The Vision of Escaflowne

No matter what people say, The Vision of Escaflowne is perhaps the best anime ever created. It's more than just cool visual effects. It has a complex plot, compelling characters, great visual effects, and beautiful sound track. (There are four sound track CDs of Escaflowne.)

Characters

What makes this series so perfect is the characters. I'll not include any spoilers because I don't like them myself. This is a brief introduction to the characters.

Heroes

Hitomi

She is the heroine of the series. Her name means "eyes" in Japanese. She sees the invisible guymelefs (mechas) and the future. She has three love interests in the series: Amano, Allen, and Vaughn.

Vaughn

The king of Fanelia. His kingdom is destroyed on the day of his coronation. He meets Hitomi on the Earth (known as the Phantom Moon by the inhabitants of Gaea, Vaughn's home planet) during the Rite of Dragonslaying. He is the only one who can pilot Escaflowne, otherwise known as dragon.

Allen

The Knight of Heaven of Asturia. He rescues Hitomi in Episode Three (Gallant Knight). His remarkable resemblance to Amano might be the cause of Hitomi's infatuation/crush on him. Despite his debonair facade, he has a bitter past.

Merle

A cat girl and the childhood companion of Vaughn. She seems to be in love with Vaughn and is jealous of Hitomi.

Villains

Dilandou

The leader of Dragonslayers, the elite legion of Zaibach. He believes in the total destruction of his enemies by burning them. (He has the worst case of pyromania I've ever encountered on TV.) Despite all this, he's not a comic character, rather he's a tragic figure in the story.

Folken

The Chief of Staff of Zaibach Empire which destroyed Fanelia. He's the lost brother of Vaughn, and he hopes to create a peaceful world using the fate redirector of Dornkirk, the emperor of Zaibach.

Dornkirk

Otherwise known as Joseph. He is the emperor of Zaibach. He's really from Earth, and he wants to resurrect the power of Atlantis to create fate.

List of Episodes

Contains possible spoilers.

1. Declaration of Destiny
   Hitomi, an ordinary high school freshman, has a huge crush on Amano, the boy's track team captain. When she learns that he is to go abroad, she asks him for her first kiss if she can run 100-meter dash in thirteen seconds. What appears before her is something she'd never expected to see: a bright column of light and a boy from her vision. . . .

2. The Girl from the Phantom Moon
   The warriors of Fanelia consider Hitomi a heroine because she helped Vaughn slay a dragon. However, on the day of Vaughn's coronation, the invisible giants pillage the peaceful kingdom of Fanelia, and Vaughn performs a ritual to wake up Escaflowne, but there are just too many of those invisible giants. . . .

3. The Gallant Knight
   Hitomi and Vaughn are separated and lost in the kingdom of Asturia. Mole Man attacks Hitomi, and a knight with long blond hair rescues her. To Hitomi's confusion, he looks just like Amano, and the immediate and apparent hostility between Allen and Vaughn is disturbing, especially considering that they already fought two duels since they met. . . .

4. The Diabolical Adonis
   Hitomi has another vision of the invisible giants' attack, and Allen is uneasy about her vision and Dilandou, the youthful leader of Dragonslayers, the elite legion of Zaibach Empire. Dilandou knows Allen is hiding Vaughn and Escaflowne, and he attacks Allen's fortress to capture the dragon. . . .

5. The Seal of Brothers
   After his capture, Vaughn meets Folken, the Chief of Staff of Zaibach Empire, who wants him to join the empire. Hitomi uses her power to locate Vaughn, and Allen and his crew begin a rescue mission. . . .

6. The Capital of Intrigue
   After the successful rescue mission, Hitomi, Vaughn, Allen, and his crew go to Palas, the capital city of Asturia. To Allen's shock and fury, Folken has already spoken with the king of Asturia, with whom he has a peace treaty, and the king wants to play politics with Zaibach. Folken, once again, asks Vaughn to join him. Meanwhile, Dilandou decides to avenge himself by launching a liquid claw to kill Vaughn for the facial scar. . . .

7. An Unexpected Farewell
   After "asking" that Vaughn displays the potential of the legendary Ispano designed Escaflowne, the king of Asturia invites Vaughn, Hitomi, and Merle to the palace. Hitomi learns that Princess Millerna is in love with Allen despite her engagement to Dreyden, the son of the leading merchant of Asturia. Meanwhile the agents who hope to lure Escaflowne out of its hiding place abduct Hitomi. . . .

