Last Exile: Discovered Attack
(Geneon/Pioneer DVD)
(2004)
review by Big McLargehuge

In the first of the four episodes, “Calculate Alex” We pick up back on the Silvana as Claus and Lavie, as well as staff Vanship pilots Tatiana and Alex, prepare for a prestigious eight-hour Vanship race. Using the race as a backdrop Alex Row has Tatiana place explosives in specific areas of the course then he heads off to a black market antiques auction.

He is interested in only one item, the Last Exile, the last known Mysterian, a cold steel rectangle that is rumored to offer more power than even The Guild. A bidding war ensues between Captain Row and Duke Knowles.

Just before the beginning of the race, androgynous lunatic Deo, young prince of the guild taunts Claus. He’d “shot” Claus down twice during the last battle, and by that I mean targeted him and yelled “bang!” and wants to flaunt his superiority in the skies over our young Vanship hero.

Deo and his androgynous weirdo manservant/navigator, run every other driver off the course until only they and Clause and Lavie are left.

The next episode “Swindle” continues the race and the auction, in which the princess of the guild, Delphine (older sister of Deo), forces Alex to lose the auction. Once the explosives go off he escapes leaving Duke Knowles surrounded by dead guards.

An ally appears in the form of the Prime Minister and promises Alex that he’s working the inside track to short circuit t he consolidating power of the Empire and the Guild forces.

Stranded from a lack of Fuel, Claus and Lavie are towed back to the Silvana by Deo. Deo is allowed to wander the ship and learns that Silvana uses an unregistered Guild engine, maintained by an old former Guild member.

In the next episode “Develop” Alex meets with former friend and current rival Captain of the Disith fleet, on orders from the Emperor to retrieve Al, the little girl from the second series of DVDs. Alex refuses to turn her over forcing a battle between his vessel and the entire Disith Fleet.

Finally, in “Discovered Attack” the Silvana engages the Imperial vessels in the “Dragons Teeth” while Claus acts as Tatiana’s navigator. When it looks like the Silvana is sunk after defeating five of the six Disith ships, and Tatiana’s vanship crippled, the DVD ends and I begin to scream.

How can they leave me hanging like this?

Incidentally, the battle sequences in Last Exile are the best I’ve ever seen in any medium, ever, in my entire life. And I watch movies ALL THE TIME. Gonzo studios work here is breathtaking and surpasses even the Ghibli stuff, at least visually.

Gonzo studios responsible for some of the best anime series to date including “Blue Submarine Number Six”, and the incredible “Hellsing”, present the best series anime to hit the west in the history of imported animation.

Last Exile combines traditional cell animation and CGI. Animation house Gonzo brings life to the tale of delivery team Claus and Lavie’s unintentional involvement in a catastrophic war between antagonistic countries. Last Exile deserves accolades for more than visuals.

What Gonzo offers us is a fully realized world drawing visual elements from the First World War, the Franco/Prussian war, The American Civil War, 1920’s aviation, the 1930’s Art Deco movement, and combines them into a visual feast of truly breathtaking proportions. Imagine a battle fought among the clouds by floating ships modeled on WW1 era dreadnaughts but using the same tactics, initially, as middle 19th century ships of the line.

I was mesmerized. Gonzo’s work on Last Exile rivals animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli for sheer excellence.

Character design falls into a very minimalist and very realistic style providing a 180-degree contrast to the depth and detail of the machinery surrounding those characters. Such visual cues allow for extremely fluid animation and serve to illustrate the place of humanity in a world torn by war. The humans are indistinct insects compared to the machines they create.

Also, the humans are instantly believable which is a stretch in most anime titles, but I forgot I was watching an animated presentation about one minute into this. No one by Myazaki has ever had that effect on me, well, until now.

The DVD comes with an uber cool and extremely complicated paper model of Claus and Lavie’s Vanship, anamorphic widescreen, original Japanese and dubbed English language tracks, English subs, and a short art gallery along with the usual Geneon promos.

The dubbed voice acting is great, which is a compliment I can rarely offer, but it really shines in Last Exile. Careful listeners will notice that Lavie’s voice comes via Kari Wahlgren who provided the perfect voice for lunatic, alien, maid Haruko in Studio IG’s bizarre Furi Kuri.

Beg, borrow, steal, but no matter how you do it, get Last Exile: Discovered Attack, and be prepared for the best science fiction series in decades.