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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 10 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | Ggultra2764 | # |
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The Pros: Last Exile is an anime which takes the genre of steampunk to a large scale as it explores a world making use of industrial age technology for everyday purposes. The most use of this technology seen throughout the series comes in the form of airships and planes, used for both commercial and military purposes. Outside of the steampunk genre, Last Exile also explores interactions between characters and the tensions that develop as events progress in the series. This is especially shown through Claus as he adapts to life on the Silvana and questioning what role to play in the war between Dislith and Annatoray. The show has a number of tense and natural scenes revolving around the war and its events being influenced by the Guild. This allows viewers to develop an understanding of how the show’s characters react towards events in the war. Animation wise, Last Exile has detailed, crisp animation where its quality is on par with the high-quality animation commonly found in OAVs. This animation looks especially stylish during scenes involving Vanships and the aerial battles involving the Guild and the military forces of Dislith and Annatoray. The show’s soundtrack is a mixture of upbeat and whimsical tunes that flow well with the show’s drama and action sequences. The Cons: Last Exile’s major problem is that it lacks some substance in its presentation of plot. It is unclear how the war between Dislith and Annatoray began and how the Guild came to be formed with the vast amount of political influence it had over both kingdoms. Also, there is not a great deal of depth given to Queen Delphine’s character. This makes her appear as the archetypal tyrannical ruler of the Guild feeling a sense of superiority over everyone who comes upon her. Facts on the Series: -Last Exile was made to commemorate Gonzo’s 10th anniversary. The show ran on an animation budget that was above average for typical animation found for a televised anime series. Last updated Sunday, January 06 2008. Created Sunday, January 06 2008. | ||||||||
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| Avoid | 10 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | DisFunctional | # |
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God it was painful watching these 26 eps. The CGI was excellent but a lot of the scenes were wasted on a router turning or something like that. Yes we got the point after 10 eps. stop repeating that s***! Smokes/cloulds lol what can i say. smokes here, clouds there, they're everywhere (look at the pics above - clouds lol). just lots of ships scenes moving very slowly through clouds/smoke (even during fighting scenes). The whole screen was covered in clouds a few times. Most of the time, i'm just scratching my head and asking what the hell is going on?? "Release the K23yo7!" shouts the second in commander. "release the K23yo7!" repeats the 3rd in command. some instrument moves. "Turn towards 234e245w" shouts the second in command. "Turn towards 234e245w" repeats the second in command. The ships turns. Scan 23idikendsk!!!.... And this goes on for 10min. Wow k23yo7!!! What the hell is a K23yo7???!!!! who the hell cares?? There i was watching for 10min every ep some person shouting something I dont even know what it is. so much is wasted on this type of scenes. Just no story at all. I love a good drama but that's say for an example lavie tells Claus, "I dont know you anymore" and runs off and starts crying. now this was in the first few eps. To me, a viewer, i dont know Claus and lavie's relationship that well because it's only the first few eps and the director didnt really go into details about their relationship. And in that first few eps I havent notice anything different to the way he treats lavie. So here i am again scratching my head and thinking... what the hell is going on??? chick crying and i have no idea why. story badly told. Lots of crying over nothing, lots of sad faces, lots of cliche silent hero crap (captain), many gay scenes, lots of unnecessary ship fights and i still havent worked out why and who is who. I guess it was just to fill in time. Just painful. Last updated Thursday, September 27 2007. Created Sunday, September 16 2007. | ||||||||
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| Rent | Forbin | # | ||||||
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Drama : High Comedy : low Action : High Scifi : High Ecchi : Low Look at all the BUY ratings below mine. Of course the first question must be 'Why did Forbin Give it a Rent?' Well the quick answer is 'Because the story was a major hack job.' This really reminded me of Brain Powered a much better job but still just a hack job. This is a 52 episode series hacked into a 26 episode one. Gonzo proves again what a fantasic work of CGI that they can do. The story is incredible. The ending was very powerful. The animation was top notch. But it was hacked. Which parts were hacked eh?
