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Escaflowne: The Movie (Ultimate Edition)
Bandai // PG-13 // July 23, 2002
List Price: $54.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Reviewer's Note: It has come to my attention that some (or many) copies of both the Ultimate Edition and Standard edition of this movie have a bad video defect. In Chapter 12, at about the 52 minute and 57 second mark there is bad pixellation and audio cut-outs through at least chapter 14. I have even heard that from this spot on, the movie is horrendous on the video side.
Bandai has released an announcement of how to replace your disc if you have this problem. The information can be found in the DVDTalk forum here.
I received an early copy of the Ultimate Edition and did not experience these problems. I stand by the review I have given. I also feel bad that many people may not see this movie for the beauty it is because of this problem at this time.
The Movie
How exactly do you reduce a roughly 600 minute, 26 episode anime series into a 90 minute movie? Escaflowne: The Movie attempts this very thing and ends up as a great movie in the end. Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea (the actual title of this movie) is an alternative retelling of the 26 episode series Visions of Escaflowne. When the idea for an Escaflowne movie first came up, there was a question about whether it should be a sequel to the TV series or a retelling of the TV series. It is quite obvious they decided on the latter, and having seen the series I can say this movie stands up pretty well as a retelling of the overall story even though it is about 510 minutes less long than the series.
With the jump to the silver screen it is obvious that a lot of money was put into this movie. One of the first things veteran Escaflowne watchers should notice is that the characters and overall art has greatly improved over the TV series. The characters no longer have pointy noses and all of them have had some sort of change done to them both major and minor. A minor change would be that Hitomi now has a shorter schoolgirl skirt on and the colors of her clothes are more translucent than they were in the TV series. She also no longer has those stray hairs at the back of her head (the art director goes into detail about why this is in the extras). Major changes include such things as total redesigns of Escaflowne, Dilandau's Guymelef and characters such as Lord Van Fanel (he looks much more rough and warrior-like here), Allen, Millerna, Dilandau and Lord Folken. The changes alter some of their looks (such as Folken now has long hair instead of short), but you can easily know who is who if you have seen the TV series.
In the next section I will be giving away major spoilers both for the TV series and the movie presented here. If you do not want to know anything about either, please skip to the bolded End Spoilers at the end. I will then go into whether this is a good movie for someone not familiar at all with Escaflowne
Major Spoilers
The other major change is the story obviously. In this version, Hitomi is brought to Gaea by Folken instead of Van coming down to Earth to defeat a dragon and having Hitomi come with him. All the groups have been whittled down to 2 groups, the Black Dragon Clan that Folken commands and what I would consider the White Dragon Clan that Allen seems to command. When Hitomi lands on Gaea she actually ends up in the Escaflowne armor itself. Escaflowne has changed quite a bit over the TV series. Depending on the feelings of the pilot, Escaflowne can turn white (to save) or black (to destroy) now. Another neat, but disturbing, change in Escaflowne is that now for a person to control Escaflowne it needs to hook lines up to the pilot and suck the person's blood out. Also whenever Escaflowne pulls a sword out or changes into the dragon there is now a good amount of blood that comes out with it. This movie is extremely bloody with heads being chopped off, blood spurting all over and a huge amount of violence. This movie is rated PG-13, but I question how close it was to becoming R-rated. I have never seen this much blood in a PG-13 movie, animated or otherwise.
The ancillary characters (Merle, Allen and Millerna) have little to no dialogue in this movie. They show up here and there, but not at the level they did in the series. The core here is comprised of Van, Hitomi, Folken and, to a lesser extent, Dilandau. In the movie, only people with dragon blood can pilot the mechs. This ties into what I said above about Escaflowne and the blood. In this version Van, Folken and Dilandau are the only characters with dragon blood in them. Folken even talks about how Dilandau is a lesser dragon blood being than himself and Van. The reason Folken brings Hitomi to Gaea is to awaken the dragon, Escaflowne, so that he can destroy the world. He wants to destroy the world because Van was chosen as the future king and not himself. He considers his younger brother a lesser being, much like Dilandau.
