Anime Profile: Escaflowne

The year is in the 1990s, and this girl named Hitomi likes this guy named Amano Senpai (Teacher Senpai). So she asks him if he would give her her first kiss if she could break 13 seconds in the 100-meter dash. He agrees. She asks him to time her with a pendant that sways fully each second. As she is running, (it is now night time), Van Fanel materializes in front of her and pushes her aside. Talking in a tongue that nobody can understand but Hitomi, he says, "It is coming too..."- then a dragon comes. After a long fight with the dragon, Hitomi sees the future- that the dragon will kill Van. She warns him, but when he doesn't thank her she gets upset and all of a sudden they dematerialize and go to an invisible world.

The people on this planet can see the earth but can not get to it. The earth appears to be only half the distance as the moon is to us. Anyhow, earlier, after Van killed the dragon, he opened up it's chest and pulled a dragon energist out. These supposedly have a huge amount of power that is easily converted. These are what they use to power their mech, or Guymelef.

Hitomi Kanzaki is your regular teenage High School student. Or so she thinks. She has the ability to foresee the future and she's been having visions of another world. One night those visions come to life when a prince named Van Fanel materializes on Earth while fighting a dragon. Hitomi is whisked away with Van to the world of Gaea, a beautiful world hidden behind Earth's moon.

She is soon caught in a massive war with the tyrannical empire of Zaibach, in which Van's homeland is destroyed in their reign of terror. Using Giant metal robot armors called Guymelefs, most of Gaea's kingdoms have fallen to this threat. But, Van also pilots a powerful Guymelef known as Escaflowne, which also has the ability to transform into a dragon.

Escaflowne's power is seen with envious eyes by Zaibach for mysterious reasons. Van and Hitomi join Allen and other allies in order to put a stop to the Zaibach and bring peace to Gaea. However, Hitomi's abilities may help save Gaea, or destroy it completely. What destiny lies in front of her, and what exactly is her link to this fantastic world?

Side note: The series broadcasted in edited form on Fox Kids in 2000. However, the Fox Dub was short lived, and was eventually canceled after a few episodes.