Return of Escaflowne and Exclusive cast interviews

For many long time anime fans, "The Vision of Escaflowne," is well regarded as a classic for many reasons. Its flowing narrative, compelling characters and incredible animation has all played a part in allowing this series, based on Katsu Aki's iconic manga, to stand the test of time.

For those unfamiliar with the story, here is a short spoiler free summary.

Hitomi Kanzaki, a fairly ordinary teenage girl, is living her day to day life and fostering a crush on Amano, a friend from her track and field team. Just when she hears that he will be moving away soon, she works up the courage to finally tell him how she feels. However, just as she does, a young man by the name of Van appears out of the blue. Sword in hand and a dragon close on his heels, Van's battle escalates with Hitomi caught in the middle. In the chaos, she is accidentally transported to Van's home, the distant world of Gaea. How will she get home, and what is the mystery surrounding her new found power of foresight in this world?





You'll have to watch the series to find out.


Awhile back, Funimation created a Kickstarter campaign in order to see if there was any interest in re-dubbing this series for its upcoming anniversary. The campaign was successfully funded, giving the team at Funimation an opportunity to breath new life into the series.

As part of Otakon 2016 celebration, ADR Director and voice talent Sonny Strait (voice of Allen), Aaron Dismuke (voice of Van), Caitlyn Glass (voice of Hitomi), and Alex Tipton (voice of Merle) came as guests to show off the first two episodes of the new dub in a special panel along with the series director Kazuki Akane.

And as a special treat, AFA was fortunate enough to get some one-on-one interviews with some of the cast.

First, we caught up with Aaron Dismuke who was very eager to share his passion for writing and discuss the process that goes into script writing for ADR.

 


Next, we were fortunate enough to speak with Sonny Strait, after the Escaflowne panel, to discuss his experience directing the new dub, his favorite voice roles and even some background on his work with comics.

 


Treat yourself to a classic series with a dub that brings it to life like never before.

Funimation's new dub of Escaflowne is now available for streaming on the Funimation website. The HD DVD collections of the entire series and the movie is also available for purchase now on Amazon.

And for more of our video coverage.interviews from Otakon 2016 check out AFA's very own Youtube channel.