Escaflowne viewing reactions
Dec. 29th, 2011 10:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amelia_petkovaI don't think I mentioned it before, but Vision of Escaflowne was one of the first anime series I watched when I was in high school and being introduced to anime. It's not the best series ever (a number of plot holes and you can tell that it was originally supposed to be 39 episodes long instead of 26) but I still have a soft spot for it. Earlier this year I had an idea for a long AU, which started a re-watching of the series for ideas. For your entertainment, here are the observations and questions I've been noticing as I go along.
I accidentally bought a bootleg DVD set of this series. Back then it was easiest to buy anime on ebay. My defenses are that I was around 16 and knew very little about online shopping. In hindsight, my first clue should have been that the subtitles suck. Years later, I was looking at a fan website that had a section on avoiding bootlegs from China. "Hey, that's the cover of my DVD set! ...well, crap."
I love you, Yoko Kanno!
Episode 1
--the pointy noses still make me laugh
--if Hitomi was a musician instead of an athlete, she could use her pendant as a metronome
--plot hole: I’m no doctor, but wouldn’t Van have to have internal bleeding to spit up that much blood?
--Fanelia needs to develop better armor
--plot: was it at all expected that the dragon would take Van into another world?
Episode 2
--awesome that Hitomi is a heroine that’s athletic, but annoying that she has to spend most of the series running around in a schoolgirl uniform
--plot: why is the Mystic Moon/Earth considered unlucky?
--one-on-one dragon ritual doesn’t seem like the smartest idea
--Balgus looks at least 7 feet tall!
--stealth cloaks aren’t much use if you still stomp giant footprints into the ground, morons
--lucky that Escaflowne’s not covered in rust!
--the cloaks (the actual fabric ones) are still ridiculous
Episode 3
--Moleman has a major problem with personal boundaries/social codes
--on Hitomi mistaking Allen for Amano: be interesting if Hitomi met other people in Gaea who looked like ones she already knew
--Oh look, it’s Allen. Yuck.
--Dilandau’s tiara and Folken’s mullet crack me up
--Asturia is also the name of a region in Spain
--poor Hitomi, waking up in a room full of strange men who immediately start making inappropriate jokes
--Allen’s puffed sleeves are bigger than Hitomi’s head! How does he keep those starched in a swampy military post?
--Have the crew ever tied Allen’s hair to the bedpost while he sleeps?
--I love how Dilandau’s reaction to Allen kissing Hitomi is, “Cooties! Ew!”
--I’d forgotten about the “light halos” on the characters’ hair
Episode 4
--does Merle have Van sonar?
--So Allen’s hitting on Hitomi while comparing her to his sister. Ew.
--plot hole: how did Zaibach poison Merle and Hitomi? Could just be from running around in forest
--wow, Dilandau even bitch slaps while in mecha
--How does that cloak (Escaflowne) manage to convert to wings?
Episode 5
--great that Hitomi’s not solely a damsel in distress and can do useful things
Episode 6
--Allen, could you please get over your angst a little faster? That’d be great.
--re Millerna’s outfit: the puffed sleeves must be an Asturian thing. It’s a national epidemic!
--So it sounds like Millerna visited Fanelia in the past before Folken vanished. Why would she have been there?
--Does King Aston know that Allen had an affair with his daughter? If not, what other reason does he have for disliking Allen.
--Nobody will notice this giant guymelef if we just throw a tarp over it!
--costumes of guards remind me of Renaissance Italy
--Did CD get to Gaea on its own or did somebody bring it?
--Was all of Fanelia destroyed/attacked, or just the capital city?
--Was Merle’s voice actress paid for each time she said “Van-sama”?
Episode 7
--I love that King Aston decided to have a guymelef right in his dining room
--Is Eries the oldest sister or the middle one? Why is she not next in line for the throne?
I accidentally bought a bootleg DVD set of this series. Back then it was easiest to buy anime on ebay. My defenses are that I was around 16 and knew very little about online shopping. In hindsight, my first clue should have been that the subtitles suck. Years later, I was looking at a fan website that had a section on avoiding bootlegs from China. "Hey, that's the cover of my DVD set! ...well, crap."
I love you, Yoko Kanno!
Episode 1
--the pointy noses still make me laugh
--if Hitomi was a musician instead of an athlete, she could use her pendant as a metronome
--plot hole: I’m no doctor, but wouldn’t Van have to have internal bleeding to spit up that much blood?
--Fanelia needs to develop better armor
--plot: was it at all expected that the dragon would take Van into another world?
Episode 2
--awesome that Hitomi is a heroine that’s athletic, but annoying that she has to spend most of the series running around in a schoolgirl uniform
--plot: why is the Mystic Moon/Earth considered unlucky?
--one-on-one dragon ritual doesn’t seem like the smartest idea
--Balgus looks at least 7 feet tall!
--stealth cloaks aren’t much use if you still stomp giant footprints into the ground, morons
--lucky that Escaflowne’s not covered in rust!
--the cloaks (the actual fabric ones) are still ridiculous
Episode 3
--Moleman has a major problem with personal boundaries/social codes
--on Hitomi mistaking Allen for Amano: be interesting if Hitomi met other people in Gaea who looked like ones she already knew
--Oh look, it’s Allen. Yuck.
--Dilandau’s tiara and Folken’s mullet crack me up
--Asturia is also the name of a region in Spain
--poor Hitomi, waking up in a room full of strange men who immediately start making inappropriate jokes
--Allen’s puffed sleeves are bigger than Hitomi’s head! How does he keep those starched in a swampy military post?
--Have the crew ever tied Allen’s hair to the bedpost while he sleeps?
--I love how Dilandau’s reaction to Allen kissing Hitomi is, “Cooties! Ew!”
--I’d forgotten about the “light halos” on the characters’ hair
Episode 4
--does Merle have Van sonar?
--So Allen’s hitting on Hitomi while comparing her to his sister. Ew.
--plot hole: how did Zaibach poison Merle and Hitomi? Could just be from running around in forest
--wow, Dilandau even bitch slaps while in mecha
--How does that cloak (Escaflowne) manage to convert to wings?
Episode 5
--great that Hitomi’s not solely a damsel in distress and can do useful things
Episode 6
--Allen, could you please get over your angst a little faster? That’d be great.
--re Millerna’s outfit: the puffed sleeves must be an Asturian thing. It’s a national epidemic!
--So it sounds like Millerna visited Fanelia in the past before Folken vanished. Why would she have been there?
--Does King Aston know that Allen had an affair with his daughter? If not, what other reason does he have for disliking Allen.
--Nobody will notice this giant guymelef if we just throw a tarp over it!
--costumes of guards remind me of Renaissance Italy
--Did CD get to Gaea on its own or did somebody bring it?
--Was all of Fanelia destroyed/attacked, or just the capital city?
--Was Merle’s voice actress paid for each time she said “Van-sama”?
Episode 7
--I love that King Aston decided to have a guymelef right in his dining room
--Is Eries the oldest sister or the middle one? Why is she not next in line for the throne?
