The Vision of Escaflowne

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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...

Once there, Hitomi and Van quickly become embroiled in a massive war. Van's kingdom of Fanelia is one of many at war with the sinister Zaibach Empire, whose Emperor Dornkirk seeks to use his probability-altering technology (and army of Schizo-Tech Humongous Mecha known as "Guymelefs" --or "Melefs" for short) to conquer Gaea and create a world without uncertainty. The best chance to turn the tide of the war is the mighty Guymelef, the titular Escaflowne... which is also the biggest source of uncertainty in Dornkirk's vision of the future.

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.

Now with its own character sheet.

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The Vision of Escaflowne provides examples of the following tropes:

• The Abridged Series: Vision of Escaflowne Abridged
• Action Dress Rip: Hitomi gallantly ruining fashion to save Van from a sneak attack.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the movie Folken is a psychotic Big Bad, while in the original series he was more of an Anti-Villain or a Dragon with an Agenda to the actual Big Bad, Emperor Dornkirk (who is absent from the movie altogether). In fact, in the series he eventually has a Heel Face Turn .
• Agent Peacock: The Zaibach officer overseeing the energist extraction at the dragon graveyard wears pink accents and speaks in a somewhat flamboyant manner. He also has a Feather Boa Constrictor named Mila.
• Alien Sky: Currently provides the page quote, "I could see the Earth and Moon in the sky of this strange world," from the first episode when Hitomi ends up in Gaea.
• Aloof Big Brother: Folken, until his Heel Face Turn.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The English version has a different opening.
• And Man Grew Proud: 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.
• Anti-Villain: Folken
• Applied Phlebotinum: Energists and Levistones. There's also Hitomi's pendant, which turns out to be an Atlantean artifact salvaged by Leon and given to Hitomi's grandmother on his deathbed.
• Armor-Piercing Slap
  • 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. 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.)
• Ax Crazy: Dilandau
• Badass Grandpa: Balgus
• Bash Sisters: Nariya and Eriya fight with perfect synchronicity.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The final episode, where 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: Emperor Dornkirk is really Isaac Newton. And crazily enough this has some historical basis, given his obsession with the occult.
• Berserk Button: Dilandau has more of a keyboard, but Van is the poster child. Hurt Hitomi and... well...
• Break the Cutie: Van, Hitomi, 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.
• Bittersweet Ending: Both in the anime series and in the movie.
• But Your Wings Are Beautiful
• Cain and Abel: Van is Abel. Folken is Cain ;though he pulls a Heel Face Turn towards the end.
• Caped Mecha: A feature of pretty much any Guymelef that isn't mass produced. The capes on Zaibach mechs double as Invisibility Cloaks.
• Catgirl: Merle, later Nariya and Eriya.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The reason why Hitomi's calamitous prophecies come true is that she believes in them. Also, Dornkirk's machine's function is to cause this to happen. Too bad people want destruction of each other instead of world peace...
• Club President: Amano, the captain of the track team.
• Costume Porn: AND HOW!
• Crystal Spires and Togas: Atlantis. Eventually Atlanteans decided that even this wasn't good enough for them, and decided to make themselves into Physical Gods. That didn't end well.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Van vs. the Dragonslayers is a pretty epic example of this.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Van, Folken, and Dilandau. Played up for great drama in The Movie.
• Darker and Edgier: The Movie
