young child his younger sister Celena was kidnapped by the Zaibach; his father disappeared mysteriously and his mother died shortly afterwards. While he captures the heart of Princess Millerna of Asturia, he is a noted womanizer, perhaps because he wants to protect any woman he cares for to make up for his inability to help his mother and younger sister. He's a member of the Knight Caeli, Asturia's elite knights. He was a gifted (yet rebellious) swordsman at a young age, but had nothing to lose and wished to die by his sword by challenging Balgus. Allen became one of the most skilled swordsmen of Gaea under the expert tutelage of Balgus of Fanelia. During his early knight career he and Princess Marlene fell in love and she bore his child. During that time the princess had married Duke Freid, but never revealed the true father of her pregnancy. Even though Allen never told Chid he is his real father, Chid has a strong connection and trust for Allen. Allen was briefly romantically involved with Hitomi through Dornkirk's influence. He harbors a great deal of anger towards his father for traveling and not being with his mother. He feels his father forsook the family, but it's later revealed his father loved his mother greatly and that Allen's father was murdered by Dornkirk's soldiers for the secrets of the Draconians.
- — The ''Strategos'' ( Japanese 軍師 ''gunji'' or "tactician") of Zaibach, Folken is revealed to be Van's older brother and the original heir to Fanelia. He, like Van, is half Draconian and thus he also has angel wings. After he failed to kill a dragon due to his ethical conflicts, he lost an arm to the beast and was later picked up by the Zaibach, who nursed him back to health under Dornkirk's instructions.; he originally joined the empire in hopes of realizing Zaibach's ideals of a world free of war, but is later disillusioned and defects. His wings turn black, a portent that his life is coming to an end, as it does when he travels back to Zaibach to confront Dornkirk. Although Draconians have a long lifespan, Dornkirk's experiments have taken their toll.
- — The leader of Zaibach and main antagonist of the series. He is said to be the equivalent of two hundred Earth years old and is hinted to be Isaac Newton (although this is debatable). He continually tries to see into the future with his destiny prognostication machine to create an ideal future for Gaea by unlocking the secrets of Atlantis, which Hitomi's visions of the future and Van's connection to Escaflowne continually interfere with. His idea of an ideal future is the creation of a "zone of absolute fortune", in which everyone's dreams would come true. However, it is that very power that destroyed Atlantis in the first place.
- — A 13-year-old Cat-girl and childhood friend of Van. She is jealous of Van's increasingly close relationship with Hitomi, but eventually sees that Hitomi means no harm to Van and warms up to her. An orphan, she has since devotedly followed Van.
- — One of the three master swordsmen of Gaea and a general of Fanelia's army, Balgus served under Van's father in his younger days and later left to travel around Gaea, searching to improve his skills. He met Allen and trained him for a time, but when Van's father died he returned to Fanelia to look after Van and his mother. When Zaibach destroyed Fanelia, he died while saving Van. An unofficial translation of his name is "Vargas".
- — The third princess of the kingdom of Asturia who is in love with Allen Schezar, though she is betrothed to the merchant Dryden Fassa. Millerna's ambition was once to become a doctor but was forced to give up her medical studies by her second sister, Eries. Her eldest sister, Marlene, is deceased and was the wife of Duke Freid and the mother of the Duke's son, Chid.
- — A knowledgeable, successful, and generous merchant who is also a part-time scholar. He is engaged to Millerna through his father Meiden, a friend of Asturia's king. He's perceptive and open-minded and well aware that Millerna is in love with Allen.
- — The leader of an elite group of Guymelef pilots called the Dragon Slayers in Dornkirk's army. He is also somewhat of a maniac and abuses his soldiers, although he is shown to be dependent on them as well. Toward the end of the series it is revealed he is actually Allen's long lost sister Celena, who was brainwashed and mutated by Zaibach's fate alteration machines. Dilandau eventually regains his/her memory and returns to his/her original female form, Celena.
- — A mystical world in the sky that Hitomi visits and where the series takes place. Earth can be seen as a moon in the sky. It was created by the Atlantians.
- — This is what the residents of Gaea call Earth . It has a reputation for being a cursed place among the people of Gaea. It appears as though the people of Gaea know nothing about what the Earth really is, although Hitomi is hinted (and later shown) not to be the first person to come to Gaea from Earth.
- — A small kingdom in Gaea ruled by the Fanel family of which Van is king. It is demolished by Zaibach near the beginning of the series and it rebuilt at the very end of the series. Fanelia bears some similarities to feudal-era Japan .
- — A major kingdom in Gaea that was initially allied with Zaibach before leading an alliance against them. The country is a monarchy and its greatest warriors are known as the "Knights of Caeli". Asturia bears some resemblance to Renaissance -era Venice .
