Last Exile: A Series Retrospective 

We all know this is just Crusader warming up for his inevitable Monogatari retrospective video.

I watched LE in the early 2000s. Bits of it have stuck with me ever since, especially Dio's traumatic arc. He was a stellar character, of a kind you can never have as an MC because he was to much a loose cannon. But you always sensed that there was a real person behind his enigmatic and seemingly contradictory behaviour, not just the show's writers trying to create intrigue.

Range Murata might be my favourite Japanese artist. His faces have so much soul and his dieselpunk aesthetic is besutiful.

What I remember from the 2003 Last Exile was the hypnotic opening theme.

Still waiting for First Exile

One of the most overlooked animes in my opinion. Steampunk fantasy at its finest.

I don't usually commented on a video, but thank you for making this retrospective, Last Exile was one of Gonzo's finest

Thank you for recognizing this hidden gem. I've watched it 3 or 4 times. It's so hypnotic which has a lot to do with the ost. One of my all-time faves

I fuckin love your channel my brother in christ. You cover anime most others havent thought of in a loooong time or even heard of at all. Thanks for all the work you put into this channel. I look forward to watching you blow up

56:15 Gonzo doesn't have an animation production division anymore (like AIC). Now it's just a shell company managing rights to their originals. Most of their assets were transfered to studio Kai

One of my all time favourites

Love this retrospective on one of my favorite shows from the 2000s. I never considered the pacing of last exile! Imagining a 60 something ep treatment of it like FMAB makes me drool.

You know being the Cultured Crusader and all you'd think you'd have a bit more to say about chivalry...

Thank you for the video. It feels so long ago since I watched those anime, so this was very nostalgic. Never heard about the manga before. A shame for what happened to Gonzo and this series, but I think it's better without any more sequels...

Your new PC is really shining here. The editing is much more advanced and sophisticated than your previous videos! Also this is one I'm gonna need to watch!

I've never seen last exile but the vibes in the art, world design, and story are there i would give it a try. something about it made me think of wolf's rain the entire time, i would love to see a video from you discussing that or any other classic 2000s anime, they just hit so good.

woooah, glad that finally someone reviewed this pretty extremely underrated masterpiece!

One of my favourite anime youtubers rn lowkey,good shit twin

I recommend Overman King Gainer for a retrospective, one of Yoshiyuki Tomino's offbeat creations away from his Gundam series. I also recommend other Gonzo creations/adaptations such as Gatekeepers and Full Metal Panic.

I nearly spat out my drink when I saw this. I watched this long ago, loved the shit out of it and didn't know exactly why. I was so sad when I saw that it isn't more popular than it is. Bought the 7 disc geneon release on DVD about 2 years ago.

This channel is severely underrated and should have 100x the subs Maybe im biased because he is literally me in terms of taste and perspective on these shows. Like bro wtf literally every video you post are these shows that are never talked about and 90% I watched when they first came out and didn’t have anyone to talk about them with. So watching your vids is extremely refreshing and honestly nostalgic since some of them I haven’t watched in years

I'd say the rushed part of Last Exile is mostly the final "arc" after episode 20 when they reach the Grand Stream. I mean, there was some pointless stuff before like those romance elements that ended up going nowhere, but what I watched up to episode 20 felt like a fairly well-paced series for the most part, but there's a lot of backstory surrounding the Guild and the Exile that's alluded to, but not really elaborated enough, so the viewer has to kinda fill the blanks unless they look for supplementary material, which can work, there is a "show, don't tell" approach to Last Exile's narrative that makes it satisfying to pick up the hints given through visual elements or even bits of dialogue and connect them to the reveals from later in the story. However, this whole thing with the Guild was still too vague even for this series, I don't think it's even directly stated in the anime that the world they're in is called Prester, nor what led to everyone being in it instead of Earth to begin with, so the ending doesn't feel as impactful as it should have been, even though I do like it from a thematic standpoint. As for the whole thing with Claus and Alex, I think this tug of war between them as protagonists was intentional, there is a parallel being drawn between them, Alex was once a vanship pilot who viewed the sky not unlike Claus and Lavie did, but his world view changed once he lost his friends and his wife during that mission, he gave himself completely to this desire for vengeance and that led him to become the broken, vengeful man he is now. Claus and Lavie are two passionate vanship pilots who dream of crossing the Grand Stream and exploring the furthest reaches of the sky, but once they got involved in this conflict, Claus began to show more interest in piloting battle vanships while Lavie hated the very concept of a vanship being used as a war machine, the two started to drift apart as a result and the reveal that Alex was the owner of their vanship pushed Claus further into letting go of his dream to become a fighter pilot. It's basically a story about the importance of not letting your passion be lost to war. All of the conversations Claus has with other characters in episode 17, his interactions with Tatiana, Lavie and the other pilots from the early episodes' race all relate to this theme, then the reveal that they were all called to become war pilots serves as a bit of a reality check for Claus, these other people who pilot because they love flying are also becoming war pilots, which is not what he wanted when he and Lavie got involved with the first battle and saved Mad-Thane's fleet. Claus' character arc, as opposed to Alex's laser-focused goal of killing Delphine in revenge, is more of a coming of age story where he comes to grips with how his actions impacted the world and changed the lives of other pilots arguably for the worse despite the noble intentions, but instead of letting his passion for flying and his relationship with his friends be lost to these events, he takes responsibility and becomes someone who fights to protect the skies he loves, which is symbolized by his fight against the Guild ships in episode 25. I also like how the series both starts and ends with Claus and Lavie working as couriers in the midst of a war, in the first few episodes they deliver a letter that causes Mad-Thane to change his mind about continuing to fight a losing battle and retreat, in the last episode they deliver Alvis with the last Mysterion to the Exile and she ends the war by fully controlling it, allowing them to leave the dying Prester for Earth. It's a nice way of bringing things full circle and showing them not only having achieved their dream of flying in the Grand Stream, but also them surpassing their fathers by delivering their package to the other side. That being said, I do love this series despite its flaws, as a steampunk junkie and someone who likes weird unconventional methods of storytelling when done well, Last Exile scratched that itch of mine quite well, it's still a very unique anime even to this day, both aesthetically and narratively. Great video, by the way, probably the best one I've seen on this series specifically.

