Few fans that are into fansubs at all haven't heard of Vision of Escaflowne. One of the top TV shows of 1996 (incidentally, the same year that brought us Neon Genesis Evangelion), this was one of the most popular shows in any fansub-lovers' arsenal... and it's not hard to see why.

A brain child of, in part, Shōji Kawamori (every single Macross series, Kenji's Spring), Vision of Escaflowne is kind of a cross between Never Ending Story, Super Dimension Century Orguss 02, and Record of Loduss War. The story involves one Hitomi Kanzaki, a typical high school girl who's into tarot cards and fortune telling, running track, and gazing at the object of her distant affections (and track team captain), Amano Susumu.

The animation, a seamless mix of computer-generated special effects and traditional cel animation, is groundbreaking for a TV show (and still good for a movie), and the music, from legendary duo Yoko Kanno (Macross Plus) and Hajime Mizoguchi (Please Save My Earth), is worth importing the CD's of.

While the plot may be nothing special, what is special is the execution. While we have seen almost all of these story elements before, we have never seen them together. Using all of these elements together, and flawlessly, is the real attraction of Escaflowne.

Technically, I was as impressed with Escaflowne as I was with AnimeVillage.com's subtitling job. In a world where the post-production abilities of budget-less fansubbers often outshine those of commercial companies, AnimeVillage has taken great care to maintain the top quality in production, even outdoing all existing fansubs of the series (despite using the now-infamous Captions, Inc. for the production). The timing is perfect, as are the translations. The credits are entirely translated, and replace the Japanese ones. The tape itself comes in a nice soft plastic clamshell case (in either white or black) and a high-quality printed sleeve.

Overall, my only gripe with this release is the tape shell: flimsy cheap reels are used, the kind that can actually burst on high-speed rewind modes on some VCR's and tape rewinders. (I already transplanted the ones on my copy with better ones.) Replace those reels, and Escaflowne quite makes for a perfect purchase. (The boxed set makes for an especially good deal.)