Anime Last Exile

[Guest rttocs77]

Oh, WOW! I just started watching this show and let me tell you, it is one of the best I have EVER seen. Here is a brief synopsis of the story:

[QUOTE] Prestel, a world filled with the atmosphere of the time when it went through industrial revolution remains.

There lives Klaus Valca, a 15 year old who using the Van Ship (a small flying ship) left behind by his father, made his home in the sky along with his childhood friend Lavie Head who is also 15.

Their dream was to surpass what their fathers couldn't do and that was to pass through the storm known as "Grand Stream". But, one day, a mysterious girl Alvis Hamilton, aged 11 is entrusted to them by the battle airship Silvana and they get dragged into a battle that shakes the world. The world of Prestel where a sea of wind and clouds stretch out.

The Grand Stream, sweeps across high in the skies.
Two countries that confront one another, Anatorel and Dysis.
Now, is the start of a terrible and exciting story!
[/QUOTE]

It was made in 2003 in Japan and has already been bought by Geneon to be released in the US.

Anyone else see this?

Another thing, it gets pretty heavy on the CG sometimes, and before I started watching, I thought it would annoy me. It turns out that it is a great addition and it works wonderfully with the hand drawn animation.

[Guest angelaanime]

I am really broke right now.......
But i want to see that show so bad.
I'm lazy, Plus i'm saving up to go to a con. so this will take a while.

[Guest rttocs77]

It's very very very good. You can tell just by watching it that they had an ENORMOUS budget. In terms of like grandiosity it would be comparable to Dallas or Dynasty (two American shows from the late 70's-80's, for those that don't know)

I downloaded all the episodes off of Bit Torrent. Excellent.

It's in widescreen too!!!!!

[Guest angelaanime]

....quit temping me like that...........
....i'm broke OKAY?!?!
......i bet by the time i can afford it it will be like on its 3rd or 4th volume.
yeah i saw some very good demos on it.
...It's wide screen? ORO???
......that just makes me want it more.......

[AzureWolf]

BTing as we speak (01-08 done!), but only because [url]www.animenfo.com[/url] has had this anime in the #1 spot for the longest time. Additionally, I need to see this before they run out of the limited edition box (first DVD just came out). :D

Apparently, you are supposed to read [url=http://www.last-exile.tk/]this[/url] after every episode. That's just weird, haha. Still, it does add more to the episode and anime overall if you do. I still think it's weird. :p

[Fujimiya]

I really haven't seen the anime, but at least I plan to. Afterall, the OST is really worth buying. I mean, with a soundtrack that good, the anime has to be good, most of the time anyway.

[Dagger]

I've only watched four episodes, but Last Exile is already among the best shows I've ever seen. It's a little slow to open up, and its first few episodes focus more on character development than plot advancement. Nevertheless, LE's good qualities by far outweigh these minor complaints.

For one thing, LE's music is incredibly good (like Fujimiya mentioned). I'd say that its soundtrack is nearly on par with that of RahXephon, another amazing series. I love the opening and ending songs; they combine techno beats and a rich, medieval sound with beautiful vocals--a very winning combination, to say the least. The background music reminds me strongly of .hack//SIGN's, although I find that Last Exile's music tends to be less repetitive.

The visuals are [i]astounding[/i]. I'd advise those of you who are interested in this show to go ahead and see it for yourselves, as my descriptions really can't do it justice. Even CG-heavy battle scenes look magnificient. Last Exile promises to be a truly epic show.

I'm a little disappointed that the DVDs are being released on a bi-monthly basis; I don't like having to wait that long in order to get my Last Exile fix. ^_~

~Dagger~

[Amity]

Okay, I've tried posting new threads repeatedly, lets see abou this one already being posted. Has anyone seen Last Exile? It's the newest show on TechTV. I love it. Claus and Lavie are so courage. I would never do anything of the sort of what they do. I love the set up, the music, the attitude. Just everything about it. Has anyone ever heard of it? If so, please do comment. If not, comment and I'll tell you what the show is about. :D

[COLOR=Navy]I merged your topic with the official Last Exile thread. Happy posting. ^_^

~Dagger~[/COLOR]

[Panda]

The first time I found out about Last Exile was at Anime Expo this past year. The preview hooked me right away. I love the look of the character design and mecha. The soft coloring and look of the anime gives it a bit of a "dream" feel to it. I also love the dark and brooding characters like Alex Row. I am currently in the process of buying the DVD's.

