Escaflowne

The first thing that struck me about this film was the detailed animation and vividness of the colors. The TV series was known for it's quality animation, and the movie is far better. The story, however, is completely different from the TV series. If you watch this movie, don't compare it to the series, since it's a different story that uses the same characters. The story is fairly dark, but compelling. For action fans, you will find a lot of that in this movie, but romance fans may walk away disappointed. Overall, not great, but a good movie. 6 of 10.

Several things bothered me while watching this film. One of the first thing i noticed was the animation - the faces on the characters were horridly drawn, making it hard for facial expressions to appear believable. The animation in itself was fine, however the way the people were drawn was distracting. Secondly, the plot was disorganized and scattered; making the film hard to follow for even fans of the Escaflowne TV series. The closing doesn't redeem much of the films' weak points - I wouldn't recommend this for those new to Escaflowne or those who are fans. It would be disappointing either way.

I've just finished watching the entire series of Escaflowne and then the movie, and I must say that it was a let down (though not unexpected).

On the one hand you have a quality movie - great animation, more violence and adult themes than the series would allow and already complex characters (as they were taken from the series' in their totality, rather than their presentation at the beginning). On its own this movie had every potential to be great - decent story world and concept, the problem is that it fell into the limbo of relying on the series too much and too little.

The first half of the movie is truly a great watch - you see old faces and nods to secondary characters (the cats in the nightclub are a nice touch). The problem is that in the second half it sort of falls apart - it seems to lose focus and rely on clichés and poor on screen chemistry for the lovers.

The reason for this is that the first hour or so pretty much relies on the first few episodes of the series - girl meets boy but is afraid, the world itself is introduced and so forth, but in the last hour they try to cram the remaining 24 episodes of plot into the movie. While they negate a large amount of the less relevant details in the series, the fact that they try to throw a love that only develops at the end of 24 episodes of questioning (Between Hitomi and Van) into about 30 minutes, and it just seems forced.

So in the end the movie would've been better had it not relied on the overreaching plot of the series and made its own way in the world. (or maybe do the opposite and be set at the end of the series like the Evangelin movies).

At any rate, I did feel a little cheated by the apparent lack of mech fights and 'brother battle' at the end. 3/5

Anyone settling down to watch the usual romantic fluff of the series might be disappointed by this movie. However, if the same audience wants to drown in the glory of wonderful storytelling, a beautiful soundtrack worthy of Williams, and heartstopping animation, this is the perfect film for them.

"Escaflowne: A Girl From Gaea" is loosely based on the already popular series "Tenkuu no Escaflowne", where Hitomi, a young school girl with psychic powers, is whisked away to the magical land of Gaea, filled with mystical creatures, gallant knights, and gigantic suits of armor. However, here, the happy Hitomi and the peaceful Van are very much gone. The movie opens with Van brutally slaying a group of enemies and Hitomi rethinking the decision to hand a suicide note she has written over to her best friend Yukari. This is a very dark, but compelling Escaflowne. Much of the storyline from the series has been changed dramatically, as one can tell, but it gives the movie it's own original feel and one does not have to be familiar with the series to enjoy the movie. The soundtrack, once again handled very nicely by Yoko Kanno, is absolutely top-notch and might remind one of the power of John Williams' score to "Star Wars". The animation is very different as well, more mature and detailed than the average anime series. Older teens will love it, but smaller children familiar with the series might find the action too intense, some scenes and animation echoing the works of Akira Kurosawa, particularly "Ran".

I have only seen bootleg copies of this, but I hope the rumour of the movie coming stateside is true and we American otaku will get to enjoy the majesty that is "Escaflowne: A Girl From Gaea" on a theatre screen. Anything less cannot do it justice.

For those who have seen the Escaflowne television series know that it was a beautifully complex shoujou anime with plenty of action, adventure, and romance.

The movie, however, is a completely different animal. Most viewers try to compare the television series to the movie, and thus usually disregard the movie as trash, as it is not a faithful retelling of the series. So, if you haven't seen this movie yet, but have seen the series, remember they are two completely different creatures, each wonderful and unique.

The most noticeable change is in the character design. Nobuteru Yuuki (who also did the designs for Chrono Cross, X, and Record of Lodess War) slightly altered the character's distinctive looks from the TV series. They now closely resemble the characters from Chrono Cross (the similarity between Millerna and Kid is the most obvious). The plot was also trimmed of the intricate subplots to fit into a decent running time, and thus some of the characters from the series do not appear. The biggest change is the inclusion of more action and violence, so we're talking flying body parts and lots of blood spraying. This was done to attract more males to the fanbase as the TV series had a fanbase that was 80% female.

Other things, however, haven't changed. Yoko Kanno and her partner Hajime Mizoguchi return with an excellent score of blended nationalities to give it a truly unique sound that makes it seem as if we are really listening to the music from another world.

Overall, the movie is an excellent example of anime at its best. Between the quality of the animation and overall production, this movie is a must see for anyone who loves any form of animation.