Escaflowne (エスカフローネ) is a 2000 anime movie, appearing to be an alternate universe to the events of the anime television series The Vision of Escaflowne. Animated by Sunrise and Studio BONES, The movie was developed under the pre-production title Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea, but it was retitled simply as Escaflowne before its theatrical premiere.
The plot of the movie is similar to the television show, but retold in a way that could fit in a two hour movie as opposed to a one season TV show. Most of the characters present in the TV show are also present in the movie, although many of the character designs are changed and in some cases bear little or no resemblance to the corresponding TV show characters. The only major character seen in the movie and not seen in the TV show was Sora, an advisor to Folken.
Differing from the series, the focus of the film shifts more towards the relationship between Van and Hitomi and their personal issues, while other themes and characters present in the series are greatly minimized or removed. The feel of the movie is also much darker and broodier than that of the series.
Hitomi, contrary to her cheerful character in the series, is a depressed schoolgirl, suffering from self-induced feelings of loneliness and alienation. Unlike her series alter ego, she is not clairvoyant, but does have a mystical ability to summon (and unsummon) the Escaflowne, due to being a Tsubasa no Kami (the "Winged Goddess").
Van is depicted to be lonely and emotionally reserved. Initially, he is also considerably more aggressive and willing to slay any perceived as an enemy than his series counterpart.
Unlike in the series, Melefs and Guymelefs (in the film referred to as Armors) are virtually non-existent; only two were shown, those being Escaflowne itself, and Alseides (though it was not referred to as such on-screen, but in production design materials).
Armors themselves were thoroughly redesigned, and are more organic than mechanical in nature, not powered by "energists" the way they were in the series, but rather by drawing the blood of their pilots.
The film replaced many of the elements of European fantasy that were introduced into the TV series with more Asian elements. Specifically, the director Kazuki Akane has cited the use of motifs from ancient Asian mythology, and character designer Nobuteru Yuuki has noted that he based a secondary outfit for the heroine Hitomi on Korean clothing. The countries which appeared in the series (i.e. Fanelia, Astoria, Basram, Daedalus, Zaibach) are no longer part of the setting; Freid is the only country to cross over and mentioned by name by Millerna. Van and Merle's home is referred to as Adon.
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