Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. This is a complete episode listing for the anime series The Vision of Escaflowne. Directed by Kazuki Akane, the series was initially proposed to Bandai Visual by Shoji Kawamori. Bandai selected Sunrise Studios to animate the series. Originally planned for thirty-nine episodes, the series was cut down to twenty-six episodes due to budget cuts. Rather than cut out characters or the elaborately planned plot lines, the studio forced the episodes to fit into the shorter length. In the first episode, for example, the credits were cut in favor of adding more exposition. Some scenes were also removed, but they were added back in the retail VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD releases. The series premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 2, 1996, completing its twenty-six episode run on September 24, 1996. Three alternate retellings of The Vision of Escaflowne have been released in manga form, with first two manga series developed at the same time as the anime, and all three having different authors. The three series were published by Kadokawa Shoten.