C&C - Escaflowne the Movie [9/10]

[Rabi~en~Rose]

for the sweep?

less movies more Scryed :sweat:

[Lord Dalek]

HAHAHAHA! I get to watch in Japanese DTS WITHOUT COMMERCIALS!!!!!!!

[Duke]

Note to all: DO NOT JUDGE THE TELEVISION SERIES BY THIS MOVIE!

The best parts are the animation and the music. The plot is completely redone, and much better, in the series. (The movie was made 4 years after the series).

[Lord Dalek]

Note to all: DO NOT JUDGE THE TELEVISION SERIES BY THIS MOVIE!
Yeah, it's best to think the movie and tv series as two sepparate entities that have nothing to do with each other.

[SirLemming]

Yes, precisely. The movie will be good for eye candy and ultraviolence (well, we'll see) and atmosphere and awesome Yoko Kanno/Hajime Mizoguchi music. But the series-to-movie quality gap is like with Cowboy Bebop, only a lot wider.

The series has all of those good aspects, but also a lot more. It's a great fantasy. It gives off not only a Final Fantasyvibe, but also probably the best Star Warsvibe since the original trilogy.

But ironically, the movie does not. Even though it's... a movie.

Oh, and the English dub is weak. I usually don't go nuts about dubs, but it was definitely more enjoyable in Japanese. People complain about the series' dub and I definitely see what they mean, but that dub didn't distract me much. This one does a little. It's the same voices, but... maybe it's because the movie takes itself SO much more seriously than the series does and the problem becomes more evident. They're both played straight, but the movie is a lot more dark and solemn.

And of course, Hitomi isn't a suicidal emo girl in the series either.

[Demonic Raven]

AS should have just opted to get the series if it's so much better than the movie. For all we know, they may consider picking the series up if the movie gets good ratings. Yeah, it might be doubtful, but one can hope.

[FireStarterLE]

the same with "X" The Series and "X" The Movie, i dont think i'm going to watch this run, it'll just make me not want to watch my Anime Legends version when i get it

[Lord Dalek]

AS should have just opted to get the series if it's so much better than the movie. For all we know, they may consider picking the series up if the movie gets good ratings. Yeah, it might be doubtful, but one can hope.Considering the movie is actually more enjoyable if you haven't watched the show. I think they made the right choice.

[Mugen]

Always liked the music the Emotion logo uses.

[SirLemming]

AS should have just opted to get the series if it's so much better than the movie. For all we know, they may consider picking the series up if the movie gets good ratings. Yeah, it might be doubtful, but one can hope.
It is doubtful. Quite doubtful. There are apparently lots of rights issues, but add to that the fact that it's old and AS seems to be more about looking to the future of anime right now.
It's also not very "adult". Not many mature themes, just a straight-up fantasy that has some violence in it, and extremely fleeting innuendo.

Really it could almost be a TV-PG show, with some of the more painful blood-spurts edited out. Not a FOX Kids show, mind you (ugh).

[Duke]

AS should have just opted to get the series if it's so much better than the movie. For all we know, they may consider picking the series up if the movie gets good ratings. Yeah, it might be doubtful, but one can hope.They wanted to get Escaflowne the series long ago before Fox snapped up the rights to it.

[Lord Dalek]

the same with "X" The Series and "X" The Movie, i dont think i'm going to watch this run, it'll just make me not want to watch my Anime Legends version when i get itYou didn't know Nobuteru Yuuki was character designer?

[Mugen]

Sword into throat= Ouch

[Killtacular]

This movie is somewhere beyond terrible and close to the land of unrelenting pain (located in the tri-state area). It is absurd, retarded, ugly, full of characters noone would ever give a damn about, rushed as hell, and has a blatant, unexcused catgirl. As I understand it, this seems to be the case for EVERY movie adapation of a manga/anime whose name isn't Cowboy Bebop. And I hate the pronounciation. Oh I have a stuffy nose, let me reach for my EscaFlonaise.

I certainly have no desire to see the series thanks to the movie.

[Duke]

And I hate the pronounciation. Oh I have a stuffy nose, let me reach for my EscaFlonaise.But that's how the Gregorian Monks pronounce it.

[Lord Dalek]

Yukari has to have perhaps the worst character design I have ever seen in an anime.

[Crimefighter]

Sheesh, so THAT'S why Fox got rid of it...the decapitations they'd have to edit off...

Yeah I saw the line don't judge the series by the movie. Just being sarcastic.

[Duke]

Yukari has to have perhaps the worst character design I have ever seen in an anime.Merle and Allen have worse. Merle lost all her cuteness and Allen is more female than male!

[Beat]

This movie is somewhere beyond terrible and close to the land of unrelenting pain (located in the tri-state area). It is absurd, retarded, ugly, full of characters noone would ever give a damn about, rushed as hell, and has a blatant, unexcused catgirl. As I understand it, this seems to be the case for EVERY movie adapation of a manga/anime whose name isn't Cowboy Bebop. And I hate the pronounciation. Oh I have a stuffy nose, let me reach for my EscaFlonaise.

I certainly have no desire to see the series thanks to the movie.
This movie was about making pretty visuals, not about a plot. That opening scene was probably the 3rd most kickass thing I've seen all night. Unfortunately, the plot is only slightly better than Inuyasha.

[Lord Dalek]

Merle and Allen have worse. Merle lost all her cuteness and Allen is more female than male!Hey I like effeminate Allen!

