TL;DR: it’s a good anime that suffers from extremely poor pacing.
Synopsis: a girl gets stuck in a fantasy world and allies with Van and a knight named Allen to fight against Zaibach.
Given that theanimesnob is a fairly accurate (but extremely harsh) reviewer and gave the green light to Escaflowne, I figured I would give it a try. The anime is one of the first isekai, not the fake and gay gamer ones, but a story that revolves around one person being trapped in an alternative world.
This alternative world is extremely unique: it has mechas, high fantasy elements, dragons, and steampunk elements. I haven’t seen somebody try to combine so many elements from as many different genres as this one, but for what it’s worth it succeeded.
Unfortunately, it appears that the budget was cut and only 26 episodes were produced. This gives the anime a very fast and somewhat erratic pacing that basically ruined the whole series for me. The revenge theme is also quite overdone — I already saw Hamlet. It otherwise looks decent and was produced fine.
For what it’s worth, the plot/characters seem fairly well written, though it was kind of hard to tell for me, as the pacing was so disorienting.
Scoring:
Design (9/15):
Distinguishment: (4/5) - unique world and artstyle
Animation: (1/2)
Sound: (1/2)
OST: (1/2)
Character designs: (1/2) - aged but distinguished and appealing
Backgrounds: (1/2)
Script (40/50):
Character Investment: (9/10) - I was invested in Van Fanel, Dilandau, and the Prince, personally.
Character Realism: (2/2)
Character Complexity: (3/3)
Plot solidness (4/5)
Plot complexity: (9/10)
Ending: (4/5)
Pacing: (0/5)
Stakes: (9/10)
Value (14/15):
Thematic elements: (4/5)
Skill: (5/5) - budget constraints are unfortunate
Originality: (5/5) - unique blend of genres, one of the first isekai
Enjoyment (8/20):
Did I like it: (8/20)