Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the second week of the Mecha arc. During the 80s and early 90s, mecha anime ruled the anime industry. With the success of Gundam and game changer Evangelion, almost every show being aired at the time was a mecha anime. Today, the anime industry is now ruled by isekai anime. Mecha and isekai anime were about as much at opposite ends of the spectrum as you can get. Mecha anime was all about science and technological advancement while isekai anime was all about magic and the exploration of different worlds. Trying to combine these two genres was seen as next to impossible back in the 90s, but one anime took that risk and that anime was Escaflowne. Isekai animes were nothing new in the 90s. They were around and were pretty popular, but no one had ever tried to tell a mecha story using the isekai formula. Produced in 1996 by Sunrise (Cowboy Bebop and Gundam) when mecha anime was starting to fall in popularity, Escaflowne or Vision of Escaflowne as some people call it arrived onto the scene to breathe new life into the mecha genre, but how did this series come about? Well it all started with series creator/writer Shoji Kawamori (Macross) who got the idea for the series after visiting Nepal. Rather than have the series focus on space and themes of war, it would focus on fate and divination. He pitched the idea to Bandai Visual and Sunrise who were on board with the idea and thus research and planning for the series began. During this time there were a lot of changes from the original idea such as making the main lead a female instead of a male which was the norm for mecha anime, creating characters from scratch instead of adapting them from an existing medium, turning the male characters into bishonens, the plot element of the tarot cards being added in, going from 39 episodes to 26 episodes, and even getting a new director after the original director left to work on another anime. In fact, the series was actually put on the shelf for 2 years before getting started back up again. When it finally aired it wasn’t a big hit with the Japanese audience, but the rest of the world considered it to be a masterpiece of animation, storytelling, and music. It was like Big O, it found its audience in America rather than Japan. I’ve been wanting to take a look at this anime for years. Was it really a masterpiece that everyone says it is or was it just a decent anime blending two different genres together? Let’s not waste any time, this is my review of Escaflowne. Also, we’ll be doing some voice comparison between the sub and dub.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “Yakusoku wa Iranai (No Need for Promises)” by Maaya Sakamoto. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen this anime that I forgot this opening is not only good but it’s beautiful to watch and listen to. The visuals are stunning to look at and match up perfectly with the music and the voice of Maaya who t this time was still new to the world of voice acting so it’s nice to see that Maaya has always delivered when it comes to singing even at a young age.
For the ending we have “Mystic Eyes” by Hiroki Wada. Hands down one of my favorite endings of all time. It’s up there with Alumina from Death Note and Sugar Song to Bitter Sweet from Kekkai Sensen. This song just screams 90s from the beat to the singer and I love it. Was this banger of a song out of place in the end of each episode, yes, but I didn’t care. It was such a joy to listen to that I never cared how out of place it was.
Episodes 1-4
We begin in a 90s version Japanese high school (because back then that’s where all mecha/fantasy animes began and even to this day that trope still lives on) where we meet our main heroine Hitomi voiced by Maaya Sakamoto (Crona from Soul Eater) in the sub and Caitlin Glass (Winry from FMA: Brotherhood) in the dub. I’m gonna go with Maaya as the better voice. This was actually the role that propelled Maaya to stardom. At this time she was still a new up-and-comer and this was one of her first major roles in anime. While Caitlin is good there are a few lines that come off sounding weird. It’s not entirely her fault but more of the fault of the scriptwriters who gave her blocky writing that doesn’t fit the character all that well (also, fun fact, both of these ladies voiced Haruhi from Ouran High Host Club. That’s a pretty cool connection between the two ladies). We see that she’s part of the school’s track team and has a crush on this guy named Amano who is also her friend. When it’s her turn to run she begins to pull ahead of the pact but as she does she sees another guy on the track and passes through him (woah. So does this