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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Wednesday, 08 August 2007 17:00 |
 GONZO's 10th-anniversary series gets another run out, this time in complete collection form, giving Claus, Alex, Delphine and the other inhabitants of their world another chance to tell their story. Expect breathtaking visuals, a large & varied cast - and a story that maybe doesn't quite manage to live up to its own hype...
The world of Last Exile is at war, with the rival nations of Anatolay and Disith facing off against each other under the watchful eyes - and ultimate control - of the Guild, keepers of the power of flight. In Anatolay, two young orphans, Claus and Lavie, try to make the best they can of life by flying courier missions in their vanship, a highly-maneuverable flying machine. Claus' father was a vanship pilot, and after he was killed while attempting to complete a mission, he vowed to carry on the tradition. Lavie, a tech geek if ever there was one, acts as his navigator and engineer. The honour of any vanship pilot depends on one thing: if you take on a job, you complete it, at any cost - Claus' rash decision to take on a dying pilot's mission lands him and Lavie in the middle of the warzone, and soon drags them into a chain of events that will change their world.
Exile: a legendary ship that rides the Grand Stream - an area of hurrican-strength winds that can tear apart any unprepared ship, and that lies between Anatolay and Disith. Some believe that Exile holds the key to breaking the power of the Guild; others that it could end the war between Disith and Anatolay. Either way, its power is rumoured to be immense - and Alex Rowe, captain of the Silvana, the most powerful battleship in Anatolay's fleet, wants that power. Claus' mission brings him into contact with Alex, and from that point on their fates are intertwined, as the search for Exile gathers pace.
So much for the setting. Last Exile suffers from a number of flaws, none of which will surprise you - or bother you, probably - if you're a fan of other GONZO series. Its pacing is off - there are some episodes that cover so much territory that they'll take your breath away, others where so little happens you'll find it hard to keep the interest up; the large cast leads to some characters falling in and out of favour, and very rarely getting the full attention they deserve; and overall there's more of a focus on the show's visuals (which are impressive) than on the nuts and bolts of getting the story right. It also has an ending that could almost have been written by GAINAX. Add it all up, and you'd be justified in wondering if it was all worth the effort - but trust me, it is.
First, there's the characters. Claus, nominally the star of the show, is as bland as they come, but elsewhere there's a truly varied and interesting bunch of personalities on show. Alex is cold and calculating; Guild leader Delphine is as psychotic a nut-job as you could ever wish to see, while her little brother and heir apparent Dio lives in his own little world and doesn't really understand how the real world works, until he takes an unexpected interest in Claus and begins learning. Hard-nosed vanship pilot Tatiana mellows out as the series goes on, and goes from being terminally annoying to quite likeable. Other characters, major and minor, show similar development. The only problem here is that there are very few of the large cast who play a role for the whole of the series - most get a few episodes in the limelight then drop back into the background, and that can be a bit frustrating.
The story itself isn't entirely consistent, either. You get the feeling in places that it wasn't completed before the series went into production, and there are a few moments where events feel rushed or unlikely. Pacing is also an issue in places, particularly mid-season. The good news is that the first-rate presentation goes a long way to smoothing off the series' rough edges - this was GONZO's 10th-anniversary spectacular, after all, and it shows, with the animation quality being top notch and the soundtrack equally impressive.
Last Exile is flawed in its execution, but for the most part it tells a decent story with a likeable cast, and it's rare that it's anything less than enjoyable. That makes it worth a look, and when you can get it in collected form for a comparatively low price, it's even easier to recommend.
If you'd like more details including episode summaries, check our reviews of the individual releases:
» Vol 1: First Move
» Vol 2: Positional Play
» Vol 3: Discovered Attack
» Vol 4: Breakthrough
» Vol 5: Grand Stream
» Vol 6: Queen Delphine
» Vol 7: Sealed Move
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