[Duke]

Hey I like effeminate Allen!Austin Powers Allen is even better.

Cookie to anyone who got that reference.

[SirLemming]

I like the part where a lion in a suit of armor kinda comes into the picture for no reason and starts acting important.

I mean, he was in the series, but he sort of eased his way in. Here he just kind of appears and starts doing stuff. If I remember correctly. It's just like "WTF a lion?!"


There's another part I like, and I hope it stays in. It's one of the most memorable things in the movie:
exploding horse

[Killtacular]

I think the movie is ugly and its animation is below Sunrise's standards (and this is before Bones became Bones if I'm not mistaken). So if that was their intention they failed there too. But the animation is not as irreversibly HORRIBLE as, say, Read or Die's (god the animation was SO BAD in that!! i can still see the wiggling inconsistent linework!!). It's just, the other factors make the movie as a whole suck even more.

[Lord Dalek]

And now we begin Yoko Kanno's extended tribute/ripoff to the works of Serge Prokofiev.

[SirLemming]

Yoko Kanno and Hajime Mizoguchi, actually. I should know, I have the OFFICIAL MOVIE SOUNDTRACK. See? Right here! Published by Bandai, Ever Anime-- OH CRAP!

[Duke]

Also, Boo to CN/Bandai/whoever for no closed captioning!

[Tenku]

Is it just me or is the volume really low? I mean my tv is on high and I can't hear a damn thing.

[Lord Dalek]

Yoko Kanno and Hajime Mizoguchi, actually. I should know, I have the OFFICIAL MOVIE SOUNDTRACK. See? Right here! Published by Bandai, Ever Anime-- OH CRAP!/Pets his official ost release.

[Lord Dalek]

Is it just me or is the volume really low? I mean my tv is on high and I can't hear a damn thing.The english dub was mixed at a lower volume than the Japanese track.

[Umino]

This movie is somewhere beyond terrible and close to the land of unrelenting pain (located in the tri-state area). It is absurd, retarded, ugly, full of characters noone would ever give a damn about, rushed as hell, and has a blatant, unexcused catgirl. As I understand it, this seems to be the case for EVERY movie adapation of a manga/anime whose name isn't Cowboy Bebop. And I hate the pronounciation. Oh I have a stuffy nose, let me reach for my EscaFlonaise.

I certainly have no desire to see the series thanks to the movie.
Damn. That was harsh.

[Duke]

Just a note: In the series, Van isn't a savage barbarian king and Merle's actually cute.

[SirLemming]

/Pets his official ost release. Yeah, see, I've read The Jazz Messengers' bootleg FAQ, but they also need a "How To Tell Your Parents They Bought You a Bootlegged Anime OST" pamphlet.

[Beat]

Damn. That was harsh.
For Matt, that was light. Besides, it's pretty much agreed that the Esca movie is subpar.

Why oh why couldn't they just have gotten Aura Battler Dunbine for their medieval mecha fix?

[Lord Dalek]

Just a note: In the series, Van isn't a savage barbarian king and Merle's actually cute.Oh and Millerna's a blond.

[Duke]

Why oh why couldn't they just have gotten Aura Battler Dunbine for their medieval mecha fix?Because WS loves the series too much.

[Speedy Boris]

But the animation is not as irreversibly HORRIBLE as, say, Read or Die's (god the animation was SO BAD in that!! i can still see the wiggling inconsistent linework!!). I disagree.

[Umino]

For Matt, that was light. Besides, it's pretty much agreed that the Esca movie is subpar.
I know, I'm not too much of a fan of the movie. (Haven't seen the series) But that was pretty harsh. But it was funny.

[True Noir]

I realize that many people like to choose the movie over the series or the series over the tv, but I like both for different reasons. Honestly, I don't like to compare the two but it's inevitable. I'm really glad to see Escaflowne again because it's been almost five years since I saw this and this is the first anime I watched that I realized was anime. I'm glad to feel this nastolgic feeling.

[Lord Dalek]

Ah that Maaya Sakamoto, she can turn any frown upside down.

[Duke]

Reason #34342123 to hate this movie: Escaflowne is an organic giant robot instead of a gigantic suit of armor like the series.

Reason #34342124 to hate this movie: No "You don't charge aggresively enough!!"

Also, how come the dub (both the series and movie) pronounce Gaea as "Gaia"?

[Killtacular]

I disagree.
I hope you disagree about Esca and not Read or Die. Read or Die literally had inconsistent artwork, it was a swampy lumpy mess. That is bad animation as a FACT, not opinion. If you like the way it was staged or presented that's one thing, that's certainly subjective and I can't debate that with you, but bad drawings are bad drawings. Esca doesn't have nearly as many problems as ROD had. Esca's animation is just nothing special, which seems wrong for an animated film. I think the only animation of any note was on the giant robot itself, and that 2 minute opening "action" sequence.

[livingfruitvirus]

How come every Ocean Group dub simply screams out "Ocean Group dub?" These people don't seem to have a lot of variation and are cast in similar roles constantly.

[Tenku]

The english dub was mixed at a lower volume than the Japanese track.And with the combo of no CC...ugh, I am not a happy person. :mad:

Oh no, it's that damn furry. Ugh... :shrug:

EDIT: Was that Blum? O_O

[livingfruitvirus]

And with the combo of no CC...ugh, I am not a happy person.
Deaf, eh?

[Tenku]

No, I just have selective hearing....

