Agreed! I was so mad when I saw the Japanese version and saw how Escaflowne was gutted and changed like Cardcaptor Sakura. It actually hurt my soul...😢
A lot of the shows that came out at the time were licensed in bulk. One Piece, for example, was picked up by 4Kids as part of a package deal with them not even realizing what kind of show it was until they had to somehow edit it for a children's cartoon block. Most of the time, the companies knew what demographic they had to air a show for, but didn't know what show they were going to have to use to do it. And that's why you get these hack jobs.
It could be just me, but I didn't see a problem with the girl being depressed. I took the movie as a story about dealing with depression. Hitomi just has general depression, Van is inwardly sad at the state of the world and what he has to do in it. Van's brother is spiraling so hard he just wants to end everything. Falkin seems to feel utterly alone in his recognition of how bad life is for them. Depression as a whole isn't logical, and yeah, it's easy enough to make light of by calling someone emo. But it's like having someone constantly follow you around, pointing out every flaw and mistake you've ever had for every moment you're awake. It's not easy to deal with. The bond between Van and Hitomi, along with Falkin's interactions with them, to me anyway, imply that all they really need is to understand they are not alone in their pain. This is something people with depression deal with; feeling like they are utterly alone in their situation. I should also add that I've never seen the show.
I can see how the movie is full of subtext about depression, but it still fails to be a movie where you can care about most of the characters. At times, it fails to be a movie with coherence. If it weren't for the excellent animation and art direction, there wouldn't be any reason to watch it. In the end, it doesn't even do much to pay off how anyone other than Hitomi or Van have dealt with their feelings. Plus, with so little in the way of character development, does it seem like either of them deserve the ending they get?
I freaking love the design of the Escaflowne. I know it already has a model kit out there, but it isn't great. I wish it would something like a Figure-rise Amplified kit.
"She emotionally attached her self to a distant violent man because he's dark and mysterious" I think you just summed up and defined 90's anime in one sentence.
4 years later and I finally started and finished the original series. Freaking fantastic! Gonna watch the movie next for the pretty animation, but man, the OG series was so good and pretty nice on the years too. Such a unique vibe from that show, great characterization, and a really intriguing story and mythos that really appealed to me
@The Great Red Dragon Linkin Park is not nearly as "emo" as every two bit AMV shitting RU-vid scrub would lead everyone to believe, now Evanescence on the other hand....
I agree with pretty much everything you said, except the Dilandau part. The plot twist with him being Allen's long lost sister is what I consider to be one of the most brilliant parts of Escaflowne. One thing I love about the show is the incredible amount of detail in it, and I pick up new insights into it every time I watch it. The sister plot twist is actually something hinted at in the very first episode Dilandau's introduced in. I'll spare you from my hardcore fan theory rant, since I could go on for a really long time about it, but Dilandau being Selena has all kinds of unfortunate implications for his minions.
I passively watched this film years ago with my mom and siblings. I can't remember much except for two details: the song & the bar scene 19:57. I remember this bar scene *because* of this brilliant dialogue (*heavily paraphrased*): Song starts playing: Wing ton...blah blah blah blaaaahhhh... Hitomi: I've heard this song before! That song is pretty! I wonder what it means? Van: It's a folklore song. My mom used to sing to me every night. It means that Dragons are coming to destroy the world. Siblings, my mom, and me burst into laughter.
Ah Digimon the Movie, the Frankenstein mess of three digimon movies spliced together into a nearly incoherent mess of a narrative. Even when I was younger I still looked at it with a blank stare and a "whaaaa?!", when trying to piece together what the hell just happened.
The entire Digimon series is terrible. I wanna see Tie and friends die a horrible bloody violent death either eating by their own Digimon or turned into sand and disintegrate as they scream.
