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The Vision of Escaflowne

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The Vision of Escaflowne

天空のエスカフローネ
(Tenkū no Esukafurōne)

Demographic

Shōjo, Shōnen

Genre

Adventure, Romance, Mecha, Fantasy

Director

Studio

Network

Other networks:
Animax GMA Network, QTV, Animax TV Azteca MTV YTV TVN (2001), Etc...TV Animax Fox Kids, AnimeCentral Fox Kids Anime Selects, Adult Swim

Original run

April 2, 1996 – September 24, 1996

Episodes

Manga: The Vision of Escaflowne

Author

Hajime Yatate (original creator)
Katsu Aki (art)

Publisher

Kadokawa Shoten

Other publishers:
TOKYOPOP Carlsen Comics

Serialized in

Shōnen Ace

Original run

December 1994 – January 1998

Volumes

Manga: HITOMI: The Vision of Escaflowne

Author

Hajime Yatate (original creator)
Yuzuru Yashiro (art)

Publisher

Kadokawa Shoten

Serialized in

Monthly Asuka Fantasy DX

Original run

May 1996 – February 1997

Volumes

Manga: Escaflowne - Energist's Memories

Author

Hajime Yatate (original creator)
Yuzuru Yashiro (art)

Publisher

Kadokawa Shoten

Serialized in

Asuka

Original run

January 1997 –

Volumes

Movie: Escaflowne

Director

Kazuki Akane

Studio

Sunrise

Released

June 24, 2000

Runtime

98 min.

The Vision of Escaflowne (天空のエスカフローネ, Tenkū no Esukafurōne^?, lit. Escaflowne of the Heavens) is a 26-episode anime television series produced by Sunrise Studios and directed by Kazuki Akane. It premiered in Japan on April 2, 1996 on TV Tokyo, with the final episode airing on September 24 1996 Sony's anime satellite channel, Animax also aired the series, both in Japan and on its various worldwide networks, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Asia. The series is licensed for Region 1 release by Bandai Entertainment. Deliberately blending elements both shōnen and shōjo genres, the series follows a teenage high school girl named Hitomi, who finds herself pulled from Earth to the planet Gaea when a boy named Van appears one the high school track while battling a dragon. In Gaea, she is caught in the middle of a war as the Zaibach empire attempts to take over Gaea. Van, fallen king of the kingdom of Fanelia, with aid from Allen, a knight from the kingdom of Asturia, struggles to stop Zaibach using his mystical mech Escaflowne. Hitomi, whose fortune telling powers blossom in Gaea, discovers she is the key to awakening Escaflowne and to stopping Zaibach's plans. While the anime series was in production, two very different manga retellings were also developed and released: a shōnen version of the story entitled The Vision of Escaflowne and a shōjo retelling titled HITOMI - The Vision of Escaflowne. In 1997, a third manga adaptation, the single volume scaflowne - Energist's Memories was released. A movie adaptation, Escaflowne: The Movie was also made, bearing only a slight resemblance to the original series. Four CD soundtracks and a drama CD have also been released in relation to the series.

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Production
4 Media
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Plot

The series focuses on the heroine, Hitomi Kanzaki, and her adventures after she is transported to the world of Gaea, a mysterious planet where she can see Earth and its moon in the sky. On Gaea, Earth is known as the Mystic Moon or "Phantom Moon" (幻の月, Maboroshii no tsuki^?). Hitomi's latent psychic powers are enhanced on Gaea and she quickly becomes embroiled in the conflicts between the Zaibach Empire and the several peaceful countries that surround it. The conflicts are brought about by the Zaibach Empire's quest to revive the legendary power from the ancient city of Atlantis. As the series progresses, many of the characters' pasts and motivations, as well as the history of Atlantis and the true nature of the planet Gaea, are revealed.

Characters

Main article: List of The Vision of Escaflowne characters

Fanelia

A small kingdom in Gaea ruled by the Fanel family of which Van is the current king. In order to become the king, the heir to the throne must slay a dragon, remove the energist from inside of the dragon, and take it back to Fanelia. Folken failed this test, which left Van as the next in line for the throne. The kingdom is destroyed by Zaibach early in the series. Fanelia bears some similarities to feudal-era Japan.

Zaibach

A powerful empire ruled by Dornkirk that possesses advanced technology. It was once a small and frail land. People were facing hunger, sickness, neighboring attacks, living in constant fear. As a well educated man of science, Dornkirk used his knowledge to rebuild Zaibach into one of the most respected and feared countries in Gaea. People of Zaibach have committed their lives to the vision of Dornkirk. They seek to create a new era of peace by controlling the world. Zaibach is similar to Industrial Revolution-era England.

Asturia

A major kingdom in Gaea that was initially allied with Zaibach before leading an alliance against them. The country is a monarchy and its greatest warriors are known as the "Knights of Caeli". Asturia bears some resemblance to Renaissance-era Italy. The name Asturia is also very closly spelled to the Spanish providence of Asturias.