...and I like reading and watching at the same time. :shame:

[Duke]

I never figured out why they included that freaky white-haired woman as Folkien's aide. I'd have rather had Naria and Enryia actually do something instead.

You know, I may be bashing the movie alot, but the truth is that I do enjoy it. Not as much as the series (which is friggin awesome), but I still like it somewhat.

[Lord Dalek]

OMG! "Sora's Theme".

[livingfruitvirus]

EDIT: Was that Blum? O_OBlum wouldn't be in an Ocean Group dub. The whole reason companies go to Ocean Group or Blue Water is to save money so they don't have to pay people like Blum.

[Lord Dalek]

EDIT: Was that Blum? O_ONope It's Michael Dobson.

AUGHHHHHH Scott Mcneil!

[Crimefighter]

I think the movie is ugly and its animation is below Sunrise's standards (and this is before Bones became Bones if I'm not mistaken). So if that was their intention they failed there too. But the animation is not as irreversibly HORRIBLE as, say, Read or Die's (god the animation was SO BAD in that!! i can still see the wiggling inconsistent linework!!). It's just, the other factors make the movie as a whole suck even more.
I liked Read or Die, I just wish I could had watched it on G4.

[SirLemming]

OMG! "Sora's Theme". Yeah, that song makes the movie.

[Demonic Raven]

EDIT: Was that Blum? O_O Cmon now, the Naraku in Dobson's voice is unmistakable.

[Master Moron]

Oh and Millerna's a blond.

I actually like Millerna's look better in the movie. She kind of looks like Miki from Chrono Cross.

Anyway, I noticed that tvguide.com thinks Adult Swim is airing the TV-Y7 Fox Kid's show...

[Mugen]

I like the music playing during the horse stable scene.

[SirLemming]

Anyway, I noticed that tvguide.com thinks Adult Swim is airing the TV-Y7 Fox Kid's show... Great, so now is there gonna be a letter from the angry mother who complained about how FLCL "should've" been TV-14?

[Lord Dalek]

I like the music playing during the horse stable scene.That's pure 100% Kanno/Gabrielle Robin working there.

[Duke]

Reason #12321 to hate the movie: The evil empire was changed from Zaibach to Black Dragon Clan.

[Lord Dalek]

I love how the movie has transformed Dillandau from a punk into an absolute whackjob.

[Lord Dalek]

Here we go again with that Prokofiev.

[Tenku]

*holds hands up* The volume's too low I swear! It's all muffled...! :p

[Mugen]

Great, so now is there gonna be a letter from the angry mother who complained about how FLCL "should've" been TV-14?
You mean TV-MA since it was TV-14 in the first place?

[True Noir]

Yeah, the music is really addicting. It's one thing that really got me into the series as well.

[Master Moron]

I hope you disagree about Esca and not Read or Die. Read or Die literally had inconsistent artwork, it was a swampy lumpy mess. That is bad animation as a FACT, not opinion.

You don't seem to understand the difference between an opinion and fact. Bad is a subjective word. I can say dog crap tastes bad and over 99% of the population would agree with me, but it would still be an opinion and not a fact. Saying something's bad isn't a factual statement that you can prove.

[livingfruitvirus]

Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van Lord Van

[Duke]

Finally, the best character in the movie: DILANDAU! Though they got rid of his TV Series secret...:(

This is how the looney pretty boy archetype got popular.

[Tenku]

What the blue hell...is that?

[Delthayre]

Wow... I really can't get interested in this, and the low volume of the English dub's mix is just annoying.

[Duke]

What the blue hell...is that?What, the lion guy? He's Jujaku, Dilandau's caretaker in the series. The other thing is a random species guy lifted from the series and given a bigger role.

Oh yea, the only ones who have special powers in the series are Hitomi and Dornkirk (who was cut out of the movie). Van's green energy blast-thingys don't exist.

[Master Moron]

Finally, the best character in the movie: DILANDAU! Though they got rid of his TV Series secret...:(

This is how the looney pretty boy archetype got popular.

Dilandau really doesn't serve much of a purpose in this movie. His gay boy brigade doesn't even get killed in this movie if I recall.

[Tenku]

EXPLODING HORSE'D.

Also...FIGHTING IN THE RAIN! Someone's gonna lose something.

[Duke]

Ah, Van's wings. Thrown in only because they were in the series, where they actually served a purpose (and was a very important plot point).

[Mugen]

Boy, blood sure flows like wine in this movie.

[Lord Dalek]

This is about as close as you're going to get to Fist of the North Star level violence on AS, folks.

[Tenku]

Well if no one is there, guess what you gotta do. ...

[Lord Dalek]

Talk about back breaking labor...

[Duke]

*sigh.* Van and Hitomi's relationship was actually plausible in the series, due to all the crap they went through together. However, the movie just kinda throws them together for no reason.

[True Noir]

Ack! Whoever chose Dilandou's VA was drunk at the time! I really just don't understand how it fits his personality. Well, I don't like the fit, but it kind of also does work. ....now i'm contradicting myself.

Anyway, I loved the scene in which Van finally opened up his wings.

[SirLemming]

EXPLODING HORSE'D. YES. If you carry one thing away from this movie, that is it.

Ah, Van's wings. Thrown in only because they were in the series, where they actually served a purpose (and was a very important plot point). Yeah, that seems to be one of the key problems of this movie. It's the same story yet it isn't, so some things are just "there". And some characters, too. Like the aforementioned lion guy.