Actually, Summer Wars was Our War Game (that part of the Digimon movie to which you are referring) with the Digimon stuff removed. The director just wanted to remake it without Digimon in it, but Our War Game came first. It's actually pretty good on its own. But yeah, Summer Wars is actually the imitator here (self imitation, but imitation none the less).
Don't laugh, if DiC could get away with focusing Sailor Moon into "The Adventures Of Tuxedo Mask", they would. See the US version of Card Captor Sakura (into Cardcaptiors).
Cramming a twenty-something episode series into a ninety-plus minute movie was a travesty to the fans of not only the Escaflowne series, but also to the fans of good storytelling. Thank you, Sage, for reviewing this!
It's almost as if jamming 8-9 hours worth of content from a TV show into a 90 minute movie is an awful idea or something. Although I should thank you for making me remember this one. I'm going to have to dig out my old DVD copy and give a rewatch. Haven't seen it since I was a teenager so here's hoping it holds up. I remember it being something special.
I wonder how PISSED OFF I'll get at Bennett while watching this. Side note: I consider the series and movie to be 2 separate universes. Side Side Note: Nice job. I applaud you for it.
They are two separate universes, lol. There was a manga series for Escaflowne that started in 1994, before the anime, that was pretty different as well so none of it is really connected aside from having similar premises.
I 100% agree with this. It's going to be on par with his Perfect Blue review for me. The films is specifically completely separate from the series, acting as an alt-world or 'what if' scenario.
I remember hearing Escaflowne was good while I was first getting into anime. Not knowing there was a TV series, I rented the movie from Blockbuster and was sorely disappointed. All I remember is the scene where main chick is failing to help unconscious Van and the enemy lion guy is explaining shit for no apparent reason. It was just so baffling.
Hey Bennett, not sure if you will see this or not. I just wanted to thank you for making these, my wife and I always watch an episode before bed at night and it is SO amazing to see a show this well done for anime. You are really doing a lot for the industry and I just wanted to say thanks.
Here Here! I look forward to every single episode he makes; me and my partner do the exact same thing! The best part is how detailed the Sage is around his analysis of the films. I really hang out to watch each episode as they come. Not a huge fan of the nuts and bolts stuff though [ducks for cover] xD but love the analysis here.
I seriously expected this comment to end with something about how you and your girl start making love for hours the minute you hear the phrase "Long live Bennettopia!" But yeah, Sage is one of the best, and he just consistently gets better. :D
Bahahaha xD This had me in stitches mate xD It's so difficult to find reviewers like Sage that don't grate on you after a while. He is consistently balanced, and doesn't push an opinion to one way (IMO). So I find him relaxing to listen to :D. Seriously though, that was hilarious xD
Escaflowne...this is one of the toughest anime for me to recommend. It's not good for beginners, and those with knowledge can see its flaws readily and may hamper enjoyment. Even I had trouble getting invested in the series in the beginning when I first saw it. It's worth watching, but when exactly the best time is is really hard to say. Oh, wait, we're talking about the movie, not the series? That makes things simple-don't. Just...don't watch it. (Its the first anime movie I watched after watching the respective series, and it's also the first anime movie ever to piss me off.) Also, I never knew Millerna was the brunette in the movie. My head was already reeling from all the changes so the name likely just passed through my brain at the time, and with so many characters missing, I just stuck her in the 'not appearing in this film' category. Besides Hitomi, there was another character that really annoyed me, but I only sat through the movie once and that was years ago. I don't even remember who that character was or why they annoyed me, and this review didn't spark the memory.
I love a review I read for this movie that said something like "If I were adapting a series that was heavy on both romance and mechan battles, my first order of business would not be to remove all the romance and mecha battles." This movie is as beautiful to look at as it is empty.
I've always heard this film was kind of made for Korean audiences because of the fact the TV show garnered high ratings and Sunrise worked with a Korean company on it but I didn't realize they put what looks like hanboks, a traditional Korean dress, in the film. Pretty cool to see it in anime because hanboks are nice.
