Anime Review: Escaflowne the movie

Review Escaflowne the movie

Hitomi Kanzaki is a young woman who has lost her way in life. She sleeps more than a normal person and simply wishes to fade away. Eventually her despair calls out to an unknown force and takes her to a mysterious world. There she proclaimed to be the legendary wing goddess who has the power to call the dragon armor, Escaflowne. Her arrival is believed to change the fate of the world as Escaflowne has the power to destroy the world if that is what the user desires.

The Escaflowne movie is loosely based off of the manga and television series of the same name and that it probably it's greatest weakness. It tries to borrow recognition from the Ecsaflowne name and drops in characters and plot developments that that tie into the television show but feels disorienting to fans of the show since everything feels different. Still it isn't a bad movie in terms of plot or theme.

These days the animation budget for a large scale movie must be pretty large since the movie itself is graphically awesome. The fact that Yoko Kanno is still aboard for the music department means that the aesthetics of the movie are easily it's strong point.

The Escaflowne movie is a strange companion to the television series. Those that are most drawn to it may be those that will be most annoyed by the changes made by the movie. I would be interested to hear what someone who has never seen the vision of Escaflowne thinks of this movie. The movie is good enough to merit seeing if the changes will bother you. I give Escaflowne the movie a rating of good/ very good.