It'd be like if you made a new movie that re-writes the Star Wars trilogy, and about halfway into the movie Han Solo appears and starts fighting people and then gets killed, and instead of "OMG HAN SOLO!" you're just like "oh, some guy died".

[Tenku]

Dilandau just got Vader'd. Big time.

[Lord Dalek]

Best song in the movie coming up...

[True Noir]

Folken is awesome. Period.

[G1Ravage]

C.....cat girl... o.o

[Duke]

Dryden is much funnier in the series when he was a pimp. A rich pimp.

[Lord Dalek]

Sora [At the bar] is probably the YK piece I've listened to the most, outside of Tank!

[ClockStomper]

"Dune" is probably the most retarded name change ever. His name is frickin' Folken!

"Oh, you know that cool name the guy had in the series? Let's make it an alias in the movie version. Let's name him after a video game for our version." By that logic, Spike Spiegel's real name is now "Tetris" in the Bebop movie.

Hey I like effeminate Allen!Yes, he and Sesshoumaru are now married and have opened a bakery in Edo.

[True Noir]

A point to make it out from an earlier post...Merle was never cute.

[SirLemming]

You mean TV-MA since it was TV-14 in the first place? No, I said exactly what I meant. A mother complained that FLCL "should have been" TV-14. Ignorance.

[Duke]

Merle was never cute.Yes she was! In the series, she was plushie-ready cute. And she's one of the few catgirls I can actually stand to watch.

[shoujoaifan]

"We're kindred spirits."

OH Hitomi, you're not kindred spirits. he's depressed and has all this responsibility, and you're suicidal.

HMMM, that's some fine twin tiger-girl ass.

Oh great, sorcercess lady and evil bad guy are also suicidal and want the whole world to go down with them.

[Lord Dalek]

YK must really love the Alexander Nevsky cantata. this is like the third refference in the score so far.

[kaine23]

Seen this already and liked it. It's ok movie, I do like the character designs in this movie though.

[Tenku]

Uh-oh. CRAZY BISHIE ON THE LOOSE! WATCH OUT! O_O

[Duke]

No liquid metal shooters? YOU FAIL!

Dilandau's series Guymelef was so much better. It could fly, it had liquid metal shooters, it could turn invisible, it had a sniper mode, it friggin ruled!

DANCE OF CURSE!!! :anime:

[SirLemming]

HMMM, that's some fine twin tiger-girl ass. Another example of characters who do a LOT more in the series.

In this case it's not really a problem, though. Because they didn't pretend they have a purpose here, they just stuck them in the background as a little nod to the fans or whatever. Not like some of the stuff where they expect the movie characters to inherit character development from their series counterparts. Which would be okay except that this is a different story rather than a continuation of the same story/universe, so essentially they're different characters.

[Tenku]

Oh man, Van's gonna have one hell of a crick in the morning...


EDIT: Thunder, Thunder, THUNDERCATS, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Lord Dalek]

Screw the opening scene, THIS is awesome!

HOLY CRAP! SCYTHIAN SUITE!

[Tenku]

One hell of a relapse too...

[Lord Dalek]

Battling Hemophilia Robots.

[Tenku]

...okay... that was one hell of a fight.

Also, this FMA promo rocks my socks...and I don't have any on! :D

[SirLemming]

Ha ha, I love that ultraviolent element there. The armor suits are FUELED BY THE PILOT'S BLOOD!!!

I mean, usually they use robots and such to avoid blood, but in this case they still found a way.

[Kat Pryde]

Dryden is much funnier in the series when he was a pimp. A rich pimp.
Agreed. Though he's so much better to look at in the movie. :p

[Lachesis]

Aaargh. Hitomi's dub voice still utterly sucks. And I'm having the same audio mix problem that's been mentioned.

At least they recast Dilandau.

[Duke]

At least they recast Dilandau.Actually...no they didn't. Andrew Francis was Dilandau in both the series and the movie.

And this is the movie's version of the middle of the series, except incredibly rushed.

[Tenku]

Wow, that is a lot of blood right there.

Wait, BROTHER?!

[Lord Dalek]

Way to go Jajuka!

[Youko Recca]

SirLemming is right. The exploding horse will definitely be remembered. Damn, I don't think I've ever seen a horse mutilated before. And LOL at how everyone looks. Like they let their lips sit in the pool for hours while getting the rusty tip of a hanger slowly grinded up their ass.

[Duke]

And when Hitomi returns to Earth, she will predict blood, death, and destruction for everyone who asks.

2 cookies to anyone who gets that reference.

[Beat]

Well that was incoherent, rushed, and for the most part dumb. On the plus side, a lot of people bled and there was a decent mecha battle, but this movie is extremely forgettable.

[TheGLIVEN]

Can anyone reveal t me the last 15 minutes of this movie? I for soome reason fell asleep at 1:45 and woke up in the middle of Futuruama.

[FlyByNite77]

At least they recast Dilandau.I think Andrew Francis hit puberty after the series.


You know I think Escaflowne the series is ok, I'm not that big of a fan of it, but watching the movie makes me want to re-watch the series because it looks so much better compared to the movie... lol

[Redi]

Because the story didn't make much sense, I thought that I was sleeping through parts of the film.

However, I quickly realized that it wasn't me...it was the movie's really bad pacing. :sad:

[True Noir]

Obviously some parts wouldn't make sense for those who hadn't seen the tv series. They had two hours to explain as much and make the movie look good. If they tried to get every last detail in so that it wouldn't be confusing all they would be doing is talking, because the series had a lot of things in it that slowly made up the main plot.

