Anime Expo - Friday - Escaflowne Talk

Anime Expo - Friday - Escaflowne Talk
	One room at the Disneyland hotel was different than any other room used for an anime convention: it had twin 35mm film projectors at the rear, loaded with a print of the Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaeda movie, finished only two days earlier. Fans packed the room well before the start of the Friday screening of the film, so many that people were turned away an hour before the presentation. Executive VP Ken Iyadomi of Bandai Entertainment announced before the screening that the Vision of Escaflowne TV series would be shown on the Fox Kids Network in the fall of 2000, that the Gundam Wing endless Waltz series would be shown in the Cartoon Network in 2000, and that both series were set for DVD release.
	Takahashi, the producer of the Escaflowne TV and OVA series, noted that the show had seen some major changes since Shoji Kawamori first came up with the idea, nearly ten years ago. Along with the rest of the production crew, he had worked until the last minute to finish the print. "The subtitles have just been finished and I haven't checked them yet," Takahashi said. "If there's a mistake, please excuse it." For the Fox Kids broadcast of Escaflowne, Takahashi said the production would be redone with "upgraded sound and music."
	Nobuteru Yuuki, character designer and animation director for all versions of Escaflowne, noted that he had attended Anime Expo in 1997 when the X movie was released, and had promised to return with the Escaflowne movie. He kept his promise in 2000, Yuuki said. "In Japan, Escaflowne was not too much of a success compared to X. I was pretty much surprised that this title was received so well in the U.S." said Yuuki. "I owe it to you who support anime in the U.S. as the reason we were able to bring this movie here."
	Five years of work led to the Escaflowne movie, said director Kazuki Akane. "We put a brand new look to it," he said about the revised character designs and the revelations of character relationships. "I'm concerned if you like it or not - I hope you do like it."