• Deadly Upgrade: Luck enhancement does not end well for Naria and Eriya. Also, Folken implies that His Days Are Numbered because of a set of these.
• Dead Little Sister: Or so we think...
• Determinator: Van, more so as the war goes on. By the halfway point of the series, silly little factors like "we've already surrendered," "your mech is utterly totaled," or "you're bleeding to death," get in the way of trying to fly straight back to the battlefield on his own two wings.
• Diary: Marlene's and Leon's.
• Disappeared Dad: Leon (Allen's dad) as noted above.
• Disappears Into Light: Zaibach Guymelefs.
• Distressed Dude: Hitomi rescues Van so much he actually gets frustrated by it.
• Doomed Hometown: Fanelia
• Dungeon Punk: A setting where giant robots are powered by dragon hearts? What else could it be?
• Fan Service
  • Nariya and Eriya, complete with a bit of 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 the Draconians, the winged descendants of the people of Atlantis.
• First Church of Mecha: In at least one of the manga.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: When Merle manages to (literally) slap Hitomi and (not-so-literally) Van out of a dark vision, which saves their lives.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Folken's wings, unlike Van's or Varie's, are black. While the cause of this is unrelated to his moral alignment, the Fallen Angel imagery is definitely there. Word of God states that his wings became black (note that they were white when he revealed himself to Van) after realizing how wrong Dornkirk's plans were.
• Hidden Elf Village: The Ispano.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: Sir Isaac Newton is an alchemist who uses the power of Atlantis.
• Humongous Mecha: Not as 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.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her: Merle begins taking this approach after it becomes obvious that Van's is in love with Hitomi. Her anger at Hitomi in the second half of the series isn't because Van likes her more, but because Hitomi's Love Triangle indecisiveness is hurting him.
• I Have This Friend: Millerna and Hitomi; almost as soon as Hitomi says it, Millerna catches on.
• Instant Sedation
• Invisibility Cloak: Zaibach's Guymelefs have them.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: 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 in front of the armed guy. Of course, that was exactly what he was planning for.
• Karmic Death: A machine uses this trope as fuel.
• Kill and Replace: What Zongi the Doppleganger does to Plaktu. This seems to be the modus operandi of all Doppelgangers (and the reason they're so feared), since they can only seem to take the appearance (and abilities) of someone they've killed.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Allen Schezar
• Last of His Kind: 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), the 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 theologically questionable and world-threatening magitech) were a product and major indication of their arrogance.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Folken in The Movie.
• Love Dodecahedron: Consisting of four interlocking Love Triangles.
• Loyal Phlebotinum: The Escaflowne
• MacGuffin Girl: Hitomi in the manga. Literally: her body is made up out of the crystal used to power Escaflowne.
• Meaningful Echo: The "I have this friend" discussion.
• The Medic: Millerna in the TV series. Note that she's not a White Magician Girl, though: she's a normal medicine student.
• Medieval European Fantasy
• Memento MacGuffin: Hitomi's pendant, given to her by her grandmother which was given to her by Allen's father, Leon. Yep, turns out that Hitomi isn't the only Kanzaki that's been world-hopping....
• 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: 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.
• Modest Royalty: While Asturian royalty indulges in Costume Porn, the Fanelian royal family dresses simply. Van, for example, spends all of two scenes in something fancier than a pair of slacks and a peasant's shirt.

