Vision of Escaflowne Rating: five lava lamps. Information about this film in the Internet Movie Database. Reviewed by Brian A. Cook Once upon a time in a land not too far away, there was a young whale. It should be noted that he was not like other youths. He preferred to stay home alone rather than go wild at rock concerts. This young whale would often spend his spare time reading magazines, drawing, and watching videos. Most of the young whale's videos were of Japanese animation. One day, this particular young whale heard of an anime series known as the Vision of Escaflowne. He decided one day that he would have his mother order a copy for him. As with all videos, he expected to have a good time. But the young whale got was a masterpiece! A penguin had heard that the whale had gotten an incredible television series, so he went up to the whale and asked, "Pardon me, young whale, but will you please tell me a bit about the new anime series you have." "Oh, yes!" answered the whale enthusiastically, "It's already one of my all-time favorites. Anyway, the story revolves around a high-school girl named Hitomi Kanzaki, who happens to dabble in tarot cards. In the first episode, Hitomi is going through a relationship with an upperclassman. One night, the upperclassman told Kanzaki that when she break the running record on a track, he would give him her first kiss. You see, however, Hitomi has already had visions of archaic-looking giant robots fighting each other and of a sword-boy. When she is about to successfully break the record, the sword-boy of her visions appears, and his name is Van...and so does a dragon! After the encounter with the dragon, the girl and Van are transported to his home-world, Gaea." "Well I'll be," said the penguin. "That's the best set-up I've ever heard, and I've seen fine anime before." The whale said, "Keep in mind that this is only the beginning. Gaea is facing a world war, whose man antagonist is the Zaibach empire. The story is much too complicated for me to go into now, and I don't wan't to anyway." "Oh? Why not?" asked the penguin. "The story is so grand," replied the young whale, "that I don't wan't to ruin it for you!" "Tell me more," the penguin requested. The whale said, "I've already implied that the plot, spanning 26 episodes, is elaborate and totally cohesive. There's also the characters. Hitomi Kanzaki is neither a typical anime bimbo nor a typical anime annoyance. Instead, she's sympathetic and believable. Not that the others aren't believable or interesting. There's the swords-boy, Van, and the chivalric knight, Allen, who, in the words of another man of a prominent anime magazine, serve a fine Luke-and-Han role. There's also the pshychotic Zaibach fighter, Dilandu, the troubled Zaibach general, Folken, and the enigmatic Zaibach emperor, Dornkirk. There's too many more well-developed characters for me to go into now." "What else?" said the penguin. The whale replied, "Don't forget the score. Its mostly classical sounds perfectly fit whatever scenes they are put into. For instance, take some of the battle themes...They rival Duel of the Fates from the Phantom Menace, and that's saying a lot! The art is absolutely gorgeous to look at, especially in the quieter moments, and the animation quite easily comes to the quality of Warner Brothers' television series, and that's saying a lot too. The romance--" "Spew!" grimmaced the penguin. "As I was saying," continued the whale, "The romance is extremely well-integrated...emotional yet not too sappy. In fact, it's one of the main elements of the story, and you can rest assured that it's well-done, like everything else. Speaking of well-done, the battle sequences are of the same quality. If you haven't seen the Gaea robots fight, then you haven't seen any real robot fight." "Well, well, well" said the penguin with a smile on his face, "I'm looking forward to seeing it." The young whale replied, "Well, you can't get it in stores. You either have to order it directly from Bandai or from some other mail-order store, like AnimeNation or Amazon.com. Quite frankly, if you have the money, go ahead and get the whole eight-volume box set. You will not regret it at all!" "Thank you for your recommendation," said the penguin. "No need to thank me," said the whale. Who is that young whale, you ask? Well, let's just say by the using the word whale, I am exaggerating my largeness. Don't ask who the penguin is. This review is © copyright 1999 Guest. Blah blah blah. Please don't claim that it's yours blah blah, but feel free to e-mail it to friends, or better yet, send them the URL. To reproduce this review in another form, please contact us at guys@stomptokyo.com. Blah blah blah blah.