Ah Escaflowne. I never finished watched this series but I do remember watching it as a kid. Two scenes that I still remember are the time Hitomi made a long jump to escape a crashing airship, and the first time Vahn revealed his wings.
Holy shit, thank you Sage! I remember seeing brief clips of this on TV once as a kid, and I've been wondering for almost over fifteen years now what the hell that show was! Just seeing this I know for sure that it was this show! I'm totally checking this out!
Yeah By the look of it Sage, This Escaflowne movie is not really canon to the Series, Much like the Mighty Morthin Power Rangers movie not being Canon to the Show.
I'm getting some weird Twilight flashbacks with this movie's main couple, what with the whole "life means nothing unless you're happy" thing. Great review as always Sage. Also, this new design for the antagonist looks like if the goblin king from Labyrinth cosplayed as Sephiroth.
I was actually introduced to Escaflowne via the movie, long before I actually started watching the series proper, but the time gape between those viewings was years apart, so I had forgotten just how much they had changed. Good grief @.@
14:00 YAY BIOSHOCK INFINITE BURIAL AT SEA REFERENCE FOR THE WIN! Given the direction and mischaracterization of this movie I'm surprised that Ghost Nappa didn't show up.
HAHA! The US only got 10 episodes of Escaflowne, but in Canada we got all of the English episodes aired! And we also got the first episode telling us how Hitomi actually got to Gaia. We also had repeats! Escaflowne was my favourite anime growing up, so I don't want to imagine what it would have been like to not be able to watch all of the series. It would have destroyed me not knowing what would have happened. The Movie...was meh. It just supports my belief that television or mini-series has more opportunities to develop a story than a movie.
I'd like to see a review of Lodoss War at some point. Also consider maybe some Studio Ghibli films, perhaps compare Hayao Miyazaki's work with his son Goro (still very good IMO, but not quite as good as his dad).
in my country (germany) we were fortunate not to get the saban recut but the full show with all the scenes of Hitomi intact. I was able to watch it back in the day and loved it. i remember being initially excited about the movie. then i saw the first 5 minutes, noticed it had nothing to do with the show except for the character names and design so i decided to turn it off and never finished the movie. i do not regret that decision.
Finally!!!! I had been waiting for this review! I have both of the series and movie on dvds. And I did remembered the style of the anime when I was kid, but didn't know the name until years later. And many thanks to my uncle for his animation collentions! ❤
This actually looks like an interesting anime to watch, the original series. I wonder if the german version was based on the japanese original or if it used the heavily edited version. and talking about the Preview: Oh no, not that movie... Badly frankensteinmonstered together from 3 different full-lenght movies, it was a mess. I like that it feels like the japanese company took a jab at this monster of a movie by making the 4th movie an actual continuation of the plot from the 2nd movie.
I was in high school at the time this was out. I went to an anime club at the time and they happened to show the whole series fansubbed. It finished there before it got licensed in the west and was aired on Fox. So I'm one of lucky ones who was able to watch it beforehand. Btw, I also got all three of the original Japanese soundtracks for the series.
My god. Thanks for refreshing my memory sage! I remember watching this every Saturday after Digimon back in 2000 in 3rd grade. I didn't realize till now it was Escaflowne! I moved to my home town around it's airing and never found out it was cancelled.
If only Sasuke and Itachi died, then it can just be about Nasferuto becoming leader with no conflict... I never watched the show beyond that filler arc that came after the kids wanted to know what Kakashi looked like under his mask.
