Editorial by Chris

September 19, 2000

Several months ago, Bandai announced they were shopping The Vision of Escaflowne around for broadcast on American TV. As a fan of the series, I was thrilled to hear it would be available here. However, when it was announced that the series would air on FOX, I became apprehensive. The FOX Kids Network has a dubious reputation for its past actions, such as censoring the writing of Batman: The Animated Series and over-promoting Power Rangers (which they still do). With that in mind, I was wondering what sort of editing would be done to Escaflowne. Until recently, anime series airing on U.S. TV have all been heavily edited. After the uncut broadcast of Gundam Wing, I assumed Escaflowne would be treated in the same manner. When KidsWB aired a hacked up version of Card Captor Sakura, I began to worry about the impending debut.

The Internet was abuzz with fans debating what FOX would do. Bandai did inform the public of some edits, including a new opening sequence and new music. Personally, that was not a major concern of mine. I was more worried about hacked up episodes, different storylines, and altered characters. As time wound down to the premiere, the edits FOX had in mind became clear. The first episode was to be completely cut out, because FOX executives decided it was too slow. They wanted to focus on the fantasy aspects of the series, rather than the first episode, which is set mostly on Earth. Clips would be inserted later on as 'flashbacks'. This bothered me immediately. Why do the FOX executives get to decide what we see? Why is it that these executives think it's okay to hack up anime? They do things that would never be done to a live action show. If a foreign country wanted to show The X-Files and skip the first episode, FOX would never stand for it.

Unfortunately, this double standard does exist, and the executives seem to have no problem with it. Card Captor Sakura is a girl's show, and KidsWB edited it to make it popular with boys. I wouldn't exactly call Escaflowne a girl's show, but it comes close in some areas. Heaven forbid FOX show any aspects of a normal girl's life to boys. They must think that American boys are vicious barbarians who require constant action to stimulate their interest. Show fifteen minutes of Hitomi Kanzaki's everyday life, and these barbarians will be confused. Their brains will not understand this lack of action, and they will change the channel to some other nonsense. If this is how FOX perceives its audience, it's no wonder they produce such low brow programming on their main network. It also makes FOX look sexist. By editing out these 'girly things', they are ignoring their female audience, which is just as important as the male portion. It is therefore no surprise that the edited Sakura isn't a hit here with girls like it was in Japan.

After actually seeing the episode, I don't have too many complaints. The dub is mediocre, and the only visible edit is the removal of blood. Half of the music is original, and half is FOX's techno soundtrack. Mixing Yoko Kanno's orchestrated classical compositions with techno makes the show uneven musically. It's not too severe of a problem, since all of the original soundtrack will be available on the uncut DVD later this year. Now, what can be done to ensure Escaflowne doesn't suffer the fate as other anime shows? Watch it, and support Bandai for making the risky decision of placing one of their best titles in FOX's hands. Perhaps next time they will air something on Cartoon Network, where an unedited broadcast is possible. Yes, Escaflowne is edited. However, it is the fourth new anime series to premiere on TV this year. Before 2000, there were only a handful of anime series on TV. Anime is here to stay, and after experiencing these first few rough years, the day will arrive when executives open their eyes and realize they don't need to edit shows to gain ratings. Anime is something that can sell itself, and fans will watch it without any modifications.