OK, finally got around to seeing Escaflowne. The soundtrack is great, kind of like Carmina Burana as performed by Renaissance. A bit over-the-top, but swell music. But the “plot”…holy schamoly, what the hell just happened there?
Does the ability to cock your head to one side and open your eyes up real wide and say “Van, Van, Van? Van, Van” over and over make you a Wind Goddess? Is being clueless but polite the main qualification? Isn’t Hitomi just a depressed, shy girl who never says anything but “Van Van Van Van Van” and “thank you for your kindness?”
Hitomi recognizes the old Dragon Clan folksong in the nightclub…did I miss the part where they explain that? Is she a lost sister or cousin of Van? Does it sound like a Japanese folksong I never heard, and that’s why it sounds familiar to her?
And what the hell is the “I’ll never leave you, Van, you’re not alone, Van, you’ll never be alone, Van” business about, just before she sprouts wings and disappears forever? Is she cruising around the neighborhood, or did she vanish back to Japan somehow?
Or am I reading this as a plot that is supposed to have a backstory and make sense, when actually it’s all a metaphor for love keeping the world from annihilation, and when you’re in love you’re never alone, even when your lover sprouts wings and vanishes? Am I not deep enough to understand the implied plot? Or was I just too sleepy when I watched it? (This is possible…)
In short, WTF?
PS-I thought “Spirited Away” made internal sense, even if it was weird…even “Mononoke” made sense. “Laputa” made sense, and I only saw that one in unsubtitled Japanese! And it still made sense! Dragon Ball makes sense. But Escaflowne?
The Escaflowne movie is based on the Escaflowne TV series, except that they changed most of the plot points, character designs and personalities. You should try watching the TV series instead, it’s more coherent once you get past the halo-hair and pointy noses. The soundtrack’s also done by Yoko Kanno.
When you’re an anime character madly in love, it mainly means that you have to say/shout the name of your love as many times as possible. (See: Fushigi Yuugi.)
I second the recommendation to go watch the series. It’s a bit pricey, seeing as how it’s an earlier Bandai release before most US companies shifted from 8 discs to 5 or 6, but you might be able to get a good price on the boxset. Personally, while I liked the series the first couple of times I saw it, it doesn’t do nearly so much for me now.
Okay…so, even though I thought the movie was awful, I should buy the boxset of TV shows…?
Well, anyway, the info that the TV show came first is helpful. It explains why the movie seems to have the look of something that was originally six hours, but was edited down to 1 1/2 hours by taking out all the explanations of what’s going on and all the character motivation scenes. Good thing they left in all those long shots of the sunset.
I took a look at a website or two, and I guess anyone seeing the movie was expected to already know the TV series, thus obviating any need to explain anything. Well, fine. I guess the movie was never meant to stand alone. Or was it?
Well, I was going to type out an analogy about transfering an American TV show to movie format…but it kind of fell apart when it came to—
Anyway, I’ll just note that I found the Escaflowne series on DVD (it’s available on VHS, too) at my neighborhood video store. Just don’t rent the “Best Collection” version, which edits the entire series (one season, about ten hours total) down to 180 minutes. There’s also the VHS collection of the edited (read: censored) version that ran on Fox a few years ago, but you probably won’t even run across it.
And it’s also available on Netflix.
Just a note, though…the series leaned a little too heavily on the “Existential-Interpersonal Woo-Woo Crap” in the last few episodes. It’s probably a bit more comprehensible if you leave the subtitles on.
…and don’t forget the “luck intensification machine”…bleah…
Despite that, the tv series is pretty enjoyable. Gotta love those giant robot swordfights.
I hated the movie, though. It’s a retelling of the tv series, with all the good parts cut out, all machoed up to appeal to a more male demographic and compressed to a point where it’s largely unrecognizable. You can skip watching it and not miss a thing as far as I’m concerned.