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ouatic's Tenkuu no Escaflowne Tv Review

Tenkuu no Escaflowne

Tenkuu no Escaflowne tv Review

Was it only a dream? Or an illusion?

Hitomi Kanzaki was a normal high school student who occasionally told fortunes using tarot cards. One day while trying to break her own track record, a pillar of light comes down from the sky, and with it comes a dark-haired boy, and a dragon. Van Fanel was the heir to the throne of Fanelia and was transported to Earth, the Mystic Moon, from Gaea, in order to retrieve the drag energist from a dragon that he needed to become king. Running into Hitomi, their meeting will bring them to a different world...

Gaea, the world of two moons, one of which is Earth. A world that seems like the medieval ages, with both man, beast, and beast-man alike occupying the world.

Van and Hitomi arrive in Fanelia only to have it destroyed shortly after by Zaibach. Forced to flee, Van and Hitomi begin a journey across Gaea to fight Zaibach, the mysterious country who was Fanelia's destroyer.

But the Fate Alteration is approaching...

(Synopsis by: Twinklebyte)

Story & Characters

The Vision of Escaflowne centers around a girl named Hitomi and her adventures as she gets transported into a magical world called Gaea. The story to this show is nothing short of great and well thought out. The beginning of the show is farily straighfoward. Hitomi meets Van, who had just become king of his country Fanelia only to watch it get destroyed from the forces of Zaibach. From there shows the characters on the quest to fight Zaibach and get Hitomi back to earth.

As t he series progress, the show just turns around and twists everything up on you. There you learn the secret behind Van(his bloodline), Hitomi, and uncover the secret connecting both Earth and Gaea.

This must have been the plot that inspired Full Metal Alchemist, because it is so well though out and original, especially the twist near the end. Anyway, the story is well paced and does give you hints to the twist, as it doesn't just jump on the viewer out of nowhere.

*Note 9/10 is the best score I will give any anime.

Rating: 9

Art

The art once again is just great. Although the long noses did seem awkward, it was only for a moment. The art and scenery is wonderful as it makes you feel like you're in a fantasy world. The colors are all bright during the beginning and at the end of the show grows a lot more darker showing the different moods and periods during the show.

The mecha designs are great and the animation is very fluid. Some of the most fluid mecha action scenes are shown in this series. The action may not be very fast, but it is very smooth and intense. There were some CGI in the show, but it was used very sparingly and what was in the show blended in quite nicely.

Rating: 9

Sound

The voice acting is nothing monumental, but the still delivers. One voice that stood out was Merle's voice actress, Otani Ikue who voices Tony Tony Chopper for One Piece. The english voice acting is not as good, and some of the voices are annoying, but there has been worse.

The music however is great. Kanno Yoko does it again and gives Escaflowne a very epic kind of sound. There is a lot of strings instruments and operaish vocals that give this show a very grand, fantasy feel. The beginning and ending songs are decent, but nothing outstanding as the background music.

Rating: 9

Presentation

This show is quite original, not in its genre, but the actual story. Although at points it feels like you're watching The Record of Lodoss War which is how it should be, being a fantasy anime. The show is again, well paced with no fillers whatsoever. The show is also enjoyable to watch, while not quite as much as One Piece or Naruto, but still does a good job holding its own. The characters are all unique and well developed, although Hitomi and Merle did get on my nerves from time to time. There is romance in the story that helps contribute to the characters and plot of the story. The ending is fine, however it wasn't very concrete, which might have some viewers slightly disappointed. There wasn't to much humor in the show, and what humor it did have, wasn't very funny to me, but it wasn't annoying either. If you want action, story, romance, than this is the anime to watch.

All in all, I wanted to be critical for this anime, but I just can't help but give an almost perfect score for every aspect of this anime. It really is a good anime that everyone who knows anything about anime should watch.

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

9.0000 (very good)

Reviewed by ouatic, Jun 19, 2005

Comments

  1. ouatic Jun 20, 2005

    no comments? Well to start things off(hopefully) I usually don't give an anime such high marks, but when I think about it, this anime was really good, at least technically. But I had a fun time watching it as well. There are probably quite a few errors in this, as I didn't really check over my writing that well. Hope someone can take something out of this review and watch the anime.:)

  2. Zeliard Jun 20, 2005

    I've watched the anime years ago, and till date it's still the anime at the top my list. If I were to write a review, I would have given it a 10/10 in all aspects. It is a wonderful anime, maybe Shouji's Kawamori's best after Macross. And the OST is just too superb. Yoko Kanno definitely did a very good job by presenting the BGM in an orchestra. I personally recommend Escaflowne to anyone who hasn't seen it, and maybe a 2nd view to those who has seen it. It's worth it.... ^^

  3. missy1066 Jun 21, 2005

    I watched this anime a little over a year ago... I thought it was superb in all aspects.. the only thing I really hated about the art work was the way the characters noses were drawn... they're just far too pointy!!... The original soundtrack is absolutely brilliant... I found the music to be very soothing/orchestral... One track on the OST (I think it's called dance of curse) reminded me of music from a horror movie I saw when I was younger though... ^_^' ... I would have no qualms whatsoever about recommending anybody to see this anime... It may be old, but it's still of excellent quality... ^_^

  4. Enchanter Jun 21, 2005

    Wonderful show! All the more unbelievable to think that it was released in 1996 (not any later)!

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