Funnily enough, even though I hardly remember anything about the anime itself, it does bring back fond memories as it was one of the anime shown on an excellent anime slot in the early 2000's that was broadcast on Canal + (a French TV channel), which also allowed me to discover other classics such as Cowboy Bebop, Excel Saga, Samurai Champloo, Fullmetal Alchemist and Noir (I won't hold that last one against them). Incidently, those are also the only few anime I can think of to get genuinely good French dubs (except Noir). Thankfully, the version shown in France was not the heavily edited one mentioned by Sage, which is a pleasant surprise considering the usual policies of French channels regarding anime (not helped by the fact that they insisted on showing stuff like Fist of the North Star on kids' shows because "it's a cartoon! It can't not be for kids!").
i adored the vision of escaflowne series, its truly my favorite anime of all times, though i was quite saddened to see what they did with the movie...tho quite happy with the quality of the animation, tho theres a lot of shadow which makes it hard to see any details :(
*I really enjoyed this movie, I really like the mecha's movie designs and I agree with this one person about it being a different universe.* Also for me I didn't really care for the people scenes, mostly the Mecha battle. *I do agree about Hitomi though.*
I remember watching this movie when I Was younger and not minding it so much, probably spellbound by the art and animation. I agree with the bit about Dilandau
I look forward to the next review. Especially since I love Digimon so much. Pokemon may have been my first taste of a monster themed show, but evolved because of Digimon. Every season was great in its own right but Digimon Frontier is my downright favorite season of digimon. Plus, I love watching the middle movie of Digimon the movie, getting goosebumps every time I see Omnimon appear to finish off Diaboromon.
At Sakura-con this year, I actually got my hands on the complete Escaflowne series for a really good price. I was asked if I wanted the movie, and my guts said 'Don't touch it, it's poison, /they always are/'. I'm so glad I skipped out on it, now that I've seen your review.
Oh, god, not the Digimon movie. That's gonna hurt. I was WAY too much into Digimon when that came out, and even I could see how bad that was. The pre-movie short with the screechy-voiced and super-annoying Angela Anaconda should have been warning enough...
Yeah, there's one or two liness of the English dub of the movie that I genuinely laugh at (the scene where a van swerves to avoid a fairly large Agumon with the driver apparently sleeping at the wheel) but yeah....the movie's attempt to bridge like 3 movies doesn't work (then again, I got some issues with the anime...like Ryo being in Ken's flashback but he doesn't age a day in Tamers. Not sure if Tamers and 02 are connected, I do recall one character in my local dub mentioning remembering the events of 02 and they usually stick to the original script so I don't know)
Digimon Tamers was an alternate universe from the Adventures and 02. In that world, Digimon was just a TV show and a card game, then all the sudden DIGIMON ARE REAL, Y'ALL!
Both those shows are terrible. Does anyone remember when that main kid Tie was slapped and yelled at by his parents for not knowing his sister was too sick to do shit (even though they left the two alone without adult supervision). That's when I know Digimon was the very worst. People give 4kids shit for cutting out scenes of bloody violence and references to religion and culture but gave Saban a free pass for thinking kids wanna see domestic violence and naked kids on TV. I think Heim Saban was a meth-addict. Why else would he think that's stuff okay to show to kids. I don't I ever liked anime until Fullmetal Alchemist and Wolf's Rain. Nearly everything before and after were bad.
I rewatched this with my sister this weekend and I do love the movie for what it is but Hitomi claiming they are kindred spirits was hilarious every time she gave that little speech. She learns Van is depressed and suicidal because his brother murdered the rest of his family, all of his people, and thrust him into a never ending cycle of violence and pain that he forces himself to endure so he can kill his brother and avenge his loved ones. She placed second in a race that one time and then was a bitch to her only friend who consistently checks on her. Truly, she understands his pain. In the scene where she's like 'I wanted the world to fade away too, I also thought I was all alone' we were just laughing yelling 'TELL HIM WHY HITOMI. TELL HIM ABOUT THE TIME YOU PLACED SECOND' at the screen.