I have throughly enjoyed the episodes I have seen so far and can't wait until all the disks are released. I am also hoping that they will make a goat plush like the one that Alvis Hamilton carries around. ::baaaaa::

[QuincyArcher]

i watched the fansubs a while ago and i loved the series, and they've started showing the english dubs on anime unleashed on TechTV but the english voice acting is downright horrible it almost makes it unwatchable.

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='QuincyArcher']i watched the fansubs a while ago and i loved the series, and they've started showing the english dubs on anime unleashed on TechTV but the english voice acting is downright horrible it almost makes it unwatchable.[/quote][font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Haha, that's so true. Last Exile has a terrible english dub. You win some, you lose some. I bet there's some kind of reason for this tragedy, such as all the good voice actors were busy or something. ^_^[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Anyone have interesting interviews or inside information about the dubbing of Last Exile?[/color][/font]

[Dagger]

Heh, I was actually rather impressed by Last Exile's dub. It features some of the best voice actors in the industry, although I suppose that the quality of their specific performances is debatable. Everyone has their own tastes, after all.

This isn't exactly insider information, but I thought that it might be helpful or at least informative to list some of the show's English VAs.

[b]Johnny Bosch[/b] plays Claus. His previous roles include Vash the Stampede (Trigun), Claire Leonelli (Heat Guy J) and Haruto Sakaki (Witch Hunter Robin).

[b]Kari Wahlgren[/b], one of my favorite VAs, is Lavie. You might recognize her voice as that of Haruhara Haruko (from FLCL) or Robin Sena (Witch Hunter Robin). I'm continually astonished by her versatility; I would never have guessed that the same woman voiced both Robin and Lavie.

The ever-amazing [b]Crispin Freeman[/b] took on the role of Alex Rowe. He's been in numerous anime, but is best known for playing Fuuma Monou (X-TV), Touga Kiryuu (Revolutionary Girl Utena), Alucard (Hellsing) and Amon (Witch Hunter Robin). As I'm a big fan of WHR's dub, it stands to reason that I would also like Last Exile's. Alex does look and act quite similar to Amon.

[b]Michelle Ruff[/b] plays both Alvis and Tatiana. I haven't always enjoyed her work, but I do respect her range. Some of her other characters are Kotori Monou (X-TV), Chi (Chobits), Fujiko Mine (Lupin III) and Yurika Dojima (Witch Hunter Robin).

I'll look up the remaining voice actors and actresses in an hour or so. I'm particularly interested in learning more about David Lelyveld, who I thought did a fantastic job as Mullin Shetland.

~Dagger~

[Garnet Crystals]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Yeah it's a really good anime and the story plot is pretty good. I call this type of anime a shiny surface one because it's really well done. Also the opening theme song rocks!![/FONT]

[Ani_Freak]

[color=darkblue]I have to say that what got me to Last Exile and sparked my interest was all the hipe and talk it has. After watching the first DVD, I was very impressed. It sure is CG heavy, but the integration it has with the animation is great. I'm picky when it comes to CG in anime, since there are some animes that just don't look that good.

About the VA's, I really like the acting, in my opinion, is not that bad, but definetly improveable. The astounding cinematics just make up for all the other drawbacks Last Exile may have. It has become an instant favorite, and can't wait to see more of it.[/color]

[Japan]

I started to watch it on TechTV like two days ago. It was Sunday to be exact. TechTV was showing a marathon of Last Exile. I watched countless episodes for many hours. It was really awesome. I liked it ever since watching one of the episodes. I love this anime. It is on of the best ones I've ever watched. I want to watch the rest of the anime that I didn't get the chance to see.

I don't think that the dubbing is that bad. Like Dagger said, the voices are some of the best in the business. I really like Johnny's voice.

[Guest DiRTyBuNNy]

how can we not have had someone comment on last exile in months? that's a tragedy...

[Dagger]

While I would also be very happy if the Last Exile thread were more active, the fact is that your post has nothing to do with the actual show. By this forum's standards, it's basically spam and would normally have been deleted. Since you're new and seem to be a fan of the series, you should feel welcome to wax eloquent about Last Exile after checking out OtakuBoards' rules.

