Anime Newbie seeking Escaflowne advice

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I hope it will be fun (looks very interesting).

My main reason for posting here is to obtain help with making a choice. You see, I was recently smitten with ESCAFLOWNE: The Movie, and (gasp) have yet to see the series. I am considering diving into it, but I want to get the advice of the people on this board before spending my hard-earned money on a series I have yet to see (and yes, I tried rental stores, but no dice).

So, my main question is: does greatly enjoying the moive adpation of ESCAFLOWNE mean the average animer will like the seires?

 

Welcome aboard. :3 Glad to have another Esca fan around.

I'd definitely recommend the series to you. It has considerably more depth and character development than the movie does - and expect to see some changes to the characters' personalities and designs (in some cases, rather drastic changes). My experience has always been that fans of the movie tend to enjoy the series because it broadens the scope of the story so much more. Both the movie and series are wonderful as stand-alone stories, and seeing the changes made between them is quite interesting.

Most casual anime fans I know who've seen the series have enjoyed it, too. It has a lot going for it - great animation, a wonderful soundtrack, a coherent and engaging storyline, and if anything, the characters are all much more human than they are in the movie. (Since the movie really only allows time to develop Van and Hitomi.)

For more comparison of the series and movie, you can check this thread:
http://www.mangatoanime.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=11638

Just be aware that delving into M2A's Escaflowne forum will expose you to some MAJOR series spoilers. ^^; Since the series was released in 1996, it's difficult to avoid certain plot points - most fans are already familiar with them.