The Vision of Escaflowne: Difference between revisions

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Hitomi Kanzaki is an [[Ordinary High School Student]] who reads tarot cards and runs on her school's track team. One day, just as she's about to earn her [[Sacred First Kiss]] from her senpai and crush, a dragon appears in a [[Pillar of Light]], closely pursued by a young armored warrior. The warrior, Prince Van, rescues Hitomi and her friends from the dragon, and takes a power source for his [[Humongous Mecha]] from the heart of the dead dragon. Another [[Pillar of Light]] then appears, whisking Hitomi and Van away to his world, Gaea, where Earth itself hangs in the night sky...

 

 

Developed after a trip to Nepal by Shoji Kawamori, '''''Tenkuu no Escaflowne''''' was broadcast in Japan from April 2, 1996 to September 24, 1999 and is commonly known as '''''The Vision of Escaflowne''''' in the US.

 

 

* [[The Abridged Series]]: ''[[Vision of Escaflowne Abridged]]''

* [[Action Dress Rip]]: Hitomi gallantly ruining fashion to save Van from a sneak attack.

* [[And Man Grew Proud]]: {{spoiler|Gaea was created by the Atlanteans as as a final wish while their own civilization was burning to the ground.}}

* [[Angst Coma]]: Van goes into one after going berserk and killing a number of minor villains. Hitomi enters his mind to try to bring him out of it, but it is ultimately Merle's heartfelt pleas that do the job.

* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: Energists and Levistones. There's also {{spoiler|Hitomi's pendant, which turns out to be an Atlantean artifact salvaged by Leon and given to Hitomi's grandmother on his deathbed}}.

** Van gets one from Hitomi in the first episode for being an ungrateful git over the whole dragon fight. Unlike most slap-receiving heroes, however, he actually learns his lesson and ''stops'' being an ungrateful git. [[Spoof Aesop|See? Violence is the answer!]]

** She does it again in episode 19, when Van says that he needs her... but only because her magical abilities are useful in combat. (A [[Discretion Shot]] was used for this one.)

* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: The final episode, where {{spoiler|Dornkirk's machine grants everyone their wishes... and apparently everyone's wish is to fight each other rather than have peace like Dornkirk had envisioned.}}

* [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]]: {{spoiler|Emperor Dornkirk is really Isaac Newton.}} And crazily enough this has some historical basis, given his {{spoiler|obsession with the occult}}.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Van, Hitomi, {{spoiler|Folken right before he joins Zaibach, Dilandau in his... er, ''her'' backstory}}.

* [[Broad Strokes]]: The manga adaptations take quite a lot of liberties with ''Escaflowne''. You can't even recognize most of them in the shōnen manga; Hitomi has longer dark hair and glasses, just for starters.

* [[Disappeared Dad]]: Leon (Allen's dad) as noted above.

* [[Disappears Into Light]]: Zaibach Guymelefs.

* [[Doomed Hometown]]: Fanelia

* [[Dungeon Punk]]: A setting where [[Magitech|giant robots are powered by dragon hearts]]? What else ''could'' it be?

** Nariya and Eriya, complete with a bit of [[Twincest|incestual]] [[Les Yay]].

** The manga series then takes the fanservice and runs off a cliff with it, to the point that it gets distracting.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: At least some humans seem to have this for the Beastmen. Humans and Beastmen against {{spoiler|the Draconians, the winged descendants of the people of Atlantis}}.

* [[First Church of Mecha]]: In at least one of the manga.

* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: The Ispano.

* [[Historical Badass Upgrade]]: {{spoiler|Sir Isaac Newton}} is an alchemist who uses the power of Atlantis.

* [[Humongous Mecha]]: Not as [[TV Tropes Drinking Game|egregious]] as other series. Most Guymelefs are about 8 meters tall. The manga, on the other hand, goes and makes Escaflowne about 10 ''stories'' tall.

* [[Identical Grandson]]: ...and grandmother.

* [[I Have This Friend]]: Millerna and Hitomi; almost as soon as Hitomi says it, Millerna catches on.

* [[Instant Sedation]]

* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: {{spoiler|Allen (for Hitomi), Dryden (for Millerna), Hitomi (for Yukari), technically Merle (for Van)}}.

* [[Just Between You and Me]]: Let me explain how very evil I am [[Idiot Ball|in front of the armed guy]]. Of course, [[My Death Is Just the Beginning|that was exactly what he was planning for]].

* [[Last of His Kind]]: {{spoiler|Van, by the TV series' end.}}

* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Arguably. The Draconians look very much like angels, but they're viewed as cursed by most people on Gaea. While it's not so much the case for the remaining Draconians (they're just subject to [[Fantastic Racism]]), {{spoiler|the [[Precursors|Atlanteans]] they're descended from ''were'' a something of case of this, and their angel wings (which they gave themselves through the use of some [[Neglectful Precursors|theologically questionable and world-threatening magitech]]) were a product and major indication of their arrogance.}}

* [[Love Dodecahedron]]: Consisting of four interlocking [[Love Triangle|Love Triangles]].

