To be honest, I really didn't care for Escaflowne all that much. It was a pretty good series and I don't regret watching it, but it didn't draw me into its universe any and I didn't get attached to any of the characters at all. However, the storyline was interesting, even if the ending to the TV show was confusing as heck, and the animation was pretty good too, despite the weird noses. Please forgive me for this, but the more I watch the movie version of Escaflowne, the more I start to like it better than the series. I don't know why I like it more, but I thought the characters were more interesting in the movie, especially Hitomi who was too stereotypical of an anime heroine in the TV series for my tastes, although I do miss her psychic powers from the series. The animation in the movie was really good too, likewise so was the music, and the characters looked a lot hotter in the movie, especially Van and Allen. Still, nothing quite beats the Escaflowne shounen manga, which is just awesome, but I had to get adjusted to the new character designs. I really have been enjoying reading the manga a lot though, and I really want to read the rest of it. It's too bad they couldn't have made another anime series that took the same route as the shounen manga. I wonder if Tokyopop will ever license the Escaflowne shoujo manga....