Animu Review: Last Exile
here we have a series without a corresponding manga. This means the anime is awesome, and doesn't have to worry about anything that other anime which came from manga have to worry about.
I saw the first episode of Last Exile on Sci-fi channel many many years ago (2002). I only saw maybe 10 minutes, and all I remember was liking the animation, because i had no idea what was going on. Later on that month i started collecting the DvDs (which were then, just now coming out.) It sucked, they released every other month, so you can imagine my frustration when they ended the DvD with a cliff hanger but i couldn't do anything about it. It did however, give me something to look forward too, and i got that feeling of actually collecting something.
The setting of LE is set in a sort of, mid Victorian steam punk era. I really don't want to put this in a steam punk genre though. It's just, steam era. Any who. You're in the middle of a war between the Disith (russia) and the Anotoray (not russia) on the planet Prester. Water is a rare commodity and Disith is freezing. Disith also have these things called 'immigration capsulse' which are basically these giant capsules that they fill with people and supplies, and they just fire them anywhere away from the ice. The problem? They only work less than half of the time, and when they malfunction, they kill everybody on board. So The pretense to the war is, Disith is running out of water, food, and they have a low population problem. So it's a desperate land grab war, just so they can eek out a living.
Most of all the fighting takes place in giant air ships. The coolest thing though, is that instead of being an 'air' battle, the setting is more of a water type setting, as the clouds act like splashes of water when hit with cannon fire. Plus all the navigation terminology is all nautical terminology, and when ships are destroyed they are considered 'sunk'. It's awesome, and one of the first things you notice with the series.
The story mainly follows 2 vanship pilots, clause and lavie. The vanship Union is pretty much just a mail delivery service. They get caught up in this wild and crazy scheme aboard the ship The Silvana. The Silvana is a neutral ship with it's own Agenda commanded by Alex Row.
I can't really talk about the story much, there's so much of it, and i'm trying to keep it spoiler free. But I can say that everything flows together nicely, and almost everyone and everything is connected one way or another. Character relationships get a lot deeper than what you think, and a lot of intense shit happens between everybody.
I'm going to keep this short. This is one of my favorite anime of all time, top 3 ever. The story is marvelous, the art is flawless, and the soundtrack is also one of the best. character development is one of the best i've ever seen, and the pacing of the plot is perfect.
I've watch like 3 shitty anime in a row, so i decided to treat myself and watch this again. If you haven't seen Last Exile, watch it. If you actually buy anime, buy this. It's a must own for anyone who collects.
I'm having a brain fart, so i may do a more detailed review later. As for the next anime. I think i may watch another one of my top favs, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.
Edit: Also..Wtf? Why did Geneon go out of business? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneon_Entertainment That's fucked up. Anybody know anything about that?