Another important, but interesting, change is that the three characters with dragon's blood also have special telekinetic powers in the movie as well. When Van and Dilandau first meet the battle is made up mostly of them beating each other up with their powers along with a sword fight. Dilandau seems to be able to handle Van for the most part, but Van eventually defeats him. Dilandau's part is not done though as Folken puts him in the other Guymelef mech to fight Van and trap him and Hitomi into turning Escaflowne dark and destroying the world. Hitomi is the only one that can summon Escaflowne and she has to decide whether she wants to save or destroy the world. On earth she was alone and in sorrow. She initially feels the same on Gaea, and that is what Folken is counting on. On earth she wanted the world to end, which is why Folken brings her to Gaea, hoping she will destroy his world and his sorrow. In the end Van and Hitomi figure out that they are not alone in the world, but that they are more powerful together than as individuals.
The movie ends more dramatically than the TV series did, but the same ending is pretty much presented. I think this ending is far better than the one presented in the TV series. In one of the extras in a post-premiere forum at Anime Expo 2000, the people from Bandai ask why people laughed at the end and they said, "Because it was the same ending, but this one was more jarring and quick". And then another person answered what the ending actually meant. I will not spoil it here, you will have to watch it to see it yourself.
End Spoilers
Now the question is if this movie is good for someone that knows nothing about the Escaflowne TV series? This is a tough one to answer because of the fact that I have seen the whole TV series. As a stand-alone story, I think someone not familiar with the TV series can watch this. Where confusion may come up is with the amount of major characters from the TV show that just show up, have a short introduction, and you barely see them again. The plot moves quite quickly and you will not understand everything or the relations of some characters to other characters. There is also a lot of blood spilled in this movie, far more than in the TV series. I question the PG-13 rating, but what do I know?
My best advice is to get the Limited Edition TV series box set that comes out the same day as this movie. It contains all 8 DVDs of the Escaflowne TV series. If you watch the movie, watch those and then go back to the movie you will probably have far different feelings about the movie than you did when you first watched it.
The DVD
Video: This movie is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. It seems to be of film quality instead of pure digital quality. The animation is fantastic and I love the cosmetic changes they have done with the characters (no more pointy noses). I noticed no flaws in this release. Gaea is much darker in this movie than it was in the TV series, but I think that correlates well with the dark tone of this movie.
The animation was done by Sunrise, the people responsible for the Gundam line, Cowboy Bebop and many others. In the booklet, the animation director talks about how he did not necessarily like all the changes that were made. He did enjoy the more realistic art style, such as the pointy noses being gone.
Sound: Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 in both English and Japanese as well as a DTS 5.1 Japanese track and a Dolby Digital 5.1 Isolated Score Only track. There is also something I have never seen in an anime before, there is an option to have a storyboard subtitle that shows the storyboard for a scene in the lower right corner of the screen during the whole movie. Every single scene's storyboard is presented.
I actually ended up listening to this movie in the DTS 5.1 Japanese track. Listening through the Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks I found that the English version was too quiet and did not have much power in the low ranges. Switching to the Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 proved slightly better than the English version. The sound was a bit louder and the power in the low range was starting to come out. Then I switched to the DTS 5.1 track and all I can say is wow! The track was far louder on the same volume level as the other two. The sound filled the room and the low range effects were powerful and shook the floor during intense moments.
For those of you that sit on the fence between Dolby Digital and DTS and believe that there is no difference between the two, you need to pop this disc in. It will change your mind about how much better DTS is over Dolby Digital. This is easily one of starkest contrasts I have heard and even a non-audiophile will be able to tell the difference here. I almost always listen to the English track first on an anime, but the Japanese DTS track just made me enjoy the movie that much more. I was highly disappointed in the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track presented here. I will be honest and say I did not much like the English version of the TV series either, but I did sit through it. Supposedly this track was done in the same studio the original Japanese track was done on in Japan.