Seeing that Vision of Escaflowne is one of my favourite anime series of all time, I am so glad you ripped into this god awful movie version. One of the things that made the original series such a classic 90's anime show, outside of the amazing art style, music and direction, was watching these characters flesh out over the course of 26 episodes. But in the movie, most of the characters that weren't Van or Hitomi had no reason to exist, especially Allen and Millerna, but not only that, this movie completely ruined Hitomi's character, going from a girl with a relatable and endearing personality, who had realistic goals for herself and was useful to the other characters with her tarot card readings to predict the future, to a whiny, moody teenager, full of "DARKNESS" and "NO PARENTS" for no reason whatsoever. It also didn't help that the 98 minute run time of the film severely hamstrung the character progression, ESPECIALLY when it came to Van and Hitomi. - Spoilers for the TV series incoming - With the series, the love triangle between Van/Hitomi/Allen was one of the main driving forces of the story, so when it came to the moment when Hitomi realised that she loved Van, it felt earned because we saw these characters change and grow over the course of the show that it was satisfying when it paid off. But with the movie, Hitomi comes to Gaea, meets Van and then 35 minutes later, she already declares that she wants to be with him. Hey, movie? *YOU DID NOT EARN THAT!*
Despite its problems, I can't bring myself to dislike this movie, even though I feel it should've been longer. I've come to believe/tell myself that the movie is an AU much like the manga, which has also been ripped apart by fans but is an adaptation I still like, and that's why I don't do comparisons between the movie and the TV series. I actually like the idea of believing _Escaflowne_ has different stories to tell within it, and I'm probably alone in this, but it helps me look at the movie as its own stand-alone thing, which doesn't help the problems, but at least I can still divide it into a three-act structure. The best part of the movie was indeed Dilandau, I just love Andrew Francis' performance here. And the movie soundtrack has been an all-time favorite since I was 13, very atmospheric and knows how to set the mood. Looking forward to the Digimon movie review. It's become almost as big of a dead horse as the first Pokémon movie, but after you defended Saban in the _Teknoman Blade_ review, I'm curious about the criticisms you'll have for them (which was touched upon here).
It happens the same to me; I can't hate the movie even with all its flaws (I think that's why there is a CD drama of the movie too, to explain stuff that the short time of the footage wasn't enough to present). To me, the four versions of escaflowne can't be compared between each other to see which one is better, all have their good points and bad points, but all are enjoyable and that's one of the reasons I love escaflowne 'cause you can make your pick depending of what you like more too. One of the things I liked the most about the movie is the fact that Dilandau and the slayers are alive in the end tho.
Both CDs of the drama are translated, sadly the site they were is already dead. I still have the translation tho, if you wish to check them drop me a message!
Awww it's always a shame when an informative site dies. RU-vid's been acting up on me lately, but I'd like to read these translations, so I'll send the message when I can.
*OMFG I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS MOVIE FOR YEARS AND I FINALLY FOUND IT OMFG ALL I COULD REMEMBER WAS THAT I SAW IT ON ADULT SWIM WHEN I WAS A KID, THERE WAS A HIGH SCHOOL GIRL WITH A NECKLACE, A BIG FIRE HAPPENED, AND THERE WAS LIKE A FIGHT IN THE SKY. FUCK I'M SO HAPPY I FOUND IT*
I keep forgetting the Fox version existed. Atleast bandai released the series uncut on vhs. That's how I got to see the show. I've since picked up the blu-ray rerelease. I'm glad they included bandai's dub in the rerelease, since I prefer it over funimation's (only tolerated it for the director's cut of the beginning episodes).
Sage Iv always looked to help me see the problems with a lot of anime and also to get some form of enlightenment and this ep is not different. Thank you for your insight but this anime will always hold a place in my heart for its music, animation and setting set up
this was my very first anime purchase. i also got rurouni kenshin's tv show's 4th dvd and then ah my goddess all from the local second hand store. i watched these things about 80 times each as these were the only anime i could watch back then, with my parents being extremely strict and forbidding me from buying or even googling other anime after that last purchase lol. this brings back so many memories.
