Vision of Escaflowne...

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TetraVaal

Vision of Escaflowne...

is it worth watching? Are the mech sequences worth it?

looks a bit childish to me, but I'm a sucker for the middle-ground aesthetics look.
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Kenji
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Appearances are very deceiving. Very, very deceiving.

A long time ago, Fox Kids tried to run it as a children's show. I have no idea what they were smoking, because there's no way that they could've edited what happens midseries (and they edited a lot out of what they did run) for that purpose. Speaking strictly in terms of content, it's far more violent than the bright colors and character designs would indicate.

It's an excellent series, well worth a shot. The mecha action is dynamic, the characters were interesting, and the plot was good. It's not as cerebral as Evangelion, but it's still one of my favorites.
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Seraphic
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Escaflowne is actually my favorite mecha show. There's just not too much to discuss about it here on MT, lol.

I hope you like really good character development. And swords. Lots of swords.....
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Darkerangel
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Just watch it fool. =P
Last edited by Darkerangel on Sun Oct 24, 2010 10:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Kenji
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

A little further information: The television series is where it's at, so watch that one for sure. The movie (A Girl in Gaea) is a reimagining and, while its visual design and soundtrack are really interesting, the story and characters suffer immensely from the compression.

On that note, I'm probably gonna watch the series again, myself. It's been a few years since I last did...
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TetraVaal

Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Kenji wrote:Appearances are very deceiving. Very, very deceiving.

it's far more violent than the bright colors and character designs would indicate.
please tell me there is some gritty violence, that would make me happy.

I'm about to start watching it in the next couple of hours.
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Kenji
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Well, it's no Ninja Scroll, but that Fox Kids run would've basically had to cut out the 13th and 14th episodes, entirely. Or whittle them down to the point where they make absolutely no sense. Let's just say it's gritty enough to get its point across.

Have fun. :)
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iKhaotic
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

i definitely remember this from my childhood, i watched a bit of the Fox Kids one, but i was so young that i wouldn't have been able to tell how bad it was. then a few years later i watched the original subbed one and it was pretty damn amazing. it's a very good series. great story, amazing characters, great music, and lots of intense action. the mechs (i forgot what they were called, started with a "G") are a really cool concept and works really well with the setting.

now i definitely need to find it and rewatch it!
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

You people are lucky, I never heard or remembered this from Fox Kids. :( Anyway....

It's my eighth favorite anime (at one point top 3) after Shin Mazinger Z, Aquarion, Gundam SEED Destiny (shut it), Gravion Zwei, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Neon Genesis, and Victory Gundam. Yes it is pretty violent, but blood aside it's not as gritty as Kenji said. This is literally the only time ever
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ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever
I was convinced romance wasn't a bad thing. If it could do that to me it's definitely worth a watch. Amazingly I'm not a fan of the art style. :? As for the movie, yeah, it's inferior and it doesn't have a real ending to it, but it has it's moments.

There's also a rumor that this series has zero fan service; don't listen to that. At all. I literally thought "oh gee, wonder what crowd does this appeals to" at first, because there are animal-human hybrids in this series. I'm also convinced the gecko ninjas from ep 7 exist purely to make the fastest gag scene in anything ever.

But where was I? Oh yeah, go see it like we've already said.
TetraVaal

Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

three episodes in... I'm enjoying it so far, not bad at all.
Quiddity
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Its a terrific series, still arguably my favorite anime. Better than Evangelion and yes, even Gundam. Terrific pacing, character development, plot, and music. Hard to get better than this show.

BTW, they did air the full edited FOX Kids version in Canada. The violent episodes 13 and 14, believe it or not, sufferred far less in edits than episodes 16 and 17, which contain a significant portion of the backstory of the show.
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MrMarch
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Definitely recommend the series. It's a dramatic, fun and good quality anime series. The characters are easy to relate to and the story is pretty interesting. The music is also amazing and the mechanical design is the most original I've seen since Five Star Stories. The series does get a little top heavy with the pseudo-spiritual/technical nonsense at later points, but it's great for most of the run.
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iKhaotic
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Quiddity wrote: BTW, they did air the full edited FOX Kids version in Canada. The violent episodes 13 and 14, believe it or not, sufferred far less in edits than episodes 16 and 17, which contain a significant portion of the backstory of the show.
correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't Canada get a different version from the US? or maybe i'm thinking of a different, yet similar series? lol
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Quiddity
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