Lavie really awoke something in me when I first watched this

The design art of Last Exile is such a beautiful mix of steam punk and art deco

Another Gonzo animated series that got the same treatment was Kiddy Grade, first series were decent "girls with guns, but in space" anime akin to the old Dirty Pair series, the sequel Kiddy Girl-and, never bothered with it, its seems to be a trend with this studio at the period. I have many found memories of Gonzo original series like Vandread, Glass Fleet, Speed Grapher, Samurai 7 and manga adaptations like Bakurano and Desert Punk, shame the studio went downhill, not everything they made was good, but it sometimes you struck gold. Any of the animes I mentioned here are ripe for retrospective, to be honest.

Sweet! Thanks for reviewing it!

Took me a while but I finally noticed why the girl on the right looked so familiar. Her pose was inspired by one of Nazuna Nanakusa from Yofukashi no Uta.

Crusader please my wallet can't handle anymore kino

For me, my favorite characters are Tatiana Alex and Sophia. Now I think Silverwings should’ve made Tatiana one of the main characters. And it kind of sucks that Claus gets really the short end of the stick and is only in silver wings in the very last episode at the credits.

Core memory unlocked. I remember watching this years ago and really enjoying it. Might have to give it a rewatch

Immelmann turn!! I think this was one of the few animes where I ended up watching the sub because I was so into it I got impatient waiting for the dub to catch up. I keep meaning to go back and rewatch the dub as I do remember it was a pretty good one.

I recommend checking out an anime called "Trouble Chocolate". Pure 90s shenanigans

Seeing this i notice a lot of similarities to Eureka Sevan, but with a lot more episodes it was able to give all of it's plots room to breathe.

25:56 This literally reads as : KLLFMEE STHLLFS (C=K, Λ=L, Φ=F, H=EE, and Θ=TH) I have no idea why they did my language so wrong in this anime. They probably used a dictionary or some non native speaker. It would be really easy if they just asked a random Greek dude to write them the texts down some of those texts. 2:32 These read : Zysteena Valka, Aueelkar Valka, and Geargeo 'eas (Those all sound like Russian names btw) 6:58 This reads : HASEENO ROPSALE 9:55 Alex's name in the signature reads : Aleh 13:26 That reads : You all sleep eternally And lastly there's the writing on the side of the ships, that's mostly random letters or words, but for the ship here, in 3:35. So that reads like they tried to write the ancient Greek adage, or maxim (and semi succeeded/failed) of one of the military units I incidentally happened to serve at when I did my tour in 2003 (holy shit, that's the same year as the anime, talk about coincidence). You can't see the whole text there but a word is wrong and shouldn't be there. The word "Δίκαιος", that means "Just", as in a honorable man or a reason. Greek language is gendered, so the man and the reason are male. While "Justice" or "Δικαιοσύνη" is female. However what I think they wanted to write, because the other words are the same, is this : "ΑΝΔΡΕΣ ΓΑΡ ΠΟΛΙΟΣ ΠΥΡΓΟΣ". But they write the adage to modern Greek instead, so it reads : "Οι άνδρες είναι τα τείχη της πόλεως" (minus the "Just" word that's put there randomly). And that translates to "Men are the city's walls". Pretty cool huh? And here ends my Greek lesson you never asked.

Came here to take back the holy land, will watch video in the meantime.

DIO BROKE HIS BACK? 😭

I watched last exile with my 10-year-old kid and it completely changed the way he perceived war and conflict. Growing up a boy in America you get exposed to so much Pro-War and pro-military propaganda, it's everywhere, all the time, and this show was the first time that he really understood and mental as well as emotional level, some of The reality of war. I think this show and the game "this war of mine" had a huge positive effect on his life and I'm super proud that I took the time to find this show, rewatch it to prepare, and then do a thoughtful watch-thru with my kid. Thanks for doing this review. More people need to know about this terrific anime, especially people with kids who are struggling to provide perspectives on war and honor

Such a beautiful Anime tbh.

