Last Exile

By Shamus Posted Saturday Apr 15, 2006

Filed under: Anime 14 comments

I’ve had very little luck looking for good anime on my own. Aside from Ai Yori Aoshi, every time I’ve tried a series about which I know nothing, I’ve been disappointed. I’ve been depending on Den Beste to do my filtering for me, which is sort of lame on my part.

Now I’m looking at Last Exile, and I’m tempted to go off on my own again. I like the OP. The series is not too long (seven discs). The art style looks good. So it passes my first-round elimination filter. It has a very Final Fantasy feel to it, (at least in the OP) which is a big plus in my book.

Problem is, as far as I can tell nobody has seen it. If they did, they didn’t think it was worth writing about. Either way, that’s bad.

Alexander Doneau at Anime Pilgrimage doesn’t have anything on it. Den Beste doesn’t list it. J. Greely at .clue can’t help me. Don McClane has not reviewed it at Mixolydian Mode. It’s highly rated at Netflix, but I’ve long since concluded those people are raving mad.

If anyone has any non-spoiler comments on this series, please drop a comment.

 


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14 thoughts on “Last Exile

  1. DVS says:

    I can’t help you yet, buy maybe soon. I live in Eugene, Oregon, whose library has an anime fan on staff. We Eugenians have lots of nice anime in the library.

    Concidentally, I checked out the first disk of The Last Exile on Friday. But I have not had time to watch it yet.

  2. Evil Otto says:

    Watch it. You will NOT be disappointed. Last exile is one of my absolute all-time favorites. Amazing flying sequences and aerial battles, characters who you actually *care* about, a well-developed story arc, and one of the most cheerfully sociopathic villains I’ve seen in a while.

    I just got finished re-watching it last month, and it blows me away every time I see it.

    Anyway, here’s a review:
    http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=550

  3. Alex Doenau says:

    Last Exile is second in line for DVD series for me to watch; along with Berserk, my friend Andy says that my life will not be complete lest I watch it.

  4. HC says:

    Last Exile is a very pretty series – plenty of eyecandy and aerial stunts. The writing is adequate, but not on par with the animation.

    If you’re looking for anime reviews, I recommend http://www.animecritic.com/_metareview/ . It’s a review aggregator, and while the common denominator review of a series isn’t always right it does give you quick access to a parallax view on whatever series you’re looking at.

    The sort-by-rating option also lets you get an idea of what consensus quality titles are. Again, it is not gospel (is Escaflowne really better than – let alone that much better than – Noir?), but it is a good place to start looking for new titles.

  5. Gothmog says:

    I agree with HC- the animation is excellent- but the writing gets a qualified ‘meh’ from me, at least toward the end of the series.

  6. Shamus says:

    Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I think this will be next after Someday’s Dreamers and Najica.

  7. DVS says:

    Now I’ve seen the first DVD, and was quite impressed by the setting. If the creators provide more explanation for this fantasy world’s society and technology it would be a plus, but even if they don’t it is still a treat to see.

    The dialogue is nothing special, but it’s not meant to be. To some extent much of it is purposefully simple, to contrast the “commoner” status of the two main characters with the talk of the nobility. And there are few witty rejoinders, since it’s not that type of film.

  8. gedece says:

    I’ve seen this series. Overall, I give it a 9/10, though I didn’t quite like the end, that’s a matter of opinion. The Music is simply amazing, and the retrofuturistic feel of the “planes” is marvelous.

  9. Miako says:

    for reviews, and overall niceness, please try out animeNfo.com!

    I like it at any rate…

  10. Errol says:

    I like the series. They didn’t talk about the origins but what’s in the background left much for inference.

    Nice battle scenes too. Loved the way warships clashed against each other. It gives that retro-feeling in an odd way. You’ve got airships yet the method of warfare harkens back to the days of Napoleon.

  11. The_Pixel_Ninja says:

    This time the crazies on Netflix are right, It is Fucking awesome. I’ve seen all of it, I love all of it. I even have the theme set as my ringtone. If i Had the money I’d go out and buy it this instant, But I don’t. :[

  12. Rawr-Zor says:

    Last Exile is the best unknown/unheard of anime series out there. It’s tragic that more haven’t seen it. I would definitely suggest it. It’s one of the those rare shows where all the story elements balance out to make a well rounded experience. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. And if you’re like me, you’ll bitterly curse the ending for all time. Besides any show where people shoot at each other with steam powered muskets before just shooting them out of the sky anyway has to be seen at least once, right?

    P.S. Dio forever.

  13. Koiya says:

    Last Exile gets a 9/10 from me, I rented it on a whim and was thoroughly impressed, surprisingly not alot of reviews on it are available but i’ve heard nothing but good comments about it in the anime section on th MF forums. It does give a futuristic yet retro feel about it which makes it so enjoyable. I highly recomend you watch it :)

  14. Luciro says:

    I saw this show for the first time when I was about 14 or 15 years old right after I got a television. (I’m currently 19 years old. YES I live in the USA. NO, I am not socially inept.)ANY-WHO! It aired on G4 right after G4 bought out Tech TV. It seemed like the only reason they aired the show was to keep the fans of Tech TV interested, or at least that’s what I assume. It worked for me for the month it was on.
    Since I was hooked on R.O.D. the TV series I was very depressed when Last Exile came on because I thought they had stopped R.O.D, but found myself pleasantly surprised! So much so I woke my sister to come enjoy Last Exile with me.
    I agree with Koiya about the retro-futuristic feel it has. :)
    I think absolutely anyone can fall in love with this series!!!
    It gets you so emotionally attached! I cried several times!
    Definitely in need of some great professional reviews and many positive blogs in my opinion!

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