Last updated Friday, March 10 2006. Created Friday, March 10 2006. | ||||||||
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| Buy | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | AstroNerdBoy | # |
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Last Exile is a beautiful looking anime and it is hard to believe that something so beautiful isn't an OAV or a movie. This series makes the best use of CG I have seen in an anime title and the best blending of CG with normal art-animation elements. While beauty can certainly fire desire, it takes more than beauty to keep the fires lit. Fortunately, Last Exile does just that. For starters, the concept of Last Exile is very interesting. What if there were a world where there were flying ironclad ships, looking not unlike their late 19th-Century cousins on Earth? What if there were small 2-man flying machines that were like bi-planes, only without the wings? What if armies fought with muskets, but those muskets were powered with steam? Such is the world of Last Exile and thus I got something else to fill me with awe. There was a dreadful beauty in the way these ironclads of the sky fought in battle. There was a wonder-beauty in the way Claus and Lavie flew their Vanship, so much so that it felt like a tribute to Miyazaki-sensei. It really was incredible. The cast of characters are ones seen in other anime titles, yet are still likable just the same. While still kids, Claus and Lavie's being able to fly is nicely explained and they aren't superkids, just two people following their father's footsteps to be the best Vanship operatos (pilot and navigator respectively). Alvis is so cute and precious! The supporting cast is good, but unfortunately, much of the supporting cast don't get background information. Tatiana is a great example. Things are hinted about her past and why she is the way she is, but these things aren't explored. Her navigator-partner Alistia is the same. She provides some hints at Tatiana's past, but what about her own? Why did they join the crew of the Silvana? These are things I like to know, but unfortunately no such answers are to be found. As to the story, it is a very good one. Again, the unanswered questions rear their head. What exactly is this world they are living on (I have an idea, but I could be wrong)? Why was the Guild put in charge of the world? Why was the powerful ironclad Silvana not registered with the Guild (thus under their indirect control)? And on and on I could go. Still, despite these many unanswered questions, what we do get for a story is more than enough to overcome the lack of answers for certain parts of the series. Finally, we come to the music. The music really helped the series, which is what music is supposed to do. The opening theme is really good as is the end theme, so much so that I had to import the CD from Japan. Bottom line: while there are a few problems with Last Exile, there is a lot that is good and great from art, animation, music, characters, and story. This will be in my DVD collection.Last updated Sunday, February 13 2005. Created Tuesday, January 18 2005. | ||||||||
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| Buy | 10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 9 | Bardock | # |
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I really liked this one. I can't tell you much except two charectors rufy and Kulos are trapped in the middle of a war. I'm not gonna ruin to much but there also these wierd racing people things. The charector and episode plots are great and well......diffrent from most animes. (Srry i only seen it once). I wish i had more but you know. Last I knew the only way to see this was Tech TV Anime Unleashed.
Last updated Friday, April 02 2004. Created Friday, April 02 2004. | ||||||||
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| Buy | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | Jan-Chan | # | |
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Set in the bleakness of a barren landscape, against the apparently meaningless slaughter of war, Rufy and Kolus race their impossibly fast two seater airship through lines of flaming flying battleships, in an air filled with explosions and danger, to complete their courier mission and earn a modest commission. They find themselves entangled by the circumstances of one of their courier missions, and become recruited by one of the flying battleships to help in the war. Their service, while offering the simple comforts of a warm bed and regular meal, also requires that they serve as soldiers and use their skills to fight in a war which is only important to the higher ranking and aloof nobles and royalty, that rule the lands. The story of Rufy and Kolus, takes them on adventure in which they cross paths with a number of other characters (many of them the nobility), who weave themselves through the story line. It is through these secondary characters that an understanding as to the source and nature of the current conflict can be understood, and also how unimportant these larger issues are to the ordinary folk. It is only when the lords call upon their people to fight on their behalf, do the issues of the honor of nations and nobility come into play and the blo.od of the commoners begins to flow. The animation is excellent, the story line is complex and the characters are interesting and intelligent. The series is not afraid to fill the screen flaming battleships or to race down a village street, across a meadow into a valley ravine at high speed. The attention to the detail in the animation is exceeded by the attention in developing (explaining) the different characters in the story. Some of the characters are not quite human, and their actions are not quite understandable, until they reappear again, and time is taken to explain both a different culture and perspective on the events of the story. I find myself being reminded of the novels of Jack Vance, in which the dynamics and continuity of the story are more important than having to attempt to explain all the weirdness and differences of a situation. It is our empathy and understanding of the main characters, travelling in a backdrop of a strange and unfamiliar world, that permit us share in the wonder of their adventure. I really enjoy this story and feel compelled to give it a very strong buy rating. It has a bit of an epic flavor, in which the events of any specific moment of the story, while being interesting, has no real impact on the larger story that is being told. I would like to compare this to some other series, but I am hard pressed to identify any series that succeeds in telling the story of the main characters, while being distracted enough to follow the other characters and use their stories to explain the greater circumstances and specific situation of the world in which they all live. In any event, I like this series!............. Last updated Monday, March 01 2004. Created Sunday, September 14 2003. | ||||||||
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