iKhaotic wrote:
Quiddity wrote: BTW, they did air the full edited FOX Kids version in Canada. The violent episodes 13 and 14, believe it or not, sufferred far less in edits than episodes 16 and 17, which contain a significant portion of the backstory of the show.
correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't Canada get a different version from the US? or maybe i'm thinking of a different, yet similar series? lol
No, they used the same FOX Kids version aired in the US.
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LightningCount
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Interesting tidbit: The story goes that Toonami was planning to air it with minimal editing like Gundam Wing, but that Fox found out and wanted a slice of the anime pie, and thus scooped it up before Toonami could make an offer. Of course, they didn't have the skills or care that Toonami had (particularly when you think of Outlaw Star and Tenchi Muyo).

Anyway, I saw 3-5 episodes of this on Fox Kids back in the day. Even despite its edits, which I was aware of, I thought it came across as pretty compelling stuff. Still, the cat-girl comedy and many of the overtly feminine designs were off-putting to me from what I saw of it, and I never felt the need to go back and see the whole thing. I purchased the movie version DVD when it came out, and its lackluster storytelling just made me more lukewarm about the whole franchise (though the movie version's animation was very nice). I may come back to the TV version eventually...
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iKhaotic
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

hahah. Tenchi was like the peak of Toonami's "not really for kids" shows, that was like an inch from crossing the line where the ratings would deem it inappropriate for the channel lol. of course, when it came to a show like Tenchi, which focuses on sexual content and constant bathing, you can't really cut stuff out entirely and still keep it consistent xD

as for Escaflowne, i can vaguely remember when i first watched it on Fox Kids. it wasn't unwatchable, you could still understand the plot and what the characters say/do, it just didn't have as much of an effect as opposed to watching it uncut
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tHeWasTeDYouTh
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

this post brings back memories, I remember watching the first episode on Fox Kids and then buying the series on VHS(LOL long time agoooooo) well let me tell you when Fanelia gets detroyed there is a lot of blood and violence and when I saw this I was like WTH!!

I was a little kid so I did not know all the violence was edited out on tv

yes watch the show it is amazing. The soundtrack, words cannot describe how good it is
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hotlimit
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

Nearly 12 years later and I've finally had the chance to watch this entire show... and I really can't believe how good it is. I mean, when I was a kid, I didn't even know it was about the 'science of fate' (the original Fox Kids run never really got that far, I don't think). I enjoyed it more than the majority of the Gundam franchise, though Escaflowne benefits from having so much story packed into a mere 26 episodes (with the exception of Cowboy Bebop, nearly every show I've seen is 50-75 eps).

Also there were some crazy-ass twists in this show, hahahaha.
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NastyNate
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

I decided to watch this one after many many years.
Spoiler
Man that ending was depressing.
This series was also big time japan being anti war with the results of world war 2 and the nuclear bomb. Well they even had a nuclear bomb.

The show had an amazing setting and a great start. But overall I would not suggest it to a friend. My reason being: Hitomi was just so stinking whiny. Someone would kill someone in cold blood but as long as they had a remotely sad back story then its ok. A lot of crying in the show. And mid season they added eva level garbaly goop nonsense. Fate this, luck that. Oh this was the reason for that, no it was this all along. Totally unnecessary.

Also the ending. Wow Marlene totally got da shaft. She gets tricked into marrying the wrong guy, he leaves her, and it ends with her old maid sister and her looking into the distance all alone. No sign of Allen coming in the picture.

A lot of nostalgia going into this one. And I never released I never watched the whole thing on fox kids. Boy did I not see some stuff. I had fun watching it and it kept me coming back. But it had some unnecessary ruff spots. In my opinion.
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HellCat
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Re: Vision of Escaflowne...

It made it to the UK, too. Fox Kids ran it at something like 9:30pm every night a few summers back.

It's kinda funny to think that just a few years ago we'd have a situation like Fox blindly snatching the series away thinking it'd be an easy hit. I doubt we'd ever see that kind of fighting for an anime title today.
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