- — A duchy in Gaea that is ruled by the Freid family. It has an ancient artifact that Dornkirk needs to complete his plan to revive the power of Atlantis. This artifacts draws the attention of Zaibach who invades Freid. Freid is said to have been based on Thailand .
- — A large powerful nation ruled by Dornkirk that possesses very advanced technology. It was once a small and frail place to exist. People were facing hunger, sickness, neighboring attacks, and in constant fear. Dorkirk is a well educated man of science and used his knowlege to rebuild Zaibach was one of the most respected and feared countries. People of Zaibach have committed their lives to the vision of Dorkirk. They seek to create a new era of peace by controlling the world and are led by Dornkirk. Zaibach is similar to Industrial Revolution -era England .
- — An ancient, mysterious civilization that was destroyed after its inhabitants created a device to turn human thoughts will into energy. They were an advance technological society that evolved their bodies angel-like with their knowlege and considered themselves as Gods. Their ego and their advancements lead their device to destroy themselves and apparently Van's mother was the only Draconian to survive. It is unknown how many Draconians are left. Most of the main characters of the show visit the ruins of Atlantis late in the series. The remains of Atlantis still had partial function and had the power to influence human thoughts.
This series marked the anime debut (in a lead role) of
Maaya Sakamoto as the voice of the main character Hitomi Kanzaki and as the singer of the opening song "
Yakusoku Wa Iranai " as well as of many other songs in the series.
The music, composed by
Yoko Kanno and
Hajime Mizoguchi , is of a decidedly
European flavor, though it also incorporates different styles such as contemporary, classical, and
Gregorian Chant .
There have been many different releases and spin-offs of ''Escaflowne''.
- ''Escaflowne'' briefly aired on the Fox Kids network in an edited form between August and October of 2000 , but was canceled. This ''Escaflowne'' was modified for content and to fit the tastes of teenage boys. Because of this, it has been nicknamed "''Foxcaflowne''".
- A 23-episode version, heavily cut for content and timing, and with a different title sequence, aired several times on the Fox Kids channel in the UK during 2001 and 2002 .
- ''Vision of Escaflowne'' has aired on YTV in Canada under the title ''Escaflowne'', though it featured some of the same problems as the Fox Kids version. Unlike Fox, YTV aired the complete series twice before retiring it.
- ''Vision of Escaflowne'' aired as a whole in Mexico on public television. TV Azteca aired the whole series uncut in two different occasions.
- ''Vision of Escaflowne'' was aired in the Philippines by GMA7 The Philippine airing predates the North American airing by at least 4 months and features the English dub as shown on video/DVD.
- Bandai 's now-defunct Anime Village label released a "Special Edition" in North America created by Bandai Visual in Japan. This "Special Edition" was the entire 26-episode story arc condensed into three VHS tapes. In 1998 , Anime Village marketed this edition as the ''Vision of Escaflowne Best Collection''.
- The unedited 26-part series has since been released on VHS and bilingual ''. There have been several DVD versions of the movie, including the "Ultimate Edition", which included a bonus features disc and the soundtrack CD.
- TOKYOPOP released the shonen manga in English in the United States in 2003 . (The Shōnen Manga series actually debuted in Japan before the animated series did, due to the animated version's long pre-production process.) The American translation was imported to Australia by Madman Entertainment .
- The shoujo manga of Escaflowne has not been licensed. It is only available in English through Scanlations downloaded from the Net.
''Escaflowne'' was originally a story known as ''Air Cavalry Chronicles'' which utilized the more typical transforming fighter-plane mecha in lieu of more knight-like Guymelefs. In fact, much of the nation and mecha names originated from that pre-production outline. (Certain design elements of ''Air Cavalry Chronicles'' were eventually adapted into various elements of ''
Macross '', a franchise co-created by Shoji Kawamori.)
Fans speculate that with Dornkirk's role as a 17th-century scientist before his death on Earth, his obsession with gravity and the occult, his original Earth name Isaac, and general appearance, that he is actually supposed to be
Isaac Newton . Additionally, there is unofficial speculation that the character of Dornkirk is loosely based on
Dworkin of ''
The Chronicles Of Amber ''; both are insane "wizards" with similar names who create fate machines.
The "hero"-type unit of the Goliath '', as the player's enemy, a space
Pirate named Alan Schezar.
A much smaller reference to ''Escaflowne'' may have been made in the game ''''. There is a small quest in this RPG where you must help an alien merchant named Fassa. Dryden Fassa, described above, is a prominent merchant in the ''Escaflowne ''universe.
Another reference may have been made in the game ''''. In this game, the prince of Argonia must slay an Argon lizzard for its heart in order to attain the throne. This is quite similar to Fanelia's initiation rite to become king. An Argon lizzard's heart, called an Argonite, looks somewhat similar to an Energist.