I would like to say the highlight in the sound section is the Dolby Digital 5.1 Isolated Score Track by one of my favorite composers, Ms. Yoko Kanno along with Hajime Mizoguchi. The music does a better job for loudness and power in DD 5.1 than the voices do in the full DD 5.1 English track. It would have been really great to get a DTS 5.1 Isolated Score, but oh well. Other than her work on Cowboy Bebop, this is probably her most well known work. There are some old songs from the TV series as well as many new songs in this movie. She is a great composer and I think it would be great if she could do an American movie sometime.
Packaging: I add this in here because the Ultimate Edition box looks like it is made out of cardboard. When I received my copy the box was already torn in two places. It takes little to no effort to tear the box I am sure. Bandai's heart was in the right place with the beautiful pictures on the front and back, but maybe plastic would have been a better idea. Just wanted to warn everyone that you may be disappointed by the box.
Menus: The are a variety of menus both on the Movie disc and the Extras disc. They are well done with music in the background and animated scenes. The menus are easy to navigate.
Extras:
This release is actually 3 discs long, 2 on DVD and 1 CD.
Disc 1
Storyboard Subtitle: I talk about this above in the Sound department and I would consider it an extra on the movie disc as well. Basically you turn this on and you see the storyboards in the lower right hand corner for the scenes as the movie goes along. I have never seen this in an anime or mainstream DVD before. They may be out there, but I have not seen it. It is amazing to see the sketches and then see how they turned out in the end.
Trailers: Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Gundam: Chars Counterattack and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
16 page booklet: Not really an extra on Disc 1, but it is an extra nonetheless. This has words in it by the people who made Escaflowne what it is today. Many of the stories are long, but they are enjoyable reads. The stories are by Shoji Kawamori (Original Creator), Kazuki Akane (Director), Noberteru Yuuki (Character Designer), Kimitoshi Yamane (Mechanical Designer), Junichi Higashi (Art Director), Ryota Yamaguchi (Screenplay), Masahiko Minami (Producer), Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese Hitomi VA and singer), Tomokazu Seki (Japanese Van VA) and The Production Division at Bandai Entertainment (DVD makers).
Disc 2
Staff and Cast Interviews: Interviews with Director Kzuki Akane, Character Designer/Animation Director Noberteru Yuuki and Producer Masuo Ueda. They talk about how the movie came to be. Originally there was an idea for a movie, but they were not sure if they wanted a sequel to the TV series or a retelling of the story. They obviously chose the latter. Ueda talks about how he wanted to share Escaflowne with the world and was glad to see it was so popular in Korea, America and especially Europe, along with Japan. They are very interesting interviews and are subtitled in English.
There are also 3 roundtable discussions with the Japanese Voice Actors for Hitomi, Van and Allen. The moderator basically asks them questions and they answer them. They all seemed very happy that there was more Escaflowne for them to work on with the movie. They all seemed pretty bummed out when the TV series ended and were happy to hear it was going to the big screen. The voice actor for Van talked about how hard it was to condense something he worked on for 6 months (for the TV series) into a 90 minute movie. Hitomi's voice actress also talks about how she was scared when she first went in thinking she would not be able to convey the same Hitomi she once did. She was the same age as Hitomi when she started the TV series. Once she started to do it again it was easy though. Altogether the interviews are interesting.
Movie Trailers: Japanese Theatrical Trailer, Japanese Cable TV commercial, English Sneak Peak Trailer and English Theatrical Trailer.
Escaflowne Cast Interviews: These were done after the movie was done. The director seems very shy in the interviews and is especially shy around girls, which Ms. Yoko Kanno alludes to in the first interview. The interviews are: Director Kazuki Akane/Composer Yoko Kanno, Akane/ Kelly Sheridan (Hitomi English actress…he is VERY shy here), Masahiko Mirami (Bones studio producer), Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese Hitomi) and Producer Masuo Ueda. These are difficult to hear and it is obvious that some of the people are very tired after getting done with the movie. These are interesting, but not as interesting as the interviews above other than we get to hear Yoko Kanno speak.
