Escaflowne: The Movie
Synopsis
Gaia is a mythical realm ruled by sword and sorcery and immersed in blood and violence. Thrust into a conflict she doesn’t quite understand, Hitomi helps aid the young Prince Van as they embark upon their journey of discovery. The battle over a legendary suit of dragon armor, Escaflowne, has begun.
Review
Escaflowne the Movie is the retelling of the hit TV series. Hitomi also known as the Wing goddess of Gaia was persuaded to go to Gaia by Faulken. The depressed Hitomi, who thought there was nothing to cherish in life anymore gets warped to Gaia and ends up inside Escaflowne as Van is trying to awaken the sleeping Guymelef.
The visuals of Escaflowne the Movie was well done. Although the ending was pretty much the same, the process of bringing the movie to the ending was very entertaining. In the show, it was more of a human battle than the guymelef battles we have experienced in the TV series. In the final battle, Escaflowne versus Alseides, the action was cool, after Escaflowne destroys Alseides. It turns black and reveals its’ true nature, ‘the destroyer of Gaia.’ Then after a few more scenes Van and Hitomi flies to Faulken’s castle and ‘What do you think?’
There were many additions to Escaflowne the Movie. One of the more noticeable was that the guymelefs were more organic. If you have seen the TV series, remember when Van pricked his finger and his blood dripped on the dragon’s heart? Well in the movie it is sort of different. In the control chamber of the guymelefs there are actually needle looking things that sucks the blood from the person controlling it. The blood then becomes the guymelef’s blood and enables it to move. That’s pretty cool huh?
The Breakdown
Escaflowne the movie is one of those retelling movies that doesn’t just put scenes of the TV series together and say that’s a movie. (This happens quite often at times to OVAs.) Nonetheless, this movie is a great retell and gives the viewers some fresh ideas that weren’t in the TV series.