By now, if you are a fan of anime and you have yet to hear of ESCAFLOWNE, you have either been living in a cave for the last three months, or you're dead. ESCAFLOWNE the TV series has made a name for itself in that short time, and that popularity seems to be spreading out. Unfortunately, if you see the manga, drawn by Katsu Aki, you may be tempted to burn it.
With three volumes out since April 15th, the manga version of ESCAFLOWNE can only be described in one word. Ugh. Not only that, but it's a special kind of 'ugh' that I reserve for those that are so bad that going over the problems in depth would require a megabyte of space. If this were anything other than ESCAFLOWNE I'd like to think that it could be forgotten about in less than a year and relegated to the Halls of Really Bad Stuff -- Toxic Wing. I mean, the character design is rough and messy (for lack of better terms), the storyline is just not good, and the mecha design is almost as bad as MAZINGER Z (TRANZOR Z in the US). The fact that this is bearing the ESCAFLOWNE name is just a travesty of the series.
The thing that I have a hard time believing is that Mr. Kawamori (the creator) would allow the manga to be done in this fashion. One looks at the TV series, then at the manga: it's like comparing apples and horse apples, or MACROSS PLUS to MACROSS 7. It doesn't work, period. What I mean by this is that the TV series, much like MACROSS PLUS, was made for a more mature audience. We see the steady building of relationships, and the slow unraveling of mysteries. Yet, when we look at the manga version, we get a lot of cheesecake and pulp. Like MACROSS 7, this series seems to be made for a rather young audience, perhaps an audience that would have trouble understanding the TV version of ESCAFLOWNE. And I'm not saying that is necessarily a bad thing. Still, if that is the intention Katsu Aki has, then perhaps calling this series something other than TENKU NO ESCAFLOWNE would be a good thing. Maybe Shounen Esca, or something.
In closing, this manga does have a few good points scattered here and there, such as the realism of death and filling out the demons plaguing Dirandu. But the art style, the changes in the personality of Van's character, the 'power-up' premise (Hitomi's Dragon-energist body goes from normal to Uberbabe mode as she powers up the massive Escaflowne so it can release energy blasts from its forearms), and the considerable differences between this and the TV series all together are enough that I will probably never like the manga to any real extent. My suggestion to those who might have an interest in the manga for whatever reason would be to examine it cover to cover before buying it.