In Defense of the Escaflowne Movie
Perhaps ādefenseā is too strong of a word. The movie hardly needs defending. Itās beautiful and gorgeous, has a killer OST, the characters are gorgeous, everyone agrees on these things. But some say it suffers in terms of character development, or itās not enough like the series, or Hitomi is annoying in this one, etc.. Those are things Iām here to answer.Ā
(TW: contains brief references to suicidal ideations)
First, my biases: I will always ship Van and Hitomi (and if you don't, you probably won't find this article meaningful); Iāve been depressed enough that I've wanted to throw myself off a building/cliff/bridge; and I love *everything* about the movie (minus one part, but Iāll get to that).Ā
Second, Iām not an Escaflowne expert by any means, but in my five years in the fandom, I think Iāve become relatively well-versed in it. Iāve all but memorized the movie, read the movie novel, edited translations for the first and second movie-prequel CD Dramas and the movie novel, watched the series in multiple dubs, and skimmed the shonen manga.Ā
Anyway, my take on the overall story is this: the creators seemed more than happy to let other authors/creators invent their own versions around the concept of Escaflowne, so I consider the different iterations as AUs (including the dubs). Even the movie novel is its own thing relative to the movie (and it's the most overtly romantic, btw).
Third, think of Escaflowne the Movie as an AU. When you watch it with this in mind, its existence makes more sense. They could have made a sequel, but they didnāt. Instead, they replaced anxiety with depression, cranked up the angst and romance, took out the love triangles, made Van (okay, everyone) hotter, and tied it all together with a visually and musically stunning bow.
Okay, with those things aside, let me get into it.
Hitomi seems like a weak heroine in the beginning. Why?
The first time I watched it, I found Hitomi to be insufferable and weak. She drove me crazy. She pushes her best friend away, canāt answer direct questions, and doesnāt want to accept the reality that sheād been isekaiād to a different planet.
But the more I watched it, the more I related to her.Ā
And she never made more sense to me than when I was really, really depressed.Ā
And that's the thing: Hitomiās not weak, sheās depressed. Really depressed.Ā
Her introductory scene basically tells us as much: the abandoned shoes and the note to Yukari are symbols that she was considering throwing herself off the school. She wants to die, even if sheās too much of a coward to jump. She feels pathetic. Sheās tired all the time. Sheās quitting pursuits that used to bring her joy. She has a fatalistic outlook, not just about her life, but about the train accident, about school and track, and about how her friends and family see her: sheās too much of a pain, she hurts people by existing and having emotional needs, etcā¦Ā
She's mopey. She comes across weak and pathetic. To top it off, sheās even . . . annoying.Ā
But if youāve ever really been depressed, itās very relatable. It is for me, anyway.Ā If you haven't. . . well, pretend for that every decision is a mountain and every action you make is nothing but a mistake.
Why does Folken reach out to her and not any of the millions of other angsty, depressed 17-year-old girls in the world?
Because Hitomi really isāsomehow, by some quirk of birth or rebirth or fate or magicāThe Wing Goddess.Ā
The CD Dramas say as much. In them, Van and Folken (and his sorcerer at the time, Orm) argue about her a couple times. This means that, prior to the movie, Van and Hitomi had met before. A few memories have been erased by Orm, but itās heavily implied that the two have met repeatedly throughout time and space. (This is The Most Romantic Thing Everā, imo, but thatās besides the point.)
Moleman also reminds us of a few prophecies related to The Wing Goddess and Escaflowne:
Itās the Wing Goddess who will resurrect Escaflowne/The Armor; and
The Dragon, The Armor, and The Wing Goddess must resonate in order to change the world, for better or worse.
In other words, Escaflowne needed both Van (or Folken, technically, who's always been frustrated by not being predestined) and Hitomi. And later, itās Hitomiās influence over Van that turns Black Escaflowne into its Dragon form.Ā
If Hitomi wasnāt the Wing Goddess, neither of these things could have happened.
I've heard it argued that Sora is a better candidate to be the Wing Goddess? She has actual power.
Yes, she does. But she doesnāt have actual influence.
And thereās a difference.
She's something between Folkenās sorceress and his aide. Whatever power she has, sheās only able to open the portal and prophecy Folken's death. She does not have power to resurrect or direct Escaflowne, nor does Folken love/respect her enough to unite in feelings with her and change his beliefs or his path (more on that later).
My thoughts about Hitomi returning to Gaia
I say āreturnā because, as I mentioned, sheās been there before, in the CD Dramas.