[Killtacular]

You don't seem to understand the difference between an opinion and fact.
No, I understand the difference, but only someone who doesn't understand animation would say that the quality of animation is subjective. If you cannot draw the characters, you are a bad animator. This is NOT SUBJECTIVE, it's a FACT, the TRUTH, get over it! Designs are subjective. Storyboarding decisions and staging are subjective. But animation and layouts are not. You either do it right or you don't. You don't get an F on a test and complain to the school board saying your test performance was "subjective." It's just not up for debate. You can debate what LED to the animation being bad.. who knows if the storyboarding was too poor for the artists to work from, or if ROD simply used animation studios not up to the task. But that's as far as that goes. If you walked up to an animation director who just got animation back from Korea that was lumpy, off-model, and incorrectly timed, and you said "I don't think it looks bad, it's fine," he would probably punch you in the face.

[Kagetsu]

The animation and general story and characters reminded me of Wolf's Rain and the flying ships and resurecting organic armour to destroy the world reminded me of Nausicaa. I'm gonna haf ta find which is made first.

Not really impressed with this. The animation was good and the characters were interesting, but it did feel poorly put together.

Inuyasha and ROD are better[/opinion]

Was Van the same voice as Miroku?

How on earth did Van fall 10,000 ft. onto that crowsnest without breaking a leg?

Note to all: DO NOT JUDGE THE TELEVISION SERIES BY THIS MOVIE!

The best parts are the animation and the music. The plot is completely redone, and much better, in the series. (The movie was made 4 years after the series).

They wanted to get Escaflowne the series long ago before Fox snapped up the rights to it.I thought there was a series, being a movie surprised me. Whatonearth does Fox want with anime? That sounds like a diaster waitng to happen,,, or hidden away in some vault n'er to see the light of day.
"We're kindred spirits."

OH Hitomi, you're not kindred spirits. he's depressed and has all this responsibility, and you're suicidal. rofl, maybe she's more emo?

[livingfruitvirus]

No, I understand the difference, but only someone who doesn't understand animation would say that the quality of animation is subjective. If you cannot draw the characters, you are a bad animator. This is NOT SUBJECTIVE, it's a FACT, the TRUTH, get over it! Designs are subjective. Storyboarding decisions and staging are subjective. But animation and layouts are not. You either do it right or you don't. You don't get an F on a test and complain to the school board saying your test performance was "subjective."
That is the stupidest example I've read in a while. On a test you have to answer questions WITH facts. Face it, you may think lumpy animation is bad, but some people think it isn't bad. Quality of a medium is debatable. You can't debate whether 2+2=4 or not.

If you walked up to an animation director who just got animation back from Korea that was lumpy, off-model, and incorrectly timed, and you said "I don't think it looks bad, it's fine," he would probably punch you in the face.
From how lumpy and off-model shows are these days, there probably isn't a lot of punching going on.

[KojiroTakenashi]

Kagetsu, Escaflowne appeared on Fox YEARS, and I do mean YEARS ago. Like the 90's. Back before Disney snapped up every cartoon maker outside of WB stuff and destroyed Saturday Mornings :\

Fox was really trying to be progressive having Escaflowne on there...unfortunately they still had the old fudgy anti-anime management that was prevalent back in the day...edits abounded. It was turned into a TV-Y7 show.

It was still pretty good, though. Survived the edits damn well, it did.

But anyway, I was going to say this last night/this morning, but the servers crashed. I like to view the movie as what Escaflowne would be like had Hitomi not arrived when she did in the series...like her arrival is shifted forward in time 2-4 years.

But yeah...the series is generally WAY better, although it doesn't quite match a good number of the visuals in the movie.

[Scirel]

It was still pretty good, though. Survived the edits damn well, it did.
Survived? it lasted four episodes before it was taken off of fox Kids, never to be seen again.

[Patches]

And when Hitomi returns to Earth, she will predict blood, death, and destruction for everyone who asks.

2 cookies to anyone who gets that reference."Van, nooo!"
"My van, nooo!"

Cookies, please? (http://www.cloudnet.com/~dietzt/mrtvsescaflowne.htm) :P

[KojiroTakenashi]

Survived? it lasted four episodes before it was taken off of fox Kids, never to be seen again.
Exagerration. It lasted more episodes than that. More like...10 or so.

[Artimus Gigan]

I have confession

I originaly bought the Ultimate Edition of the movie because of the giant box and the soundtrack, I did it all for the extras and not the actual movie content itself


I like the series better, they should really make another series or somthing

[SirLemming]

Kagetsu, Escaflowne appeared on Fox YEARS, and I do mean YEARS ago. Like the 90's. Back before Disney snapped up every cartoon maker outside of WB stuff and destroyed Saturday Mornings :\

Fox was really trying to be progressive having Escaflowne on there...unfortunately they still had the old fudgy anti-anime management that was prevalent back in the day...edits abounded. It was turned into a TV-Y7 show.

It was still pretty good, though. Survived the edits damn well, it did.
It wasn't so much content edits that were the problem, though. It was the fact that they chopped up episodes like crazy and even didn't show the first episode (because apparently it was too girly or something dumb like that). Mix-and-match flashbacks and flash-forwards... lots of crazy stuff.

Of course, back then, ignorance was bliss and I loved it, for the brief time it was on (it was more than 4 episodes, though -- probably closer to 8).

I also still prefer the FOX Kids opening theme to the Japanese one. Yeah, that's right. It's not that the Japanese one is bad, it's just that the FOX one was really really good.

