LAST EXILE

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionLast Exile: Ginyoku no Fam
MANGA ActionLast Exile: Sunadokei no Tabibito

REVIEWS

• 

  siddhant26

  81/100
  (SPOILER FREE) A show which had tremendous potential, but mediocre to good execution.

  Last Exile is not a show which I have a lot to say about- It is an old anime I decided to dive into because I was interested in its steampunk aesthetics. That being said its one of the FEW steampunk shows- and is also considered to be a classic, especially by the people who follow studio Gonzo. While I won't say I had expectations going beyond the roof, about the show, I did have some, and the anime met a few of them.

  Setting, Premise and Execution of Plot - Extremely Interesting, had me hooked in. And every single episode managed to entertain me, even if I had very little idea as to where and why the story was going. The overarching plot about a messenger, getting involved in a huge conspiracy involving aerial warfare between few "countries" was interesting. The series can be divided into two parts. Episode 1-15 don't really have any major plot developments and are there to introduce us to the world, make us feel comfortable with the characters, and get a very general grasp of the plot. It was like a steampunk slice of life, with occasional hype scenes and a slow but steadily moving plot with an air of mystery to it. As in it entertained me, while making me curious as to what would happen next. The second half was when the story actually started to surface. This is where I have my issues with Last Exile. I liked the feel of Last Exile. It is rare nowadays to see something like this. That alone gives it a good rating. Often you won't have any idea as to where this show is going, but you are still invested in it regardless because it just does enough, for you to be interested. The transition from the first half to the second half is quite sporadic. As the plot suddenly surfaces. Few twists occur, there is a slight tone switch and it's more apparent as to where the show is going. With the knowledge of the first part, going into the rest of 11 episodes is quite hype. However, Last exile, doesn't capture the spirit of adventure that well in the second half. The issue is that the last arc of the show or the final 4 episodes while being quite satisfactory, feel anti-climactic. It also becomes apparent, that like wolfs rain, the ending was rushed, while the buildup leading up to it took far too much time. Which made the buildup feel flat and created an illusion, where it felt the second half was rushed even more. Another issue I have with last exile is that while having a general sense of epicness to its plot, it often fails to put it on paper. This is the most apparent in the final few episodes- which move at a slow pace and turn out not to be as flashy and satisfactory. Compared to the first 20 episodes, they were just plain boring, even if they pretty neatly wrapped the whole series and its plot. And depending on how much a mediocre ending can affect you- you will either love last exile or be disappointed, that the turn the story took wasn't as epic.

  CHARACTERS- they are fine really. I won't say they are the most well made, but they are likeable.
  Animation and Music- OST is fairly simplistic, usage of the same soundtracks is apparent. It's OP and ED are heavily experimental and I like them. The Animation and Character designs are brilliant and the animation is just great, as each character has a lot of expressions.
  Tone and Theme- Last Exile is indirectly teaching the value of unity and the futility of war to a respectable extent, which is really nice. The tone of the series is for the most part adventurous and chill. This can be both a turn on and turn off, as most of the scenes lack buildup, and just happen which can frustrate people looking for climactic moments

  Conclusion- This show is considered to be Gonzo's finest, and it definitely has a lot of points which make it special. However, the last 4 episodes were kind of a turn-off.
  With that said my final score is 81/100

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• 

  teirhan

  80/100
  A classic of the early 2000s, featuring engrossing characters, a beautifully realized world, and surprisingly good CGI.

  Hey, remember 2003? It was the year that Kino’s Journey aired. Planetes was hot stuff. Fullmetal Alchemist’s original run – not Brotherhood, the one that had its own wild ending separate from the Manga – was this year. Wolf’s Rain? 2003. Stellvia of the Universe too. Even some lesser known solid entries like Scrapped Princess hail from this venerable year.

  It was a good year for anime, right?

  I don’t know if Last Exile was forgotten precisely, but it doesn’t often get brought up in these lists. And that’s a shame because Last Exile is probably the best thing Gonzo ever made – and that’s not damning it with faint praise.

  Set in a fantasy world with a general steampunk aesthetic, Last Exile tells the story of two warring nations, Anatoray and Disith, fighting over living space in a world rapidly falling out of balance. Anatoray is experiencing shortages of fresh water and droughts; Disith is slowly freezing solid. Over it all is the secretive, decadent Guild, nominally in charge of maintaining the balance of the world but disinterested, above it all, a strange combination of tyrant and referee thumbing the scale just enough to maintain their own power.

  Claus and Lavie are two vanship pilots making their way in this world, running jobs as couriers and participating in races on the side. It’s their dream to cross the Grand Stream in their vanship, a feat that few have attempted, and no one has ever succeeded at. They accept a mission to deliver a young noble girl’s letter to her father one day and end up fatefully entwined with some of the most important people in the world. Through a series of coincidences and extraordinary events of their own making they end up the guardians of another young girl and living onboard the Silvana, the most advanced warship their home of Anatoray can field.

  Last Exile is a stellar example of early 2000s anime-making, a time when studios were flexing new muscle given them by the rapidly lowering cost of CGI and the freedom granted by digipaint. It is clearly a labor of immense craft and preparation, with countless hours of worldbuilding and design going into every detail of the world that Last Exile so lovingly portrays.

  Featuring Gonzo’s trademark combination of 2D animation and 3D CGI, you can feel the crew growing more and more comfortable with the medium as they go on, and especially in the touched-up bluray release the character animation is stellar and nearly always on model. A surprisingly restrained color palette helps keep the show consistent in visuals, and the design work of Mahiro Maeda on the mechanical side and Range Murata on the character side sing. Readers, this show looks good. The music never disappoints either, with a stellar soundtrack provided by Dolce Triade, an excellent opening provided by Shuntaro Okino, and a pitch-perfect ending provided by Hitomi Kuroishi.

  What about the plot you ask? It’s a slow burn, with the main plot kicking off about five episodes in – long enough to let you get really attached to Claus and Lavie, and to build the world they live in every day. Vanships are dismissed as little more than couriers or toys by most of Anatoray’s nobility, and Claus’s own blood doesn’t spare him from being looked down on by others spouting nonsense about Chivalry. The Silvana is different – but ominously has the nickname Kill ‘em All Silvana, and dark rumors swirl around both it and its captain, Alex Row. Then there’s Alvis, the waif who ends up attached to the two of them, of mysterious provenance and the target of Guild enforcers desperate to kill her before whatever power she possesses can be turned against them. It’s all a bit of a standard set up, but modern anime fans can tell you that the execution is often what matters.

  And execute Last Exile does. It builds characters who feel well-rounded and experience trauma and suffering in realistic ways. It continually expands and enriches its world without it ever feeling too contrived or baroque. And while the ending isn’t quite nailed – those pacing problems, that rushed epilogue – and a few poignant character moments are sacrificed in literally the last minute of the last episode in favor of a saccharine feel-good ending that undercuts the bittersweetness somewhat, it all still hangs together well enough to come out of the far end feeling like time well spent and a world worth experiencing.

  Is it perfect? No. But the good wildly outweighs the bad here and despite being almost twenty years old, the design sensibility, quality animation, and rapidly improving CGI make it still an enjoyable watch two decades later.

  Recommended.

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