Forum - View topicEscaflowne Movie
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jfrog
 Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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I had stayed away from this one for awhile because of all the negative hype around it, but I watched it the other night and thought it was an improvement on the TV series in almost every way. Why does everyone seem to hate it? I mean, I can understand if someone hadn't seen the series (since half the things in the movie would make no sense), and I can understand if someone was only watching it because of Allen (since they changed his personality and drastically reduced his role). But other than that I don't see what everyone's problem is. I dunno, maybe its because I thought the original TV series was 'kinda neat' instead of 'best ever', or maybe people were just being stupid and expecting the movie to be exactly like the TV series in every way. Can someone please enlighten me?
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Aaron White
Old Regular
Posts: 1365 Location: Birmingham, Alabama |
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I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I though the movie was bland, bland, bland. It even ends with the villian's castle falling apart when the villian dies-when will this hoary old cliche finally be retired? The script could have been computer generated. Sure, it looked pretty, but so what?
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Inu-Yasha
 Posts: 373 Location: Quad Cities, Iowa |
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I usually thought of the Escaflowne movie in an alernative universe and thats why the movie and characters are different and the events too. Before watching the movie I saw the first 9 episodes in 96, and then saw the movie. I still like the movie and series but I feel there needs to be another one and I haven't read the manga yet.
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ShellBullet
 Posts: 1051 Location: I hit things, with my fist. |
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Well, I saw the movie before the series, so I had no preconceived notions going in. The movie is just way too fast. The character developement flies past at warp speed and just when the viewer starts to get into the movie the finale is already half way over. As far as whether the story of the movie is better or worse than the series, that is a value judgement where most fans (myself included) side with the series.
I have to say that I enjoyed the movie better the second time around AFTER I had seen the series. It made so much more sense and it was fun seeing how all the characters had changed, especially Millerna. Besides, I do not remember many people ever saying that they hated the movie, disappointed would be a better word. |
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The Ramblin' Wreck
 Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
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I saw the movie before the series, and I really enjoyed both.
The movie has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. |
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Jadress
 Posts: 807 Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy! |
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I agree with ShellBullet. Setting it aside from the series for a moment, the character development really lacks, and I was uneasy with the pacing of the show, and even of the animation. Maybe I was in a weird mood, but somehow I walked away feeling like there were too many slow shots of buildings falling down. The character designs and visuals are breathtaking (and the music of course!), but otherwise, I couldn't get into it like I did the TV show. But I loved the TV show sexually, so I'm biased.
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Kazuki-san
 Posts: 2251 Location: Houston, TX |
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The thing to remember about the movie is, that like other anime movies, it is an alternate retelling of the tv series. It's not meant to be watched alone, but rather after you have already seen the series. It's much like the RahXephon movie or End Of Eva in that regard. Without watching the series first, and knowing all of the background, the movie would not be very interesting. Personally, I thought that movie was good, not on the top of my list though.
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SSJ Ski
Posts: 99 Location: Behind me....wait |
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I personally liked EoE more, but that's me.
As for the movie...I was and still am I huge fan of the series. The movie just felt reallly rushed to me. And when I finally started getting into the movie it was already over. There were no great fights like in the show. Sure there were some good ones, but they just felt a little different. Still the animation and soundtrack were great. I liked it, just not nearly as much as the series. |
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Lord Van
 Posts: 70 Location: Savannah Ga |
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I agree with above statements, because I too watched the movie before the series. I enjoyed the movie, but it didn't move me at first.
The series expanded on the characters in so many ways. After watching the series, I am now wanting to see the movie again. I don't think the movie will ever live up to the series brilliance though. |
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Kawaii Moon Kitty
 Posts: 76 |
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Despite the fact I've yet to see the series, and I really want to.. I do like the movie, but I have to agree. The story and character development flew by pretty quickly, cutting out all the emphasis and impact it could have had to help move the storyline along. It was lacking in areas, giving it some sense of awkwardness, but not too much. But like I said, I still have yet to see the series. Nice artwork and gorgeous music though! Kudos for that!
