Customer Reviews

Escaflowne - Forever & Ever (Vol. 8)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These are the last stanzas in what is one of the monuments of Japanese anime, a rich fantasy story as memorable as any other notable series. Hitomi, after fleeing Gaea back to earth finds that her experiences have left her with many unresolved feelings. When Van flies Escaflowne across the gap between the worlds to retrieve her she joins him, even though it is to return to the middle of an horrific war. Hitomi realizes that she can run no longer - that if Gaea is to heal, she must do her part.

By this DVD it is clear to the viewer that fate, and its changing, is the underlying theme of this series. Isaac Newton attempts to manipulate it so that the Zaibach Empire will rule the world, nearly repeating the mistake of the Atlantean forebearers of the Gaeans. Tarot cards reveal futures that seem inevitable. And the intertwining of the characters defies the rules of coincidence.

Into this apparent march to cataclysmic disaster and tragedy enters Hitomi, the most atypical of anime heroines. Thin and athletic rather than lush, cute rather than pretty, it is her inner nature rather than any physical ability that gives her the power to challenge the inevitable. Hitomi's special skill is the power to believe. And in doing so, she reveals that fate is far from ineluctable, that simply humans can change outcomes with their minds and hearts.

Hitomi's confusion about her feelings towards Van and Alan Schezar, her hatred of the continuous stream of violence that mars life on Gaea, and the struggle she has to accept what she can do make her a warm and accessible character to the viewer. This is true of all the protagonists of Escaflowne, making what would otherwise be a pompous fantasy concoction into a compelling, life affirming drama.

As endings go, this one starts a bit too slowly and ends too soon. I would have liked to see a stronger focus on the dynamics between Hitomi and Van as they realize their love for each other and must confront the roadblocks in their way. There is room for an entire additional episode, although the movie version of Escaflowne fills in much of this touching connection between two people separated by worlds. Even so, this is a fitting end to what has been a delightful series - one which I will always recommend without question.

Warning: possible spoilers

Let me start off by saying that I have seen a lot of anime, and that anime of Escaflowne's caliber is a rare find, indeed. It holds the highest rank on my favorites list, along with the widely acclaimed Rurouni Kenshin.

The reason I was compelled to write a review was because I disagree with Charles Solomon when he says " a more powerful resolution is needed than a chat about the nature of human desire with Hitomi." "A more powerful resolution" would have contrasted directly with one of Hitomi's main (and basically accomplished) goals in the entire series: stopping a war and the feelings that provoked it. "A more powerful resolution" would have showed that the elimination of the destructive feelings which had caused the war still ran rampant. But it didn't have such an ending as, for example, Van destroying Dornkirk completely, for Van had learned form Hitomi that revenge (and especially killing) is not a good thing, and should not be done unless absolutely neccesary. Dornkirk had already been proven wrong,after all.

On a final note, the ending was also very appropriate, for if one thinks about it, the series could not have reasonably ended any other way. All in all, Escaflowne is one of the most creative, intricate, and satisfying anime one will ever see.

Plus, Dilandau is one of THE most awesome characters in the history of anime, but that's just my opinion.

First of all, the editorial review apparently doesn't understand that Japanese animation does not share the American animation obsession with neat, clean endings with everything tied up nicely. It would be more appropriate to compare this to live-action material intended for the same age range, where neat endings are not quite so common. This is not Saturday-morning animation, no matter what FOX thinks; it is a satisfyingly complex plot intended for an older audience, although there is little here I would object to letting a younger child watch. Incidentally, the FOX version of this masterpiece is badly hacked up; I watched the first two episodes of it and flatly refused to watch more (I had already watched the entire series in subtitled format). Very disappointing, as that was an ideal opportunity to introduce this to a wider audience.

That said, the ending of this series came as a bit of a surprise. While I still enjoyed it, and consider it an excellent wrap-up to an excellent series, I felt it was a little disjointed--a different style from the rest of the series. Like other reviewers, I feel that the series could easily have been extended by several more episodes, or even an entire season--so much was left uncovered. On top of that, it can also be said that most of the characters were so well developed that it was almost painful to have to watch the closing, knowing that there wasn't more; this is one of those stories that will never end--Escaflowne was not a complete tale; it was merely a glimpse into a wider world, albeit a fascinating one.

However, all good stories are like that, with the feeling that there is something more happening just out of sight. If it works for live-action, why not for animation?

