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Escaflowne - The Movie Actor: Kazuki Akane Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Bandai Entertainment Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-03-02 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 152 Average rating: 4.0 "although not as good as the series, still an awesome movie!" This movie is just simply amazing! No matter how many times I watch it, the opening fight scene with Van still leaves me breathless. But this movie can get just a tad bit confusing if you haven't seen the series, for example: Why Van has wings. So I would recommend watching the series first and then the movie. Any how, any Esca fan should own this movie. It really is a must see! ^_____^ "Awesome Movie. Escaflowne Rocks." I have to say that this movie is the best movie EVER.... When i first herd there was an Escaflowne movie, i thought it be like a sequal of the T.V. series, like Van goes to Earth to see Hitomi but something goes Wrong and so they work as a team again with the others to save the universe, but i was wrong. It may be just a replay of the 26 episode Series all put into an hour and 30 minutes, but it's really cool. I wish they'd make a sequel of both the movie and the T.V. series. It's so cool. Although it's rated PG 13, this movie is ok for kids 10-11 and above. I can say thatthrough the fact that i was only 11 when i got the movie, but my parents didn't know it was rated PG 13 till i saw the movie a second time, and when my mom and i watched, i had to tell her when the bloody parts where about to begin and end. The only thing i don't like about the movie is how Millerna, Allen, and the others don't have as big rolls as they had in the series. And what i hate about both the series and the movie is how in the series, Hitomi addmit they love eachother but they don't kiss or Hitomi doesn't stay with Van, and for the Movie, it's the same thing, but {i don't mean to be a movie spoiler} at the end of the movie, we see hitomi with wings on her back, then all of a sudden she's gone. That leads alot of people in suspence, they thingk, wow she has wings, so whats going to happen know. but we won't know what happens next because there is no sequel to both the series, and the movie, {and also the manga, i think}. Anyway, for those of you who want to get this movie, i say "Go for it man" this is a totally awesome movie. "Not the anime series, and not good either" The coming attractions for this movie are what drew me into Escaflowne, so I suppose I can credit it that much. Obviously, when compared to the series, anyone will say that the series will be better. But that's a give-in: how can you compare nearly 13 hours of plot and character development to a little over an hour and a half? But the movie isn't good as a movie. It can't stand on it's own. Hitomi Kanzaki is a depressed teenager who wishes she could fade away; and she does, to the world of Gaea, where she is percieved as the Wing Goddess, the only one who can call Escaflowne. Escaflowne is said to be able to destroy the world. Van of the Dragon Clan wants to use it to stop the Black Dragon Clan from destroying the world, while Folken, Van's brother and leader of the Black Dragon Clan, wants to use it to destroy the world so he can end all suffering (if everyone's dead, no one suffers anymore.) There are several problems. For one, aspects of the movie need parts of the anime to explain them, as they get none here. That's minor. Another problem is that Folken's intentions are never really explained properly. We know why he was set on his path, and what he wants to do, but there's no real connection between the two. The major theme of the movie is of specific characters being depressed and over-coming that depression. Worse, many characters are added in simply because they were in the anime. The movie really only needed Folken, Van, Hitomi, and Allen's crew. The rest were easily disposable, particularly Dilandau, who has no real closure in the film (perhaps setting up a sequel that doesn't deserve being made.) People watching this movie without seeing the series will get what's going on, but they won't be impressed by it. The story is horrible, plain and simple. The story is what carried the series when there wasn't much action. The audience for the film is supposed to be impressed by the animation, but that's hard to do when so little is going on. The movie isn't a re-telling of the series either, aside from Hitomi going to Gaea. It's very different. That's the right thing to do, as it'd be impossible to re-tell the entire series in such a short timespan. However, the alternative story should have been good. The idea of one clan wiping out other clans and taking in their survivors is interesting, but it isn't really fledged out. It would have been interesting to see Van's group taking in other survivors. But those are minor side-notes. The movie goes nowhere, from start to end. The art is an improvement over the series, but it's not very impressive. The characters all look good, but they don't do much. As I said, the story is what carried the series. The fact that characters are standing around not doing much here without a good story to be told