After Evangelion, Vision of Escaflowne is my favorite Mecha anime by far. Though I usually don't like mecha anime, so my list is short. I have a beautiful jewel case DVD box of the complete series. I came with the movie, but, despite my collection, I donated that DVD to future unsuspecting customers are a library. Same with the Madoka Rebellion atrocity.
So I watched the Fox Kids version along with a few friends, we were all surprised when it was quickly canceled. It wasn't till years later when the box set was released and I saw the entire show that I realized Fox probably suffered the same fate as all anime fans, and was only getting about 3 episodes at a time (so much money wasted on DVDs with just 3-4 episodes instead of waiting for box sets) so imagine the shock of seeing the incest cat girl make out scene and realizing there was no way they could edit that into a kid friend show and just scrapped it for Monster Rancher, which it also canceled.
I need to check out the series I guess. I enjoyed the world it was making, but I do agree. The fucking writing and story were all over the damn place. (Also that BeBop episode, is def one of my faves. Brings me to tears almost every damn time.) Good on ya bud.
I remembered watching Escaflowne on Fox back in the day and wondered why it was short. Then eventually I saw the real version and saw why the real version was better. I've never seen the movie before but I would have been a little disappointed with it.
Rathorc Lemenger The Blu-Rays have much better video & sound quality, while retaining all of the worthwhile extras (except the PlayStation game footage), the original Japanese and English audio tracks, and a brand new English dub featuring veteran VA's. The Blu-ray release is superior in nearly every way.
I have the redubbed blu-ray release and it's fantastic. Image quality is far superior to my DVD release and the new dub is 100x better. (It's essentially an FMA reunion.)
I realised as I watch Sage's episodes over and over, that I would rather just watch every anime with Sage analysis xD and would never watch the actual anime haha - nothing better than having it summarised, cleanly, with history, and calling the anime out on any bs. Loving it! I need a Sage button on my remote!
I remember not hating Escaflowne. When it got canceled, I was super confused because I had no idea that sorta thing could happen before a show could finish its story. This series was my introduction to cancellations, which got me prepared for what would become of Clone High (God, I miss Clone High).
I liked this movie well enough, but most of it definitely came from watching the tv series first. seeing more of van and hitomi was a weakness of mine, and well seeing more dilandau goes without saying. And omg I totally forgot about that old fox opening until I saw it here again just now. how's that for a nostalgia slap??
The only thing I remember about Escaflowne was in high school when my friend Leana saw a hentai picture of that feline looking girl and she first questioned what catgirls must smell like. :P That same friend would have probably written all sorts of "interesting" stories about the characters in this. What's this? Redheaded lady calls Hitomi cute? That must mean redheaded lady is a futa ready to pounce, and Hitomi will be her nubile yet willing catch of the day! Eeeeh, we had so much fun back then... XD
Heh! I caught Escaflowne when it first aired on Fox, too. And, well, while I oppose the edit job Saban did purely on principle, and it's something I never would have done myself...I still kind of like it. Compared to the unbutchered (even dubbed) version on DVD that I got to see a few years later, the pacing was much peppier; the expository cutaways harvested from footage from later episodes, if spoilery, did help in getting quickly immersed in the setting and lore; at least some violence and action was still present, at least to the point that it wasn't immediately, and obviously hobbling the story, or go to really eye-rolling extremes to bowlderize it away; editing down Hitomi's part (again, not something I'd personally do, no matter who the protagonist was) at least didn't cut her out entirely, but had the interesting side effect of making the show feel more like an ensemble work... But, most importantly, there was enough of the original left in-the story, the acting, the wonderous score, the delicious worldbuilding-that it whetted my appetite for more of the "real thing." It's like the popcorn shrimp version. Or, to be very generous (or very ungenerous), the Giorgio Moroder version of "Metropolis" to the remastered, restored footage Criterion Collection version of Metropolis. If it's a travesty, at least it's a one with a measure of charm to it. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for a catchy techno theme.
