The Vision of Escaflowne

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The Vision of Escaflowne
Original title 天空 の エ ス カ フ ロ ー ネ
transcription Tenkū no Esukafurōne
genre Fantasy , adventure , drama , romance, mecha
Manga
country JapanJapan Japan
author Katsu Aki
publishing company Kadokawa Shoten
magazine Shonen Ace
First publication October 24, 1994 - November 26, 1997
expenditure 8th
Anime television series
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
Year (s) 1995-1996
Studio Sunrise
length 25 minutes
Episodes 26th
Director Kazuki Akane
idea Hajime Yatate , Shōji Kawamori
music Yōko Kanno , Hajime Mizoguchi
First broadcast April 2 - September 24, 1996 on TV Tokyo
German-language
first broadcast		 April 3 - September 25, 2002 on MTV Germany
synchronization
Movies
► Escaflowne - The Movie (2000)

The Vision of Escaflowne ( jap. 天空のエスカフローネ, Tenku no Esukafurōne , literally Escaflowne of Heaven ) is an anime - television series in 1996. The series was adapted as a film, radio play and video-game and in the form of several manga implemented.

The work can be classified into the genres of mecha , fantasy , adventure , drama and romance and combines traditional fantasy elements such as dragons, princesses and knights with huge mechanical fighting machines, the "guymelefs".

action

The 15-year-old Hitomi Kanzaki, who looks into the future with tarot cards, passes out during a 100-meter run and has a vision of a strange, feudal, warlike world. After she tried to confess her love to her trainer, the student Amano from a higher class, and completed another training run, a young warrior entered her world in a pillar of light, followed by an earth dragon. It is about Van Fanel, the prince of Fanelia, who as a pretender to the throne has to kill the dragon and bring his energy stone home. After the fight with the dragon, the pillar of light appears again and Van and Hitomi are drawn into Van's world, onto the planet Gaia, from where one can see the earth and its moon.

There she took part in Van's coronation as a guest, to the displeasure of the jealous cat girl Merle. But the ceremony is interrupted by the attack of invisible opponents who devastate Fanelia. Van mounts "Escaflowne", the most powerful guymelef in the country, whom he brought to life with the dragon stone, and sets off with Hitomi on the way to the enemy in order to save his country. But during the fight, Van is captured and comes to Zaibach's flying fortress. There he meets Dilandau, commander of the dragon squad, and his older brother Folken, who left Fanelia a long time ago and is now Zaibach's strategist. Meanwhile, Hitomi wins the trust of Allen Schezar, a knight from the Astoria Empire. With this they can free Van and flee to Pallas, the capital of Astoria. But Emperor Dornkirk, the ruler of the Zaibach Empire, wants to conquer more countries in order to rule over all of Gaia. In doing so, he tries to influence fate himself with his advanced technology. Because Escaflowne interferes with his fate machine, Dornkirk does everything in his power to destroy this Guymelef.

After their stay in Pallas, the group moved on to the Duchy of Fraid. Its rulers have been protecting the key to the power of Atlantis for generations . Atlantis was once a shining kingdom on earth whose inhabitants had the ability to make wishes come true through the power of thought. In their euphoria, they let themselves grow wings. Van and Folken also have such wings, as they are direct descendants of the inhabitants of Atlantis. But this almost limitless power also sealed its own fate and Atlantis perished. The survivors used their powers to create the planet Gaia, on which the catastrophe should not repeat itself.

In order to activate his machine of fate, Dornkirk needs the power of Atlantis, which is why the Zaibach army attacks Fraid. A battle ensues in which Fraid's forces are clearly inferior. After the Duke had to be saved from Dilandau at the last second, he realizes that fate wants to put the world to a test and decides to hand over the key to the Zaibachers and surrender. Before that, the duke sacrifices himself and is shot by arrows in front of Vans and Allen's eyes, which ends the battle. Folken and the Zaibacher generals then open the seal and unleash the power of Atlantis, which brings Dornkirk much closer to realizing his machine of fate.