A friend of mine lent me all the Escaflowne tapes, and I watched all of them so fast that it seemed like I was giving him back one a day. Anyway, when I sat down to watch the last one, I was saying, "Jeez, how're they going to wrap it up in three episodes?"(I saw a VHS version from Anime Village.com, so the DVD might be slightly different in its divvying up of the episodes). Well, they managed it all right, and I won't tell you how, since it always makes me mad when people tell the world what happens in any given show/movie/book,etc., but I was a little disapointed at the conclusion of how everything was ended. Otherwise, I thought that what Dornkirk realized was realistic, though since he was really Sir Issac Newton, I would think he would have figured out human nature a bit sooner. Overall, this is pretty much one of the best anime shows I've ever seen. Plenty of violence, a couple of cute girls, and the traditional shojo "girl-saves-the-world-with-help-of-guy-she-likes" plot.

I would say that Escaflowne is the best anime ever created. It has great music, great animation, great characters, a great story, great action...overall, it's just plain great.
I'm a huge escaflowne fan, and I liked every single episode of the Escaflowne series.
The last volume of the Escaflowne series is the best one, in my opinion. Although, the ending left me with a sense of vague unfulfillment, it was a good ending nevertheless.
On behalf of Escaflowne fans everywhere, I hope that someday Escaflowne will continue and allow people something to look forward to.

As in all the Escaflowne DVDs this one has beautiful imagery and music that is not only wonderful but increases the emotion of the picture by a thousand times. This is the last of the DVDs and give a truely good ending, nothing like the Disney endings that are all sappy and too good to be true, although it is not one of despair. This show, although animated, is one of true realism in the emotions of the characters and the way the story moves. In this DVD it tells of Hitome's frustration at the people's irrational thoughts and how she leaves Gaea. It also shows why Folken has black wings and what that means to his future. Hitomi does come back to Gaea because she truely loves someone there and only their love can stop all the violence because the Zone of Abslote Fortune has been actived, it allows everyone's thoughts and desires to come true. It shows that love is a very powerful thing, but that is very delicate and can be broken. I love this show and it is a fitting end for a anime like this, they all did an excellent job on concluding it. I give it more than five stars because it is so much superior to all other shows and movies that I have seen

The last video of Vision of Escaflowne really captures you in the emotions of the characters, and makes you feel almost exactly what they are experiencing. The music is at its best in these episodes, and some scenes you can't help but be blown away by. Each character in in the last DVD has a personal role and everything falls into place rather well, considering the fact that there was only about 25min to do it in. This entire series seems to be created for young adults and up. I say this because of the intricate plot, and constant fighting. (Which is not that violent to say at least.) If I could rate this more than 5 stars, consider it done!!

I loved the whole series, but I really have to take issue with the last couple of episodes. Who the heck were the Nuclear bomb people? Now I know that Japan has war issues, but where did those people come from? They weren't mentioned at all in the series until the last 6 episodes, but suddenly they appear, have uber weaponry and then try to take over. And I hate that.. it's a plot device for someone to say "War is Bad!!"... like we don't know that. There was no other reason for that to happen, save for the 'message' that the creators were trying to convey.

If these guys were mentioned earlier in the series, then fine I would agree with the inclusion at the end, but it seemed to me they were created just to bang us over the head with the 'message'.

A typically bad japanese ending to a great show (would it kill them to have some semblence of a happy ending, I guess I should be grateful that the main cast survived)

I loved this series up until the final episode. It seemed contrived and rushed. I don't want to ruin it for anybody reading this who hasn't seen it but things didn't turn out the way they should have. It was such a disappointment to me that I wish I had never seen it and I could continue imagining the happy ending that I had expected.

P>Okay, on to my review. Often TV-series fall flat on their faces in the last few episodes. This is especially the case with Japanese animation. Fortunately, Escaflowne is an exception. The end of this seires does something unique: It gives the viewer a feeling of closure, without at the same time giving a feeling of finality. The hero and the heroine do NOT get married, settle down, and live happily ever after. In fact, almost nobody does. Everyone is left more or less as free as they were at the beginning of the series.

This is not to say that nothing has changed since the beginning of the series. The characters have all matured (not in the smarmy "I've learned an important lesson" way). A lot of people are dead. The entire world of Gaea learns first-hand about the dangers of toying with fate.

The animation is great, the music even greater, and the voice acting on the Japanese track is impressive (stay away from the English track. Dilandau's voice is just... wrong). In short, this is a beautiful, satisfying, bittersweet ending to one of the greatest fantasy/action/romance series ever made.