[Artimus Gigan]

The Fox version is what strove me to go out and purchase my first DVD

Being that I read on IGN(back when they had IGN Sci-fi and were completely free) that the version on Fox was completely different from the original version. I never did put much value in VHS because well VHS's format always annoyed me to some extent and the wear and tear that happens and none of my anime tapes from back then survived. So I went out and got Escaflowne Volume 1 the day it was released and I also got Evangelion Volume 1 because I heard that the series was interesting...

and such started a long line of madness that has never ceased...

[PickHut]

I can't believe I wasted two hours watching this, it was all kinds of bad. For a movie, there were a ton of pointless scenes in it, especially during the first 15 minutes where I was already getting bored. And while there were a few good animated scenes, whoa, I lost count of how many times the quality dropped.

I give the movie a D+

[Youko Recca]

Did anyone laugh when that rodent-man-thing was pleading with them at the hill, and is about to be forced to fight for his people. And with a sad look on his face, takes a spear out of nowhere through the chest. I'm not conpletely heartless, but stuff like that and the girl in BG....I don't know why I laugh at this kind of thing. Some kind of ironically dark humor or something.

[Duke]

"Van, nooo!"
"My van, nooo!"

Cookies, please? (http://www.cloudnet.com/~dietzt/mrtvsescaflowne.htm) :PChocolate Chip or Sugar?

[JTurner954]

Three years ago, I watched a trailer for Escaflowne and thought it looked good. Then I read a manga preview for Escaflowne (I believe it was called Vision of Escaflowne) and that also looked good. Then I hear Adult Swim is airing the movie so here I am excited. And then it airs. I fell asleep three times during it so I set the VCR to record it from the beginning.

I just finished watching it and wow, that was terrible. Actually, Beatdigga said it best: "Well that was incoherent, rushed, and for the most part dumb." I liked the beginning where Van was fighting to get to Escaflowne, and I loved the sequence where Hitomi "crossed over" to Gaea. But then it just fell apart. "Wing goddess", "wing goddess", "wing goddess"- I haven't been annoyed that much since Eddie Murphy kept saying "Kelly Robinson" in I-Spy.

Fortunately, the trailer I saw long ago was for the TV series so there's still hope that I might like it (not bloody likely but I'll try). I didn't see any comments on the manga; to those who read it, how is it?

[beren]

I thought the movie was excellent, the style was amazing, the music and sound blew me away, the backgrounds and shading were breath taking, if they made the movie an hour longer, it would have hit many more plot points and would have been better, but other then that it is a great movie.

[KojiroTakenashi]

I don't mean to sound too blatant, but does anyone have any screens of the fanservicey bits?

I want it for my collection. No seriously - I collect fanservice. In the case of shows that are ALL Fanservice, I collect the whole thing - don't ask me why, I dunno either.
...Does collecting HAVE to make sense? No! Leave me alone!

[shoujoaifan]

(My Five 1/100's Of A Dollar On The Fact/Opinion Debacle): I'm no expert at animation, but I'm betting its probably a safe bet to assume that at the very least-


1. Off-Model is indeed a factual example of quality. If the animators/directors/whoever can't keep characters on-model in a single episode or movie at the very least, then they need some serious re-training.

Reminds me of the 1st Inuyasha movie where they look different from the show at first, and then later change back to how they normally look. OF COURSE I think that the movie was subcontacted to several studios...BUT then whoever is in charge of organizing those studios wasn't doing his/her job.

CB:KOHD is a good example of how a movie subcontracted to an ARMY of studios can manage to look on-model the whole time.


2. Timing: If we're talking timing as in comedy, than hell yeah that's subjective. But if we're talking timing as in pacing, that that's tricky.

TECHNICALLY its a subjective thing if we debate about how some movies will have long streches of talking and only brief moments of action, mostly centered around the beginning or end. (Or whatever example of timing you want to use.) To say that's bad timing is technically an opinion.....its just a widely accepted opinion. NOT to say that's its a bad thing to have a different opinion from everyone else. Alot of us hate movies that the public loves, like alot of those braindead teen sex comedies (I think some are good, but you get the point.)

BUT when making a movie, while you wouldn't want to write something generic or write a knock-off, you generally want to make sure you do what's generally considered good. For an EXTREME example, you want to avoid making another Manos: The Hands Of Fate. (GRANTED that was indeed extreme, and it wasn't just pacing, it was a failure in every single way possible, but that more-or-less goes without saying.)

(Hell, I guess I should rethink what I wrote above about comedic timing and toss it in with the rest of the other timing examples.)

[LordByronius]

I don't mean to sound too blatant, but does anyone have any screens of the fanservicey bits?

I want it for my collection. No seriously - I collect fanservice. In the case of shows that are ALL Fanservice, I collect the whole thing - don't ask me why, I dunno either.
...Does collecting HAVE to make sense? No! Leave me alone!
.............

......

...

ANYWAY

My personal most annoying scene in the movie: when Folken's castle collapses at the end for no god damn reason. The mystery lady just says "GO NOW COS ITS GUNNA DESINTIGRATE" and the animators of course take that as an opportunity to show the Escaflowne amidst falling rubble. This movie is a dartboard of a few clever set pieces and references to the original series without any one single ****ing thread tying it together.

God do I ever love the TV series though.

Also, what's up with Matt Wilson this weekend? First he bugged out in the Naruto talkbacks, and now this violent outburst of logical fallacy.