count as them doing it?). Soon, she begins to see visions of another world filled with mechs and dragons (a classic science vs nature scenario). She soon finds herself waking up in the infirmary where apparently, she fell and passed out (well that’s embarrassing). The only upside is that Amano was watching over her however later on she finds out from her friend Yukari that he might be leaving the country soon and urges her to confess to him before it’s too late. That night, she does a tarot card reading to see if he’s really leaving (sure, trust the cards instead of your best friend) and it turns out it’s true. So the next day she works up the courage to ask Amano to kiss her (man she moves fast) but only if she can beat her running time of 13 seconds and he agrees to time her (I think he likes you Hitomi. Good for you). She starts running where it seems she’s gonna do it (eyes on the prize) but her date with destiny gets interrupted by a warrior from another dimension and a fucking dragon (wow, I think the universe is telling you not to kiss this guy Hitomi). The man reveals himself to be Van voiced by Tomokazu Seki (Kanji from Persona 4: The Animation) in the sub and Aaron Dismuke (Al from FMA: Brotherhood). Tough choice here but I’m going to have to go with Aaron as his voice matches up better with Van. Tomokazu is good but he makes Van sound like a middle-aged man here. Van is supposed to be around Hitomi’s age and a young man whose brash and reckless, but also brave and loyal. Aaron captures these qualities perfectly. Apparently, only Hitomi can understand what he’s saying (do not speak engrish?) and he tells them to get out of here before the land dragon appears (it’s about to appear isn’t it?) but it’s too late (scene here: https://youtu.be/a1j41RuUY8g). Van takes on the dragon which chases after Hitomi and the others where she sees a vision of the dragon killing Van (she can see the future~) using a sneak attack. Hitomi warns Van of the attack, he dodges it in time, and kills the dragon by slicing through its stomach. He then rips out the heart of the dragon (that, is his trophy) which teleports him and Hitomi back to his home world of Gaea a world primitive compared to our world and filled with monsters, magic, and mechs (scene here: https://youtu.be/QJY6tz3PRVA).
Episode 2 starts off with Van and Hitomi surrounded by beastmen who turn out to be friends of Van and give them a ride to the kingdom of Fanella. While that’s going on Ameno and Yukari go to tell Hitomi’s mom what happened to her and not only does she believe them but she’s surprisingly calm about all of this (what drugs are she taking?). Back with Van and Hitomi they arrive at the kingdom of Fanella where we find out that Van is their king. Once in the village we meet his childhood friend Merle a catgirl voiced by Ikue Ōtani (Chopper from One Piece) and Alexis Tipton (Honey from Space Dandy). Boy this is a tough one as both actors do a good job. Ikue is a natural when it comes to playing adorable characters and gets their voice perfectly, but Alexis is no slouch either in this role. Tough call but I’m giving it to Alexis. Van shows everyone the dragon’s heart which it turns out was part of his coronation ceremony meaning he now earns the right to become king of his kingdom (as his first decree, all legal aged animal girls shall join his harem as concubines). They welcome Hitomi with open arms and vow to help her return to her world once the coronation is over (until then, party~). The afternoon of the coronation the kingdom gets attacked by invisible mechs. The soldiers ready for battle while the women and children flee for safety and Van is told to take Hitomi to the shrine and escape with the kingdom’s greatest treasure Escaflowne (title drop, the anime imploded) a very powerful mech. Van and Hitomi reach the shrine and Van forms a blood pact with Escaflowne making it his (scene here: https://youtu.be/-cVOUn718AY). Instead of following the advice of Balgus (his master) he prepares to fight when the invisible mechs come in and attack. He manages to hold his own against them but the numbers game catches up to them and he’s about to get stabbed from behind when all of sudden Balgus appears and does one of the most badass things of all time. He slices off the arm of the mechs, blocks the mech’s attack, and then stabs it in the face (okay, he just cemented himself as the badass of this anime). He tells Van to leave with Hitomi and he reluctantly retreats with her as he sees the destruction of his kingdom and Balgus gets killed (noooo~). Just when Van and Hitomi are surrounded, Hitomi’s necklace begins to glow and surrounds them in a beam of light to end the episode.
