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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• 

  CaptainSalty

  47/100
  Overanalyzation of Last Exile: Ripping the band-aid off, and how to fix it.

  SPOILERS

  Last Exile, an anime that had me intrigued with its concept art and tracks by Shuntaro Okino was nothing like I thought it would be. It happened twice, once when I started the show and saw the potential in a political drama with center focus still on character. Within the first two episodes, we understand the roles of Vanship pilots, the names of the two warring nations, Anatoray and Disith respectively as well as a third party called Guild. The world seems to run through chivalry in how combat and war is handled, with both armies staring each other down in the skies on equal footing. The imagery of minutemen and “redcoats” are apparent in both forces' ground troops, yet since the battle takes place exclusively in the air, they all are aboard the ships and fight in the skies. It’s a really neat concept for a more steampunk version of chivalry and honor. With it comes two concepts that have such incredible potential.
  One is in more familiar territory in the character of Mullin Shetland, who, while following code of honor, wants nothing more than to leave the battlefield by claiming survival medals and living a peaceful life among a safe ship of his choosing. He’s clearly not a minuteman who enjoys or takes pride in his work, only seen as a means of living a life with no worries. Take Jean from Attack on Titan.

  

  The other concept is chivalry. Chivalry isn’t a concept that’s played around with often, due to its limitation in making interesting battles. I believe that Last Exile acknowledges this by breaking it in the first battle. Disith surprises the Anatoray fleet by hiding in the clouds and unleashing hellfire upon them. It sets up intrigue as to why Disith is breaking the code of honor, as well as what this could mean for all the laws that the two nations have surrounding it. Will this unleash catastrophe through new weaponry? Unhonorable tactics? All the while, the Guild watches on, uncaring. Anatoray is wondering what they could be doing, seemingly like the controllers or overseers of the battle as Anatoray points out. Is the Guild wanting to make a move where Disith conquers Anatoray? I want you to take all these questions, all this potential, all this worldbuilding, and dump it in the garbage, you won’t be needing it moving further.
  That’s right. There is no political drama. There is no growth into Mullin. There is no reason for the Guild’s position in this battle. There are no repercussions to Mad Duke, the fleet commander for Anatoray for retreating. Everything you saw was potential, but that’s it. There is no nuance, no real message that comes of chivalry, of honor, or anything it tries to set up within its first two episodes.
  And this is all to say, Last Exile is another case of wasted potential. Something it could have easily achieved with its runtime of 24 episodes.
  What we got instead, is a very slow paced story of Claus (not Lavie), who have potential in their own right, and being tossed into this world’s already moving story once they arrive on the Silvana with Alex Row. We get to Silvana by episode 6 when we get familiar with the new faces and enemies. What about the four episodes before? Two were dedicated to the start of the show, and I wouldn’t have changed anything about them. The next two are about a race and meeting and delivering Alvis Hamilton. The race in itself serves no purpose by the way other than to introduce side characters we don’t care for and “worldbuilding” which is both slow and doesn’t allocate enough time for us to care for anything. An even bigger punch is that a plot relevant race does occur in episode 9, so there was little point to this race other than a feeling of repetitiveness. There is little time or characterization given to Alvis or Claus. Lavie does have a trait that’s very apparent though. She doesn’t want to be in this chaos and this story. A very unfortunate trait to have as one of its main characters, and a very high potential trait for drama, conflict, and character growth. I wonder if this will go anywhere significant?
  By the time that we arrive on the Silvana, the real show begins, having beat around the bush for too long, we’re thrust right into a battle between the Silvana and Guild. Where we meet Lucciola and Dio face to face, two characters with more high potential but with sullied execution. Dio and Lucciola are introduced having leagues more skill as pilots compared to Claus, who bumbles his way through the battle. By this point, we know that Dio has taken a fondness to Claus. Why? It’s never explained. Infatuation? An excuse to escape? We don’t know, in fact Dio’s character doesn’t ever get fully told why other than, “sister is bad. I don’t like my sister.” We don’t see why Dio feels this way, as we see him get along well enough with his sister Delphine when he was a kid.
  Dio stays aboard the Silvana for most of the series, and everyone just kind of accepts this after the first episode he’s onboard. Dio has his reasons for staying aboard the Silvana, it’s safe from Delphine. Again, we don’t know why but that’s his reason. He then gets taken back to Delphine when she invades the Silvana with little effort. She then doesn’t kill the people onboard the Silvana because that would mean all the characters in the show who are relevant would die, but it’s still illogical knowing Delphine. She does take Claus (for main character reasons), Alex Row, Dio, Lucciola, and Alvis though. Dio goes into a machine that changes who he is, that’s all the explanation we get.

