Hitomi and Van from the anime "Escaflowne," can be seen
in theaters starting today.
By Howard Ho
Daily Bruin Reporter
While the “Pokemon” craze certainly helped to put
Japanese animation (anime for short) on the map, when it came time
to hit the box office, the television hit fizzled into a
non-entity. Fortunately, this provided a window for more
artistically substantial works such as “Princess
Mononoke” and “Akira.”
“Escaflowne,” a series which also made its American
debut on television, hopes to repeat both the critical and box
office success of “Mononoke,” while avoiding the
pitfalls of “Pokemon.”
“I think “˜Escaflowne’ has the potential to
broaden the mass consumers’ perception of Japanese
animation,” said Jerry Chu, marketing manager at Bandai
Entertainment. “Right now, the only things they’ve seen
are whatever news footage of Japanese animation being violent or
whatnot, whatever “˜Pokemon’ or “˜Sailor
Moon’ TV show that the kids are watching. I think
“˜Escaflowne’ will really do well to broaden
people’s horizons and show them that there’s more to
Japanese animation.”
Bandai, a top American distributor of Japanese animation, begins
its run of “Escaflowne” in Los Angeles today. Like the
“Pokemon” films, “Escaflowne” also has a
built-in audience from its large underground fan base as well as
through a short stint on Fox’s Saturday morning cartoon
lineup. However, unlike regular Saturday morning cartoons, the
“Escaflowne” series and film are not intended for young
kids, but for mature audiences.
 Photos from Bandai Entertainment Hitomi Kanzaki, a lonely
soul from the film "Escaflowne," seeks purpose in her life.
Revamping the series’ characters and storylines, the film
retells how Hitomi, a high school track star, is transported to an
alternate world where she has the power to summon a powerful weapon
called Escaflowne. Unfortunately, Folken, a nihilistic conqueror,
wishes to use her power to destroy the world. Adding to the dark
tone is the character of Van, a prince who is determined to avenge
his kingdom that Folken destroyed. Mixing fantasy and science
fiction, the “Escaflowne” movie provides fans with
familiar characters while uninitiated viewers can still catch
on.
“The movie has similarities to the series, but the story
is quite different and a lot of characters are either cameos or
taken out entirely. I think people are expecting it to be just like
the series, so they might be disappointed. You really kind of have
to leave your expectations at the door and just see the movie for
what it is,” said Kelly Sheridan, the vocal talent who plays
Hitomi both in the movie and in the series.
Perhaps the film’s most striking departure from the series
is the improved animation. Since the original series debut six
years ago in Japan, the animation world has seen revolutionary
changes, especially with the proliferation of computer graphics.
The movie attempts to incorporate some of those changes where the
series couldn’t.
“The visuals are just incredible “¦ In this one, the
colors are really stark, it’s kind of raw looking, and
everyone looks older. I think it’s definitely a movie for the
millennium,” Sheridan said.
The improved visuals also allow for more realistic violence, a
distinction that has earned the film a PG-13 rating. The fantasy
plotline of the film still relies on bloody sword fights and
twisted magical powers, which are all portrayed graphically.
 The main character, Hitomi, has the power to summon
Escaflowne, the weapon from which the film derives its title.
“The U.S. audience, by and large, will probably not accept
this movie. It’s dark and violent enough that children
probably shouldn’t watch it and adult American audiences
haven’t yet taken to the idea of mature animated works. It
stands to become as popular with anime fans as “˜Akira’
or “˜Ghost in the Shell,’ but as those remain cult
classics themselves, I don’t see it becoming widely
accepted,” said Michael Burns, a third-year computer science
and engineering student who saw the film a year ago in the Japanese
language version.
The maturity of the film’s violence, however, may also be
matched by the maturity of its characters. Dream sequences and
soliloquies interrupt the intense action, adding meaning to the
violence. Anime further differentiates itself from Disney-style
features with psychological complexities that become mired within
the action.
“Hitomi’s kind of cynical and trying to figure out
what her life is about. She’s not this fluffy, happy-go-lucky
teen that you see in a lot of cartoons. She’s just a really
classic character; she’s just trying to figure out her place
in the world,” Sheridan said.
Owing to the specialized audience to which
“Escaflowne” remains most popular, concerns have been
drawn over the English dubbing of the film, which originally
appeared in Japanese. While many anime are dubbed to appeal to mass
audiences, otaku (the Japanese word for anime devotees) abhor the
translations, which may destroy the subtlety and poetry of the
original Japanese text.
“Traditionally, English dubs of Japanese anime are poor in
quality and execution, despite the amount of effort put behind
them. Generally the translated dialogue is altered and retimed to
fit the original animation, resulting in awkward pauses and
atypical word usage. Additionally, the skilled intonation and
expression of the Japanese voice actors are usually not matched by
their English counterparts,” Burns said.
Despite doubts, Bandai remains confident that its dubbing will
service the film.
“Japanese and English are such drastically different
languages “¦ With anime, there are difficulties. You may have
a totally different idea of how the line is supposed to be said,
and you see the picture and it’s completely different.
You’ve got to change what you’re doing to suit
what’s on the screen “¦ There are always going to be
fans that are just more on top of it than we even are. You just
have to do your best and hope that it’s going to satisfy the
majority of people,” Sheridan added.
Only being released in five cities ““ Chicago, Los Angeles,
Vancouver, New York and San Francisco ““ Bandai anticipates
“Escaflowne” to become the next arthouse darling like
past anime films “Ghost in the Shell” and
“Akira.” However, with the added credential of being an
ex-Saturday morning cartoon, “Escaflowne” promises to
bring in more than just the die-hard otaku and foreign film
fans.
“With “˜Escaflowne,’ it’s going to be a
lot different. We’re going to make sure that art people and
anime fans are aware that the film’s going to be playing. But
we want to put it into venues where it’s a high traffic area,
where the mass audience can really get a chance to take a look at
it and are accessible to it,” Chu said. “We’re
not going to get the big Hollywood treatment like “˜Lord of
the Rings’ or “˜Harry Potter.’ We’re not
spending $20 million on our ad campaign to get the word out.
It’s really a grassroots kind of effort.”
FILM: “Escaflowne” opens today at
the AMC Theaters at 40 West Union, Pasadena, and at the GC Galleria
South Bay Cinema 16 at 1815 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 368, Redondo
Beach.