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Escaflowne - Dragons and Destiny (Vol. 1)

Escaflowne - Dragons and Destiny (Vol. 1)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A girl transported to another world.
Review: The story is about Hitomi Kanzaki, a girl with a bit of psyhic powers who reads tarot cards. ONe day she asks the cards if she's ever find true love, and wham suddenly she goes from telling Amano her feeling to being sucked up into a pillar of light with Van into Gaea. So begins Hitomi and Van's adventures in the war-torn world of Gaea. Whether its the middle of battle in Fanelia, Hitomi being swept off her feet by Allen, or Van being his cute arrogant little self, or Dilandau just going plain insane, Escaflowne is definitely a winner. It has everything for everyone and blends it together well. I recommend this for everyone. Escaflowne like Pringles, once you start you just can't stop(I do believe that what they say for Pringles) I can't wait to get my greedy little hands on disc two!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Well Written story, well developed characters, well done
Review: My title for this review says it all. This entire series is well done, not one aspect is a let down (maybe a little unoriginal though). It's for every one, you'll still enjoy it even if you have piticular tasts.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Esca-fan!
Review: The first espisodes are slow and it takes time to build up to the plot. But once it picks up, I could not turn it off. It is beauiful and romantic. It is by far the best anime out there. I enjoyed and watch it many times. I am an Esca-fan for life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Anime!!!
Review: I was first introduced to Escaflowne in college by a good friend of mine. After seeing it for the first time, I was hooked! This story is better than most non-animated movies i've been seeing at the theater. The graphics are rich and full of color and the character development surpasses most other anime ive seen. The soundtrack is also orchestrated very well. I've watch the original series in japanese with english subtitles long before Fox butchered it and put on television with their english version. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, make sure you set the dvd setting to spoken japanese. It's much much better that way.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The good, the bad and the ugly
Review: Let me start with the bottom line: this series is flawed, but if you let your guard down, it might find a warm place in your heart. It's definitely a fun ride at times (and a not-so-fun ride at others) and I can understand why many people like it.
I'll start out with the the things that irritated me the most about the show and then more on to the better things. Generally, almost all of the show's faults can be traced back to the script.

1. Stupid plot twists: if anyone can guess how the evil Lord Dilandau will end up at the last episode he must be a fortune teller, because there is absolutely no way you'll be able to predict the sheer stupidity of that plot twist. In the middle of the show I've learned that the emperor Dunkrirk was none other than the famous Sir Isaac Newton - what the ... ? I was told that we are all governed not by the laws of physics but by "fate particles". Not to mention the episode where I learned that you can increase one's luck but modifying their DNA - do I have "did not finish elementary school" written all over my forehead? (ah, wait, let me wipe that off). The silliest part was when Dryden turned a knob on Escaflowne and out of the sky came a huge - oh well, never mind already, you'll just have to see for yourself.

2. Moralizing: What is it about animes that make them so damn condescending? Oh, yes, the speeches. I don't like speeches. I don't like "meaningful" speeches. I don't like "meaningful", long, winded speeches. THEN WHY DO I KEEP GETTING THEM?

3. Penny psychology - and if it were possible to further subdivide the penny I'd do it.

4. Plot holes: as in, "things that you can stick your fist through and still have room to spare". Here's a simple question: if the people of Gaea are so advanced as to build Guymelefs and alter DNA, why do they ride donkeys and live in shacks? Why don't they travel to Earth? How did Isaac Newton get transported to Gaea? How did he hook up with Allen's father? A coincidence? Nice try, but no cigar.

5. And last of all, it does not respect the viewer's intelligence. It uses corny dialog and flashbacks (these are excessively used); it spells out the mystery and the drama out for the viewer. Here's a little bit of advice for anyone planning on producing an anime: give the viewer some credit and he'll give your show some in return.