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Aaron White
Old Regular
Posts: 1365 Location: Birmingham, Alabama |
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End of Eva is not a retelling but a continuation of the series. It's a totally different dynamic. If a movie is a retelling, then by golly tell a story that stands on its own two feet. The Escaflowne movie doesn't do much in that regard; characters from the show appear simply becasue the fans expect them, but they don't matter to the story. Eh. |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11295 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Well, I've said it before, but I'll say it again.
When I originally recieved the movie as a birthday gift and watched it, I didn't like it all that much. I watched it about a week after the series, and it just seemed so contrastingly bothersome and totally contradicting to the series. However, a few months ago, I ordered the Ultimate Edition of this movie ($32.99 as opposed to the MSRP of $54.98 from http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com) and I had decided to watch the extras disc for some potential insight. I did so, and watched the movie again, but in Japanese (which was my first time ever hearing the franchise in that language). And I must say, I found the overall production to be very much more likeable than before. I noticed what subtle romantic nuances there were that carried over from the series, I became a little more sympathetic for Van and Hitomi's conflicts over the lonliness they faced, and I just enjoyed the film so much more. The extras were actually pretty cool. They have interviews with the director, producer, and even the seiyuu. I found it most interesting to know that Tomokazu Seki had lost his driver's license, Shinichiro Miki restrained himself from eating BBQ before recording so as not to be smelly for Maaya Sakamoto, and that Maaya Sakamoto herself can't even ride a bike. 
Anyway, aside from those little tid bits of extra information, they did go into some detail as to why the movie was so different from the series. It (the movie) was maid 5 years after the end of the actual series (which is pretty long in anime time), and as Kazuki-san said, the director even admitted to saying that this movie was a "retelling of the original story" and that fans shouldn't compare the two. They should just think more in terms of (to quote Marvel Comics) "what if..." So after knowing this, I did so, and thus like the movie a lot now. And as said, the soundtrack is one of THE best that I've heard, and it really helps when you're watching the movie in DTS. So, yeah, I rated the movie "excellent" in My Anime. Sure, as Aaron said, it's cliched, but that's sometimes a good thing. 
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jfrog
Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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Well of course it's cliche! Nearly all post-Tolkein fantasy is cliche.
You see, I didn't think that Escaflowne had great character development. I didn't think that Dryden, Millerna, Merle, etc. didn't add much to the plot in either version. And I didn't Hitomi had all that much of a unique personality. Oh, she's a schoolgirl with a crush on an older student. That's nothing we haven't seen before. The movie made her interesting for me. Not because I think that depression makes things deep - quite the opposite, really - but because she was actually depressed. None of that moody brooding hero BS that make Donnie Darko and Wolf's Rain oh-so-hateable. The main thing that I loved about the movie was the visuals. Not just the animation, but what they were animating. Like in the final scene, where Hitomi sprouts wings and disappears. That was so much better than 'Hitomi gets sucked into yet another pillar of light'[/u] |
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Kazuki-san
Posts: 2251 Location: Houston, TX |
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End of Eva is actually a retelling of the events that occured in eps 25 and 26 of the tv series, not a continuation. (In EoE the first part is Episode 25 "Air", and the second part is episode 26 "Magokoro wo, kimi ni" or "Sincerely Yours") |
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Ken Hayashi
 Posts: 752 Location: Singapore |
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So indeed it is a retelling of the story. You may have noticed that Hitomi doesn't seem to have any recollection of Van, Allen or any of the others (I had initially thought that both stories were connected, chronologically).
I agree the pacing is too fast. You have to watch the TV series to get a hang of everything or the background of the characters, then suspend your expectations and just watch the movie as a standalone story. As mentioned, Millerna seems to have turned from being a princess into a pirate type of character. And Dryden (who in the original TV series, to me anyway, had a rather important role) has been sidelined in the movie. It still boiled down to being a struggle between Van and Folken I guess and the recurring theme of friendship and parting at the end, etc. I didn't really enjoy the movie initially, but I looked at it in a different light, and watched it again with different expectations and then I began to like it better. Still, it was too fast-paced and for a first-time viewer or anyone who had not previously watched the TV series, it might disappoint them. Same goes for those who expect the movie to be a continuation of or be connected to the TV series in some way or another. It's not a sequel and should not be expected to be one. |
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