* [[Loyal Phlebotinum]]: The Escaflowne

* [[Minor Injury Overreaction]]: Dilandau descends into further madness and becomes even MORE [[Ax Crazy]] than he already was after getting a facial scar from Van.

* [[Missing Mom]]: {{spoiler|Van and Folken's mother}}. It's not explained in detail what happened to her after she disappeared, though. The implication is that this character is dead.

* [[Moral Myopia]]: ''Nobody'''s allowed to beat on Dilandau's Dragonslayers!... Well, except for ''Dilandau'', of course.

* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: When Kazuki Akane was put on the project to direct, he figured that it wouldn't hurt to [[Multiple Demographic Appeal|broaden the]] [[Estrogen Brigade|potential audience]] by adding some elements. [[Bishonen|Guess what those]] [[Shirtless Scene|elements were]].

* [[Ms. Fanservice]]

** Naria and Eriya. Semi-Twincestious, scantily-clad [[Catgirl|Cat Girls]] that are [[Twin Threesome Fantasy|totally willing to share]]? Holy shit, where do we sign!

** Hitomi [[She's Got Legs|gots some legs]] and [[She Cleans Up Nicely|cleans up nicely]].

* [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]]: Where to begin? [[Mecha]], really cool fight scenes, [[Love Dodecahedron]], [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys|lots and lots of]] [[Bishonen]].... Let's just say that there was enough to spawn two manga adaptations, a shōnen one and a shōjo one.

* [[My Death Is Just the Beginning]]: {{spoiler|Which is why Dornkirk gave that [[Just Between You and Me|speech]].}}

* [[Named Weapons]]: Escaflowne

* [[Narnia Time]]: The relative flow of time between Earth and Gaia is inconsistent to say the least.

* [[Opening Narration]]: "Was it all just a dream? Or maybe a vision... no, it was real! [insert a few lines recapping the previous episode]" This stopped about halfway through the series.

* [[Opera Gloves]]

* [[Our Angels Are Different]]

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Van, Allen, Folken, Chid.

* [[Petting Zoo People]]: There's a lot of animal people, including [[Catgirl|catgirls]], wolf-men, a dog-man, and even ''gecko''-people, as well as one person who appeared to be part dolphin/porpoise.

* [[Pillar of Light]]

* [[Posthumous Character]]: Quite a few of the main characters' dead (or presumed dead) relatives are relevant to the plot.

* [[Power Crystal]]

* [[Precursors]]: The Atlanteans. Most of Gaea generally [[Neglectful Precursors|doesn't think very highly of them]].

* [[Princesses Prefer Pink]]: And lavender if you are Millerna.

* [[Put the Laughter In Slaughter]]: Dilandau gives [[The Joker]] himself a run for the money.

* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]: The Dragonslayers and, once Van completely obliterates them, the [[Catgirl]] twins.

* [[Shorttank]]: Both Hitomi and Millerna.

* [[Shoulders of Doom]]: Pretty much all the Guymelefs. And Folken.

* [[Sibling Team]]: Nariya and Eriya.

* [[Slasher Smile]]: Dilandau's default expression.

* [[Standing Between the Enemies]]: As Van's [[Humongous Mecha]] is getting [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomped]] by the Phlebotium-enhanced leopard twins, Merle runs out and interposes her tiny little self in front of him. The twins back off from delivering the killing stroke because she's a catgirl like them. (We also get a flashback to them doing the same thing as kids.)

* [[Tarot Motifs]]: Arguably half the point.

* [[Theme Naming]]: Van & Allen are named for famous scientist James Van Allen and the radiation belt he discovered surrounding the Earth.

:: Of course, poor Van ''has'' to take every level in [[Badass]] he can if he wants to stop [[The Empire]] and [[Saving the World|save the world]]...

* [[Transforming Mecha]]: The Escaflowne

* [[Tunnel King]]: The mole guy.

* [[Victoria's Secret Compartment]]: Merle is able to store an awful lot of stuff in what appears to be very little cleavage. Hitomi also manages to forget that she has a tarot deck under her shirt.

* [[Wife Husbandry]]: Of the inverted, unreciprocated variety: both Naria and Eriya are in love with Folken, who saved their lives and raised them from about age eight. It's entirely one-sided, though, as Naria notes after {{spoiler|she kisses him}}.

* [[Winged Humanoid]]: Draconians, {{spoiler|namely Van and Folken}}.

* [[With My Hands Tied]]: Note to villains: [[Unwilling Suspension|tying up]] and beating Van will only only work for a few minutes before he gets a hold of your sword with his legs.

 

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[[Category:Anime]]

[[Category:Manga]]