At the start of episode 3 the beam of light transports Van and Hitomi to another part of Gaea however it separated them from each other (because the plot demands it). Hitomi gets saved by our third main character Allen voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki (Mustang from FMA: Brotherhood) and Sonny Strait (Usopp from One Piece). I have to go with Sonny on this one. He really does put in a great performance as Allen. Allen is supposed to be this young knight who’s full of honor, manners, and has an air of maturity around him. Sonny’s voice matches that personality well. Hitomi quickly falls for the guy since he bears a striking resemblance to Ameno (well aren’t we the shallow one. Seriously, you know nothing about this guy and already falling for him. That’s like me falling in love with a lady and marrying her just because she resembles Robin from One Piece and not knowing anything about her). Hitomi faints from all the excitement that’s happened, and Van comes in to fight Allen where he loses after one hit (you haven’t been on the ball these last episodes have you Van?). He decides to take them to his castle in the kingdom of Asturia. While that’s going on, we meet two of our main villains for the anime. The first is Dilandau leader of the mech unit that attacked Van’s kingdom who is a borderline psychopath voiced by Minami Takayama (Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service) and Joel McDonald. Minami is better and I’ll tell you why later. The other is Folken voiced by Jōji Nakata and Vic Mignogna. Vic is better because he’s Vic, he always puts in a good performance and his voice matches perfectly with this dark character. These two work for the Zaibach Empire led by Dornkik voiced by Masato Yamanouchi and Jeremy Schwartz. I’ve gotta go with Jeremy, his voice is just so chilling here. He gives Dilandau and Folken orders to find the Escaflowne and capture it so they head to Allen’s castle to restock on supplies where Van is barely able to contain his anger and thirst for revenge (hold it in) and Dilandau takes an interest in Hitomi until Allen tells him that she’s his new wife and kisses her on the cheek (don’t feed the fantasy Allen). Dilandau resupplies and leaves however he suspects Allen is hiding something from him so he has one of his scouts stay behind to spy on them. Van and Hitomi meet a thief moleman who helps them reach Escaflowne. Van takes control and tries to leave but gets stopped by Allen and the two have a mech fight (put it all on Allen) where sure enough Allen makes Van humble again (scene here: https://youtu.be/vwaOO-xNYnc, man Van is just falling down the totem pole of badass). When Hitomi goes to check up on Van she sees a vision of the future and them getting attacked (with poorly edited flames mind you).
At the start of episode 4 Hitomi tries to warn every one of the coming dangers, but nobody believes her. One of the soldiers comes in carrying an unconscious Merle (well that’s not suspicious at all) who quickly regains consciousness and tells Van that the kingdom is gone and everyone is scattered. She soon passes out from being poisoned by bugs (which we find out later on) as does Hitomi from seeing the visions of death and destruction (and poorly edited flames). While in bed, Allen tells her about his family situation. He had a younger sister who one day vanished, and his mother overcome with grief fell ill and died (as for dad, not important). Van makes medicine for Merle as well as Hitomi since she too got poisoned and finally the castle gets attacked by Dilandu and his crazy ass. Allen quickly orders a retreat once he sees the castle is lost and everyone escapes on a flying ship but Dilandu and his men quickly catch up to them. Van manages to reach Escaflowne and transforms it into a dragon (okay, that’s pretty cool) to fly it away from the ship and lure Dilandu and his men after him.
Episodes 5-8
At the start of episode 5 Van gets captured and taken up into Dilandu’s flying fortress. We find out that Folken is actually Van’s older brother who was the original heir to the throne but when he went to take the rite of passage he reportedly died thus it fell on Van to take the throne (and boy was that a mistake. Not even king for 24 hours and the place burns to the ground). Folken tries to get Van to join him but he refuses (you burned his kingdom down and killed God knows how many people. Did you honestly think he would agree to join you after all of this?). Thanks to Hitomi, Allen and the others managed to find where they’re keeping Van and raid their fortress while it stops to resupply. As everyone fights, Hitomi gets another vision of Dilandu killing Van from behind (he does love his sneak attacks) so she jumps from the airship to the fortress (Japanese girl can jump), runs in the fortress to find Van and tells him of the coming danger. Van manages to block Dilandu’s attack and slashes his face (that’s gonna be one nasty scar). They all escape safely and set a course for the capital of Asturia.
In episode 6 the group arrives in the capital of Asturia where we meet princess Millerna with Hitomi obviously jealous of her (so Merle is jealous of Hitomi and Hitomi is jealous of Millerna. Please say Millerna is jealous of Merle). Allen tells the king what happened but it’s too late, Folken is there (how’d you get there before them?) and he’s already got the king on his side (it’s Cloud City all over again). He demands that they hand over Van and Escaflowne or their peace treaty will be broken. The king orders Allen to follow their orders or else. Millerna takes Van, Hitomi, and Merle to the market where Van spots Folken and runs after him. He catches up to Folken (watch out for his death grip) and demands an explanation as to why he betrayed him and the kingdom but doesn’t get an answer. Folken tries once again to get Van to join him saying that the Zaibach Empire are trying to eliminate war from the world (really? Then what was with all that destruction in episode 2? Let’s not forget the crazy psychopath commander who’s ready to kill something at the drop of a hat). As they talk, Dilandu tries to kill Van from the flying fortress, but his attack misses thanks to Hitomi who had another vision and saves Van (again). Folken takes his leave just as Van and the others get arrested by the royal guard who bring them to the arena and has Van fight against 3 bounty hunters with Escaflowne.