Please private message me or one of the other moderators if you have any questions. Thank you very much. ^_^

~Dagger~

[Billy Shears]

[quote name='QuincyArcher']i watched the fansubs a while ago and i loved the series, and they've started showing the english dubs on anime unleashed on TechTV but the english voice acting is downright horrible it almost makes it unwatchable.[/quote]

How do you figure?! Dagger just named the people who are the VO's, and since it seems like their in alot of anime, they can't be that bad. At first, Lavie's voice did erk me a little bit, but I got used to it, like I did Haruko's voice in "FLCL". Just because the VO's are bad doesn't mean the show is unwatchable. Take "Yu-Gi-Oh!", for example. :smirk:

Since I only saw 3 or 4 eps. on TechTV, I really like it. I wouldn't say I LOVED it, because I had no idea what the story was about, and whoever summarized the story in the beginning of the thread didn't help me either. But, like eveyone is saying, the show's visuals are THE BEST I HAVE SEEN.

[Dagger]

After watching volume 6 (multiple times, I might add), I'm firmly convinced that Last Exile is the best show GONZO has ever made. There were some truly heartbreaking moments in this set of episodes, which covers 21 through 23... in my mind, Lucciola has cemented his position as one of the coolest supporting characters/side-kicks I've ever seen. He selflessly and courageously [spoiler]gave his life to rescue Dio from Maestro Delphine. I still can't believe he actually succeeded in killing Cicada![/spoiler]

Of course, it was also very rewarding to witness Mullin finally coming into his own and taking a stand. [spoiler]To be honest, I don't think he's actually dead. However, that doesn't make his obstensible demise any less poignant, particularly in light of how he protected his... er, lady friend.[/spoiler]

The dub has gotten steadily better; by now, it's nothing short of brilliant. Mia Bradley makes a very creepy, easy to hate Delphine. Joshua Seth and Mona Marshall really did a remarkable job of making Dio and Lucciola feel like actual people, despite their exotic origins--there were a number of scenes in which Dio [spoiler]totally loses it and flips out, usually thanks to his diabolical sister, and Mr. Seth handled these parts with real passion and finesse.[/spoiler]

I will be very, very sad to see Last Exile end, and I can't believe there's only one volume left. Of all the shows I've been following over the past year or so, Last Exile (despite its so-so disc count) has definitely given me the most bang for my buck. It's original, addictive and visually ravishing. No matter how it ends, this is a series I plan on revisiting time and time again.

~Dagger~

[wolfy129]

WAI! *spaz* =^o_o^= I love this show! ...and currently I am still hooked on it...

I first saw this work of art during an Anime Club meeting at my school. We had a vote betwen Romance- "Gravitation" and Action- "Last Exile" course everyone chose "Gravitation"- which was ok too...
When that was over, we still had time for Last Exile. The opening hit me in the same sense "Obsession" for .hack//SIGN did, with a song and video that matched very well. It was one of those things you could get up and wiggle too, no matter who or what was going on in the room.

The charcters, to quote my friend Sven "They look like Serial Expirements Lain!"
(Mind you, I haven't seen that yet... =^-._-.^=) I love the eyes on the characters, They fit well and show the right kind of reaction in the right situation.

I could swear, at some points the animators may have used computer models, but I could hardly see where the animation and the computer stuff collided... (first episode, when Lavie and Claus are parking their vanship on that warship... Could've sworn that was computer... =^._.-^=)

However I love the series, I've still had many struggles on how I obtained each DVD... hence, the sad fact I'm still only on the 5th volume...
I've been able to see the Japanese verison this way though, which is an extra goodie. =^n_n^= (To tell you the truth, I had no problem with Haruko "FLCL" and Robin's "Witch Hunter Robin" voices, but Lavie's voice really bothers me in the English version... =^x.x^= mwee... I just can't stand it at times...)

SPOILER~

I didn't really like how the writers mixed in [spoiler]this romance stuff with Tatiana and Lavie and Claus and.. well, just about everyone on the Silvana is after Claus now. =^o.o^= And then, they just ignore everything they built up in those episodes... I don't know maybe my imagination was running free but, I was picking up a lot of confusion there. Poor Claus... I thought Sophia was old enough to be his mom![/spoiler] =^O_O^=

...I really really really really hope these spoiler tags work... =^._.^=

...hum, to end,I picked up the first DVD right after Wolf's Rain had ended, and to watch the dub and hear Tsume's and Kiba's voice again, ah, magic. =^n.n^=

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1][b]Added spoiler tags. -Solo[/COLOR][/SIZE][/b]

[Syk3]

I saw the first episode of Last Exile at a friend's house last Friday, and I didn't think it was that great. The animation was awesome, of course, and I might not have been paying complete attention, but the story line from what I saw kind of sucked. *shrug* My friend, who owns it, hasn't even gotten around to watching the first two DVDs because the first few episodes made him kind of bored. The overall feel of it really isn't my type.. the whole futuristic old fashioned atmosphere, with amazing flying ships but using muskets (come on, [i]muskets![/i]). Maybe I'm not giving the show proper respects from the positive view so far in this thread, but based on what I saw in the first episode, I didn't really like it.