[SSJPabs]

Hi, remember me? I used to post regularly. Then my computer broke. Then school started. Then I got a job again. Anyhow, I recorded last night's showing and watched this morning. Old tape, I think it had some 4 year old DBZ episodes or something after it was over, back with original Tom.

One thing before I start, WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE SONG AS USED IN THE CLOUD PROMOS? I really hope that is an actual song because that was beautiful. Is it from the soundtrack? If so I might have to find it...

1) Lose the damn animal people. I'm sorry, animal people just don't work. Any gravitas your story gets is out the friggin' window once you get furries in there. Also dump the elves (or whatever that singing lady was) just make 'em all human. It won't hurt.

2)Too short. It was rushed as has been said, put a few more minutes on the land-crawler thing, explaining a bit better who the people on there were (like Alan) and maybe building the initial stages of Van/Hitomi's interaction. Maybe even dump the princess character. Because she had what, a paragraph's worth of lines? Maybe merge her and the Merle character's role. Explain why Van apparently wants to kill Alan.

3)Redo the entire middle of the movie, instead of Van and Hitomi at the village which I assume must have been several TV show episodes, skip the village all together putting them alone with Hitomi using first aid skills or something hell even have that one lion guy help her, to patch Van up. Then they could have actually had time to bond on their way to the city. It's not perfect, but a movie can only be so long. Put a few more minutes here too.

4) Explain the significance of the city other than that it's apparently a BIG CITY. But what is it? Is it the capital of the world? A hot bed of super robots? How did Van and Hitomi get in there?

5)Whew, that Escaflowne robot design sucked. Or maybe I just never saw it that clearly. The cape has got to go and make them a little smaller please.

6)Points for not having a big fight between the brothers at the end. I was expecting it, and I didn't get it. Also he looked much better without the long hair.

7)Character-design as a whole. I... kind of liked it actually. The lips were so odd, but they reminded me of American comic book designs. Eyes were horrible, but the facial structure wasn't too shabby. Hitomi looked boyish, but also girlish too. Oh yeah, get Hitomi out of that damn school uniform, because it's not very kind to her at all.

8)Since this is the movie, explain the wings. Or just do without them and have Van falling from an airship or something on his side. Or hell give Van 1 wing and Hitomi the other wing and say it's an extension of the bond between them, marking him as the servant of the Wing Goddess. Just do something with them! I assume it's wing and not wind, but the volume was kind of low.

So there we go, I think maybe with another 20 minutes or so we could have had a decent-to-good film. Instead, I wish I had recorded "Man with the Screaming Brain" on Sci-Fi instead because that at least, looked funny as well as stupid.

Anyhow, I give this movie a big fat C- because it had potential.

So there you go. I've never seen the show, so I'm trying to think what would make it better as a stand alone movie. I'd appreciate if someone commented on my suggestions but if you're just going to tell me I'm an idiot... well I already know that.

[Duke]

8)Since this is the movie, explain the wings. Or just do without them and have Van falling from an airship or something on his side. Or hell give Van 1 wing and Hitomi the other wing and say it's an extension of the bond between them, marking him as the servant of the Wing Goddess. Just do something with them! I assume it's wing and not wind, but the volume was kind of low.As I said earlier, Van's wings take on a whole new meaning in the series. In the movie, they're just kinda there, but in the series they are an important part of Van's ancestoral past and almost make him an outcast of the world (there's also this really cool scene where Van has all this blood on him after a battle, he unfurls his wings and the blood goes flying everywhere as the sun starts to rise).

The wings, like about 40% of the movie, were just thrown into the movie to appease TV show fans. Of course, they altered pretty much every single character (the TV series characters aren't so suidical or emo) and they got rid of Hitomi's psychic powers, but still.

[SSJPabs]

As I said earlier, Van's wings take on a whole new meaning in the series. In the movie, they're just kinda there, but in the series they are an important part of Van's ancestoral past and almost make him an outcast of the world (there's also this really cool scene where Van has all this blood on him after a battle, he unfurls his wings and the blood goes flying everywhere as the sun starts to rise).

The wings, like about 40% of the movie, were just thrown into the movie to appease TV show fans. Of course, they altered pretty much every single character (the TV series characters aren't so suidical or emo) and they got rid of Hitomi's psychic powers, but still.Well that explains why she blocked that magic shot at the end of the movie. I kept waiting for her to prove to be something other than a run-of-the-mill emo gir--I LIKE emo girls and I was still annoyed by it--but the magic powers fit the bill. I did rather like Van though, as I always am a sucker for "brooding guy sees the light" plots. Anyhow, as for the wings, even if they did brand him an outcast for the movie, I think that would be something I would cut as it didn't seem essential to the plot and his "powers" and linneage set him apart well enough for a 100 minute film.

Point: If you can, watch short video "Escaflowne: The Movie" done to the Stargate Theme by Maboroshi Studios (available at Anime Music Videos I think). It makes the movie look far better than it is, and it's only a few minutes.

[Lachesis]

I remember you, Pabs.

Theme from the promo: "Shadow of Doubt," from the second *series* OST. It's was edited down, to take out the repetitions.

And to address a few of your points:

1) I liked the animal people fine. The trouble was that Merle, Jajuka, and the leopard twins barely register as characters here. The rodent-types and their village were never in the series.

2) Van doesn't want to kill Allen. They're allies. Van's a vicious little punk in this universe, though, so what we saw can be interpreted as a temper tantrum with sharp objects. And yeah, Allen, Millerna, and the rest of the crew here can pretty much be written off as background scenery.

