The Vision of Escaflowne, truly is, an anime masterpiece. It heavily touches the subject of destiny, and introduces a whole new perspective on what it really can do. This anime is, ultimately, a complex love story, filled with twists, surprises, and an many paths that leave you wondering which one will be wandered. Filled with valiant knights, manaical villains, rogue princesses, and a lost girl who's power is arcane, and potent. Although at first sight, it seems like a typical, cliche, adventure anime, it opens up into a vast, complicated, and highly unique plot and large amounts of character development.
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The main character, Hitomi, has met the love of her life. She's a great runner, and has alot of friends. But strange occurances lead a young prince named Van Fanel into Earth, and accidentally, she returns with him. He had just claimed position as king of Fanelia, when his country is attacked by the massive, and deceitful Zaibach Empire. Van vows revenge, and begins his quest, with Hitomi and his large mecha, Escaflowne.
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As one can plainly see, the beginning is average, but then more events occur, by the episode, and Van finds himself in drastic situations, and great battles. He meets up with another knight, Allen Schezar, and is reunited in another city with his friend Merle (a catgirl). The characters keep coming and going, and capturing the viewers attention.
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The mecha design and system is superb. Well thought out, and clear upon how it operates. The mecha themselves are heavily armored giants, with great style, and completely inventive weaponry, such as the notorious liquid metal swords. The battles that take place between each other are superbly choreographed and visually appealing. Eye candy adorns every facet of the mecha, and nothing is left bare.
The soundtrack was composed by Yoko Kanno, which says enough about how sensational it is. The voice actors are very good in both the original Japanese, and the English dub, except for the dubbed Dilandau, who sounds pretty out of character.
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All in all, I highly recommend this anime, and out of everything I've seen, this is definitely tied for my favorite. By the end, (which was very well done, and left nothing to be desired) I was obsessed, and wished there was more.
Heh, maybe they'll make more some day...well, at least I really hope so.
Episodes: 26, of approx. 19 minutes each.
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