My flatmate and I have just gone back to watching Vision of Escaflowne. Interestingly, it was made in '96, but is being marketed along with some very recent works, so may actually count as a classic, perhaps.
We'd watched the first four episodes and found them a bit corny (school girl has mysterious visions, then, just before her first kiss, is whisked away to mysterious place with magic, cat girls, dragon-stone-powered battle-mechs, knights in frilly, big-shouldered outfits etc.) However, we didnt' loathe it, and in the absence of anything more enticing had a go at the next dvd in the series, and it really started to grow on us.
The setting has started to expand. It isn't just an Evil Empire bullying a little country, the plot has shifted to another kingdom where one of our main characters, Sir Allen, has a history with the royal family. Meanwhile, the local king is engaged in fragile diplomatic relations with the Evil Empire, who want Prince Van's special battlemech and are planning on moving troops through to invade someplace else, vision girl gets kidnapped by anthropomorphic geckos...
I like it because of the feeling of scope and history that we see. People who never step 'on stage', and sometimes have died, have profound influences on the action. There's the feeling that one could walk off in any direction and meet complex socio-political interactions and interesting characters. I like that in an anime. Also, there's room for exciting bits, romantic bits, and funny bits, all balancing nicely together.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-08-28 11:00 am (UTC)We'd watched the first four episodes and found them a bit corny (school girl has mysterious visions, then, just before her first kiss, is whisked away to mysterious place with magic, cat girls, dragon-stone-powered battle-mechs, knights in frilly, big-shouldered outfits etc.) However, we didnt' loathe it, and in the absence of anything more enticing had a go at the next dvd in the series, and it really started to grow on us.
The setting has started to expand. It isn't just an Evil Empire bullying a little country, the plot has shifted to another kingdom where one of our main characters, Sir Allen, has a history with the royal family. Meanwhile, the local king is engaged in fragile diplomatic relations with the Evil Empire, who want Prince Van's special battlemech and are planning on moving troops through to invade someplace else, vision girl gets kidnapped by anthropomorphic geckos...
I like it because of the feeling of scope and history that we see. People who never step 'on stage', and sometimes have died, have profound influences on the action. There's the feeling that one could walk off in any direction and meet complex socio-political interactions and interesting characters. I like that in an anime. Also, there's room for exciting bits, romantic bits, and funny bits, all balancing nicely together.
We'll see how the rest of it goes.