8. The Day the Angel Flies
   Vaughn, Hitomi, and Merle leave Asturia in the wake of a mindless pillage of Dilandou. Allen is imprisoned for treason, and Millerna learns that Zaibach plans to invade the Duchy of Freid next where her brother-in-law rules. She attempts to rescue Allen to warn Freid of Zaibach's impending attack. Meanwhile, Vaughn and Hitomi attack Zaibach's energist mine, and one of them reveals a closely-guarded secret. . . .

9. The Memory of a Feather
   Hitomi sees the vision of Vaughn's parents' courtship and Vaughn's childhood. Dilandou and his Dragonslayers pursue Vaughn and Escaflowne, and Allen appears to help Vaughn. Unfortunately, Allen blocks the liquid metal attack with his body to save Hitomi, and nobody can heal his injury as he bleeds helplessly. . . .

10. The Blue-Eyed Prince
    Millerna appears and operates on Allen. The group goes to Freid, where Prince Sid, a blue-eyed innocent, greets them with enthusiasm, remembering the stories of a peerless knight Allen Schezar told by his deceased mother Marlene. . . .

11. A Prophecy of Death
    Zorgi, a shape-shifting deceptant, kills Practu, a high priest of Freid, and casts suspicion on Vaughn, Hitomi, and Allen's group. While he interrogates Hitomi in the shape of Practu, he sees the vision of his past and death with Hitomi. At the end of the vision, Hitomi collapses, and her heart stops. . . .

12. The Door of Secrets
    Hitomi, Vaughn, and the rest of the group prove their innocence. The Duke of Freid, the father of Sid, returns, and they prepare for the impending battle with Zaibach. Meanwhile Millerna discovers a diary of Marlene which reveals the secret between Marlene and Allen. . . .

13. Red Destiny
    Zaibach destroys the capital city of Freid and advances to Fortuna Temple, where the power of Atlantis is sealed. Hitomi has another vision of a bloody outcome of the battle between Freid and Zaibach. . . .

14. Dangerous Scars
    Vaughn and Escaflowne synchronized during the last battle against Zaibach, and no physician can heal his injuries. Allen's flying ship, the Crusade, meets Dreyden's merchant ship. Using his knowledge and money, Dreyden summons the Ispano and have them repair Escaflowne. When Dilandou and his Dragonslayers attack them, Vaughn rushes out to the battlefield, disregarding the grave consequences. . . .

15. Paradise Lost
    Vaughn is lost in the world of the dead, and Hitomi goes after him to bring him back to the world of the living. While together with Vaughn, she sees the vision of Atlantis' past -- its utter destruction. The previous battle has traumatized Dilandou, so Folken sends Naria and Eria, intensely loyal leopard women, to capture the dragon. . . .

16. A Guided People
    Dreyden finds out the route to Atlantis while reading Allen's father's diary. Allen confronts his bitterness toward his father, and Hitomi learns that her grandmother visited Gaea and that she and Allen's father met before. Folken's floating fortress pursues them until Hitomi's prayer opens the gate of Atlantis. . . .

17. The Edge of the World
    In the midst of the ruins of Atlantis, Vaughn, Hitomi, and Allen meet people from their past. Hitomi learns the creation and the final destruction of Atlantis. . . .

18. The Pull of Destiny
    Vaughn, Hitomi, and Allen are transported to Dornkirk's palace where Dornkirk explains his "noble" reasons behind the reawakening of Atlantis and attempts to start the fate redirector. . . .

19. Golden Rule Strategy of Love
    All of Gaea, including Asturia, is busy preparing for the battle against Zaibach Empire. Vaughn gives Hitomi a not-quite love confession, which disillusions and confuses Hitomi and leaves her vulnerable to Folken's fate redirector experiment. . . .

20. False Promise
    On the day of her wedding, Millerna asks Hitomi to read her fortune. Hitomi sees the disaster and unhappiness in Millerna's marriage to Dreyden, but decides to tell her of the happiness, hoping her wish is enough to alter the fate. Hitomi's hope is shattered when fortune-enhanced Naria and Eria attack during the wedding ceremony. . . .

21. A Reversal of Fortune
    The reappearance of the sun causes an adverse effect on Naria and Eria. Naria is injured and crash lands in Asturia. She manages to capture Hitomi, but Hitomi's trust and goodness wins her over. While the side-effect of fortune-enhancement and Dornkirk's attitude toward it cause Folken to rethink his cause. . . .

22. The Black Winged Angel
    Folken summons Vaughn and Hitomi to the ruins of Fanelia. There, Vaughn and Hitomi face two angry dragons, and Folken reveals the truth behind his disappearance during the pre-coronation Rite of Dragonslaying. . . .

23. The Foretelling of Storms
    Folken helps the allied force against Zaibach, despite Vaughn's doubt and resentment. Dilandou, at last, recovers and joins the force of Zaibach to face Vaughn one more time. . . .

24. A Choice of Destiny
    Hitomi wishes to go back to Earth to get away from the war and suffering of Gaea, and she finds herself back on Earth, the day she made the fateful confession to Amano. She knows if she relives the day as she had last time, she'd reunite with Vaughn. Meanwhile, on Gaea, Vaughn realizes that if he acknowledges his feelings, they'll reach Hitomi on the Phantom Moon. . . .

25. The Zone of Absolute Fortune
    Even after the launch of Basram's doomsday weapon, the war does not end. Folken decides he must confront Dornkirk to end the war and the realization of the zone of absolute fortune, but Hitomi sees the vision of Folken's death as the result of the confrontation. . . .

26. Eternal Love
    Dornkirk's dream of the zone of absolute fortune is realized, but the people of Gaea desire war and hostility, so their wishes are granted, and the war continues on. The ultimate fate of Gaea rests in the hand of the girl from Phantom Moon and the pilot of White Dragon. . . .

There are three major tragedies in the story: that of brothers; that of brother and sister; that of a father and a son. Note that this section contains mega-spoiler.

The Tragedy of Brothers

Folken is the long-lost brother of Vaughn. Nobody really knew exactly how he disappeared. Everyone thought he was eaten by a dragon during the Rite of Dragonslaying, and all mourned the death of the "gentle" prince. It is a shock to Vaughn when he discovers that his brother is working for Zaibach, the very empire responsible for the destruction of Fanelia.

Although Folken never attacks directly himself, he is the Stratego, the Chief of Staff, the one in command. All the attacks and plots to capture the dragon are planned by him.

Even though he's one of the villains in the series, there are many fans who find him irresistible because he screams angst. Okay, come on. He's tall, one-armed, handsome, very mature, intelligent, and gentle, even though he's on the bad side. (He rescued Zorgi, the Deceptant and the leopard girls Naria and Eria. Do you think they're loyal to him without a good reason?) The tear tattoo under his right eye symbolizes his eternal sadness.

The Tragedy of Brother and Sister

I think the creators of Escaflowne was somewhat twisted. Dilandou, one of the most infamous (or famous?) anime villains of all time, is actually a girl! Yep, Dilandou is the alter-ego of Serena, Allen's little sister. Dilandou has no memory of his past, and he's being used by Zaibach in its human alteration experiment.

Thus, Dilandou and Allen fight against each other (almost killing each other) every time they face each other.

The Tragedy of Fathers and Sons

The first tragedy involving fathers and sons start with Allen's affair with Marlene. The "by product" of the affair is Prince Sid. Because Marlene is married to a king, she never told Sid the truth of his birth. However, Sid's father considers the boy his own because he never stopped loving Marlene despite her infidelity.

The second tragedy involves Allen and his father. His father left Allen to search for his dream Atlantis and search for Hitomi's grandmother(!). Allen is bitter that his father abandoned his family, and his bitterness is the theme throughout the series.

Angel from CDs 1 and 4. I call this a reunion music because this is the music you hear when Hitomi and Vaughn reunite in Episode 24.
Cradle Song from CDs 2, 3, and 4. This is a sad but beautiful music.
Dance of Curse from CDs 1 and 4. This is what I call a chase music. :)
Farewell from CD 3. This is the music played when Hitomi returns to the Earth in Episode 23.
Hikari no Naka E a.k.a. Into the Light from CD 3. A gorgeous song sung by the voice actress of Hitomi. This song is for her feelings for Vaughn.
Perfect World This song is played when Dreyden makes his first appearance.

Yakusoku wa iranai "I Don't Need a Promise" The opening theme
Angel
Poketto wo kara ni shite "Empty the Pocket"
The Vision of Escaflowne
Aoi Hitomi "Blue Eyes"
Hikari no naka e "Into the Light"
Arcadia
Tomodachi "Friend"
Neko no Kimochi "A Cat's Feelings"
Kaze ga Fuku Hi "Windy Day"
Mystic Eyes The closing theme

The Vision of Escaflowne Copyright © by Sunrise