Escaflowne The Movie Review

High school girl, Hitomi, is suffering from depression and has lost all her zest for life. Spirited away to the world of Gaea, she finds herself caught up in a bitter war between two clans: the Black Dragons led by Lord Folken and the White Dragons, led by dispossessed King Van. Welcomed as the Wing Goddess by Van’s colourful band of allies, she is recognized as the one who can summon the legendary Dragon Armour (bio-mecha) Escaflowne which Van plans to use to defeat the Black Dragons.

How do you distil a wonderfully rambling, baroque fantasy mecha anime series of 26 episodes (Vision of Escaflowne) into a single film of 98 minutes? The answer has to be by cutting out the imaginative (if sometimes a little crazy) details and the characters’ complex backstories: arguably the very elements that made the series so worthwhile in the first place. Escaflowne the Movie may have new character designs (by the same artist Nobuteru Yuuki) and high standards of animation (it was made only a few years later but technology was advancing pretty fast). The world of Gaea looks great, with breathtaking landscapes and flying city fortresses. Above all, the series sounds amazing because of the score by Yoko Kanno and Hajime Mizoguchi which uses many tracks from the original series, along with a few new ones. But even the wonderful soundtrack (full orchestral and choral moments, inspired by Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky score, interspersed with Yoko Kanno’s wistful ethnic-flavoured songs which always heighten and enhance the drama) can’t quite make up for what’s been done to the story. And in making heroine Hitomi’s depression and feelings of being alone the reason she is called to be the Wing Goddess in Gaea never quite comes off; you can see what they were trying to do but it feels over-simplistic. It also makes her something of a lacklustre central figure. In this version, almost everything on Gaea seems to happen because prophecies and old songs have predicted these outcomes and the complex motivations of Van and his older brother Folken are reduced to White Dragon (Good) versus Black Dragon (Bad).

Rated 15, the fight scenes are quite brutal (compared with the original) though well animated,  with the warriors of the clans in samurai- style armour and wielding katana. Princess Millerna no longer wears pretty dresses but is clad in a tight-fitting battle bustier, very much the female warrior garb of fantasy action games. She and Merle, Van’s cat-girl companion, are reduced to minor supporting parts as are dashing Allen Schezar and entrepreneur/merchant Dryden. The only one to retain something of a significant role is young Lord Dilandau, here portrayed as Folken’s warrior, as mad and bad as before – but without the fascinating backstory. A quotation from a 2002 Bandai interview with director Kazuki Akane (Noein, Heat Guy J) for the US R1 DVD sheds some intriguing light on the reasons for this shift in emphasis:

Q: In previous interviews, you’ve said that the movie, unlike the television series, would be aimed more towards men. What were you reasons for going for this more realistic/gritty look?

A: I wanted the Escaflowne television series to be supported by female fans. And it happened. But it turned out to be too popular among girls (80% of the fans are female in Mr. Akane’s opinion). In addition, there were certain elements that were not allowed on TV – I wanted to show a battle of life and death. To emphasize life, namely sword battles – that automatically requires there to be more graphic visuals – blood, swordplay etc.. These elements led the theatrical version to be different.

A word about the three audio versions on offer: the original Japanese audio with subtitles, the original Bandai-produced English Ocean Group dub (2002), and the new English dubbed (2016) produced by Funimation and funded by Kickstarter. All three versions have pros and cons, so it’s rather nice to have the luxury to choose or alternate between them. Tomokazu Seki still makes the best Van, although Aaron Dismuke (2016) has a little more range than Kirby Morrow (2002). However, Vic Mignogna (2016) delivers an excellent Folken, on a par with Jouji Nakata. In the role of heroine Hitomi, Maaya Sakamoto is best girl, although I still prefer Kelly Sheridan (2002) over Caitlyn Glass (2016). The new US script works well and improves on some awkward turns of phrase in the original dub script.

The Opening Theme is ‘First Vision’ by Hajime Mizoguchi and Yoko Kanno, the Ending is ‘Yubiwa – The Ring’ by Maaya Sakamoto (Hitomi) and there’s also an insert song ‘Sora’.

Extras include a couple of trailers for the film and trailers for other releases.

This is the first time that Escaflowne the Movie has been available on R2 in the UK, thanks to Anime Limited. The Blu-ray is easy to navigate (once you’re past the irritating Funimation self-promo) and the picture and sound quality is good.

If you love the rambling, rich fantasy TV series (as I do) you’ll probably find yourself a little perplexed by this ‘new’ story devised for the cinema. And yet, and yet… there’s still something of the old magic still there. If you can get past the first scenes, the story acquires a momentum of its own and eventually (aided by the wonderful score and the visuals) and the climax and ending are well worth waiting for.