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::: Vision of Escaflowne (Movie and Series) :::

By ~ Apollo

Well sometimes you run into anime that is just not your cup of tea. This anime is one of them. It had its bright spots, but I'm sorry it was just not for me. I found the movie to be much better. The movie is basically a retelling of the series in an hour and a half. That is really all you need. This story is about a high school girl named Hitomi. She is just your average girl with one exception, she seems to able to tell the future with these fate cards that she has. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be much going on with her besides her little crush on her track team captain. Her life changes drastically however, when a young warrior prince named Van is transported in front of her along with a fearsome land dragon that he must defeat. After the dragon's defeat, Hitomi is transported back to Van's homeworld of Gaea. From here on out, Hitomi goes through a long and magical adventure where she must learn about her power of fortune telling and about true love.

Visually the serixes isn't bad. The movie is a bit better in my opinion for a couple reasons. In the movie the action is much more frequent and a bit more intense. Some of the action in the series was just plain dry. I mean it did have its awesome moments, but some of it had me unimpressed and going "Really now...is that it?" The movie seemed to make the characters' powers a little more extreme which I thought was kind of cool. It didn't bore me as much as the series did. The art style was also a little different. I can't even say it was that much better as much as it was just really different. I will say that I enjoyed the art style of the movie a lot more. A lot of fighting is between piloted mechs called Guymelefs. These are ancient mechs that predominantly use swords and magic to combat each other. Some of the best action sequences are chases or fights in the Guymelefs.

Vision of Escaflowne's story was interesting and had some decent lessons in it. At the same time, there were times were I was saying "man what the hell am I watching, this is stupid." Some of the love games and interactions between the girls were downright retarded and childish. I don't know maybe I am not supposed to get it, but Merle sticking her tongue out at Hitomi got old after the first three times. The love story is interesting as Hitomi can't decide which of 3 people she might be in love with. Fans will pick their favorites, but in the end it could really only be one person. If there was one dramatic scene that really touched an emotional part of me, it was the look on Van's face when Hitomi...whoops almost spoiled that one. If you want to know I guess you will have to watch.

This anime is not for everyone. It definitely has its good parts and you shouldn't automatically walk away from it. I know that it is one of my brother's favorite series of all time. The series isn't as boring as I may have made it seem, but it is not one of my favorites. I am a fan of high-octane action and this just didn't have as much as I was craving or the type that I was looking for. The story is pretty interesting and would probably be the strength of this series. I say give this series about 8-10 episodes to see if you like it.

Series Grade: C+

Movie Grade: B-