Van easily takes down the bounty hunters at the start of episode 7 without even breaking a sweat (where was this in the last episodes?) and he earns favor with the king who welcomes him into the kingdom. From there the episode slows down. We see Allen continue to ignore Millerna’s advances toward him (https://youtu.be/906lPhQo9cA) until she finally just goes for it and kisses Allen (there you go, attack head on). Hitomi sees this (ignoring Van’s warning not to go outside) and becomes heartbroken believing that Allen loves Millerna (you still got Ameno. If that doesn’t work out there’s Van). When she returns to her room to cry, she gets kidnapped by kappas (out all the strange things in this anime this is by far the strangest). Merle tells Van about this and they both rush off to save Hitomi from the kappas who is shocked to see that it’s Van saving her and not Allen (my God, you are obsessed with that man aren’t you?). They soon get attacked by Dilandu who lights the place on fire (yep, all in the name of peace people) trying to kill Van who decides to run away in order to save the people. Dilandu tries to go after them but gets stopped by Allen.
Not much to say about episode 8. After Van, Hitomi, and Merle escape they come across a dragon graveyard where the Zaibach Empire is harvesting drag energists. Drag energists are basically the hearts of dragons and are used to power up the mechs. Whichever side has the most drag energists is usually the side who wins the war. Van decides to attack Zaibach and disrupt their operations where he does a good job holding his own against them (alright, he started off good, had a few episodes where he got loss in the shuffle, and now he’s back on top. Quite a rollercoaster ride for him) until Hitomi gets captured (and now she’s loss in the shuffle) and he’s forced to stand down. The commander there tries to rape Hitomi with his pet snake (Snake: Didn’t know I was in a hentai. This is great) but Van escapes, saves her, and manages to blow up all the drag energists. When Hitomi falls down a hole, Van removes his shirt (fanservice for the ladies. Where’s the fanservice for the guys? (Isis): What about Merle? (Nitsuj): I don’t wanna go to jail Isis) and reveals he has wings (scene here: https://youtu.be/y0pfJjRRQKM). Back with Allen, he gets locked up as the king has completely submitted to Zaibach but he escapes thanks to Millerna and informs him that Zaibach is planning to launch an attack on Fried one of their neighboring kingdoms.
Episodes 9-12
Continuing where episode 8 left off, episode 9 opens up with Hitomi being entranced by Van’s wings which she saw in her dreams (now you’re falling for Van? Jesus, you are one flakey girl). Hitomi soon learns about Van’s past as well as his parents. Apparently, his dad fell in love with a woman who was a Draconian, a descendent of people from Atlantis who had wings (how the hell are wings supposed to help you in the water? They just weigh them down). The city of Atlantis got destroyed and everyone accuses the Draconians for its destruction thus they became associated with tragedy in the lives of others. Despite knowing all of this Van’s dad still fell in love with her and they gave birth to Van who inherited the wings of his mother. Tragedy soon struck Van’s family when his dad died of a mysterious illness (maybe they’re onto something here). Folken (who is the son from Van’s dad first marriage) took the test to ascend the throne but ran away so Van’s mother went to look for him and vanished without a trace. As for everyone else, we see Allen and his men head for Fried and Millerna decides to run away from home and chase after Allen because she loves him (yes, but he doesn’t love you. (Baron): Jackass. What! She’s hot). Van and the others are also heading to Fried but along the way they get attacked by Dilandu and his men. Van tries to take them on himself but there’s too many. Allen comes in to save him and he gets severely injured protecting Hitomi from Dilandu’s attack. Folken orders Dilandu to retreat and he complies (so he can follow orders) leaving the group with an injured Allen and one captured soldier. Millerna somehow caught up to the group with the moleman and gets ready to perform back alley surgery (actually it’s worse than that, it’s amateur surgery) on Allen in order to save his life since she’s the only one with medical knowledge.
