Why are there three Escaflowne manga?

The two main manga were developed at the same time as the anime, but the anime they were adapting would not sit still. Sunrise gave Katsu Aki the existing production designs while the series sat shelved, and his version keeps the original concept intact: a violent, fight-first saga in which Hitomi, drawn in the curvaceous style first planned for her, becomes the living power source of the Escaflowne itself. Given free rein, Aki changed the story as he pleased across 34 chapters.

When the anime returned under Kazuki Akane with its shōjo elements restored, Kadokawa commissioned a second, parallel retelling for a girls' magazine. Yuzuru Yashiro's version, serialized as Messiah Knight, follows character interaction instead: the violence is toned down until the mecha are barely used for battle at all, and Escaflowne appears only near the end. It was cancelled after 10 chapters and collected, retitled Hitomi, The Vision of Escaflowne, in two volumes. A third book, the 1997 anthology Energist's Memories, gathers 15 short stories by seven guest artists.