Anime Expo 2000 Premiere Footage: Escaflowne: The Movie was first shown in America during Anime Expo 2000 in Anaheim, CA. They have a movie clip of the line, which looks quite long outside of the convention building. There is an introduction by people from Bandai and a post-movie panel highlight that I talk about in the Spoiler section of my review. They are interesting extras, but nothing to get excited about other than the post-movie panel part.
Production Art Gallery: There are roughly 59 Characters and Weapons sketches with English translations of the Japanese words, 27 sketches of the Mechs in Mechanical Designs, a lot of Setting and Vehicle sketches (I lost count after 60) and 11 proposed Movie Poster ideas for the English release of the movie.
Soundtrack CD
Soundtrack to Escaflowne: The Movie: As an added benefit, we get the original soundtrack for the movie in this package as well. Listening to Yoko Kanno music is a great way to spend your days. I know I praise her a lot, but she is that darn good. Amazingly this is the first CD of her work that I have ever owned as I am not one to go out and get Original Soundtrack CD imports.
Final Thoughts: Escaflowne: The Movie is an easy recommendation. It takes the TV series and retells it to, in my mind, a superb 90 minute movie. The extras in the Ultimate Edition are great, but I would put the soundtrack far above the Extras disc. Yes, the interviews were interesting, but I think I would rather have had a subtitled commentary by the director on the movie disc. The extra on the first disc of being able to watch the storyboards as the movie goes along is phenomenal and something I have never seen in an anime or mainstream title. The Japanese DTS 5.1 track is phenomenal and one of the best anime tracks I have ever heard. If you question how different DTS and Dolby Digital is, here is your chance to experiment. This disc is reference quality for an anime release in both video and sound. For many the extras will be more interesting than they were to me. The soundtrack in itself makes this purchase a wise one. I am giving this the DVD Talk Collector's Series seal of approval and warn anyone interested in seeing this that they may want to watch the TV series first.
Bandai has released an announcement of how to replace your disc if you have this problem. The information can be found in the DVDTalk forum here.
I received an early copy of the Ultimate Edition and did not experience these problems. I stand by the review I have given. I also feel bad that many people may not see this movie for the beauty it is because of this problem at this time.
The Movie
How exactly do you reduce a roughly 600 minute, 26 episode anime series into a 90 minute movie? Escaflowne: The Movie attempts this very thing and ends up as a great movie in the end. Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea (the actual title of this movie) is an alternative retelling of the 26 episode series Visions of Escaflowne. When the idea for an Escaflowne movie first came up, there was a question about whether it should be a sequel to the TV series or a retelling of the TV series. It is quite obvious they decided on the latter, and having seen the series I can say this movie stands up pretty well as a retelling of the overall story even though it is about 510 minutes less long than the series.
With the jump to the silver screen it is obvious that a lot of money was put into this movie. One of the first things veteran Escaflowne watchers should notice is that the characters and overall art has greatly improved over the TV series. The characters no longer have pointy noses and all of them have had some sort of change done to them both major and minor. A minor change would be that Hitomi now has a shorter schoolgirl skirt on and the colors of her clothes are more translucent than they were in the TV series. She also no longer has those stray hairs at the back of her head (the art director goes into detail about why this is in the extras). Major changes include such things as total redesigns of Escaflowne, Dilandau's Guymelef and characters such as Lord Van Fanel (he looks much more rough and warrior-like here), Allen, Millerna, Dilandau and Lord Folken. The changes alter some of their looks (such as Folken now has long hair instead of short), but you can easily know who is who if you have seen the TV series.
