Story & Characters
**Please note, the review score in my review is somewhat normally distributed, meaning an anime with score of 5 is
average (NOT 6 as it is scaled on final verdict!), 7 is VERY good, and 10 means "cannot be improved any
further". I'm doing this to accurately reflect truly great works (and crap*y work too ^^;). Please add around
2 points to the overall rating to convert it to the scale most of other people use. Also, anime are reviewed within the
scope of anime, anime-movie are viewed within the scope of anime-movie... and so on. Please remember that anime is often
given 10 times more time to present story compared to anime-movie!**
*Informal Commentary*
The anime, when it was first put on air in Japan, became very famous because of its top-quality drawings. This anime was
directed by Gonzo, which produced several top-quality animes aside from Last Exile. However, none of them made a major
hit ^^;;
The anime begins with introductory episode that has almost nothing to do with the main story. Although with great
trouble due to the complexity of the world setting, viewers can understand that the world is divided into several
kingdoms and they are at war but fight according to the spirit of chivalry. The war is supervised by mysterious
authority, the Guild. Guild has technology that is way advanced compared to the ones kingdoms use; in fact, Guild lends
anti-gravity sort of engine to kingdoms so that they can fight using aerial battleships, the main combating force in
this anime.
The main character(s) are Claus, and his childhood friend Lavie. They work and live together and make living through
message and simple parcel delivery business using Vanship, or small plane with high maneuverability. This is the job
they dreamed to have since childhood as their passed away fathers worked together in this job. One day they participate
in a race hosted by their town to show that the son and the daughter of the passed away Vanship pilots are back for the
honor of their fathers. Also, it was a first step for them to achieve their dream, which was to fly over the Grand
Steam, the jet stream their fathers flew into and lost their lives. The race went well for them, however, during the
race they find a damaged Vanship, in which a little girl was aboard. They find a message canister that marks the job,
delivering the girl to a battleship, to be very dangerous. To prove himself that he is an honorable Vanship pilot who
takes on the spirits of their fathers, he accepts to take over the job from the pilot of the crashed Vanship. When he
completes the job, he finds himself getting involved into the core matter of the war between the kingdoms, and finds the
importance of the girl he saved. The last question is, what does she have to do with the mysterious "LAST
EXILE?"
At the end, the story turns out to be quite simple, but it's very hard to understand. Notice my use of words in the
first paragraph of the main part of the review, which reads: "Although with great trouble .... viewers can
understand" The story is very hard to understand and so does the world setting. Viewers, including me, are left
behind in the story. You have to be very persistent and determined to be able to understand the complicated story line
and the world setting. In addition, the world setting has too much influence of "Laputa, the Castle in the
Sky." The world setting is well thought out, but the complicacy (or viewer unfriendliness) and obvious resemblance
with Laputa spoils it. In addition, the ending is just too mysterious. To say that it's open to viewer is easy, but
if you think about what an incomplete ending means, it merely means either producers couldn't resolve the grandeur
story they laid out that they threw away the duty to finish it off, or simply the story is incomplete due to
miscellaneous factors (e.g. out of budget, like Evangelion.) Yet, I would still give a decent rating to this anime on
story line. The world setting is absolutely grandeur. It doesn't have a good storyline, but you will enjoy the
carefully thought-out world of Last Exile.
Rating: 5
Art
This is where you should watch this anime for. Every week 24 minutes of this quality was produced. Behold, this is what
a "good drawing" is. For 30-min anime series, the art of this anime certainly worth 10/10, "cannot be
improved any further" rating. The mechanics are well designed with Computer-Assisted Designing, and little gadgets
are really well drawn. Actually watching worth 1000 words, so I shouldn't describe any further, because I know I
won't be able to describe the beauty of the drawing! This is actually no surprise because the producer Gonzo is
quite well known for its drawing quality. If you are interested, check out some other well- drawn animes from Gonzo,
such as Battle Fairy Yukikaze.
Rating: 10
Sound
The music of Last Exile is somewhat classical, and they are unique. As for the peripheral sound, they are really good;
that is for sure. What's in question is the music. It's unique that some people might love it while other
might not. Even whether the music used in story is appropriate or not can be questioned too, because viewers are not
really informed of what sort of atmosphere the producer wanted to create. However, overall my judgment for the music of
this anime is positive for its uniqueness (i.e. grandeur classic-like BGM), which contributes to developing of and
delivering of the grandeur world setting. The music sometimes gets quite unnatural, but given that the whole Guild, from
the structure of it to the people is unnatural, I must say that the unnatural sound is still a good music. It is a bit
paradoxical to say that music that sometimes gets unnatural as "good" but that seems to explain the music of
Last Exile. It's unique.
Rating: 8
Presentation
With this grandeur world setting, the anime could've been developed into much more complex story while being more
viewer friendly in presenting the world setting. This anime misses to be truly great anime because of 1. Incomplete
story 2. Very viewer unfriendly and 3. Copycat. Producers need to be very careful with the way they present their work,
especially if there is a famous anime with similar setting that came out earlier. In many places, there were chances to
distinguish the anime from Laputa. However, the anime didn't take the chances and continued to remind viewers of
the world of Laputa throughout the series. The world setting is really well thought out so it's a regret that the
work has failed to fully materialize its potential to become one of the greatest anime. Yet, I recognize the effort of
producers to create the work's unique atmosphere.
The overall rating comes out to be quite low; however, please remember that in this review you should add around 2
points to make the number equivalent to most of other people use. If you want to watch what a well-drawn TV anime is,
watch this one. This is ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED since it gives you better judgment of anime by setting a high standard.
Rating: 4
Final Verdict
6.0000 (average)
Reviewed by yuizaki, Apr 25, 2006