But not everything about this show is bad. Technically speaking the show has very high production values. In terms of animation I'd put it up there with anime's most beloved, such as Cowboy Bebop. The score was well written by a competent composer, Yoko Kanno, and usually fit the visuals - despite a blatant Carmina Burana ripoff, where instead of "O Fortuna" they sing "Escaflowne". The action scenes are well directed and the suspense is often very high. But here's what makes this anime really appealing: where else would you get to see such wonderful sights or experience such an epic story? No other genre in TV and cinema that I'm aware of even tries to encompass such a vast scope, not to mention succeeds at it. This, and the strong plot-line (holes and stupid twists put aside for the moment), is the show's main appeal. Indeed, if it were episodic in nature it would never become so popular. If you like such shows then regardless of your tastes I suggest you give this one a try - you might be able to swallow your pride at some occasions and just relax and enjoy it, which brings us back to the bottom line:
this series is flawed, but if you let your guard down, it might find a warm place in your heart. Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Was it all a dream?
Review: Hitomi,a schoolgirl from Japan, likes to give Tarot Card readings to her friends. But, she discovers one of her classmates is leaving the country. She does a reading and is disturbed that she pulled "the card of distant separation" and is baffled by the "Courage" card.
The classmate is Captain Amano, which Hitomi has a crush on. She tells Amano if she can beat 13 seconds on the track, she would like Amano to give her first kiss with a boy.
BUT, a white light appears on the track and suddenly a boy in strange clothing is there. The boy is Van Fanel of "Fanelia"
After Van kills a dragon that comes soon after him, he is sent back to his world...along with Hitomi!
Hitomi finds herself on Gaea, a world with the Earth and moon both hang in the sky. Natives of Gaea call the Earth "The Mystic Moon" On Gaea, Hitomi has adventures with Van, Merle and other people.
Will she ever return to Earth?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Greatest Anime Series EVER!!!
Review: This Anime series is amazing, the whole thing, from start to finish. Though it has alot of traditional elements of anime, Giant robots(to many to name), being transported to an alien world(El-Hazard), and well the destruction of an entire world, the strong plot set it apart from the rest. There is enough of a romantic bend to set it apart from the typical giant robo film, enough self doubt to compete with evangelion, and enough "vision" to set it apart from your typical fantasy story. This series literally is "the lord of the rings" of japanese animation, it is as vast, as imaginative, and as beautiful as Tolkiens classic tale. I wish i can delve into this amazing tale, but anything i would be saying would be a spoiler. Just watch the whole series, it is incredible.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A cool mistical adventure
Review: This is a fun series to watch.
You kind of feel sorry for Hitomi, your sucked into a mystical land where people fight in giant suits of armor called Guymelefs and there's constant fighting and people are dying and theres animal people to.

It took me awhile to get this whole set. I would of prefered to get it as a box set, but still I really enjoyed this series.

My favourie character is Dilandau he's one bad guy totaly vicious he mows through guys on the battle battlefield just to get to Van his main anemy the only one he cares about fighting.

I really recomend this series for all to watch.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing series
Review: Although the very first episodes of Escaflowne series don't contain that many battle scenes, these episodes are the grand opening of the greatest manga animation series Escaflowne. You just have to give five stars for this series. Unlike other TV manga animation series, the art work went into this series is trully amazing. Every episode contains really detailed and carefully done scenes. If you are planning to spend any money on any of the manga animation DVD's out there, this is the one you must have. This is trully the masterpiece.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Raw Goods
Review: This series had potential, with a score by yoko kanno, superior directing, acting by legends like Minami Takayami, but in the end it disappointed. Episodes that started smoothly, ended roughly. The series even had a very farcical soap operatic ending that could have been better served had it been spread out. There were 39 episodes planned for this series. however Gundam Wing had just been pulled after 52 shows and the network didn't want to lose money on another series. So the episodes were either deleted or amalgamated together into a weaker product.
I cannot say that I will enjoy this series until they make a conscious serious effort to restore this mecha anime to the way it should have been. If it were done like originally intended, we would talk about it the same way we talk about seminal works like "macross" and "gundam".


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