How to characterize Hitomi of the Escaflowne movie? First things first: She’s clinically depressed. One of the highlights of the Escaflowne movie is how well this aspect of Hitomi’s character is shown. She’s not just bummed out because she did horribly on a test, she sees no point in life, in living, and just wants to fade away...no one would miss her anyway. Nothing changes, even as she sleeps.

In the beginning, she shares this bleak outlook on life with Folken, and this is what allows him to bring Hitomi to Gaia. Instead of appearing before Folken, however, it is Van Hitomi meets first and it is this that allows Folken’s plans to go awry. When Van and Hitomi first meet, Van wants to kill her. Van lives only for revenge and hides his true feelings under a shell of anger and bitterness; he's just like Hitomi. They're two lonely people who fear contact with others because of the pain that contact might cause. This changes however, when Van is unconscious in Hitomi's arms after he saves her. Hitomi doesn’t know what to do, she just feels a sense of helplessness and begs him not to die. She realizes that she and Van are alike and that she wants to show him that she cares for him and that there is hope. She’s found something to live for.

Throughout the movie Hitomi and Van come to realize that "even if [they] hurt each other, [they’re] not alone". Slowly but surely, each comes to the aid of the other, melting the defenses that they’ve built up and teaching one another to care again. This change is evident in Hitomi as she gains some confidence in herself, volunteering to help the Abaharaki in their cause as well as reaching out to Van when he loses himself to his pain while piloting Escaflowne. By the end of the movie, she’s not cured completely of depression but she has found hope and the realization that the rain shall stop one day.

Escaflowne is © 1996 Sunrise, TV Tokyo/Bandai Entertainment, Inc. Deja Blue design and content © Clover