AAA - Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea

Like most anime, Escaflowne takes several forms. Usually anime begins as "manga," or what we would call comics. If the original manga is popular there will probably be an animated series, probably a movie (or 2 or 3), video games... You get the idea.

Escaflowne actually started out as an animated series, which is unusual. There are a couple of spin-off mangas but I hear they're both not that great. I haven't really been able to get into manga anyways.

And then there's the movie. Anime movies follow a couple of different patterns. They can tell backstory, or just be a completely new idea or a continuation of a series, (there are standalone movies as well, but we're talking of movies that are based on a series). The Escaflowne movie is a little different in that it's a retelling of the series. And it's kind of neat. The world of Gaea has a whole new feel, very tribal and almost middle-eastern. While the artwork of the series is AMAZING (I mean, really, even with the pictures I put up, there's no way to describe), the movie's artwork is even better. It's sooo amazingly gorgeous.



Unfortunately some idiot decided that it was possible to retell the entire complex story of the series with only an hour and half of time. Come on people, 2 hours at least! So things get paired down quite a bit and to be honest, the movie isn't that great because of this. Oh the possibilities. Characters become 2-dimensional, the plot is almost impossible to follow (forget it if you've never watched the series), and so we end up with an interesting world with a lot of sword swinging.

Instead of the Zaibach empire under Emperor Dornkirk, we have the Black Dragon Clan/Empire which is lead by Van's brother Folken (replacing Dornkirk as the villain). They're taking over the world, yada yada yada. The central story however, is the relationship between Van and Hitomi, as it was in the series. There's no time for love triangles and complications though. Van loves Hitomi, Hitomi loves Van, straight and to the point. So, sadly, my favorite character Allen is left on the sidelines. He may have a cooler outfit, and he still knows how to kick Van around, but Allen barely gets any screen-time. Sad day!

Hitomi herself is altered quite a bit. Instead of a happy-go-lucky highschool freshman, she's a highschool senior suffering from depression. There's no mention of fortune-telling or tarot cards that played such a central role in the series. Instead, Hitomi is called to Gaea by Folken because she is believed to be the legendary Wing Goddess who calls the dragon-armor Escaflowne.

As I said, the story is extremely weak. I don't understand the finer points of half the scenes. Why does Van have wings? What exactly happened with Folken? What's up with Hitomi's pendant? Things that were addressed in the series are simply left unanswered here. However, the fight scenes are well-done (if you can handle the blood, it's even more gory than the series, a common trait in anime...) and as I said, the artwork is just gorgeous. The music too is impressive. Yoko Kanno scored this as well, and she takes a different approach (that versatility I was talking about) and gives the movie a new, tribal feel.

The movie opens with Van attacking an enemy transport. He's using his wings to his advantage and so we first see a blue sky, and then wings in the distance, and then Van falling rapidly towards the transport. The music is perfectly synced. As Van lands, drums begin and then at his first attack, the rhythm accelerates until finally the violin comes in. Perfectly synced, completely different from the series, and pretty much amazing.

This next track is also interesting in that you can hear hints of the "Duel of the Fates" (which was composed later in case you're suspicious).



When the choir comes in, it's definitely the same chord progression as the Duel of the Fates, and the melody is similar just a little later. :-) Oh Yoko Kanno, you are so cool.