To facilitate her to return to Gaia, two things happen simultaneously:Ā
Folken calls the Chosen One/Wing Goddess/Hitomi back to Gaea when her depression reaches its peak, and
Van speaks to the Armor to awaken it.Ā
While Folkenās power, combined with Soraās sorcery, carries her to Gaea, itās the power of Vanās rite with Escaflowne that pulls her to him. (And this is because, as Moleman reminds us, Escaflowne and the Wing Goddess are connected.) Hitomi is thus drawn through the beam of water (for lack of a better description hahaha) and is deposited inside Escaflowne, as if sheās a baby in utero.Ā
This is doubly symbolic: itās her appearance inside that gives Escaflowne life, and itās through this process that Hitomi is literally birthed into Gaiaāat Vanās feet nonetheless.Ā
Just like a baby, Hitomi becomes a newborn in Gaea.Ā
And just like a baby, Hitomi is at Vanās mercy: helpless, overwhelmed, confused, possibly wet and cold, having just been through a very strange occurrence where she saw another world in the sky and then was swallowed up by a sorcerer and a stadium full of water only to end up inside a mecha and dumped at the feet of a terrifying young man.
I think very few people wouldnāt be utterly confused by this, and most people would think they were dreaming or hallucinating.
Additionally, sheās not thinking on her feet before this happens. Depression literally slows down brain signals and makes it hard to understand and make decisions. (It's like brain fog, if you've ever experienced that.)
So while it might seem pretty annoying that sheās unable to answer Van directly, itās understandable when you consider it in these terms.
Why does Hitomi see Yukari?
In this post I wrote about the movie, I wondered why, in her first scene with Van, Hitomi sees a āvisionā of Yukari telling her to be direct with him, to tell him her name.
I donāt think this is a vision or a flashback. I think itās simpler than that: itās my belief that Hitomi is using Yukari as a guide post.
Think about it. In Hitomiās eyes, Yukari is everything Hitomi isnāt: good at school, responsible as the manager of the Track Team, sociable, fun-loving, positive, good with boys. In other words, Hitomi thinks sheās perfect and is thus thinking, āWhat Would Yukari Do?āĀ
Well, Yukari would be able to answer Vanās demands.
But again, Hitomiās impotent here. She can't answer him, even though she knows she should.
Personally, I would love to see more of this Yukari-as-a-guidepost theming and then see it disappear, but whatever. We don't get that.
And if anyone has a better theory, feel free to give it.
One last important thought about Yukari. . .Ā
Itās when Hitomi pushes her away and uses the worst insult, āannoyingā, that Hitomiās self-perception dips to its lowest. Itās when sheās hurt her best friend that she concludes not that her behavior is the problem, but that she herself is the problem. Sheās projecting, and perhaps this is the first time she realizes that sheās the annoying one, not Yukari.
And her solutionārather than changing her behaviorā was to just take out the problem altogether: herself. This spiraling attitude made her truly vulnerable to the beguiling Folken, who also wanted to just end it all and get rid of all sorrow (although he wasnāt quite as self-reflective and self-punishing as Hitomi. . . he rather preferred to punish everyone else).
Is it Hitomiās fault the Armor disappeared?
Yes, it is, more or less, though itās hard to fault her for it. Because sheās connected to Escaflowne, when she voices her confusion about where she is to Van, only for him to get angry, they are no longer āresonatingā; Escaflowne calls it a night and promptly transforms into a gem. (Van is too angry to notice this detail, otherwise I think he would have demanded the gem from her.)Ā
Later, in Torushina, when Dilandauās dragon armor was coming for them, Escaflowne senses her terror and her need and, finally, emerges. There isnāt a lot of indication of it, but Iām guessing that Van was also wishing for his armor right then, too. So, just like in the series where Dornkirkās prognostication engine doesnāt work when the two are in harmony, Escaflowne doesnāt work until their feelings harmonize here. (It's an interesting connection to the series if you ask me.)Ā
To change the outcome for the world, the Armor must resonate with the Wing Goddess and the Dragon
Van is connected to Escaflowne as one of the last of the full-blooded Dragon Clan. Itās his presence and voice that awakens it, his blood that powers it, and his anger and desire to destroy his enemy that turns it into Black Escaflowne, a weapon of destruction (that we donāt get to see enough of, imo).Ā
But Hitomi is needed along the way. The first time we see the three of them resonating was in resurrecting Escaflowne. And in the end, when he stops to listen to Hitomi and realizes that he wants to be with her like she does him, itās this mutual desire that resonates to turn Escaflowne into the Dragon.
