Escaflowne - The Series (The Perfect Collection)

Rating:
Summary: Formerly a kids review
Review:

If anything, I was suckered into watching the Escaflowne Series when they advertised it on FOX-KIDS (Which no longer exists) because it mentioned sword fights, and hook-liner; DRAGONS. I was sold and decided to watch it. Despite the choppy-sloppy editing by Fox I really liked the show for the time it was on mainly because FOX sliced parts of the scenes that had something to do with the main character Hitomi and focused more on Van prince of Faneila more. I thought he was coolest character around. I mean C'mon FOX KIDS was a TV show populated with male cartoons and I was a young girl completely unaware of cartoons for girls (except maybe Sailor Moon) and girlie shows didn't appeal to me, so I couldn't care less about a female lead character.



That aside, I decided to watch the uncut version of Escaflowne after they taken it off of FOX KIDS. To my dismay, the show was not about Van Fannel, but the high school twerp Hitomi Kanzaki. That disappointed me greatly, but I watched it anyway. The story is fairly simple if not repetitive, it starts off introducing you to Hitomi who is a track and field racer for a girls team who has a HUGE crush on the boy's track team leader Amano.



She decides to tell him how she feels before he leaves to study abroad, but before she can do so, a young boy comes floating down from the sky speaking in a strange language and starts to fight a hideous dragon. From there Hitomi's adventure beings when she is spirited away to the world of Gaia for reasons unknown to her.




The Animation in the show in well done Mecha-wise (the only element aside from the action for boys) move fluidly and realistically, the dub (as well as the sub) for the series is okay and features some of my favorite voice-actors from the OCEAN GROUP. There is a bit of originality for the villains, the Zibach empire. The drawings however character-wise are horrible. Everyone's faical features are done horribly, their noses and eyes were too long and their bodies were practically stick-figures. Its hardly impressive.



The music, composed by the highly overrated Yoko Kanno (a Japanese version of the overrated John Williams) is simply moderate and okay to listen to. The only big drawer of the soundtrack for Escaflowne is the song "Dance of curse" which just has vocalists shouting Escaflowne's name over and over again behind an booming orchestra, however, the entire fact that Escaflowne is more of a Shoujo-romantic anime with war-action threw me off (the romantic part). Had been about the male character I probably would've gotten really into this show. Unfortunately the wimpy female main character doesn't appeal to me and Escaflowne is lacking that something that would've made it a great show. 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Everything about Escaflowne in this Perfect Collection
Review: **This box have 9 disc with:

The COMPLETE UNCUT TV series with the original Japanese Audio track and also the English Dub ( Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo) and English subtitles.

The MOVIE UNCUT with the Japanese (DTS 5.1) and English Audio Track (Dolby Digital 5.1) and English subtitles.

**The episodes from the tv series are:

Episode 1: Fateful Confession
Episode 2: The Girl from the Mystic Moon
Episode 3: The Gallant Swordsman
Episode 4: The Diabolical Adonis
Episode 5: Seal of the Brothers
Episode 6: Capitol of Intrigue
Episode 7: Unexpected Partings
Episode 8: The Day the Angel Flew
Episode 9: Memories of a Feather
Episode 10: The Blue-Eyed Prince
Episode 11: Prophecy of Death
Episode 12: The Secret Door
Episode 13: Red Destiny
Episode 14: Dangerous Wounds
Episode 15: Lost Paradise
Episode 16: The Guided Ones
Episode 17: The Edge of the World
Episode 18: The Gravity of Destiny
Episode 19: Operation Golden Rule of Love
Episode 20: False Vows
Episode 21: Reaction of Fortune
Episode 22: The Black-Winged Angel
Episode 23: Storm Premonition
Episode 24: Fateful Decision
Episode 25: Zone of Absolute Fortune
Episode 26: Eternal Love

So, If you want to buy a good compilation of everything about Escaflowne for a cheap price, this is the best box without a doubt.

Rating:
Summary: Escaflowne is perfect and impeccable in every way (Revised)
Review: Finally, it's here: the Escaflowne Perfect Collection. I can't wait to see the uncut version of this perfect Anime show that everyone is buzzing about. It's got mecha, drama, romance, a little bit of comedy, sci-fi, and mystery all in one. If that doesn't appeal to you enough, the fights and human drama from the experience of main characters (aka Hitomi Kanzaki and the gang) will always keep you at the edges of your seat. What's more, the music and composition by Yuko Kanno and Maaya Sakamoto will put you within a surreal atmosphere. All in all, this is an impeccable, perfect Anime show in every way whenever you look at it. Period.

Everyone should put this 5 out of 5 stars Anime show into his or her collection. See you later!

Rating:
Summary: questions...
Review: i have a question about this dvd, is it the english dubbed escaflwone that aired on fox kids a few years ago? or is it the "uncut" japanese edition, because i am just wondering i DONT want the one with japanamation explicit stuff... i hope someone can help, thanx

Rating:
Summary: Haven't seen it in soooooo long
Review: I haven't seen the un-cut version of Escaflowne, but from watching it years ago, i just know it's gonna be cool, i've put this item on my christmas wish list, because i'm such an anime freak, {Meaning a lover of anime} hopefully i'll be able to get my uncle to watch the t.v series way better then the movie, he fell asleep half way through it. I hope other anime fans who haven't seen or heard of Escaflowne, will be sure to buy this, trust me it is sooo good, you'll love.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect!
Review: This show is very original and just fun to watch. What is offered here is simply AMAZING! You get the complete 8 disc tv series plus the 9th disc film! The only thing that could have been better would be a nicer package for the dvds. Now it is the book format but I hoped they would have included a book that had a timeline,character bios etc. Its barebones but they did this to save money Im sure. All in all though you don't watch the box that much but the dvds are all great and the price is MUCH nicer than the original $200 price tag on the first edition of the show at it's release.

About the show, the story is great. The Escaflowne is a giant suit of armor and it seems to be the normal "giant robot" series at first but it is so much more. The show does lean heavy toward the occult and "fate" which does populate most Japanese Animes. Hitomi reads tarot cards that have "Pentacles" on the deck and in turn the pentacle dominates the menu on the dvds which I wasn't too crazy about. The idea of "fate" is shown to be a crutch in the show and it tries to ultimately showcase that we can change our fate and control our own destiny. It also shows that "tarot" or any form of future telling skills are harmful as we should experience things ourselves and not allow the possible future be told to where we believe it so much that it happens. THAT is what makes me truly LOVE the show! The characters are all well drawn out and explored to a satisfying extent. If you like anime with fantasy elements and giant mechs along with a deep story you'll enjoy Escaflowne and this set is well worth the price for new viewers or fans of the show that don't already own it.