at the same time is nothing but frustrating. No character development, no plot development, aside from Hitomi's conversation with Van in the forest. The music is very good. The composers use themes both from the series and some news one. They fit well with what's going on and are entertaining to listen to. I recommend the soundtrack, but not the movie itself. This isn't just a shadow in the face of the anime series, it's a shadow in the face of anime films. Its idea of ringing in characters for a quick quest is something that works for Dragonball movies, that aren't trying to be anything more than children's fun, but this movie plays itself seriously, and such thin development of plot and character does not hold well at all. A disappointment considering its strong advertisements and the work it follows. Not worth the money. "Opinions Shall Vary" okay, i need to get this across because this is probably the main factor on why some people say it's great and why some people say it just wasn't. The series, the vision of escaflowne, was in fact intended to be a shoujo (aimed at girls) anime. Me, being a guy, saw the vision of escaflowne and still loved it, along with a huge population of guy anime fans. Therefore, escaflowne: the movie was created and was intended to be more of a shounen (aimed at guys) anime. The outcome was great. I enjoyed this more than the vision of escalfowne for five main reasons: (1) Hitomi is literally depressed, and not perky and annoying as she is in the series. (2) There is no love triangle, or square, or whatever the hell you want to call that thing with van, hitomi, marlerna, allen, and merryl. (3) You get to see characters such as van and allen acually use those swords you always see them carrying around. (4) During fights you see blood used not as good as Samurai X but more accurate than the series. (5) The way the armors, such as escaflowne, are used is different from most mecha (giant robot) animes in the sense it acually draws the users blood. Although, the vision of escaflowne does have one element over the movie: the characters in series (if you don't count hitomi) have much more depth, my favorite character Fulken's personality is ruined in the movie but it is only an hour so they don't have time to put depth into too many characters. Well i just wanted to clear that up, so whether you're a guy or a girl i hope i helped in your decision. "Not A Classic But Very Pleasant" * I picked up ESCAFLOWNE THE MOVIE (ETM) on a gamble, knowing nothing about it ahead of time. I was expected from what I saw of it that it was a fairly straightforward fantasy piece, and as it turned out, that was precisely what it was. ETM is the story of Hitomi, a discouraged and depressed Japanese high-school student, who seems to be drifting somewhere near the end of her rope when she runs into a mysterious stranger, who transports her to the world of Gaea. There she finds herself involved in a war between a gang of fighters, including the hotheaded young warrior Lord Van, and a fairly traditional Evil Empire, led by the brutal Lord Folken, who has a death wish literally as big as an entire planet. Hitomi finds that she is actually the "Wing Goddess", who is linked spiritually to the ultra-powerful "Escaflowne" battle armor -- think a mecha based on mystical and not mechanical principles. In a series of adventures with Lord Van, she must use her relationship with the Escaflowne to guide the future of Gaea. The story premise is straightfoward fantasy-novel stuff; the whole "disaffected adolescent who is really a messiah or wotnot in an alternate world" comes across as a bit comical, considering the way it panders to the egotism of the reader or viewer, often disaffected adolescents who wished there was more to their lives. However, although the plot of ETM is somewhat by-the-numbers, it still snaps along nicely and the movie never drags or insults the viewer's intelligence. The characterizations come across as a bit sketchy, but ETM covers a lot of ground in a short time and it would be hard to do much more under the circumstances. All that in itself would not amount to much of a recommendation for ETM. However, although I was expecting something very run-of-the-mill from this movie, from the outset I had to think: "This is very nicely done!" The production values are very conscientious, with pretty artwork, particularly of landscapes and skyscapes, backed up by a sparkling soundtrack; beginning with Indian raga music, progressing through various musical styles (including a techno-disco number) and ending with what sounds perfectly like a country-pop romantic tune -- sung in Japanese. I definitely found ESCAFLOWNE THE MOVIE to be time well and pleasantly spent. It's not actually topknotch -- the character designs tend to come across as a little wooden and stereotypical, and it's somewhat more gory and violent than makes sense, though I didn't have much of a problem myself with the bloodshed. I doubt that anybody who doesn't like fantasy will much care for it, and I couldn't claim it was a really memorable film -- but it sure is pretty! I might try picking up the anime series, which I understand has roughly the same characters but a completely rearranged plot.