Some speculation and questions I have that I donāt know all the answers to
So could Hitomi have chosen destruction? We have two reasons to presume that she could: A) We know sheās the Wing Goddess and for that reason alone has the power to choose destruction, and B) Folken recognizes her ability to destroy relationships and that sheās willing to destroy/end her own life, thatās why he calls her.Ā
Thereās plenty of speculation to be had about how things might have turned out if Folken had gotten to the Armor before Van. Thereās also room to question why Folken thought she would appear to him while the Armor was in transit: shouldnāt he have waited until he had the Armor in hand to perform the ceremony? Perhaps he didnāt realize that Escaflowne was required for her birth onto Gaia, which is an interesting blind spot for him to have. That could be explained away if he was racing Van to get her (which is half the plot of the CD Dramas).Ā
Itās interesting to note that Van wasnāt trying to call the Wing Goddess, even though he recognized thatās who she likely was when she fell out of the Armor. His entire goal is to wake the Armor. Did he know that was the same moment Folken was calling Hitomi? What if Van hadnāt been waking the Armor at just that moment? Would she have appeared at Folkenās feet? Or would she have gone into the Armor anyway and just sat there, confined, until Folken woke the Armor? As a claustrophobe, that thought is terrifying.Ā
Fayrinferno's recent post does mention that she could only be called during a certain phase of the moon. Perhaps Van knew this and took advantage.Ā
And why wasnāt Van explicitly summoning the Wing Goddess himself? Did he just assume she would be there if he woke the Armor? Thatās probably the correct answer: he had complete faith not only that she would be there, but that she would give him his precious armor, no questions asked.Ā
In what way is Van alone, and why doesnāt Merle have much influence over that?
This is something I ponder again and again. Every time I rewatch the scene where Merle is telling Hitomi about Van, how heās always been alone, I think about what she really means. He has more or less grown up in Adom, surrounded by Jajuka and other beast people who welcome him. Merle has been his companion for a long time, even following him to and from Adom. Then thereās the Abaharaki fighting alongside him in the war, even if not for his cause.Ā
So in what way is he alone?Ā
In a few. His blood clan is dead. Heās a king without a kingdom. Heās the only human in a village of beast people. (This heavily implies, imo, that in this AU, it is not acceptable for beasts and people to have romantic relationships.) Heās the only one fighting to avenge his dead clan.Ā
In the series, Merle is considered more of a sister than anything else, though she is jealous of Hitomiās potential romance with Van. But in the movie, she comes across more like a true pet. He is worried about her when sheās injured in the attack on the caravan, but otherwise, he doesnāt ask for her or seek her out. Merle hovers over him at times, leaves him alone at others, and is protective of him when she needs to be. But sheās not jealous of Hitomi and seems to even, in the mentioned conversation above, encourage Hitomi to be closer to him.Ā
In other words, she recognizes that she has little influence over his choice to fight, the same way our cat has little influence over what we choose to do for work. Only someone who could be considered a true partner (or a lover) could have the privilege of that influence, especially for a lone king.Ā
What is it about Van that made him the chosen son, versus Folken?
Unlike the series, thereās no redemption for goblin-king Folken. Heās utterly determined to destroy the world, and heās never done anything for anyone elseās benefit, except his own. Supposedly, his piss-poor attitude stems from his rejection by the oracles who chose Van over him, but personally, I think he was just born nasty. Why else would he be rejected in the first place?
Folken is obviously ambitious and a good commander, otherwise he wouldnāt have risen to the heights he has. But heās also cold hearted, calculating, and destructive. (Why does Sora stay with him? Is it because he has heterochromia? He loves no one, not even her, so I see no justification for her Stockholm Syndrome. Not even power, as she has her own.) Heās willing to lay waste to entire communities as he amasses resources, an army, and magical armors. He cares nothing for beast people beyond exploiting them, cares nothing for the world except what he takes from it, and hurts others at will to get what he wants.Ā
(NOTE: That scene where he breaks Dilandauās fingersāand presumably heals themāis the #1 thing I donāt like about the movie. Itās so audio-visually graphic.)Ā
But Folken never does any of the dirty work himself. He very rarely even goes anywhere in person, using sorcery to project himself where needed. He doesn't even man the armor, even though he's technically of pure dragon blood. Instead, he coerces Dilandau to do it. While he's willing to destroy or take anything necessary to get what he wants, heās not willing to do the really hard stuff himself. This is his biggest weakness, one I think Van can and does exploit.