Great video. I so love delving into the older stuff for all its glory and fails. Given that Funimation looks to have just acquired license to the two Record of the Lodoss War series, might I suggest those for an upcoming episode? Also on a similar 90's Fantasy World largely forgotten work how about El Hazzard?
You know, I kind of want to see a movie about Dilandau and his Dragonslayers going out to do senseless killing sort of. I know that sounds horrible, but DIlandau's just so entertaining about it, and you know it'd be better than this.
"As the sole survivor of my people... I must kill my.... Brother.... Says I... the Sole, only, solo, alone, solitary, individual, survivor who is lonesome and without others of my people..."
It's funny to see that FFX clip, considering I've been replaying the game again recently and also I was thinking about the parallels between the game and this film throughout this review.
I don't know how much you know about this one, but there is a 15 episode (at least in the English dubbed version) anime series called Geneshaft, to my knowledge the series is mostly unknown in the US (and I have yet to see anime reviewers so much as mention the series, let alone do an actual review). It is an older sci-fi series, compared to what we have now but at the very least it is worth a view. On the fantasy side of things, Coffin Princess Chaika and Scrapped Princess (which were both done by the same production company interestingly enough) have gotten mentions from some of the reviewing community I know, but once again, I have yet to reviewed (to my knowledge). What do all of them have in common? Thankfully, nobody's tried turning them into films or remaking them into films, with the amusing aspect of some episodes actually having a bit more of cinematic feel in some places. In my honest opinion, Geneshaft had a much shorter run than was deserved, several of the themes and subject matters deserved a bit more screentime than the show provided. In the case of Coffin Princess Chaika and Scrapped Princess, a full blown cinematic event at the end of the series would have been a nice send-off, probably unnecessary but given the buildup to the end of both series wouldn't feel entirely out of place. And I remember watching the Escaflowne series, and its subsistent sacking prematurely, only to find the movie online years later before the full series for streaming at such a site. The full series was far better than I remembered, mostly because all the hacked bits from its run on Fox were gone, and the series finale gave some sense of sastisfaction, the movie was a massive mess of a train wreck I merely watched because I vaguely remembered the series at the time and came out feeling worse for. What little I did remember from the series was either completely omitted or just kicked in the with whatever creature happened to have been passing by at the time.
I originally saw Geneshaft on Scifi, the series was a nice little character piece. While most anime airing in the US at the time were more centered around action, which some episodes of Geneshaft did have, the series was mainly a look at characters and their personalities while trying to bring up some pretty big themes and having the characters themselves deal with the issues in different ways. At least, that's how I remember the series.
I don't see why it isn't talked about, the series still holds up today (at least in my opinion). And with good series not getting the recognition they deserve, being pushed to the side by subpar series that aren't very good or just downright awful with barely good aesthetics, we need more people looking at good series and enjoying them. I adore Log Horizon, the first series is really good and the second season is okay (mostly because the first and second seasons were handled by different studios) and can't understand why Sword Art Online is so popular, the surprisingly high production value does nothing to distract from the poorly written story, characters, and situations. The only thing SAO has going for it is the whole VR part of its structure, but completely misses the whole MMO part of the games it shows, all of them. The .Hack series, which in itself has varying degrees of success, did a better job of the Role Playing part than SAO, and it's a vastly older series, Log Horizon handles all the elements much better and can even serve as an immersion point for helping explain how MMOs work to people who don't know anything about them or want to try getting into them. Scrapped Princess executes its fantasy elements beautifully and even throws in some cyberpunk elements that are explained in series. Granted, most of the characters don't have a firm grasp of things as they're explained to them, but we as the audience as the audience do have a better grasp of everything we're told.
Not sure if I am the only one, but when ever I see any of the characters gain those wings, I only get the scene from Garzeys Wings and Puma Man music. That may of actually made this movie better now, after thinking about it.
