powers are enhanced on Gaea and she quickly becomes embroiled in the conflicts between the Zaibach Empire led by Emperor Isaac Dornkirk and the several peaceful countries that surround it. The conflicts are brought about by the Zaibach Empire's quest to revive the legendary power from the ancient city of Atlantis. As the series progresses, many of the characters' pasts and motivations, as well as the history of Atlantis and the true nature of the planet Gaea, are revealed. Production Shoji Kawamori first proposed the series after a trip to Nepal, during which he visited the foggy mountain region and pictured a hidden world where an epic focusing on both fate and divination should be set. When he returned, he proposed the series to Bandai Visual and Sunrise. According to Kawamori, his pitch for the series was simple: "if Macross was robotic mecha and love songs, why not a story about robotic mecha and divining powers?" He worked with Bandai producer Minoru Takanashi to finish fleshing out the original idea. They researched various mysteries for inspiration, particularly stories centered on the mythical land of Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle. As the series began taking shape, they changed the lead character from a male, the norm for an action-mecha series, to a high school girl as the lead character. Nobuteru Yuki was hired as the character designer, and tasked with crafting a design for Hitomi and the rest of the cast. He would later state that Hitomi was his favorite character because it was the first one he'd ever designed completely from scratch rather than simply being adapted from an existing medium. Initially, Folken and Dilandau were a single enemy commander, but as the story was fleshed out, the creators felt the series would be more interesting if there were two with very different personalities. Initially, Yasuhiro Imagawa was brought on board to direct. He is credited with coining the word "escaflowne", a Latin-based derivative of the word "escalation", that would be used in the title. Imagawa imagined a typical shōnen series that was heavily male-oriented and would feature a shapely heroine and dramatic battles. However, he left the project before production started to direct Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Without a director, the series was put on hold and Kawamori left to work on other projects. After two years, Sunrise revisited the project and brought in relative newcomer Kazuki Akane as