Yes, Van is proudātoo proud to associate casually with the Abaharakiābut heās a king and carries himself like one. Yet he treats beast people with compassion and as friends, and, rather than leaving a wide swath of death behind him, he only goes after those he needs to in order to achieve the end goal (something he does with impressive precision).Ā
Van is efficient in more ways than one. Not only is he an efficient killer, but heās very efficient with his use of resources.Ā
I say this tongue-in-cheek, but hear me out.Ā
Rather than wasting his time and resources directly competing with Folkenāraising an army, amassing resources, etc.āVan took advantage of his brotherās hard work and, willing to get his hands dirty, intercepted the Armor in transit. This changed everything. Folken was the one with all the resources to dig up the Armor, transport it, and command sorcerers to call the Wing Goddess. Had Folken gone to the Armor himself, had he been willing to wear it, things might have been different, but he wasnāt willingāno, he always hired others to do that. Even when he had another armor, he made someone else do the painful stuff. He liked having that power over people.Ā
Meanwhile, Van was willing to do whatever it took to achieve his goal. This willingness to get his hands dirty made it possible for him to be the one who resurrected the Armor, and thus he was the one to welcome the Wing Goddess. And because heās willing to change, because he ultimately cared for others other than himself, he later received the Armor from her, thus being in the position to choose the outcome of the world alongside the Wing Goddess.Ā
Folken was never willing to do any of that. He wasnāt willing to bend his will to anyone, let alone a woman of lesser/different birth (such as Sora). He only wanted to use others. Whether or not Van consciously knew and exploited this is up for debate, but that he did exploit it shows his adaptability, cleverness, and fitness to be a good king.
But that's just my opinion.Ā
We have the potential to influence the world for better, or for worse
Okay, one huge beef I have about the Series is in Episode #17, The Edge of the World, when Hitomi is more or less blamed by Varie and Yuri for all the problems going on around her, because she has a confused heart and mind and is using her anxiety to make wishes too carelessly.Ā
What the heck, Escaflowne creators? Why do you dump so much responsibility on a 15 year old girl??
Well, the movie does something similar, except instead of anxiety, they use depression, and instead of blaming Hitomi, they just shackle her with the responsibility of choosing the outcome. Hitomi doesnāt know thisāsheās a figurative infant, rememberābut the people around her inform her of it little by little. When she is first birthed into Gaia, Van swears fealty to her, saying he will do her will for this world. Later, in Torushina, when she has opened up to the idea that she could be the Wing Goddess, she hears the prophecy that goes along with Soraās song, which says that the Wing Goddess has the power to destroy or change the world. And when Black Escaflowne begins to wreak havoc in Torushina, Millerna reminds Hitomi again that she has this responsibility.
The interpretation I choose to give is thus: even when we are depressed and surrounded by darkness, we still have the power to change. In fact, we have the responsibility to change our attitude, our behavior, and our treatment of others.Ā
In other words, even the most depressed, pathetic-feeling people on the planet can change the world.
Van and Hitomi were walking parallel paths of self-destructionĀ
Van was about vengeance. That was his entire personality, up until his injury during battle with Dilandau.Ā
Hitomi was depressed. She lashed out at others just like Van, hoping to bring them to her level of misery.
Until she realized how such a destructive attitude affected things. Like how Van changed when he realized she wanted something better for him, she changed when she saw where his path was leading, when she saw herself mirrored in him. Her choice to change her outlook, to change how she interacted with others, was the catalyst to being able to encourage him to do the same.Ā
And Van chose to allow her to have influence over him; when she encouraged him to choose life, he made the decision to do just that. This small addition of positivity gave them both hope, and it was because of that, they could see there was more to the world than just vengeance and self-destruction.
We see what happens when characters choose to climb out of darkness. . . and what happens when they donāt
I put forth that this entire movie is an allegory about climbing out of the darkness eating our souls, be that revenge, loneliness, or, more apparently, depression. (I'm not necessarily talking about long-term, clinical depression. I'm a huge advocate for medications. But episodic, situational depression.)Ā
In the beginning, Van is out to Slay All His Enemiesā and Hitomi is stuck in the funk of depression because she sees herself as pathetic. Both of them are kindred spirits because theyāve both been in a dark spot. Hitomi recognizes this during her conversation with Van in the Adom forest. Because Van, by nature (as Merle says) is kind and sensitive, he understands her meaning, even though her words sound a little trite. (I mean, come on Hitomi, having depression and hurting your friends is not the same as having your entire family and clan completely destroyed. Itās still bad, just. . . not on the same level.) Van evenātake note, Folkenāresponded to her, opening up and showing his vulnerable side. That mustāve been terrifying for him. Luckily, Hitomi was a soft place to land.