  

  He then becomes a puppet of his former self, who loves Delphine and wants to be the next Maestro. Lucciola, only after Dio is already technically dead from his transformation, has him escape with Claus and Alvis. Dio is pretty passive through this and only becomes aggressive when it's relevant to have tension. He “dies” (miraculously survives falling off his plane offscreen in the Grand Stream somehow) having flashbacks to Lucciola and him racing back in episode 10. Showing that there’s a possibility he’s still the same Dio from before, but his character just ends there because we’re out of time.

  

  Another character that isn’t explored at all until it’s too late, Lucciola. He’s loyal to Delphine, yet he shows signs of caring more about Dio’s well being than anything else. He cries as a kid when Dio says they’re friends. He always allows Dio to do what he pleases aboard the Silvana and tries to always make him happy. Yet he ends up getting Dio retroactively killed and only does the right thing after it’s too late, destroying his redemption. I love how Lucciola’s character ends, but because the leadup to it was rushed, unexplored, allegiances changed too suddenly, it falls flat for the sake of plot, getting Claus and Alvis out of the Guild’s hands, rather than for character in Dio and Lucciola’s relationship. It’s messy, it’s amateur, and it could have easily been fixed if this story didn’t insist upon itself in being close minded on only selecting characters for one single episode and never touching them again.

  

  There are two other characters who get this exact treatment. Tatiana and Sophia both get one episode dedicated to them while still moving the plot, but afterwards they are again given the backseat for the rest of their time on screen.
  Tatiana is a case of a character getting character buildup though leading up to her focused episode, episode 13. She’s shown to be the best pilot on the Silvana. But she’s got the personality of someone who needs to prove herself at every turn, even taking Dio’s taunt and potentially jeopardizing their mission during the race in episode 9. She gets into a mess with her navi as they grow apart, both taking jabs at one another after Alister, Tatiana’s navi, helps out Claus by being his navi instead. Tatiana comes back at her when she has Claus become her navi to put Alister out of a battle. Tatiana is shown constantly to be angry and, to be blunt, a bitch. Her exploration into her character reaches a climax where she breaks after crash landing away from the Silvana with Claus, after seeing the Silvana go down in battle. Episode 13 is a solid episode, we learn about why Tatiana is the way she is. Kind of. We know she has expectations placed upon her since she comes from a noble family, an abandoned one, but a noble family regardless, so she always wants perfection from herself and her navi. We see her parents for just about ten seconds total, and no real depth into her home life and why she thinks this way, only that she does. She also just gets her depression fixed by Claus talking about the Grand Stream and they talk about their pasts, and that’s it. Suddenly she’s back and fine. And- that’s it. Then she becomes somewhat infantilized over Claus but it goes nowhere. We don’t do anything with Tatiana past this point at all.

  

  Sophia is the gentle but commanding vice-captain of the Silvana, she’s shown that she’s seemingly willing to follow Alex Row to the end, but a random note sent by a priest from Anatoray sends word that she’s needed back at the castle. She heeds the call and it's revealed that she’s actually the princess of Anatoray who fled her duties to help or be with Alex Row. So why does she come back now? What made her change her mind and go back to the line of duty as princess. Hell if I know, she just decides to do so unsure of herself. So much so that she kisses Claus, with no relationship at all between these two characters present before.

  

  Side tangent about the relationships of this series. Every single female character aboard the Silvana, and potentially Dio, like Claus. Why? I don’t know he’s a nice guy or something. Mini harem go. Just kidding they just have him kiss Sophia, have a very direct Tatiana attachment, Lavie who gets jealous of Claus and Tatiana over a misunderstanding with Claus giving his jacket to Tatiana that goes nowhere and is forgotten about within the same episode or the following one, and with the logic Sophia had, Alister is also up for debate just because he was nice to her. Stop, there is no romance that happens in this story, so why is it insisted upon us that all of them show at least a smidge of romantic tension with Claus? They don’t do anything with it so why even include it in the first place? Extra drama and tension? If you don’t extend upon it, it's wasted time and effort, not quality drama.
  Back to Sophia’s princess plotline, she returns and the king won’t listen to reason and still wants to attack Disith despite Disith apparently losing their kingdom and needing to relocate. Wait, when did this happen? Well they showed some of the people of Disith moving in pods in episode 13. Was there any explanation before? Nope. Do we know anything about Disith still?
  We just know they have nowhere to go and that to show honor and respect, to let Disith’s people relocate peacefully. But the king says no, Sophia’s “father,” the priest, says that she will lead Anatoray. And then he kills the king and dies while Anatoray is under attack by Disith. Then Sophia, the new queen, destroys her own men’s cannon to stop them from attacking Disith and calls a ceasefire. Sophia’s character is done. Anatoray and Disith relations end right there, they are now going to be on the same side the next time they’re important. These two factions literally add nothing to this story or world at this point. Chivalry? Never heard of it. Warring nations? Irrelevant. Context? None.
  What about our main characters, Lavie and Claus? Claus remains a pretty consistent character who just wants to know what’s happening in the skies, and because of that he stays the same, for the sake of the audience to learn what he learns. Claus and Lavie say from the get-go that one day they want to cross the Grand Stream, as it took the lives of both their fathers. To get closure? To finish the mission they were given? To know they could accomplish something their fathers could not? Meh. I don’t know. But I do know they do cross it, not for the same mission but to deliver Alvis for the climax of the series.

