Escaflowne was probably my first anime. I think I was 10 or 11 when it had that crummy airing on Fox Kids. Well I was interested in it, because I really liked Knights and stuff as kid. Excalibur is one of my favorite movies. So of course it looked cool. The airing on Fox was supposedly bad, but I did'nt care. It was really cool to me. Fox never finnished it, but around this time my family got Netflix and well I rented the first 4 dvds, which is all they had. It really was on of the first anime titles I was watching uncut. It was even more amazing. Of course DvD 4 ended on a big cliffhanger, but Netflixs didn't have the rest of it at this time. Well, then Escaflowne became the first anime I started collecting.
I can easily say I loved it back then. It just felt great with exciting characters in a cool world and of course the suits of armor. So unusual for me back then.
I haven't really watched it in a while, but I started watching it because I thought it was a decent show to introduce to my niece. Well I've been enjoying it. It's aged pretty well. The actual animation is still pretty decent and the story still has some good things about it.
While it's not exactly deep or anything, the characters are still engaging. Vann is a decent lead. You know, he is your typical rambunkous teenage male, but you know the dude has motivation and he's just not boring to watch at all. So many anime leads seem to cookie cutter and just bystanders in there own show, not Vann though. He goes head first into the action. He actually does show growth as well. Hitomi is somewhat worse, but nothing terrible. Some of her confusion makes for a good foil for Vann, she is a bit more level headed and keeps him on some sort of chain. It's a solid dynamic. Of course who I really like is Allen. Because he's the stereotypical white knight, but yet he is anything from perfect. I think his character makes a good point in this type of love story honestly(the seemingly perfect dude). He has a lot of flaws, but in the end he is'nt a bad person and can even be pretty badass.
I don't know it's a decent show. The story is solid and pretty eventful. The music is of course still great. The art is just beautiful.