The Vision of Escaflowne, episode 1, “Fateful Confession.” Directed by Kazuki Akane. Written by Shōji Kawamori. TV Tokyo (1996). Distributed by Funimation (2018). Available on Crunchyroll.
Man, they do not make them like this anymore.
I am really excited to be seeing, at last, this classic anime of which I have heard so much, but have never before had the opportunity to see. I did watch the movie adaptation once, many years ago (and reviewed it here), and it sucked. After seeing the first episode of the classic television series, it’s hard to believe that the TV show and the film are even from the same franchise. The difference is like … like … like the difference between Revolutionary Girl Utena and Adolescence of Utena, the latter of which I wish I could bleach from my brain.
Escaflowne is a precursor of sorts to the currently popular (and market-saturated) isekai anime, which typically features a gamer otaku who gets thrown into a fantasy world. This kind of fish-out-of-water fantasy premise was also popular back in the Nineties, but back then, it was typically a schoolgirl who got thrown into a fantasy world. Escaflowne is one of the most enduring titles to come out of that era.
In this first episode, we are quickly introduced to the heroine Hitomi, a sprinter who’s crushing on the star of the boys’ track team. In addition to running, she’s also into Tarot, and her latest Tarot reading is apparently in some way responsible for opening a portal between Earth and another world called Gaea.
She soon meets a mysterious young man from that other world and helps him fight off a beautifully animated dragon before a beam of light pulls both of them back to his home planet, where the Earth and Moon are visible in the sky overhead.
It’s easy to see why this is popular. It’s hard to believe this show is from 1996. It looks really, really good. The premise is fun, the characters are cool, the lovingly hand-animated action sequences with the crazy weapons are kick-awesome, and the soundtrack, with its ominous chanting and disjointed drumming, perfectly sets the tense mood. The slick, computer-enhanced animation we get now just can’t hold a candle to this.
The backgrounds are also lovingly detailed, and I look forward to seeing more of Gaea. I have been made to understand that the environmental designs are largely inspired by Nepal.
I can tell I’m really going to enjoy this show. I’ve only just watched the first episode, and it’s already clear that this is something special—very high quality, and immediately immersive. Like the mysterious beam of light that carries off Hitomi, The Vision of Escaflowne picks you up and sucks you in.