In the next section I will be giving away major spoilers both for the TV series and the movie presented here. If you do not want to know anything about either, please skip to the bolded End Spoilers at the end. I will then go into whether this is a good movie for someone not familiar at all with Escaflowne
Major Spoilers
The other major change is the story obviously. In this version, Hitomi is brought to Gaea by Folken instead of Van coming down to Earth to defeat a dragon and having Hitomi come with him. All the groups have been whittled down to 2 groups, the Black Dragon Clan that Folken commands and what I would consider the White Dragon Clan that Allen seems to command. When Hitomi lands on Gaea she actually ends up in the Escaflowne armor itself. Escaflowne has changed quite a bit over the TV series. Depending on the feelings of the pilot, Escaflowne can turn white (to save) or black (to destroy) now. Another neat, but disturbing, change in Escaflowne is that now for a person to control Escaflowne it needs to hook lines up to the pilot and suck the person's blood out. Also whenever Escaflowne pulls a sword out or changes into the dragon there is now a good amount of blood that comes out with it. This movie is extremely bloody with heads being chopped off, blood spurting all over and a huge amount of violence. This movie is rated PG-13, but I question how close it was to becoming R-rated. I have never seen this much blood in a PG-13 movie, animated or otherwise.
The ancillary characters (Merle, Allen and Millerna) have little to no dialogue in this movie. They show up here and there, but not at the level they did in the series. The core here is comprised of Van, Hitomi, Folken and, to a lesser extent, Dilandau. In the movie, only people with dragon blood can pilot the mechs. This ties into what I said above about Escaflowne and the blood. In this version Van, Folken and Dilandau are the only characters with dragon blood in them. Folken even talks about how Dilandau is a lesser dragon blood being than himself and Van. The reason Folken brings Hitomi to Gaea is to awaken the dragon, Escaflowne, so that he can destroy the world. He wants to destroy the world because Van was chosen as the future king and not himself. He considers his younger brother a lesser being, much like Dilandau.
Another important, but interesting, change is that the three characters with dragon's blood also have special telekinetic powers in the movie as well. When Van and Dilandau first meet the battle is made up mostly of them beating each other up with their powers along with a sword fight. Dilandau seems to be able to handle Van for the most part, but Van eventually defeats him. Dilandau's part is not done though as Folken puts him in the other Guymelef mech to fight Van and trap him and Hitomi into turning Escaflowne dark and destroying the world. Hitomi is the only one that can summon Escaflowne and she has to decide whether she wants to save or destroy the world. On earth she was alone and in sorrow. She initially feels the same on Gaea, and that is what Folken is counting on. On earth she wanted the world to end, which is why Folken brings her to Gaea, hoping she will destroy his world and his sorrow. In the end Van and Hitomi figure out that they are not alone in the world, but that they are more powerful together than as individuals.
The movie ends more dramatically than the TV series did, but the same ending is pretty much presented. I think this ending is far better than the one presented in the TV series. In one of the extras in a post-premiere forum at Anime Expo 2000, the people from Bandai ask why people laughed at the end and they said, "Because it was the same ending, but this one was more jarring and quick". And then another person answered what the ending actually meant. I will not spoil it here, you will have to watch it to see it yourself.
End Spoilers
Now the question is if this movie is good for someone that knows nothing about the Escaflowne TV series? This is a tough one to answer because of the fact that I have seen the whole TV series. As a stand-alone story, I think someone not familiar with the TV series can watch this. Where confusion may come up is with the amount of major characters from the TV show that just show up, have a short introduction, and you barely see them again. The plot moves quite quickly and you will not understand everything or the relations of some characters to other characters. There is also a lot of blood spilled in this movie, far more than in the TV series. I question the PG-13 rating, but what do I know?
My best advice is to get the Limited Edition TV series box set that comes out the same day as this movie. It contains all 8 DVDs of the Escaflowne TV series. If you watch the movie, watch those and then go back to the movie you will probably have far different feelings about the movie than you did when you first watched it.