Freid

A duchy in Gaea that is ruled by the Freid family. It has an ancient Atlantean artifact that Dornkirk needs to complete his plan to revive the power of Atlantis. This artifact draws the attention of Zaibach who invades Freid. The duty of the ruler of Freid as well as of its people is to safeguard this powerful artifact and prevent it from causing destruction as what it had done in Atlantis. Freid is said to have been based on Southeast Asia, specifically Thailand.

Production

In planning for five years, The Vision of Escaflowne almost never made it to the air. Shoji Kawamori first proposed the series after being inspired by a trip to Napal. He worked with Minoru Takanashi at Bandai Visual to finish fleshing out the original idea, including making the decision to have a girl as the lead character. Sunrise Studios was selected to work on the series, then planned at thirty-nine episodes, with Nobuteru Yuki, who worked on the Record of Lodoss War providing the character designs. The initial director chosen for the series was Yasuhiro Imagawa, and while he is credited with coining the word "escaflowne" that would be used in the title, he left the project to before actual production started. Without a director, the series was put on hold and Kawamori left to work on other projects. After two years sitting on the shelf, Sunrise revisted the project and decided to bring in Kazuki Akane in as the new directors. In order to broaden the potential audience, Akane decided to add shojo elements to the series. This included giving several characters more bishonen appearances. Akane also gave the character of Hitomi a complete make over, taking her from being a curvy, air-headed, long-haired girl with glasses to the slim, athletic, short-haired and more intelligent and confident girl seen in the final series.^[1] With the series character designs finalized and the story set, Yoko Kanno was selected to write the songs for the series, including the background songs which she co-wrote with Hajime Mizoguchi. Sixteen-year-old Maya Sakamoto, fresh from a small role in the anime adaptation of Mizuiro Jidai, was selected not only as the voice of Hitomi, but also to sing the Escaflowne theme song. Kanno is noted as saying that Sakamoto is an ideal interpreter of her work. After this project, they continued to collaborate on many other works and some consider her work on The Vision of Escaflowne to be the launching point of Sakamoto's career.^[1] With the series ready for production, the budget required it be cut down to twenty-six episodes. Not wanting to cut out any of the characters or the already elaborately planned plot lines, the series was instead forced to fit into the shorter length. This can be seen some in the first episode, where in the credits were cut in favor of adding more exposition.^[2] While a few scenes were deleted, as a whole each episode was left with a feeling of giving the viewer a great deal of information than in many anime series, and it added to the series epic scope. In the retail Japanese video release, some of the deleted scenes were restored to the first seven episodes.^[2]

Media

Anime

See also: List of The Vision of Escaflowne episodes

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the or at requests for expansion. (January 2008)

Manga

Three alternate retellings of The Vision of Escaflowne have been released in manga form, with first two manga series developed at the same time as the anime. Due to the radical changes in the anime series during production, these two manga series are very different from the original anime series and each other. The first series, also titled The Vision of Escaflowne was one of the first manga series to appear in the then new Shonen Ace magazine from Kadokawa Shoten. Despite the anime series itself being on hold, Sunrise gave artist Katsu Aki the existing production and character designs, resulting in the first manga series having the heavy shōnen feel and curvaceous Hitomi that was originally planned for the anime series.^[1] The series premiered in Shonen Ace's first issue on October 24, 2004 and ran until November 26, 1997. Kadokawa Shoten also released the series in an eight taknuban collected format from April 1995 through January 1998.^[3] It was licensed for released in North America by TOKYOPOP with the first volume released on July 10, 2003.^[4] The TOKYOPOP English editions were also imported for distribution in Australia by Madman Entertainment. In 1996, with the premiere of the anime series, Messiah Knight - The Vision of Escaflowne was created.^[1] This shōjo adaptation was written by Yuzuru Yashiro and serialized in Monthly Asuka Fantasy DX from April 08, 1996 through January 18, 1997. When the tankuban volumes were published, the series was retitled HITOMI - The Vision of Escaflowne. This adaptation has not been licensed for an English language release.^[5] A final manga retelling, Escaflowne - Energist's Memories, was a collaborative effort of various manga-ka around Japan to create 15 "mini-stories" related to the anime series. The single volume manga was published in January 1997 by Kadokawa. It also has not been licensed for an English language release.^[6]

Soundtracks

It has been suggested that Vision of Escaflowne Original Soundtrack, Vision of Escaflowne Original Soundtrack 2, Vision of Escaflowne Original Soundtrack 3 and Vision of Escaflowne: Lovers Only be merged into this article or section. ()

This series marked the anime debut (in a lead role) of Maaya Sakamoto as the voice of the main character Hitomi Kanzaki and as the singer of the opening song "Yakusoku wa Iranai", as well as of many other songs in the series. The music, composed by Yoko Kanno and Hajime Mizoguchi, is of a decidedly European flavor, though it also incorporates different styles such as contemporary, classical, and Gregorian chant. The albums released for the anime includes the following: