Escaflowne The Movie: A Girl in Gaea

Hopefully, you've gotten a chance to look at the movie preview in the video section (if I haven't changed it yet). The movie is decent IF you don't go into it expecting it to be an accurate representation of the show.

Overall, the movie's mood is a lot darker than the show's. Almost annoyingly so. It was as if the writers said, "Hey, let's make EVERYONE an angsty badass!" And, once again, it's a lot darker. Escaflowne is now the God of War instead of the God of Protection. Van is now a toughened, feral fighter, rather than a naive young boy. Hitomi is depressive. Folken is actually evil. Merle is tougher. Allen slices and dices. I won't even get into Millerna.

Okay, let's go a little more character-by-character. Van's lineage is still the same as it was in the TV series. He's the last of the Draconians, so he's still got the wings. However, instead of shredding a new shirt each time he uses them, he just doesn't wear a shirt. Much. There are a few scenes that just weirded me out because he occasionally DID wear his TV series outfit. Everyone else in the movie has different clothes. However, Van's personality is completely different. He has no qualms about killing people. In fact, he slaughters an entire ship load of people before you even see the title screen.

Hitomi is pretty different, too. She wears a blue uniform instead of the brown one. She also wears a digital watch. She also does not start the movie out with the pendant, but gets it later. Hitomi also seems to have a depressive side, as Yukari finds a suicide note. However, Hitomi says she doesn't have the guts to do it. After she gets to Gaea, however, her attitude becomes more like what we're used to. Except she's the prophesized "Wing Goddess" who will summon Escaflowne.

How about our resident cat? Merle is actually more or less the same. Except for a character design change, which everyone has suffered from. Even her outfit is almost identical to its TV counterpart. The only difference is that Merle doesn't seem as infatuated with Van. Oh, she still hangs on him, but it's nothing like in the TV series. And she still argues with Hitomi over who is weirder. One personality difference is that she seems a little tougher, as she talks back to Allen's crew on occasion, threatening to poison them if they keep picking on Van.

Happy pyro-boy? Dilandau's personality is more or less the same. His outfit is, too, except he wears a white sash over his uniform (and I actually like his movie outfit better). However, Dilandau now has nothing to do with Allen. He's apparently half-Draconian, and was raised in the woods until Folken took him in. He's also much easier to sympathize with, since he's obviously just being used for his abilities as a half-Draconian. Also, for all you Esca-boys fans, Dilandau and three of his Dragonslayers make it to the end, and have a happy ending. Another difference is that he can use magic, as well as Van and Folken, but it's not as powerful as theirs. The movie also features a sort of Dilandau fan-service, since he pilots the Alseides completely naked save for a Speedo ^_^*.

Dornkirk is nowhere to be seen in this movie. Instead, Folken is the main villain. I still haven't figured out what the heck he was trying to do, other than destroy Gaea. Folken's design changed considerably. He now has very long hair, and different-colored eyes. He's also quite cruel to his minons (poor Dilly). He works along with an elven-looking lady named Sora, and no one is quite sure who or what she is, other than she keeps singing. Folken's death in the movie was pretty anticlimactic, actually. The only thing shocking about his death was WHO killed him. It was NOT who I was expecting at all, and I'd had a dozen theories running through my head.

Allen, actually, had very little role in the movie. He still has his hair, but it's pulled into a ponytail partway down. Kinda like he had it in that one flashback where he faught Balgus (who isn't in the movie). He doesn't do a whole lot except beat Van in a sword battle, kill a couple Dragonslayers, and fire some cannons. Scherezade is nowhere to be seen. Escaflowne and Dilandau's Alseides are the only two guymelefs in the movie.

Dryden is still the same. Still looks like a hippie. Except now he runs a club, and is Allen's group's contact for information about the Black Dragon Clan. His only change is that he wears his hair down.

And last but not least, how about... Jajuka?! Doggy boy has a SIGNIFICANTLY bigger role in the movie than in the TV series. Heck, even though the movie's only an hour and a half, he probably has more screen time then he ever got in the series, plus more substantial dialogue. He acts as Dilandau's advisor, and follows him around. He meets Hitomi once and advises her about the troubles of war. His design has also changed considerably. Most notably are his scary teeth. He also has enhanced vision, which lets him "zoom in" on important stuff.

As for groups of people, the Crusade crew is all there, and they're all the same. Granted, they're not the Crusade crew anymore, since there is no Crusade, but I have nothing else to call them. They all even have more or less the same outfits. The most notable change was Gaddess's knife-throwing. And I guess I'll mention Millerna here, since she wasn't very important. If someone didn't call her Millerna, you'd never know it was her. She has long, brown hair now, pulled back in a Washuu-esque ponytail. Her voice actress is different (although her TV seiyuu, Mayumi Iizuka, played Sora and Yukari in the movie). Her outfit is completely different. She isn't even a princess, but the crew has given her the nickname of "Princess", anyway.

Then there's the Dragonslayers. They don't do a whole lot but follow Dilandau around. Well, I guess that's all they do in the series, too. The only one named is Shesta, who has some creepy psychic powers and something that looks like a sperm tattooed on his forehead. I think he's one of the three who survived, too. I think one of the other survivors was Gatti. The third had curly, dark hair, and was never named. Interestingly enough, I believe it was Miguel who was the first to die again, as Allen jumped down on top of him and sliced his neck open (yum).

So, what was the same as the series? Uhhh.... That's a tough question. Escaflowne still turns into a dragon, which looks the same as before. Escaflowne's sword also operates in the same manner as before. Hitomi's pendant has the same sound effect. Hitomi DOES give a "Was it a dream, or maybe a vision?" speech. The "Dance of Curse" background track is still there when Van gets into Escaflowne, as is the "Eee~scaaa~flooww~neee" chant. Most of the other background music is all-new, and still Yoko Kanno. So, of course it's good. I really like the movie's version of "Epistle" (now called "Black Escaflowne").

Well, that's all I can think of. Contrary to what people told me, this movie is NOT a re-telling of the series. It's more of an alternate telling, or a re-write. Just don't go into the movie expecting it to be anything like the series, because it's not. But it's still wonderful.