Escaflowne (Movie) Review

[Zephie-chan]

Whoa! Two in one day... impressive! This is a followup of the Escaflowne (TV) review! Enjoy.

Escaflowne the Movie: A Girl on Gaea...
... has absolutely no connection with the series, but is merely a remake by the original creators, Hajime Yatate and Shoji Kawamori. And a damn good remake at that.

THE STORYLINE
Hitomi Kanzaki is depressed, she's tired of life, she's always tired. After being beat out by her long-time rival, Amano Susumu, she drops out of the track team and into her depression. For a few moments she finds happiness in being with her best friend, Yukari Uchida. But she eventually pushes her away too.

Calling herself a pain, she wishes to disappear so that she won't hurt anyone anymore. She wants the pain in her own heart and soul to go away. She wishes to die and disappear. Her wish is granted... She disappears, only to find herself in an extraordinary adventure on the world called Gaea.

Greeted as the Wing Goddess, a girl fabeled in Gaea's legend that's said to be able to summon the great Escaflowne. She is taken in by Allen Schezar and then aboard his ship of mercenaries: The Abaharagi. Her savior, Van Fanel, has also lost his will to live; his home was burned to the ground and his family was killed by Falken, the leader of the Black Dragon Clan. The only objective driving Van is to claim Escaflowne for himself and take revenge.

Hitomi and Van soon find comfort in each other's company and try to overcome their wrongs with the help of each other's strength...

ANIMATION
Though all the original voice actors, save for Jajuka, have come back to perform their characters in a final farewell, the animators have been completely swiped clean and replaced.

The characters, sporting new (better) clothing and characters designs (Merle some teddy bear underwear), look more alive and driven than the series. One of these reason is because this movie is one of the more successful Cel-no-Background animations where the characters are animated completely seperate from their surroundings. Though this may sound like it would make it out of synch, it actually makes it that much better (in my honest opinion).

Again, I must stress... What is with the fucking noses? That being said and done, the animation for the characters and mecha are the same people this time (as opposed to the series where they were totally different animators). The only mecha appearing in the movie are those of Van's Escaflowne and Dilando's un-named mecha. This was sort of a let down at first, but the two of them served their purposes well. More (such as Allen's) would have made the movie more cluttered, complicated, and less enjoyable as the animation and detail that was put into the mecha is awesome and stunning.

MUSIC
Ohh... Nice! Maaya Sakamoto and her songs are absolutely fabulicious! Or, I should say, Yoko Kanno is fabulicious! Yoko Kanno and Maaya Sakamoto... need I say more? I didn't think so.

FINAL COMMENTS
Everything they got wrong with the series they performed right with the movie (except those DAMN noses!). Though seemingly a little short to those who have seen the series, it's an excellent introduction to the world of Gaea and the characters for those who haven't. The movie is completely seperate from the series and performs in its own time period; the series is in no way needed to understand the movie.

If you have seen the series then throw out EVERYTHING you know about it and you'll enjoy the movie. If not, you'll probably think it sucks in comparison.

FINAL SCORE: 10 (seperate from the series), 9 (compared to the series)
I watched the movie before I saw the series so I'm allowed to make a double score and give my reasons why. They're so incredibly simple it's not even funny.

The reason I give it a 10 seperate from the series is because it's a stand alone in every way: Animation, story, design, etc.. It's incredibly enjoyable and you won't notice anything missing, there isn't anything that'll make you think, "Hey... What IS that? What's it do? Am I missing something?" Very nicely remade. Very nice.

The reason I give it a 9 compared to the series is because there is a lot of depth missing that WAS found in the series. It's true that it has it's own form of depth that does go just as deep, only the whole picture isn't as big as the series. The reduction of the drag-energists and the other mecha can make those who've seen the series want them to be there. Also, the support characters in the series have very little on-screen showing in the movie (such as Allen and Millerna).

I suggest you watch it either way. It's a nice addition to the Gaea saga and I wouldn't give it up for anything... It is, after all, the last adventure of Van and Hitomi.