{{ Black Dragon: Introduction }} The site you are about to enter is a shrine to Folken Lacour de Fanel, a central character in Tenkuu no Escaflowne. Although I assume most people who come here will be fans already, which is why they've come here, I realise some of you may be less established fans or relatively new to the show, so this introduction is intended as a little orientation. Tenkuu no Escaflowne, or The Vision of Escaflowne as it's known in English, is an extremely beautiful, exciting and moving animated TV series from Japan. It's a fantasy story with strong elements of romance and humour, which actually comes close to fulfilling the cliché of 'something for everyone.' Genre-wise, it's a little hard to classify, since although you can call it shoujo (aimed at girls) because of its focus on emotions, relationships and a certain mysticism, it also has elements of the traditionally masculine mecha (giant robot) genre and is, in part, a very vivid and clear-eyed meditation upon war. One thing people often comment upon is what a girl-friendly show it is - the heroine, Hitomi, is never objectified or belittled as female characters often are in anime. Another reason why it's girl-friendly is that it has gorgeous male characters like Folken in it *^.^* I have a big fat crush on him, and although I've made shrines to several other Escaflowne guys before, it was only a matter of time before I got round to the sexy Strategos. For the other shrines, visit the Air & Angels web collective. If you want to learn more about Escaflowne, I recommend visiting the encyclopaedic Escaflowne Compendium site. Believe me, you need this show in your life. If you don't want spoilers before you watch it, go to the Compendium. Do not come to this shrine until you've seen the whole series, because it will just piss you off. I want people to enjoy my site, not get mad at it, and because my own perspective is that of someone who has watched the series about three times through, and who has discussed the characters and story with friends to the point where they feel almost like real people to me (I did say almost; I have some grip on reality remaining), I find it pretty difficult to write anything interesting about the series without getting into spoilers. Please note: there is now an English-dubbed and edited version of the series, just called Escaflowne, which aired on the FoxKids network. I only got to see the first episode, which I thought was very poorly done, and my spies tell me that it only got worse. If you came here because you enjoyed 'Foxaflowne,' well, I mean no offense to your taste, I'll just say that if you saw the original I bet you'd love it even more. There is just more to love. If you don't mind spoilers, come in and welcome. I hope I haven't inadvertently written a lot of confusing nonsense that no-one can understand except me and my friend Kevin (a sort of undercredited co-author of the shrines). Let me know what you think! Go into the Site Stuff section and leave a message in the guestbook. I love it when people do that. Oh, and if you're wondering about the title, it's because a) Folken is of Draconian blood, b) his brother Van is often identified as a white dragon, with Folken being seen in symbolic opposition, c) in the Escaflowne movie he leads the Black Dragon Clan, and d) I think it sounds cool. Formerly, this was a combined shrine for Folken and his brother Van, but I wasn't sufficiently interested in the little dude to maintain his half, hence its closure. Another webmistress has volunteered to adopt him, and we should see some movement on that front soon. Now that you have the facts at your disposal to make an informed decision, I invite you to choose your destiny... {{ Return to Main Page }}