3) There was no village in the series. And, while we're on the subject, no Dragon clans, no elves, no crazy telekinetic powers, no suicidal villains (or heroines), and no desperate rebel band of kingdomless warriors either.

5) Cape makes so much more design sense in the context of the show. But yeah, it's pretty cheesy.

The movie on a whole makes me kinda sad. I mean, the series wasn't perfect, but it worked in it's own little universe. And the movie kinda turned sucked the life out of that universe. I mean, where's Asturia and Fanelia, and the other kingdoms?

I'd also like to take this moment to promote the "Center of the Sun" AMV for Metropolis as an alternative to watching that disaster of a movie.

[Duke]

Well that explains why she blocked that magic shot at the end of the movie.Hitomi doesn't have telekinesis. By psychic powers, I meant that she can see in both the past and the future, as well as any deceptions. She becomes a specialized at dowsing.

[silvanoir]

Ahhrgh, you people. I can see arguments on not liking furries/animal-people when it's all perverted or drawn very badly, but you complain even when it's used in the right way... in a fantasy setting? It's explained fairly well in the series... they're considered less than human but a little more than animal and often persecuted. There were particular issues with the gold and silver twins (the catgirls that danced and sang in the movie). So I'd just like to say hooray for using animal poeple in the RIGHT way.

I like the movie well enough (I have the series on VHS from long ago), enuogh to get it used on DVD. I just wish that Van was more like in the series and not a bloodthristy barbarian and Foulken was given a better motivation than wanting to destroy the world because he was jelous of his little brother. And none of this dragon clan nonsense. I liked all the re-designs except for the princess... as she looked NOTHING like the origonal. I'm also one fo the ones that liked it in Japanese better (how I saw it in the theater).

The backgrounds are beautiful, as is the music, great action ... but I'll agree that it was more setting than plot. I've watched it twice now, and I'll watch it again.

PS... do you people like ANY anime movies?

[GWOtaku]

Its been said, but I want to stress again that this movie quite literally has next to nothing to do with Escalfowne the TV series in just about every concievable category. Incredibly rushed, every character changed for the worse, incredibly superficial and poorly done compared to the series. Even taken on its own merits, it doesn't stand up all that well.

[Youko Recca]

PS... do you people like ANY anime movies?
The only AS movies that I can recall getting real bad feedback are this and the Inuyasha ones. Just last week Cowboy Bebop got good responce.

[True Noir]

Or hell give Van 1 wing and Hitomi the other wing and say it's an extension of the bond between them, marking him as the servant of the Wing Goddess.
LMAO. That's got to be the funniest thing I've read so far in this thread.

I liked the animal-people too. Like a member pointed out, it actually makes sense in an anime for once to use animal-people because the setting makes sense. It doesn't make the race unusual at all.

[speedster]

it's like a vision of the future that will probably be remembered for years and years as the definitive anime classic legend to beat.

[Vagrant]

How was I able to watch the move and not think of the series while everyone else wasn't? Do I have special powers or something?

[True Noir]

How was I able to watch the move and not think of the series while everyone else wasn't? Do I have special powers or something?They're two different stories with similar characters but with different personalities. I wish this wasn't compared so much to the series but like I said, that's inevitable. I think I am able to like both the series and the movie for the reason of me thinking that way.

[Daikun]

Man, AS sure loves that "Emotion" logo. It seems like that company logo appears before every AS movie now.

[Killtacular]

Man, AS sure loves that "Emotion" logo. It seems like that company logo appears before every AS movie now.
Well, they're all Sunrise productions.

[KojiroTakenashi]

They're two different stories with similar characters but with different personalities. I wish this was compared so much to the series but like I said, that's inevitable. I think I am able to like both the series and the movie for the reason of me thinking that way.
Like I said, I like to see this movie as being more like how things would have been if Hitomi had never arrived when she did in the series.

[Terrence Briggs]

I think the movie is ugly and its animation is below Sunrise's standards (and this is before Bones became Bones if I'm not mistaken).
Distinction:
The subbed series rocks. The FoxKids dub is watchable in a disposable Sat AM kinda way. The movie sucks.

[Elven Moon]

I really liked the art and loved the music, but I personally prefer the TV show. I bought the special edition with the box, booklet and CD soundtrack, but I almost never watch it.

[Ultra8]

I've read enough comics and seen enough anime movies(DBZ & Sailor Moon in particular) to not let the whole "Alternate Universe" idea affect my viewing pleasure. I enjoyed the tv series(still have to see the rest of it) and I enjoyed the movie. Beautifully done with cool action scenes and engaging music. It's one of those movies that you wished could've been a little longer.

A+

[Lynxara]

How was I able to watch the move and not think of the series while everyone else wasn't? Do I have special powers or something?
You probably didn't have your hopes up for a movie that would give the series more closure and act as a better ending than the TV series' last episode. That's what pisses fans off about the movie, I think. Otherwise it's a nice piece of animation and stays quite true to the themes of the series, even if it couldn't fit in all the TV characters.

[Warrior Kitana]

It's a good thing I watched this last week. Not too long ago, I was thinking about buying the movie, curious to see how good it was considering I enjoyed the series and all. Glad too see I didn't waste my money to buy this movie. Characters such as Van, Hitomi, and Merle seem like shadows of theirselves from the series. It had a few boring spots here and there as well. Overall it was rather less than average.:sad: