A steam punk world, mixed with high technology and anachronistic practices for war, a coming of age adventure with battleships, dog fighting fighter planes, and a world of mystery. This is my review of 2003’s Last Exile, by GONZO.
Our story is set on the planet Prester, a steam punk world with a vast sea of clouds and a blue sky dotted with inhabited floating islands where two nations, Anatory and Disith, wage what seems to be a perpetual war for resources and territory. Each side wages war using giant air battle ships and chivalric Napoleonic tactics. The code of Chivalry is so ludicrously adhered to to the point where columns of infantry shoot at each other as each respective battle line pass each other.
This intro to the world caught my attention so that I just got sucked in.
The enigmatic Guild, a powerful and secretive faction with advanced technology, oversees the conflict, ensuring both sides follow the code of Chivalry in battle. Our story begins with 15-year-old orphans Claus Valca and his childhood friend Lavie Head, who make a meager living as high-speed sky couriers. They fly a vanship, a small aircraft similar to early 1900s racing planes, inherited from their fathers—both legendary pilots who died while exploring the mysterious Grand Stream, a vast tumultuous storm of clouds and winds that separates Anatoray and Disith. Claus and Lavie dream of using their earnings to compete in vanship races. On their latest job, they deliver an urgent message to Anatoray’s battlefield commander, David Mad-thane, from his wife and daughter. But just as they arrive aboard the command ship, fresh from victory against the Disith, a surprise attack unfolds—one that disregards protocol and escalates into all-out war.
As panic spreads among the Anatoray forces, their ships are destroyed one after another. Yet, Commander Mad-thane insists on fighting honorably to the end. While the Guild observes from afar, they do nothing to enforce the rules. Lavie, a commoner, refuses to accept what she sees as a foolish devotion to chivalry and openly criticizes the nobility’s rigid adherence to it. Her words inspire Mad-thane to order a retreat—dishonorable, perhaps, but necessary to survive and reunite with their families. To aid the escape, Claus and Lavie volunteer to use their vanship as a diversion. As they do, a mysterious red vanship and the battleship Silvana, commanded by the stoic and enigmatic Alex Rowe, arrive to assist.
Unfortunately, the battle delays Claus and Lavie from reaching their race. Starting in last place, they compete anyway, but during the event, they find a damaged vanship. Claus, ever soft-hearted, rushes to help, only to find the pilot dying. With his last breath, the man entrusts Claus with a mission: to protect a young, pale-skinned girl named Alvis Hamilton and deliver her safely to Alex Rowe aboard the Silvana. Despite Lavie’s protests, Claus resolves to honor the pilot’s dying wish.
This only covers the first four episodes of a 26-episode adventure filled with action, mystery, and tragedy. If this intrigues you, I highly recommend continuing the journey—you won’t regret it.
Gonzo had themselves one heck of a master piece here. One of the hardest things about writing this was that every time I’d reference the show I’d get stuck rewatching some more of it. It has great coming of age themes, especially where Claus and Lavie are concerned as Claus finds himself being dragged into the combat aspects of flying, while Lavie doesn’t want that life. There’s political intrigue, commentary on social class between nobility and commoner, and the sheer technological decadence of the Guild.
Of course, you have your classic stories of revenge and loyalty and what one will do to achieve revenge. It’s definitely a great ride from start to finish. Oh, and the chess references. My goodness, so many chess references. The show has great characters, both main and support and I found the two Guild characters, ace pilot and scion Dio Elacrea, and his body guard Lucciola interesting and fun.
The combination of CG and traditional animation that GONZO has been known for in anime still holds up decently well, even now. Range Murata’s unique character designs bring a nice touch, especially his uniform designs, which he references quite a bit from historic Earth. As a mecha/gear enthusiast, the vehicle and ship designs of this show are just fascinating, being a mix between industrial, steam punk, and science fiction. The vanship races definitely remind me of the pod races from Star Wars, but not as over the top. Oh, and since Gonzo had some Gainax veterans in its ranks, you could spot the excellent tropes they brought over, especially on the mechanical side.
Keen eyes can spot the emphasis on consoles, gauges, and heads up displays on ships. The battles are also excellent, especially the dog fights with the vanships. Good stuff. Hitomi Kuroishi’s musical score is also memorable and rises to the occasion. The voice acting both on the Japanese and English sides are top notch and I’d be comfortable watching either one. The stand outs for me would be Crispin Freeman as Alex Rowe, Johnny Yong Bosch as Claus, and so many others.
There is a sequel to this series that came out in 2012, called Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing, but alas I’ve not gotten around to watching that one to be familiar with it. Perhaps another time.
You can watch Last Exile on Crunchyroll or any service like Amazon Prime or Roku with the Crunchyroll add on. I highly recommend this one!
****
English (US) · 