The DVD
Video: This movie is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. It seems to be of film quality instead of pure digital quality. The animation is fantastic and I love the cosmetic changes they have done with the characters (no more pointy noses). I noticed no flaws in this release. Gaea is much darker in this movie than it was in the TV series, but I think that correlates well with the dark tone of this movie.
The animation was done by Sunrise, the people responsible for the Gundam line, Cowboy Bebop and many others. In the booklet, the animation director talks about how he did not necessarily like all the changes that were made. He did enjoy the more realistic art style, such as the pointy noses being gone.
Sound: Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 in both English and Japanese as well as a DTS 5.1 Japanese track and a Dolby Digital 5.1 Isolated Score Only track. There is also something I have never seen in an anime before, there is an option to have a storyboard subtitle that shows the storyboard for a scene in the lower right corner of the screen during the whole movie. Every single scene's storyboard is presented.
I actually ended up listening to this movie in the DTS 5.1 Japanese track. Listening through the Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks I found that the English version was too quiet and did not have much power in the low ranges. Switching to the Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 proved slightly better than the English version. The sound was a bit louder and the power in the low range was starting to come out. Then I switched to the DTS 5.1 track and all I can say is wow! The track was far louder on the same volume level as the other two. The sound filled the room and the low range effects were powerful and shook the floor during intense moments.
For those of you that sit on the fence between Dolby Digital and DTS and believe that there is no difference between the two, you need to pop this disc in. It will change your mind about how much better DTS is over Dolby Digital. This is easily one of starkest contrasts I have heard and even a non-audiophile will be able to tell the difference here. I almost always listen to the English track first on an anime, but the Japanese DTS track just made me enjoy the movie that much more. I was highly disappointed in the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track presented here. I will be honest and say I did not much like the English version of the TV series either, but I did sit through it. Supposedly this track was done in the same studio the original Japanese track was done on in Japan.
I would like to say the highlight in the sound section is the Dolby Digital 5.1 Isolated Score Track by one of my favorite composers, Ms. Yoko Kanno along with Hajime Mizoguchi. The music does a better job for loudness and power in DD 5.1 than the voices do in the full DD 5.1 English track. It would have been really great to get a DTS 5.1 Isolated Score, but oh well. Other than her work on Cowboy Bebop, this is probably her most well known work. There are some old songs from the TV series as well as many new songs in this movie. She is a great composer and I think it would be great if she could do an American movie sometime.
Packaging: I add this in here because the Ultimate Edition box looks like it is made out of cardboard. When I received my copy the box was already torn in two places. It takes little to no effort to tear the box I am sure. Bandai's heart was in the right place with the beautiful pictures on the front and back, but maybe plastic would have been a better idea. Just wanted to warn everyone that you may be disappointed by the box.
Menus: The are a variety of menus both on the Movie disc and the Extras disc. They are well done with music in the background and animated scenes. The menus are easy to navigate.
Extras:
This release is actually 3 discs long, 2 on DVD and 1 CD.
Disc 1
Storyboard Subtitle: I talk about this above in the Sound department and I would consider it an extra on the movie disc as well. Basically you turn this on and you see the storyboards in the lower right hand corner for the scenes as the movie goes along. I have never seen this in an anime or mainstream DVD before. They may be out there, but I have not seen it. It is amazing to see the sketches and then see how they turned out in the end.
Trailers: Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Gundam: Chars Counterattack and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
16 page booklet: Not really an extra on Disc 1, but it is an extra nonetheless. This has words in it by the people who made Escaflowne what it is today. Many of the stories are long, but they are enjoyable reads. The stories are by Shoji Kawamori (Original Creator), Kazuki Akane (Director), Noberteru Yuuki (Character Designer), Kimitoshi Yamane (Mechanical Designer), Junichi Higashi (Art Director), Ryota Yamaguchi (Screenplay), Masahiko Minami (Producer), Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese Hitomi VA and singer), Tomokazu Seki (Japanese Van VA) and The Production Division at Bandai Entertainment (DVD makers).
