Last Exile:
First Move
(Pioneer Region One DVD)
(2003)
review by Big McLargehuge

Last Exile is not anime, Last Exile is art.

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.

In the first two episodes we’re introduced to Claus and Lavie, as well as Admiral Madthane, military commander for one of the warring countries, his wife and daughter, and a simple footsoldier, a musketeer actually, who realizes the absolute futility of warfare before the first shot rings from his musket.

The first episode centers on Claus and Lavie delivering a message, via their super-cool “vanship” (think a two seater, open cockpit JU-52 with stub wings) to Admiral Madthane just as his fleet enters combat with a rival nation. We learn that the military follows a strict code of honor, misdescribed here as Chivalry, and once combat begins, refuse to break off, even when it’s revealed that the entire battle is an ambush orchestrated to wipe Madthane’s fleet from the clouds.

Controlling the military and politics are a mysterious Guild. The seem to serve only one function so far; sanctioning and then refereeing massive fleet battles.

Of course, the story is MUCH more detailed than this, but Pioneer only provided the first two episodes as a screener so I can’t really offer any more details. However, if the first two episodes are indicitive of writing quality, then Last Exile deserves accolades for more than visuals. The dialogue is tight and flawless, the world is allowed to unfold at a leisurely pace, which helps sink the story hooks in deep.

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.

Once the enemy fleet springs their trap the combat changes from, literally, musketeers manually firing at one another from special decks (where, of course, the only possible damage to the fleet is dead musketeers). to massive cannon barrages that sink entire vessels.

Gonzo’s visuals simultaneously illustrate the magestic nature of fleet combat and the grotesque human toll this magestic combat creates.

In one specific scene the camera pans across the musketeer deck and only one man survives, kneeling, traumatized, and surrounded by dead comrades. It’s a striking and horrible image and perfectly illustrates the madness of this steam-powered and industrial warfare.

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

Character design falls into a very minimalistic 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.

Last Exile hits the street on November 18th, 2003. The DVD comes in two styles, normal, or special edition (containing a mouse pad and Lavie figurine). Both versions offer anamorphic widescreen, original Japanese and dubbed English language tracks, English subs, and probably a whole mess of other cool stuff (as yet unavailable to me). 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: First Move, but be careful, the hook sinks deep, and it burns.

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