I love Last Exile.

love it!

I just rewatched it... it's sooo good!!

Fam was endearing, but also a jarring tonal shift in story telling.

Commenting for the algo, you have too high a production and too good a video for only 119 views right now

I cannot really fathom WHY the returnees do, in fact, return. Leave their colonies to go back to what is, for them, an alien planet in unknown condition. Especially because with control of the Exile their colonies' environmental problems can be easily solved, the Exile being what created the colony ...

I remember maratoning this anime way back in 2006, and damn, I was so intrigued by the plot, that I really hated how it ended 😂

My recommendation for a retrospective is the Eureka Seven franchise, or maybe just Bones originals in general. E7 is probably the worst example of a beloved series getting straddled with shitty sequels and nostalgiabaiting bullshit. Footage reuse, character design reuse for no good reason, the original movie and the last two Hi Evolution films really are bizarre. AO suffered from pacing and character issues but had kick-ass music (just like their latest original Metallic Rouge), and has this strange twist where a pachinko millionaire didn’t like the ending and bought the rights to make his own sequel. In a sense E7 is also kinda similar to FLCL, where the original was this zeitgeist of culture that was nostalgic to the creators and embodied a strong emotional connection to past culture, and the sequels feel like hollow imitations of that. A full plot analysis of the original series would probably take a while though (and it’s been pretty well analysed across RU-vid by leftist hacks). As for Bones original IPs in general, man they were putting out bangers like RahXephon, Wolf’s Rain, Mars Daybreak, Eureka Seven, and Darker Than Black. Experimental, impactful, well-paced and cohesive. Not only were these good at the time, but they aged really well too. But after Space Dandy, they petered out. Despera never.

Thanks man.

You know this anime I completely forgot existed despite the fact that I watched like a handful of episodes and I still don't remember anything about it. Aside from the fact that the voice cast in english was pretty stacked and it was made by gonzo nothing about the show screamed I'm gonna remember it for a couple of years...... However I will say that I'll gladly take this over the sequel series.

One of my favorite anime

Last Exile OP is a banger

The DVD box set of the original has been sitting on my shelf for years now, and I still have never watched it through. Thrice I've gotten 3-4 episode in, but it just never grabbed me.

Last Exile is a great anime! I saw on Anime Unleashed back in the day

Wow I watched this and had no idea how it ended

Please do Trinity blood

This anime struck a chord with me, so hard for so long that I developed one of my characters from my comic off alvas, alqa There’s too much shipping.. in the Shipping, shipping show about ships shipping

Chivalry.

It's clearly inspired by Castle in the Sky with some more steampunk fighter plane action mixed in; but I didn't know that back in the day so the style and world building really hit home for a young aviation nerd like me.

lotgh and or hidamari sketch retrospective when?

Holy cow culture dropping like Kendrick 🔥

Last Exile Abrigdged as pretty fun too. May the goat be with you. Anyone notice there are no horses?

Anyone else find it weird how successful the fighter craft were at the end of the first Last Exile series. They seem like they'd have been bullet pinatas for the curiously absent Guild Starfish.

As a huge fan of Last Exile, I felt Fam was interesting as it’s own thing. But yes, the fact it doesn’t explain much….of a lot of the loop holes is frustrating to say the least. I also tell people that Fam is basically “Lesbian Sky Pirates” (not saying this negatively btw). Because uhhh there is a bit of romantic tension between certain characters if I remember correctly. Whether or not it felt forced though? It’s been too long since I’ve watched the sequel series, so I don’t quite remember.

Where have I seen 19:20 before? What is that from?

I commented it in the last retrospective but Id be interested in your thoughts on the Claymore anime and manga

Fuck i feel old

That's a huge fan of Captain harlock I can tell you that he's never works well as the main character of a story. It's always other people and how they react to him. This makes Captain row the only real Captain harlock clone I've ever seen.

have you covered death note or cowboy bebop yet?

17:30

A rare "the dub is great too." I switched from subs after a few episodes

Wait there was a sequel?

I saw the full DVD set 2nd hand at the local record shop and bought it. Instead of buying Boogiepop Phantom. I kinda like Last Exile, but man what a mistake.

first

So this is just the Sci-fi Russo Japanese war?

imo Eflen Lied sucks. It's just edgy and violent for the sake of it. But based opinion for liking Last Exile though.

I was always intrigued by this show, it looked pretty cool and the world-building seemed quite interesting but I found it kinda... boring to actually watch.

I did love Last Exile back in the day, but it wasn't perfect. The ending was very confusing. The sequel series has the same issue most plots revolving around resource scarcity in high-tech civilizations: technology negates almost all resource scarcity. When you have the technology to travel to other worlds, you have the energy output required to outright create (through nuclear transmutation) or gather (through off-world/asteroid mining) whatever you need. It's almost like God gave us all we need to thrive.

Day 1 of asking to cover Tomodachi game.

I remember being bored to tears by Last exile back in the day. I also remember thinking the characters were cry babies.

The sequel is one of the worst show I ever see