At the
Movies
To
learn all about Escaflowne: the Movie - a Girl
in Gaia, check out Tsubasa
no Kami.
As you will quickly gather, the world of the movie
is very different to that of the TV series,
and so are practically all the characters. They
have the same names and look similar to their
series selves, but in almost every case have been
conceptually reworked. Because the shorter timespan
of the movie puts pretty tight practical
restrictions on development of secondary
characters, you may be disappointed to find that
the only characters whose personalities we really
get to explore are Hitomi, Van, and to a lesser
extent Folken.
It's
hard to imagine Allen without a huge complex
backstory, isn't it? Yet in the movie he is simply
a leader of the dispossessed Abaharaki rebel
forces, with something of his old quality of
suavity but very little of his romantic air. He
still kicks Van's ass, I'm sure you'll be delighted
to know. But he doesn't have a long-lost sister, an
embarrassing father, a rivalry with Dryden, or a
special attachment to either Millerna or Hitomi.
Only his antagonism with Van and his friendship
with Gaddes survive into the movie
version.
One
of the most purely cool moments in the movie
is when Gaddes throws a knife to prevent Van
attacking Allen; it whistles directly past Allen's
face, taking off a snippet of his hair, but he is
Too Cool to flinch, remaining totally impassive. I
loved that.
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*sigh*
Movie Allen isn't even sleazy. (Well, not that
series Allen is genuinely sleazy, but he's great
innuendo-fodder.) The only opportunity for such
innuendo that I found in the movie is when Allen,
greeting Hitomi, who the Abaharaki believe is the
prophesied Goddess of Wings (Tsubasa no Kami), says
'You must be tired after your journey from the
heavens.'
Now,
me, I woulda subtitled that as 'Did it hurt
when you fell from heaven?' *^.^* But I just find
the juxtaposition of Allen and bad pick-up lines
far too funny. (Too funny for accurate translation,
that's for damn' sure!)
I've
recently also noticed that movie-Allen wears
earrings, one small, dark-coloured shiny ball (I'm
guessing black pearls) in each earlobe. I've been
trying to decide if that has any significance
beyond 'it looks good.'
Apart
from being intensely badass (all the male
characters appear to have been cranked up several
notches on the Badass-O-Meter, as though because
Balgus isn't in the movie his essence has to be
shared out across several other characters), the
only real glimmer of personality Allen shows is in
having more faith in Hitomi than any of the other
characters. (I'm indebted to Lizzard, webmistress
of the site I keep crediting on this page, for this
observation.) However, he looks extremely sexy in
black leather, and I'm told that when the movie
premiered at Anime Expo 2000 and his fight with Van
began, a large proportion of the female audience
started chanting gleefully 'Al-LEN! Al-LEN!' (Again
by Lizzard, who tends to be my major source for con
goss.) So he's not a total waste of time
*^.^*
Another
interesting point was raised by Lizzard when she
commented that, especially with his hair tied in a
ponytail at the back (which I'm afraid you can't
see in this picture), movie Allen looks rather like
how the adolescent bandit-Allen of the series might
have turned out if he had grown up without Balgus'
influence.
Yeah,
yeah, I have no thoughts of my own. The
Escaflowne movie is not at all bad (I was
terribly afraid it would be) but I definitely still
prefer the series, especially its version of Allen.
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Image
from Tsubasa
no Kami
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Image
from Tsubasa
no Kami
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You
can bet that I've been staring till my eyes bulge
out like organ-stops at this detail of the Japanese
DVD cover (various bits of other characters whited
out), trying to get some hint about the
relationships of the characters from the way
they're posed together. If you can't make it out at
this resolution and size, allow me to inform you
that Millerna is resting her hand on Allen's
shoulder, and her cheek on her hand, in a decidedly
possessive and affectionate manner.
The
small hairs on the back of my neck stand up; do
they have a thang going? But let's consider Allen,
staring directly ahead at the viewer; he looks
unmoved by Millerna's closeness, even, possibly, a
little bit displeased. What could be going through
his head? Damn... she's glomped onto me
again... and for a picture lots of people
will see... knowing full well I can't elbow her
away in public! Mr Yuuki would scold me for messing
up the group composition!
Poor
Allen, sexually harrassed by a mad ginger bint,
while the one he trulyloves is just behind
him, so near and yet so far! *^.^*
Okay,
okay, I'm being silly. Really I'm just blissing on
how keeYOOT Gaddes looks in this image, and being
the yaoi fangirl I am I'm always predisposed
to read homoerotic subtext into such images...
Really, the only thing you can safely read into
this picture is that Millerna appears to be fond of
Allen, which is all very well and good.
And
that Gaddes is a red-hot cinnamon sweetie, and that
Allen doesn't look quite so attractive when he
pouts like that. Which is a shame.
**Home
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