Folken, on the other hand, was determined to remain in his darkness. He had someone who believed in him, who supported him, and still, he refused to open up, to show his vulnerable side, to admit that heās on the wrong path. Because of this, Sora prophesied his death. I am glad he at least released Sora on paper, though emotionally, she was too foolishly loyal to him; she stayed and died alongside him.
Still, usually, having one person believe that your life is worth living can be enough. When Van collapsed in Hitomi's arms and Jajuka declared that the king just wanted to die because his life was nothing but pain and loneliness, Hitomi declared that she wanted him to live, and she decided to stay with him until he recognized he wasn't alone (i.e. when he found his own will to live).
At the climax of the movie, Van makes another choice, predictably falling into Folken's trap and giving in to his dark feelings. It was the anger of the Dragon Clan King that turned Escaflowne black, unleashing a weapon of destruction. Yet, when he heard Hitomi plead to him, he came to and realized what he'd done. Like in the series, he is sent to perdition (for lack of a better term) near the Atlantis Tree, where he bathes in despondency and self-recrimination.
Thankfully, Hitomi was the friend we all need in this situation: she persists and goes after him, and it was through her pleading again that Van made the ultimate choice to give life and hope a chance.
Now resonating in this way, the ArmorāBlack Escaflowne, the God of Warātransformed and transcended into the God of the Sky, on their way to Folken.
What is there to learn from Jajuka's death?
This part hits in such a discordant way. One one hand, itās satisfying to see Folken die. On the other, itās such a letdown that he dies in such a deus ex machina manner. Van and Hitomi are there, and we know Van is capable, but not only does he decide he no longer wants to kill his brother when here comes Jajuka to do it instead!Ā
Nobody ever likes to see the dog die in movies, and yet here he goes and does the heroic thing and DIES. In a splash of blood, too.
I donāt think the show-writers were being unsubtle here. This was a deliberate choice: he died to show us what would happen to Van had he chose to continue down the path of vengeance. Just like Folkenās fate in the series was to die by his own broken blade as he exacted revenge on Dornkirk, so does Jajuka die in almost the same way, just with far more blood.Ā
It took me a while to realize why this had to happen, that Van had to see what his fate would have been had he not made the decision to change.
This movie is just more of that clichĆ©d trope where a man needs a womanās love to change. . .right?
Some people call this movie old-fashioned for that reason. Yes, Van needed Hitomi, but she needed him, too. (Surprise, people need each other!) It was her empathy for him that changed her heart, and because she loved him, she became a safe place for him. Moreover, he didnāt change into something he wasnāt. Van's change was more of a return into his true self, into who he used to be, to who Merle once knew him as.Ā
In conclusion, our true form is what we become as we rise above our trialsĀ . . .
When Black Escaflowne was reborn into Dragon form Escaflowne, the people of Torushina looked up and exclaimed in joyful hope about the White Dragon. Judging by their reactions, the God of the Sky is not a god of destruction, but one of hope and peace. This form is diametrically opposed to the Armorās primary form and function as the God of War.Ā
Likewise, Van and Hitomi emerging from the belly of the Armor can be seen as a rebirth, too. From that point on, Van no longer wanted vengeance, he no longer wanted to fight and kill.
To put it simply, through love and hope and vulnerability, the God of War transformed into a god of hope, the God of the Sky. Contrary to what Dryden suggested about Black Escaflowne, Iād argue that the White Dragon was Escaflowneās true form.Ā
Just like Slay All His Enemiesā Van wasn't his true form, neither was cruel and depressed Hitomi her true nature. These things are part of them, a part of their story, certainly; some might say these dark moments are important in being able to move forward onto a more clear path. It's important to remember, these dark episodes don't define them and didnāt have to be their entire existence.
The same way Hitomi and Van were reborn upon a new and divine form of Escaflowne, so they were reborn into people who left their darkness in the past.
So it can be for all of us as we push through our difficulties.Ā
Who knew that a beautiful, angsty, action-adventure, mecha-romance anime could convey such a message without making it saccharine?
Well, that's my interpretation anyway, my defense of the Movie. Take from this what you will.Ā
A big thanks to @fayrinferno for the screenshots and encouragement! I couldn't have done this without your help!
