Editing The Vision of Escaflowne (section)

==Production==
[[Shoji Kawamori]] first proposed the series after a trip to [[Nepal]], during which he visited the foggy mountain region and pictured a hidden world where an epic focusing on both fate and destiny should be set.<ref name="AnimeExplosion">{{cite book|last=Drazen|first=Patrick|title=[[Anime Explosion! The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation]]|date=October 2002|publisher=Stone Bridge Press|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=1-880656-72-8|oclc=50898281|pages=288–297|no-pp=yes}}</ref><ref name="Animerica Sept 2000">{{cite journal|title=Animerica Spotlight: The Vision of Escaflowne|last=Loo|first=Egan|journal=[[Animerica]]|date=September 2000|volume=8|issue=8|pages=7–10, 36–38|publisher=[[Viz Media]]|location=San Francisco, California|issn=1067-0831|oclc=27130932}}</ref> When he returned, he proposed the series to [[Bandai Visual]] and [[Sunrise (company)|Sunrise]]. According to Kawamori, his [[Sales pitch|pitch]] for the series was simple: "if ''[[Macross]]'' was robotic [[mecha]] and love songs, why not a story about robotic mecha and divining powers?".<ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> He worked with Bandai producer Minoru Takanashi to finish fleshing out the original idea.<ref name="AnimeExplosion"/> They researched various mysteries for inspiration, particularly stories centered on the mythical land of [[Atlantis]] and the [[Bermuda Triangle]].<ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> As the series began taking shape, they changed the lead character from a male, to a high school girl as the lead character.<ref name="AnimeExplosion"/><ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> [[Nobuteru Yuki]] was hired as the character designer, and tasked with crafting a design for Hitomi and the rest of the cast. He would later state that Hitomi was his favorite character because it was the first one he would ever designed completely from scratch rather than simply being adapted from an existing medium. Initially, Folken and Dilandau were a single enemy commander, but as the story was fleshed out, the creators felt the series would be more interesting if there were two with very different personalities.<ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/>

Initially, [[Yasuhiro Imagawa]] was brought on board to direct.<ref name="AnimeExplosion" /><ref name="Animerica Sept 2000" /> He is credited with coining the word "escaflowne", a Latin-based derivative of the word "escalation", that would be used in the title.<ref name="AnimeExplosion"/><ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> Imagawa imagined a series that was heavily male-oriented and would feature a shapely heroine and dramatic battles.<ref name="Animerica Sept 2000" /> However, he left the project before production started to direct ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]''.<ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> Without a director, the series was put on hold and Kawamori left to work on other projects. After two years, Sunrise revisited the project and brought in relative newcomer [[Kazuki Akane]] as the new director.<ref name="AnimeExplosion"/><ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> To broaden the potential audience, Akane decided to add more girl-oriented elements to the series. The suggestive elements were removed, several of the male characters were given more "beautiful boy" appearances, and the plot element around the [[tarot cards]] were added.<ref name="AnimeExplosion" /><ref name="Animerica Sept 2000" /> Akane also redesigned Hitomi, taking her from a curvy, air-headed, long-haired girl with glasses to a slim, athletic, short-haired and more intelligent and confident girl.<ref name="AnimeExplosion"/><ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> With the series character designs finalized and the story set, [[Yoko Kanno]] was selected to write the songs for the series, including the background songs which she co-wrote with her then-husband [[Hajime Mizoguchi]], with whom she had previously collaborated on the soundtrack for ''[[Please Save My Earth]]''.<ref name="AnimeExplosion"/><ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> Initially they found it difficult to score the series as the plot itself was still being reworked around the new concept, but the plot changes were finished in time for them to prepare the score and give the film the desired final "epic touch."<ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/> 16-year-old [[Maaya Sakamoto]], fresh from a small role in the anime adaptation of ''[[Mizuiro Jidai]]'', was selected not only as the voice of Hitomi, but also to sing the ''Escaflowne'' theme song. Kanno is noted as saying that Sakamoto is an ideal interpreter of her work. After this project, they continued to collaborate on many other works and some consider her work on ''The Vision of Escaflowne'' to be the launching point of Sakamoto's career.<ref name="AnimeExplosion"/>

It is said as the series entered into production, the budget required it be cut down to twenty-six episodes before work began on the final scripts and the animation.<ref name="Animerica Sept 2000"/><ref name="AnimeEncyc">{{cite book|last=Clements|first=Jonathan|author-link=Jonathan Clements|author2=Helen McCarthy|author2-link=Helen McCarthy|title=[[The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917]]|date=September 1, 2001|publisher=Stone Bridge Press|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=1-880656-64-7|oclc=47255331|no-pp=yes|pages=115|edition=1st}}</ref> However the director disputes this in a Panel Q&A for Funimation's Kickstarter, where he states the series was always supposed to be 26 episodes. This is clarified by Shoji Kawamori in the Special Edition Booklet for ''[[Escaflowne (film)|Escaflowne]]'', in which he states the original pitch was 39 episodes in 1990, but this version never went into production, it was also radically different in concept and tone. The production really began in 1994 where the show solidified its fantasy aspects and the final format.,<ref>ESCAFLOWNE THE MOVIE ULTIMATE 3-DISC EDITION-BOX Booklet</ref> In an interview during this time Kawamori had said he was unsure what form Escaflowne would take, but eventually it was set on a 26 episode TV anime.<ref>Ledoux, Trish.(September 22, 1997) Anime Interviews: The First Five Years of Animerica, Anime & Manga Monthly. Viz Communications, U.S.; Original ed. edition. pp 110-118. {{ISBN|1569312206}}.</ref> In the retail Japanese video release, some of the extended scenes were restored to the first seven episodes.<ref name="AnimeEncyc"/>