As the journey progresses, several facts are revealed. This is how you find out that all damage that Escaflowne takes directly on Van. Hitomi also learns that the talisman that her grandmother gave her has magical powers and that Hitomi's emotions influence fate. Everyone learns that it was his father who gave the talisman to Hitomi's grandmother before he was murdered by Dornkirk's soldiers. In addition, it turns out that Commander Dilandau is actually Allen's long-missing sister Serena, who was transformed into Dilandau through experiments by researchers from Zaibach. Folken changes sides - after a discussion with Van - but a major attack by the Zaibach Empire is imminent.

In the final there is a huge battle against the Zaibach Empire. The alliance of the (remaining) armed forces of Fanelia, Astoria and Fraid seems to be defeated by the Zaibachers and therefore detonates a weapon of mass destruction that destroys most of the Zaibach army and its flying fortresses in one fell swoop. However, the allies also sacrifice some of their own soldiers. In the meantime, Folken and Hitomi are teleported to Dornkirk's throne room using their talisman. Dornkirk manipulated fate - with the help of his fate machine - in such a way that it had to happen. He also knows of Folken's intention to kill him. Dornkirk provokes Folken, who then knocks him down with a powerful sword blow. Dornkirk dies as a result of the attack, but the machine changes fate in such a way that a broken piece of Folken's sword kills him as well. Dornkirk then reappears in a shadowy form to Hitomi and tells her that the machine of fate now affects all of Gaia and creates a sphere of complete bliss. However, this does not lead to the longed-for peace, but releases the subconscious desire in the armies to be sole ruler, which is why the allies now fight each other. Even Van and Allen fight each other in their guymelefs after Allen asked Van to spare Dilandau, who was defeated in battle. During the fight, Dilandau transforms back into Serena and calls for Allen, her brother. At the same time, telepathic contact is established between Van and Hitomi via the talisman and the two admit their love for the first time. Allen can avert a potentially fatal blow from Escaflowne on his Guymelef at the last second. Allen then takes care of Serena and Van and Escaflowne go to Hitomi. As they fly over the battlefield, Escaflowne separates from Van and has a pacifying effect on the remaining soldiers. Thanks to his wings, Van himself flies to the center of the fate machine and thus puts it out of operation. Hitomi and Van fly away together and Dornkirk resigned after he had to admit that the answers he gained only raise new questions.

After all that happened, Gaia returned to peace. The Kingdoms begin rebuilding and Escaflowne will remove the dragon stone, putting it in a dormant state. Hitomi travels back to Earth and promises Van never to forget him. At the end you see a large pillar of light and all of Hitomi's friends say goodbye.

Characters

  • Hitomi Kanzaki ( 神 崎 ひ と み , Kanzaki Hitomi ) is a student who runs for her school's sprinter team. She reads cards and has a pendant that her grandmother gave her. The follower becomes active in certain situations and then fulfills wishes or serves as a link between the worlds. She vies with her friend Yukari for the favor of Amano when Van Fanel enters her life and she enters his world with him.
  • Van Fanel (Van Slezar de Fanel) is the young heir to the throne of Fanelia. Van is the pilot of Escaflowne, a legendary guymelef, built by the Isparno people, who inherited the knowledge of the Atlanteans. With the help of Escaflowne he wants to stop the Zaibach Empire, whose ruler Dornkirk wants to establish a new order on Gaia.
  • Allen Schezar is a knight from the Kingdom of Astoria and commander of an outpost on the border of the kingdom. He becomes Hitomi's friend and protector. Except for his clothes and his hip-length, blonde hair, he is the image of Hitomi's trainer Amano on earth. He is a clever and strong warrior, gallant and handsome, and has a reputation for being a womanizer. He helps Van protect the planet Gaia with his guymelef Sherazade.
  • Merle is a girl who is half human and half cat. She is an orphan, adopted by Van's family, and grew up with Van. She is always really excited and sometimes easily irritable. She has been jealous of Hitomi since she appeared on Gaia, but she is unconditionally by Van in every situation.
  • Kaiser Dornkirk (name in the subtitle version Dolunkirk ) is the leader of the Zaibacher. His body is in a huge, wheeled machine that keeps him alive. He wants to introduce a new order on Gaia. His goal is to eliminate Hitomi and Escaflowne, as the Guymelef, Van and Hitomi interfere with his fate machine, with the help of which he can foresee the course of fate and later even intervene in it. In the series, reference is made to the fact that he comes from the "moon of illusion", i.e. the earth and represents Sir Isaac Newton .
  • Folken Lacour de Fanel is the older brother of Van, the strategist of the Zaibach empire and the right hand of the emperor. He lost an arm in a fight against a dragon and then left Fanelia and his younger brother because he failed in this fight, which he had to fight as heir to the throne. Emperor Dornkirk saved his life and gave him a new, artificial arm. Folken is cool and logical, speaks slowly and hardly ever laughs.
  • Dilandau Albatō (name in the subtitle version Dilando ) is the commander of a special unit of the Zaibach and was used like Folken for experiments of the Zaibach magicians, whereby he lost the memories of his previous existence as Serena Schezar, the sister of All Schezar. Dilandau is easily irritable. Because of his vengeance and warlike tendencies, he sometimes defies the orders of his superiors.
    In the original version and the German subtitle version, Dilandau is depicted as a man, whereby Dilandau accordingly has no secondary female gender characteristics. The German dubbed version shows Dilandau as a woman.

