the new director. To broaden the potential audience, Akane decided to add more shōjo, or girl-oriented, elements to the series. The suggestive elements were removed, several of the male characters were given more bishōnen—"beautiful boy"—appearances, and the plot element around the tarot cards were added. 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. 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. 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." 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. 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. However the director disputes this in a Panel Q&A for Funimation's Kickstarter, where he states the series was always suppose to be 26 episodes. In the retail Japanese video release, some of the extended scenes were restored to the first seven episodes. Media Anime The Vision of Escaflowne premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 2, 1996 where it aired weekly until it completed its twenty-six-episode run on September 24, 1996. Bandai Entertainment North American division, which licensed the series for home video distribution under its AnimeVillage label, first released the series with English subtitles, across eight VHS volumes, including a box set, from September 15, 1998 to December 15, 1998. In August 2000, Fox Kids Network began broadcasting the series in the United States. Produced by Saban Entertainment under license by Bandai Entertainment,