Escaflowne Movie Genre: Action Drama KalaxDG's Overall Score: 7.0

Reviewer: KalaxDG
Type of Review: General

As the Akira anime is to the Akira manga, so is the Escaflowne movie to its counterpart series. But the stand-alone film of Escaflowne has two bonuses Akira wasn't able to achieve in the changeover from longer to shorter. That would be a concise, more understandable plot than the series (things happen way too quickly in Akira), and a very effective development of characters, considering the timeframe. Escaflowne the Movie pretty much succeeds where "Visioin" fials, and can easily be called an entertaining fantasy film.

Hitomi is a normal girl, sunk in depression, and wishing to "fade away" from her life. Well, normal until she finds herself mysteriously teleported onto another planet; a war-torn planet full of strange creatures and magical powers, named Gaea. Hitomi, upon meeting a group of rebels from all the lands that have been destroyed by the Black Dragon Clan, is proclaimed to be the Wing Goddess, fated to revive the ancient 'armor' (mobile suit) known as Escaflowne. Also fated with the resurrection of Escalfowne is the end of the world, a fate Lord Fulken of the Black Dragon Clan is striving for. Can Hitomi help save numerous lives, species, and nations without succumbing to this awful prophecy.

As I said, character development in this movie was a great deal better than most anime of this length. Hitomi is a depressed girl that has nothing worth living for, but that has the ability to change as her surroundings completely change. One thing I felt wrong about the development were Hitomi's feelings for Van, one of the rebels; in the series she has a great deal of time before ending up 'liking' him so much. With the speed of the movie it just seems so wrong. Another thing about the movie is that the characters aren't as explored as much as series - but this is a good thing because of the confusion the series has the tendency to bestow upon its viewers.

Escaflowne is like Record of Lodoss War, but done right. With great action, great fantasy elements, and no confusing plot points like the time-stopper-thing or Dilandau's/Van's/everyone's deep, personal history. Although nothing miraculous, Escaflowne the Movie would be a top-choice film, especially for fantasy lovers.