Hitomi: He's a prince?!

• 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 broaden the potential audience by adding some elements. Guess what those elements were.
• Ms. Fanservice
  • Naria and Eriya. Semi-Twincestious, scantily-clad Cat Girls that are totally willing to share? Holy shit, where do we sign!
  • Merle -- Token Mini-Moe, Catgirl, Vapor Wear, Victoria's Secret Compartment...
  • Hitomi gots some legs and cleans up nicely.
• Muggle and Magical Love Triangle: Allen, Hitomi, and Van. While Allen may be a Master Swordsman, he is a muggle to the bone, while Van is a Half-Human Hybrid, descendant of the cursed and now-extinct Atlantean race. Also, Allen appears to be the Gaean counterpart of Amano, Hitomi's high school running coach and first crush, making him a muggle times two.
• Multiple Demographic Appeal: Where to begin? Mecha, really cool fight scenes, Love Dodecahedron, 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: Which is why Dornkirk gave that speech.
• Named Weapons: Escaflowne
• Narnia Time: The relative flow of time between Earth and Gaia is inconsistent to say the least.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Everything that isn't Dornkirk's fault in this series is Hitomi's.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: Allen is the Noble Male, while Van is the Roguish Male. They are even color-coded.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Quite often. The most notable examples in the BGM are Dance of the Curse and Epistle.
• 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
• Orchestral Bombing
• Our Angels Are Different
• Parental Abandonment: Van, Allen, Folken, Chid.
• Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Death
• Perpetual Molt: Van, sometimes Folken.
• Petting Zoo People: There's a lot of animal people, including 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
• Pimped-Out Dress
• Posthumous Character: Quite a few of the main characters' dead (or presumed dead) relatives are relevant to the plot.
• Power Crystal
• Power of Love
• Precursors: The Atlanteans. Most of Gaea generally doesn't think very highly of them.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: And lavender if you are Millerna.
• Prophecy Twist: Knowing that fortunes on Gaea are influenced by human belief and will, Hitomi switches out the Tower card (Separation) for the Emperor (Good Fortune) in the Tarot reading of Millerna's impending marriage to Dryden. Turns out that luck was for the bad guys, who crash the wedding and -- thanks to literally supernatural good fortune -- destroy over half a Palas and defeat the Escaflowne with two only two mechs. Cue Hitomi's cry of My God, What Have I Done?
• 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.
• Redemption Equals Death: Folken, also a Karmic Death.
• Rescue Romance: A mutual example. Van latches onto Hitomi after she pulls a Diving Save, and Hitomi's own feelings are sparked when he returns the favor.
• Reset Button Ending: Hitomi must come back home once it's all over. But not really since it's said that she can go back if she really wants to. And Van can come over if he wants to.
• Retcon: The OVA is a retelling of the series, but it's completely different.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Sacred First Kiss: Hitomi had asked Amano to kiss her if she broke her own race record.
• School Uniforms Are the New Black: Hitomi wears her school uniform despite being on a completely different world. Justified to a degree: she was at school when Van brought her to Gaea, therefore she only had her uniform and her track clothes with her for quite a while. Millerna does buy her a new dress, but Hitomi only wears it for one or two episodes, then goes back to her uniform.
• Science Is Bad
• Screw Destiny: Ultimately, both protagonists and antagonists strive for this.
• Shaggy Search Technique: Millerna sits at her late sister's desk and listens to a built-in music box. Then, for no reason, she presses down on the head of one of the mechanical figurines. This causes a secret compartment to open, revealing Marlene's diary.
• Shirtless Scene: whenever Van and Folken show their wings.
• Shorttank: Both Hitomi and Millerna.
• Shoulders of Doom: Pretty much all the Guymelefs. And Folken.
• Shout-Out: The Duke of Freid sounds very similar to the main character of another giant robot show.
• Sibling Team: Nariya and Eriya.
• Slasher Smile: Dilandau's default expression.
• Spanner in The Works: Hitomi. Also Van at the end.
• Spared By the Adaptation: The Dragonslayers in the movie.
• Spell My Name With an "S": The official subtitles can't seem to agree on how to spell things. Though mostly consistent when it comes to the main characters (with the exception Merle being called Meryl once), minor characters vary much more. Compare Ispano/Yspano/Hispano, Mayden/Meiden, Chesta/Shesta, Gatty/Gatti, Viole/Viore/Biole/Biore, for example.
• Standing Between the Enemies: As Van's Humongous Mecha is getting 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.
• Theme Tune Cameo
• Took a Level In Badass: Brutally deconstructed as Van slowly becomes an all-out Blood Knight who revels in battles. Needless to say, Hitomi is horrified.

Hitomi: I saw it -- you enjoyed fighting! I don't want your protecting me if this is what it does to you.

Of course, poor Van has to take every level in Badass he can if he wants to stop The Empire and save the world...

• Transforming Mecha: The Escaflowne
• Translation Convention: As Van's introductory scene shows, the language they speak on Gaea is most definitely not Japanese, rather some form of mixed-up Portugeuse -- Hitomi just has Translator Microbes.
• Trapped in Another World
• Troperiffic: The show tries to cram in as many Anime Tropes as possible while remaining a viable story. It works thanks to heaping helpings of justifying every trope it can manage.
• Tropes Are Not Bad: The above bit makes Escaflowne the anime showcase to this.
• 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.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Prince Chid struggles a bit with the pressure the Duke of Freid puts on him to be The Wise Prince.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Pretty much every antagonist except for Dilandau.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy: Several, mainly Dilandau and Folken.
• 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 she kisses him.
• Winged Humanoid: Draconians, namely Van and Folken.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Prince Chid is mature enough to take on the role of The Wise Prince despite being maybe six years old at most. Much of this is because the pressure the Duke of Freid puts on him.
• With My Hands Tied: Note to villains: tying up and beating Van will only only work for a few minutes before he gets a hold of your sword with his legs.