Anime [Review][Spoiler] Vision of Escaflowne

!! WARNING !!
The following review may contain spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

C-info
Title: Vision of Escaflowne / Tenkuu no Escaflowne
Length: 26 episodes
Genre: Fantasy Romance Adventure
Creator: Kawamori Shouji
Production Studio: BONES, Sunrise
Rated: PG-13

C-synopsis
Hitomi is about as normal as Japanese teenage girls can get, with a best friend named Yukari, a spot on the high school track team, and and a crush on the team's star sprinter — and the ability to foretell the future. But her life is forever changed when she suddenly finds herself face to face with a dragon and the man who is hunting it.

She is rescued from certain death by the mysterious stranger, but then a strange light envelops her and Hitomi suddenly finds herself transported to a place called Gaea — a world where dragons roam, and men fight in machines called guymelefs. A world where the Earth hangs in the sky like a second moon. There, she comes to know Van, her rescuer, soon to be crowned King of Fanelia. But when war breaks out and Fanelia is destroyed, Van and Hitomi must find a way to stop the evil Zaibach Empire from conquering the whole world. Alone and with only a few friends and allies to aid them, the odds seem to be against the two — unless Hitomi can discover the secret behind her growing precognitive powers and the mysterious and powerful guymelef, Escaflowne.

C-comments
Vision of Escaflowne is one anime that is sometimes hard to classify. It blurs the line between sci-fi and fantasy; rarely, if ever, will you be able to see another anime which shows dragons side by side with giant mecha. Its setting looks to be straight out of a medieval fantasy, yet industrial cities are very much in evidence and the technology shown is somewhat advanced. The animation style and character design seems vaguely shoujo, but though the series contains a lot of drama (a trademark of a shoujo anime), there is no lack of action — and precious little humor. Escaflowne is a serious anime, an epic drama/adventure for both men and women.

One thing that really stands out about this series is the complexity of the world of Gaea. Every country is easily distinguishable; in fact, they almost seem like real nations. You can see a bit of Earth influence in the design of Gaea — Asturia is vaguely reminiscent of Venice, for example, and Freid seems inspired by Thailand and similar Asian countries. Zaibach seems to have overtones of Industrial Age England, whereas Fanelia seems to be a mixture of Japanese and European cultures.

One of the highlights of the entire series, however, is the soundtrack. Most of the soundtrack was composed by Yoko Kanno, one of the best, if not the best composers in animedom. Added to that are the talents of some of the best recording artists in anime, not the least of whom is Maaya Sakamoto, who also plays the voice of Hitomi, the show's heroine. The entire soundtrack covers a wide range of music styles, all perfectly executed. It is because of this diversity and quality that has made Vision of Escaflowne a landmark in anime music history.

The plot behind Vision of Escaflowne is nothing new — the usual "Earth boy/girl is transported to a strange world and ends up saving the world" kind of story that's so popular in most fantasy stories. What makes this series different is the delivery. While the Vision of Escaflowne is not particularly revolutionary, the show's production and execution is far better than anything else of its kind. The characters are all well developed, and the setting is amazing. The pacing is even and straightforward, and there are no filler episodes to drag the story down. All in all, it is the best example of it's genre.

Vision of Escaflowne is a true epic. Everything is treated as if it was real, and that gives the series its flavor. Even the ending is not the idealistic kind, but is rather more real. Vision of Escaflowne is an art unto itself. I heartily recommend it.

C-rating