  

  In the part I talked about Dio and Lucciola, instead of Claus returning to the Silvana after escaping Delphine, he goes back to Norkia, his home where his story started. They have him sit around while the story starts its conclusion since he has the endgame person right next to him. He then brings Alvis back to the battlefield which is far off and in doing so he needs pit stops from ship to ship. He runs into the mechanics of the Silvana and Tatiana along the way. How? They were all aboard the Silvana and amongst all that left, they had two navis and one pilot, amongst around 7 people total. Nevertheless, they need Lavie back in the navi seat for Claus to cross the Grand Stream themselves to get Alvis there. All of this to get three people who are all disconnected from each other to the end of the fight far away where Claus and Lavie were originally. In doing so it feels forced to have Claus sit out for that exact reason. They had all their characters in the wrong places. Lavie was not with Claus, she still wanted to not fight in the skies, yet she has no choice here because the show is out of time to finish her ark.
  Lavie was a character that had much more potential as an interesting character than Claus. Claus always took the reins once their parents passed away. In doing so he puts on the mantle of more of a leading figure for Lavie, who keeps him in check and makes sure he does his own duties. When delivering Alvis, Lavie was not onboard, she clearly did not want to have any part in this story, rightfully so, it was dangerous and people were already dying over the mission they were tasked with carrying out. When they do get on the Silvana for fear of Alvis’ safety, Lavie asks why she’s even there, having a small mental breakdown that was unprompted. She goes into the race with Claus during episode 9 and 10 where she commits to being his mechanic, because she doesn’t want to fly for the sake of fighting others. So she takes a backseat, and is never given any other development other than getting jealous of Tatiana for an episode.

  

  What about our main villain, Maestro Delphine? Who appears for the first time in episode 10 in the auction. Well, she’s completely unexplored. Her entire faction for that matter, Guild, isn’t given a single hint of history. We know they control the skies, because they have the power of Exile or something. We know they are home to the most powerful noble houses. Like Alvis’ house. But again, we know nothing about the Guild themselves, and nothing other than they seem to have control over every ship’s Claudia units which are required for them to run. They start and end as authoritarians, nothing more nothing less. Delphine is simply the showrunner of it all, and her goal is controlling Exile, which she sort of does by reciting 3 of the 4 poems she needs. She can’t access the ship, but it doesn’t harm her, something we also have no history or prior knowledge to think of as something realistic. It feels more like a copout, “we need tension to make it seem like the villain can win” more than any real rule that Exile runs under.
  Now with all of that horrendous mess explained. Let’s talk about a few things this show does consistently well. Alex Row as a character starts and finishes off strong. The captain of the Silvana always felt like he was the main character of his own story, going beyond Claus and Lavie by having ties to both their fathers. His main goal is to kill Maestro Delphine, no matter who stands in his way, which is why he’s never aligned with any faction in the story. The Silvana isn’t a Disith or Anatoray ship, not even wanting to obey Sophia’s orders as the new leader of both nations. He succeeds in his mission by surprising Maestro Delphine once he’s been captured, somehow freeing himself and choking her to death. He dies himself in the process, another revenge story where it costs the person their own life. He has a fitting story that runs full circle with few hiccups along the way.

  

  The music was also- a mixed bag. I really liked a good bunch of tracks across both albums. Shuntaro Okino’s tracks, which got me interested in the series to begin with, were all amazing. Same with Hitomi’s tracks. The main composer, Dolce Triade, had some tracks I liked but many were not to my particular taste. Did they fit the story? For the most part. Tonally, less so.
  A real mess of loose threads that never get fully explained, developed, marinated, or built on at all. From chivalry being forgotten, to no real political drama having focus, to no character feeling complete, Last Exile is an ocean of possibilities, but the shallowness of a puddle in execution.
  I believe that this story is in need of heavy overhauling. Like characters not being left in the dust, adding layers to Guild, adding back in the political drama aspects by explaining actions like why the king of Anatoray won’t listen to peace. Add an explanation to why Disith broke chivalry sooner than when it's no longer relevant or interesting. Go into the breakdown of chivalry. Give more proper world building that actually affects the story instead of what we get with episodes like 3, 4, 8, 11, 16, 17, and 18. Give characters their conclusions and proper build ups to their arks like Lavie, Sophia, Mullin, Lucciola, Dio, and Tatiana. It’s a blanket fix, but I’d personally rather not do a full rework of the series at the time of writing this. Maybe a future project.

  
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