In episode 10 Allen’s surgery was a success and he pulls through. The group arrives in Fried where they meet Prince Chid the child of Millerna’s deceased older sister. Chid’s father is doing an inspection around the kingdom thus he’s in charge for the time being. They warn him of the coming danger so the kingdom makes preparations to interrogate Miguel the soldier they caught from last episode using a man named Plactu a master of hypnosis to figure out what Ziabach is up to. Unfortunately, Plactu gets killed by Zongi a doppleganger (who apparently is a nudist as the guy walks around naked everywhere he goes. He could also use a bath because he stinks) working under Folken. Zongi transforms into Plactu and takes his place where he does some weird magic on Miguel to make him claim that Allen and the others are traitors trying to take over Asturia (yes, which is why we came all the way here. To the neighboring country that is close allies with Asturia in order to escape our pursuers). Miguel tries to escape but gets stopped by Van who destroys his mech and then Miguel gets killed by Zongi in order to keep his identity a secret and decides to stick around in order to investigate Hitomi. Chid and his guards believe what fake Plactu tells them and arrests everyone locking them up and everything.
In episode 11 Hitomi gets interrogated by Zongi where she reveals that the key to her being able to predict the future is thanks to this pendant, she got from her grandmother (that, and tarot cards). When Zongi tries to take the pendant it allows Hitomi to see that he’s an impostor and she soon sees an image of both of them dying which stops her heart right then and there (dying from the shock or idea of dying. Not the best way to go out). Zongi soon takes his leave and Van is able to resuscitate Hitomi via CPR and she tells them about Zongi where Chid decides to trust them and allows Van and Hitomi to go after Zongi. Zongi meets up with Dilandu at a temple where he tells him about Hitomi’s power and then Dilandu kills him because he killed Miguel (only Dilandu is allowed to do that). Van and Hitomi show up where Dilandu tries to kill Hitomi blaming her for his disfigurement (dude it’s just a scar. It’s not even that bad. It actually makes you look like a badass really). Thanks to Hitomi’s powers, Van is able to fight off Dilandu and his men and escape back to Freid where more evidence supporting their innocence has come to light and they get absolved of their charges just as Chid’s father Duke Freid has returned.
We start episode 12 with Duke Freid hearing everything that’s happened and agreeing to stand with the others and fight against Zaibach when they attack. As everyone prepares for battle, Van asks Hitomi to use her foresight to help them figure out where Zaibach will attack (that’s actually a smart move) but she refuses to be used as a tool for war and runs away crying (yeah sure, don’t use your powers to keep your friends safe. Increasing their odds of dying is clearly the better choice. Get over yourself woman). As she’s crying, Chid comes to join her where he too is scared of what’s to come but Hitomi cheers him up and decides to do a reading for him where during the reading she sees a vision and discovers the truth about Chid. He’s actually the son of Allen (holy shit! Allen had an affair with a married woman and has two women after him. This guy gets more action than the Jack Bros. have in a lifetime. (Jack Bros.): Hey! We get plenty of action! (Nitsuj): When was the last time you went on a date where the woman didn’t leave disgusted, freaked out, or plotting your deaths? (Baron): Does senior prom count? (Corbin): Betty tried to poison you and Rebecca tried to bury me alive. (Baron): Okay, zero. (Nitsuj): How did you guys get laid in college? (Corbin): I don’t know. We just went to parties, talk to a drunk girl, and next thing we know we’re doing the horizontal bop). Millerna discovers the diary of her older sister Marleen and finds out that Chid is Allen’s child as well (ha! Your sister beat you to the punch). The next day Zaibach shows up with nothing short of an armada set to destroy Freid and everyone heads out to fight. As Allen is heading out, Millerna confronts him about Chid (woman, now is not the time. He’s about to go to what could possibly be his death and you bring this shit up? What exactly did you hope to accomplish with this anyway? You know it’s the truth and plus Allen made it clear he has no feelings for you whatsoever so move on with your life already) but Duke Freid comes in and says that he is Chid’s real father no matter what (Allen may have planted that seed in the garden but it was Duke Freid who raised it).
We’re gonna take a break here for now, but come back next when we review the second half of Escaflowne for my. . .400th review? Oh my God, my 400th reviews. I need to get balloons and everything. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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