countries

Astoria
Astoria is located right on the ocean and is well known for its fish and seafood trade. In Astoria, King Aston reigns, later the merchant Dryden, Princess Millerna's fiancé, has ambitions for the throne. The capital of Astoria is Palas.
Fanelia
Fanelia, with the capital of the same name, is known for its wide, fertile fields and generally for its very beautiful landscape. It borders Astoria. It is well known on Gaia as the mighty Guymelef Escaflowne has served the kings of Fanelia for many generations.
Fraid
In the Duchy of Fraid is the Fortuna Temple, where the source of Atlantis' power is guarded. In Fraid, Duke Mahad rules, after his death his young son Shido becomes Duke. Shido is the son of Aston's daughter Marlene, who married the ruler of Fraid and has already passed away.
Zaibach Empire
Under the leadership of Emperor Dornkirk, the Zaibach Empire developed from a poor, war-torn country to a powerful nation in which science is highly valued and has the traits of industrialization . The Zaibacher trade with other nations and have signed an assistance agreement with Astoria. Dornkirk uses Zaibach's power to implement his plan to introduce a new order on Gaia.

Origin and production

Shōji Kawamori was inspired by a stay in Nepal in 1991 to write a series about fate and magic. He worked with Minoru Takanashi, producer at Bandai Visual, on a concept for a 39-part series about Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle. It was also decided that the main character should be a girl. Nobuteru Yūki created the first character design and Studio Sunrise was hired to produce it. Yasuhiro Imagawa, who was initially engaged as a director, coined the term "Escaflowne" for the mecha before leaving production. After his departure, the project was initially not pursued any further and Kawamori also turned to other projects.

Two years later, Sunrise hires Kazuki Akane to continue the production as a director. Under the impression of the series Sailor Moon, which was very successful at the time, he added elements of the love story to the concept. For financial reasons, the number of episodes was reduced to 26. Nobuteru Yūki continued to develop character design, consciously wanting to break away from the fashion of the time, which was heavily influenced by the recently broadcast series Neon Genesis Evangelion . Jun'ichi Azuma was the artistic director.

synchronization

The German dubbed version is based on the French one and was produced by Arena Synchron.

role Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) German speaker
Hitomi Kanzaki Maaya Sakamoto (debut) Julia Meynen
Van Fanel Tomokazu Seki Björn Schalla
Merle Ikue Ōtani Christin Marquitan
All the Schezar Shin'ichirō Miki Peter Flechtner
Folken Lacour de Fanel Jōji Nakata Bernd Vollbrecht
Dilandau Albatō Minami Takayama Claudia Urbschat-Mingues
Dornkirk Masato Yamanouchi Horst lamp

music

The music for Vision of Escaflowne was composed by Hajime Mizoguchi and Yōko Kanno . For the soundtrack, Mizoguchi and Kanno created a combination of pop, Gregorian chant , baroque music as well as late romantic and contemporary sound quotations.

The original title song was replaced by another in the German TV version. Instead of Yakusoku wa Iranai , composed by Yōko Kanno and sung by Maaya Sakamoto , the song People by the Dax Riders was used. The Japanese title song was used again on the DVDs released in Germany.

Publications

The 26-part television series was broadcast in Japan from April 2 to September 24, 1996 by TV Tokyo .

