The Vision of Escaflowne

The Vision of Escaflowne is a TV series that aired in Japan in 1996. Created by Shoji Kawamori, it is directed by Kazuki Akane with mecha designs by Kimitoshi Yamane, Junya Ishigaki and Mahiro Maeda, character designs by Nobuteru Yuki and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno and Hajime Mizoguchi. The story focuses on Hitomi Kanzaki, a Japanese teenager who is magically transported to Gaea, a world threatened by the militarism of the Zaibach Empire. In Gaea, Hitomi’s fate is connected to two young men: Van Fanel, the leader of a destroyed kingdom, and the heroic knight Allen Schezar, who looks exactly like Hitomi’s high school crush, Amano Susumu. The series briefly aired on North America’s Fox Kids block in heavily edited form in 2000. Bandai Entertainment initially released the series on home video, but it has since been re-released with a new English dub by Crunchyroll (formerly Funimation).