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Escaflowne - The Series (Limited Edition Boxed Set)

Escaflowne - The Series (Limited Edition Boxed Set)

List Price: $199.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: All Encompassing Anime
Review: Want an anime title that's part of almost all the types anime there are? Escaflowne is for you! In Escaflowne you get your romance, sci-fi, mecha, fantasy, and probably more but I can't think of them right now. The story is gripping (I've spent hours upon hours in front of the TV watching this show; my eyes got all dried out and scratchy from staring at the TV for such an extended period of time) and the characters are pretty believable, at least the ones that could be considered "normal." As with most anime you also have your crazy supporting characters. I have a somewhat odd fascination with Dilandau, but that isn't why you're reading this. Get to the point, ktazle!

Hitomi is an average girl. She goes to school, is on the track team, and does fortune telling and tarot readings in her spare time. One evening, while saying a somewhat akward goodbye to a significant other, a young man magically appears right before her very eyes. Literally. Soon after the young man appears, a dragon appears, too. After the anime custom there is a fight sequence that ends with Hitomi saving the young man's life. At first he doesn't seem all that grateful. Hitomi vents her frustration about her ingratitude and it results in her being magically transported along with the young man to another world. An epic story ensues with all the sorts of mayhem you could expect and maybe then some. Also, unlike some other anime titles, this show is somewhat intelligent. A nice quality for anime, I must say!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Bottom Line: Is it worth your money?
Review: Ah, Escaflowne, the beloved fantasy series. First airing on FoxKids, it was quickly canceled after 12 episodes for lack of viewers. But the damage had been done, those who did enjoy the airing immediately flocked to stores to buy this beloved series. The Vision of Escaflowne or just Escaflowne in region 1 has these scenarios:
Scenario 1) Hitomi Kanzaki (the protaganist) is just an ordinary girl who, in a flicker of light, ascends to the Heavens to Gaea, a mystical world, in dire danger from the invading Zaibach armies.
Scenario 2) Hitomi meets Van Fanel who's on a journey of vengeance, piloting the Escaflowne (a powerful mecha) against Zaibach.
Scenario 3) Hitomi discovers she has special "abilities" and throughout the episodes, exploits them to "save" Gaea.
Doesn't this sound pretty ordinary? But Escaflowne takes these simple ideas (I mean how many times have we heard girl-transports-to-another-world-meets-prince-and-saves-world plots?) and makes them intricate and implements them into a very successful storyline. Throughout the show, there are a few twists, a few obvious turns, a few "you know you like Van so just admit it, already's", and a few humorous moments. Escaflowne is an original show that boasts powerful visuals. The world of Gaea is beautifully drawn and the designs of the characters (with those adorable pointy noses) are interesting. There are the occasional CG scenes that while awkward at first slowly grow on you. The musical score can also be haunting with the chants or just plain scary but this score in general sets the mood wonderfully. Overall, Escaflowne, is simply a magnificent craft of a show.
So we reach the bottom line. Is it worth your money? For diehard fantasy fans and even newcomers, Escaflowne is an original in a stagnant sea of imitations. And even if you don't like the sometimes girl-ish storyline, there's always the mecha aspect of it. So the answer is definitely "yes". But for those who just don't care about fantasy and hate any semblance of girly shows, then this might just annoy the heck out of you. So which are you?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dragon Lance novels meet Gundam animee
Review: At a superficial level, Escaflowne is about Gundam warriors in a Dragon Lance environment. However, the real story is about a girl's internal struggle between her hope and her fear/sadness. She discovers that emotions and thoughts influence probable outcomes. Excessive fear/sadness actually causes the situation to become worse. Hope actually causes the situation to become better. After she overcomes her own fear/sadness, she must convince the people around her to overcome their fear/anger. She teaches one of the story's heroes to focus his thoughts on the steps to achieving what he wants instead of simply reacting to his fear/anger. At the same time, they try to build an alliance of kingdoms that can stop an army of flying fortresses. However, several conflicting love stories must be resolved before the exact outcome of the war can be determined. Escaflowne smoothly blends action and love into one excellent animee series.

Although the Escaflowne series shares many of the same character names and appearances as the Escaflowne movie and they are both supposed to tell a similar story, the actual stories are significantly different. As a result, it is possible to watch one without spoiling the ending of the other. Also, the excellent Escaflowne series is much better than the B quality movie. If you are going to watch both the Escaflowne series and the Escaflowne movie, you may want to watch the movie first. Otherwise the B quality movie may seem disappointing when compared to the excellent series.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: to mature for 25 year olds
Review: first of all I bought this for my 25year old son for christmas.
He told me it was about a boy who gets a toy that he realy likes
ane he said it was rated G, but when I watched it and it actuly showed a sceen with a girl and its not just one sceen its manny sceens.And get this my son is 25 and that was a pg-13 movie.So I said "that movie is way to mature for you, you can watch the lion king"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An absolutely stunning series
Review: ...There are no clear cut bad guys or good guys anywhere in this series, and anyone who tries to claim otherwise is misunderstanding, or worse, misrepresenting things. Even Emperor Dornkirk, who very plainly engages in some serious nastiness, is doing what he does strictly out of a belief that his way of doing things is the only humane thing to do (there is one character that could be considered 'bad', but there are very definate reasons for it which will become clear as the series progresses).

As I've mentioned elsewhere, Japanese animation should not be measured against the same yardstick that American animation is routinely compared against; it would be more appropriate, not to mention fair, to compare it against the diversity of live action material.

That said, this is an absolutely stunning series, with excellent production values (for a TV series, anyway; it would probably be considered merely 'good' as a feature-film release) and a fascinating storyline. Please check it out, if you haven't already ...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: From an American anime fan - Excaflowne rocks!
Review: Wow! I can't imagine saying anything bad about this series. I think its character development is so intriguing, you can analyze your response to it over and over again. I have watched this series, start to finish, over 10 times now, beause my 8 year old daughter cannot get enough of it (and that's even watching it in Japanese only). The artwork is beautiful, the sountrack! I have two of the CDs and I can listen to them over and over again because of the variety and moods of the music. Thank you Kanno Youko! I would qualify this as must see anime. As I tell all my friends who haven't tried anime yet "Just think of it as artwork that moves." Disney can't hold a candle to this!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply Wow
Review: One or the most interesting and intriguing series in the anime. It starts out interesting and ends the same way. I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen through out the whole 26 episodes. Every character has a story and an issue he/she has to resolve. It's not just sward and sorcery, it's dramatic as well. Two thumbs up!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ooohhhh why did it have to end make more
Review: this series is only my second anima series. but so far it is the best and i think it will stay so until they make more episodes. if you are debatting on buying this buy it once its over you'll be wishing their was more episodes too. animation great sound exalent story awsome.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I fell in love with Escaflowne
Review: an excellent series, I would place this with Gundam Wing for one of the best Anime of all time. This series have drama, love, action, a great plot, depth, well I don't know what else to say but it is really great. No american cartoons will ever come close to series like this or gundam wing. If you are into or just getting started with Anime, Escaflowne is the series to HAVE!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Incredible
Review: Easily one of my favorite animes. Great art, incredible story. Very emotional series. Well worth the money i shelled out for it.


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