The anime was shown in 2000 by Fox Kids in an adaptation by Haim Saban , in which Hitomi's role was less important, some scenes were removed and various flashbacks were incorporated. However, the broadcast was canceled after a third of the episodes. This was followed by broadcasts of English translations by Animax Asia and YTV in Canada. Canal +, Game one and Mangas broadcast the series in French. The anime has also been translated into Italian, Spanish, Korean and Polish, among others. In 1999 the series was released on VHS by Bandai in North America.

A publication in German followed in 2000 on VHS cassettes. In 2002 the series ran in the evening program of the music channel MTV Germany , followed by a repeat on MTV2 Pop .

Adaptations

Movie

In 2000 a film for the series was released under the title Escaflowne - The Movie . This tells an alternative story. All main characters appear again, but their appearance and character traits have been changed. The film was released on DVD by Dybex in Germany on May 15, 2008, and Nipponart is responsible for distribution in Germany.

Manga

A manga series with the title The Vision of Escaflowne by Katsu Aki was published in October 1994 in the magazine Shonen Ace of the publishing house Kadokawa Shoten and later summarized in eight anthologies, in November 1997 the series was completed. It's still based on the original concept of the series, which was not implemented as an anime, and is still heavily geared towards a male audience. The series was published by Tokyopop in North America and Madman Entertainment in Australia and has also been translated into French and Korean. In 2002 Carlsen Verlag published the eight volumes in Germany.

From 1996 in Japan, Messiah Knight - The Vision of Escaflowne by Yuzuru Yashiro appeared in Monthly Asuka Fantasy DX magazine , which was aimed at a female audience. The summary of the story in two tankōbon was titled HITOMI - The Vision of Escaflowne .

At the beginning of 1997, Escaflowne - Energist's Memories was published in Asuka magazine. The manga was later combined into one volume.

Light novel

From June 1996 to August 1997 Kadokawa Shoten released a light novel series that followed the plot of the series. The authors were Yumiko Tsukamoto, Hajime Yatate and Shoji Kawamori. A total of six volumes have been published.

radio play

Victor Entertainment released a radio play CD entitled The Vision of Escaflowne: Original Drama Album: Thought of The Jeture ( 天空 の エ ス カ フ ロ ー ネ オ リ ジ ナ ル ル ド ラ マ ア ア ル バ ム ジ ェ チ ア ア の 想 い ) in December 1996.

analysis

According to Patrick Drazen, the moral of the story lies in how Hitomi and Dornkirk deal with fate. Dornkirk, who wants to rule fate with a machine, compares Drazen with the Krel from the movie Alarm in Space . They too build a machine that is supposed to be controlled with just the mind, but that gets out of control. But at Escaflowne , Hitomi can avert disaster with her hope for a better fate and peace on Gaia. This end seems naive, but also gives the viewer hope and confirmation in the belief in the final victory of the good.

reception

The broadcast of the series in the USA in 2000 was discontinued due to the lack of success, despite the already existing fan scene. Patrick Drazen sees this partly because of Haim Saban's adaptation of the series, but also because of the depth of the plot. In Canada, the anime gained a small fan base after it aired.

Patrick Drazen describes the series with its mythological background and ethical issues as one of the most creative of its time and one of the most epic television series of the 1990s. By reducing the number of available episodes during the production process, the plot is told particularly quickly, which emphasizes the epic. The series combines typical elements of series aimed at boys and girls and thus reaches a large audience.

The German magazine AnimaniA writes of a "mystical fantasy adventure in which neither action-packed tension nor romance or humor are neglected" . The excellent quality of the animation and the diverse soundtrack are praised for their time. Thus Escaflowne called one of the best anime series that ever. However, the German translation sometimes takes a bit of getting used to.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Drazen, 2003, pp. 288–297
  2. ↑ a b Animania No. 37, p. 14 f.
  3. ↑ Drazen, 2003, p. 173
  4. ↑ Fred Patten: Watching Anime, Reading Manga - 25 Years of Essays and Reviews , p. 139. Stone Bridge Press, 2004.
  5. ↑ a b Drazen, 2003, p. 15
  6. ↑ Animania No. 38, p. 18

literature

  • Patrick Drazen: Anime Explosion! - The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation . Stone Bridge Press, 2003. (English)

Web links