[Dagger]

[quote name='Syk3]I saw the first episode of Last Exile at a friend's house last Friday, and I didn't think it was that great. The animation was awesome, of course, and I might not have been paying complete attention, but the story line from what I saw kind of sucked. *shrug* My friend, who owns it, hasn't even gotten around to watching the first two DVDs because the first few episodes made him kind of bored. The overall feel of it really isn't my type.. the whole futuristic old fashioned atmosphere, with amazing flying ships but using muskets (come on, [i]muskets![/i']). Maybe I'm not giving the show proper respects from the positive view so far in this thread, but based on what I saw in the first episode, I didn't really like it.[/quote]

How much were you able to learn about the storyline from a single episode? o_O Dio and Lucciola don't appear until episode 6; even Alvis doesn't show up until episode 3. The primary villain doesn't become apparent until the latter half of the series. It's not all scampering around in vanships, that's for sure.

The "steampunk" setting actually makes perfect sense in the context of the world's history as well as the power balance between various organizations. Land-based governments have access to incredible technology only because it is granted to them by the Guild (I don't really consider this a spoiler, as it's all stated outright or implied over the course of the first few episodes). The people who man the airships and regularly use this technology have no idea how it works, and cannot replicate it. The Guild probably doesn't want them to have machine guns or other types of advanced guns, so they're pretty much stuck with muskets. Obviously the Silvana [spoiler]is an exception--the crew members' hand-held weapons, as well as the ship's defenses, are a lot more sophisticated than the norm, and they also have a better understanding of the machines they encounter in their daily lives.[/spoiler]

Even the reason the Guild has such remarkable technology is eventually revealed. It's a major plot point, heh.

EDIT: Of course, if you hated Claus or Lavie, this probably isn't the anime for you. :p

wolfy129: If you want to use spoiler tags, simply type [*spoiler]text[/*spoiler], but be sure to omit the asterisks. It'll make your life a lot easier.

I didn't mind the [spoiler]romantic bits--I thought they added some interesting depth to the various characters' relationships. I certainly didn't think Sophia was genuinely interested in Claus; he comforted her when she was depressed over Alex being his usual self. She felt grateful and a little overwhelmed, so one thing led to another.

By the way, you forgot about Dio and the bald mechanic. ^_~[/spoiler]

~Dagger~

[Sojio]

[quote name='Dagger']After watching volume 6 (multiple times, I might add), I'm firmly convinced that Last Exile is the best show GONZO has ever made. [/quote]

I totally agree with you Dagger this show realy is one of Gonzos best and that is saying alot considering Gonzo did such greats as FMA which has been watched by thousends. After viewing alot of Miyazaki stuff I've naturally come to share his love of aeronautics and I believe that this show has such a great look into this subject.

The whole storyline fits perfectly with the characters and I'm a sucker when it comes to subtle romances in anime. Like FMP and Love Hina.
:animeblus

Sojio

[only1specialed]

Last Exile was another random pick for me. i never heard about it. i only saw some pics of it in a New Type i was skimming through. I wanna say that this is one of the best animes I've seen in a while. The opening was just awesome what really got me above everything else was how real the freaking clouds and smoke looked :animenose . I don't know why people don't like the dub. I thought it was pretty good and whole [spoiler] everyone kinda falling for claus[/spoiler] was a bit whack. i felt bad for Lavie hehe. :animeswea

[MangaGirl14]

[font=Verdana][size=2]YES YES OH YES!!!! I love that series!:D :D :D I love everything about the Last Exile. It has so must anesome action, adventure, theme music, and well its just so amazing. That's my opinion!:animesigh My favorite characters is Claus, Lavie, and Al!!! Claus rocks plus he's soo cute:animeblus! Al(Alvis) is sooo cute and adorable! Last Exile Rocks!!![/size][/font]