Disc 2
Staff and Cast Interviews: Interviews with Director Kzuki Akane, Character Designer/Animation Director Noberteru Yuuki and Producer Masuo Ueda. They talk about how the movie came to be. Originally there was an idea for a movie, but they were not sure if they wanted a sequel to the TV series or a retelling of the story. They obviously chose the latter. Ueda talks about how he wanted to share Escaflowne with the world and was glad to see it was so popular in Korea, America and especially Europe, along with Japan. They are very interesting interviews and are subtitled in English.
There are also 3 roundtable discussions with the Japanese Voice Actors for Hitomi, Van and Allen. The moderator basically asks them questions and they answer them. They all seemed very happy that there was more Escaflowne for them to work on with the movie. They all seemed pretty bummed out when the TV series ended and were happy to hear it was going to the big screen. The voice actor for Van talked about how hard it was to condense something he worked on for 6 months (for the TV series) into a 90 minute movie. Hitomi's voice actress also talks about how she was scared when she first went in thinking she would not be able to convey the same Hitomi she once did. She was the same age as Hitomi when she started the TV series. Once she started to do it again it was easy though. Altogether the interviews are interesting.
Movie Trailers: Japanese Theatrical Trailer, Japanese Cable TV commercial, English Sneak Peak Trailer and English Theatrical Trailer.
Escaflowne Cast Interviews: These were done after the movie was done. The director seems very shy in the interviews and is especially shy around girls, which Ms. Yoko Kanno alludes to in the first interview. The interviews are: Director Kazuki Akane/Composer Yoko Kanno, Akane/ Kelly Sheridan (Hitomi English actress…he is VERY shy here), Masahiko Mirami (Bones studio producer), Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese Hitomi) and Producer Masuo Ueda. These are difficult to hear and it is obvious that some of the people are very tired after getting done with the movie. These are interesting, but not as interesting as the interviews above other than we get to hear Yoko Kanno speak.
Anime Expo 2000 Premiere Footage: Escaflowne: The Movie was first shown in America during Anime Expo 2000 in Anaheim, CA. They have a movie clip of the line, which looks quite long outside of the convention building. There is an introduction by people from Bandai and a post-movie panel highlight that I talk about in the Spoiler section of my review. They are interesting extras, but nothing to get excited about other than the post-movie panel part.
Production Art Gallery: There are roughly 59 Characters and Weapons sketches with English translations of the Japanese words, 27 sketches of the Mechs in Mechanical Designs, a lot of Setting and Vehicle sketches (I lost count after 60) and 11 proposed Movie Poster ideas for the English release of the movie.
Soundtrack CD
Soundtrack to Escaflowne: The Movie: As an added benefit, we get the original soundtrack for the movie in this package as well. Listening to Yoko Kanno music is a great way to spend your days. I know I praise her a lot, but she is that darn good. Amazingly this is the first CD of her work that I have ever owned as I am not one to go out and get Original Soundtrack CD imports.
Final Thoughts: Escaflowne: The Movie is an easy recommendation. It takes the TV series and retells it to, in my mind, a superb 90 minute movie. The extras in the Ultimate Edition are great, but I would put the soundtrack far above the Extras disc. Yes, the interviews were interesting, but I think I would rather have had a subtitled commentary by the director on the movie disc. The extra on the first disc of being able to watch the storyboards as the movie goes along is phenomenal and something I have never seen in an anime or mainstream title. The Japanese DTS 5.1 track is phenomenal and one of the best anime tracks I have ever heard. If you question how different DTS and Dolby Digital is, here is your chance to experiment. This disc is reference quality for an anime release in both video and sound. For many the extras will be more interesting than they were to me. The soundtrack in itself makes this purchase a wise one. I am giving this the DVD Talk Collector's Series seal of approval and warn anyone interested in seeing this that they may want to watch the TV series first.
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