Anime: Last Exile 2a2o5t

Review
Last Exile is a remarkable show in many ways. It was released in 2003, together with dozens of other superb shows as I usually state in my reviews, in a time of seriousness, great plots, mature cast, and the best use of good music to boost. However, it was GONZO's work, which means bizarre setting, weird pacing, lots of over-the-top action, and stuff like that, right? Wrong! ed by the later Rome x Juliet and previous Fullmetal Panic!, Last Exile is one of GONZO's work that only uses the bizarre setting. The rest is far more mature and serious than your Speed Grapher, Bakuretsu Tenshi, etc.

Last Exile's first episode defines well what you can expect from the series. Its story is about Claus and Lavie, two long-time friends that inherited the job of their fathers as some kind of mailmen in small airplanes called vanship. This young couple dreams of crossing a dangerous giant storm known as the Grand Stream, but this all change when they get a job to deliver a young girl named Alvis to the battleship Silvana. They get caught in the incoming war and revel in the mystery of the land and the Exiles.

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1. It's gorgerously innovative
   Animation was still pretty weak back in 2003. Most shows were not that awesome with the 2D animation and that area was only outstanding within OVAs and movies territory. What Last Exile tried was to mix 3D elements in order to boost the quality of the show, and it succeeded. The art style is very sharp and consistent, with a good variety of characters, from happy girl to emotionless assassins, all well drawn and animated. But the external elements, such as the warships, airplanes (vanships in this case), scenario, and the constant mist have a 3D help to boost. The merging of 2D and 3D elements is superbly done, and could be even compared to some OVA works of those years such as KARAs. Today it can look a bit outdated and the use of layers can seem a bit clunky (easily observed in Last Exile's sequel), but for its age it was a courageous move by GONZO and probably the only one where they really hit the spot by using this mix.
   
   It has more
   Last Exile sound direction is one of its biggest assets. Its solid, with mature voice-acting, fitting songs and nice sound effects. There's nothing argue here besides a few silent moments that could use the help of background music and the fact that the kind of music may not please everyone, otherwise it's really well done and, most of all, very unique. You won't be seeing many shows with a music style like Last Exile out there.
   
   Weird Gonzo setting that succeeds
   So, you have a very different setting here. Big, slow airships, decks full of gunman instead of cannons, small airplanes used as couriers, a world filled with clouds and mist, as well as many new elements popping with each new episode. The take on the plot is mature, it is ready to show you scenes where people's lives are at stake, where the war could easily kill someone, etc. Claus and Lavie use their ability to pilot vanships in a way it's not exaggerated or stupid, they don't have superpowers or are inhumanly skilled, they are just superb pilots that put their small weaponless vanship to use amidst gigantic warships and gunfire. There are a few episodes where the weirdness common to GONZO's show are more apparent and sometimes you get a slow down in the pace, but this is shadowed by some nice turn of events and the addition to the extra elements that makes everything more interesting to watch.
   
   A charming cast
   Claus and Lavie starts as young carefree dreamers as they should, but slowly change their personalities as they meet war, fear, and sadness. This can look very basic, but in fact is commonly misused in animes. Last Exile, however, manages to catch this slow and steady evolution of the protagonists in a great way and mix in a very good and varied cast. We can argue about the character design here, as sometimes it's a bit too flashy for a world of steams and nobility, but that's typical for GONZO's work. The cast has its flaws as well, with a few too typical characters that lacks development, but most of them manage to be charismatic at least.
   
   Courageous and bold
   Mixing 2D and 3D elements is fairly common from 2010 onward. In fact, more recent shows tossed 3D elements aside because they can now animate 2D with impressive quality. But back in 2003 Last Exile was one of the first TV series to use this mix of 2D and 3D in a successful and non-stupid-looking way. The airships, the gears and steams, the well drawn characters, were all very remarkable and a huge step above GONZO's previous attempts to this (because almost all their attempts in this resulted in sh*tty works). ed by the uniqueness of the bizarre world and an overall great story and cast, Last Exile is certainly one of the most impressive shows of its time. The pace is mostly good, throwing action-heavy moments and using a few episodes for character developing, never losing itself to fillers, but sometimes becoming a bit boring.
   
   A must see
   Last Exile is a warm experience, filled with action, battleship combats, and some nice intrigue. All within a different but serious setting. It's not about strategy or complex plot, but it's executed with precision to deliver a balanced and good show. It's pace can be a bit slow sometimes and the weirdness of the setting can spoil the fun for some people, but it's an overall superb watch that can please anyone demanding for a serious plot.
   

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Comments
Last Exile is one of those shows that I always . It's a solid show with good world building elements and for me that's reason enough to watch. Most of all, it rides in the quality of its contemporary shows and uses maturity above all else.

They made a continuation of it... that sadly has nothing related in reality. The serious world became just a carefree place where no one cares, the cast is now a huge pool of lolis, etc. To make it even sadder, this trend is what's the industry is following in almost all shows. If you care for Last Exile, don't watch the sequel expecting something similar. If you watch only for the moe stupid stuff it can at least be bearable.

ANIME MINOR JEWELS SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.telechargertorrent.org/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=page&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

Last Exile is considered by most as the best anime made by GONZO for its very interesting world-building and aircraft designs. I on the other hand say that machinery and GONZO means lots of horrible CGI and thus NOT a good series. On paper the show is indeed pure win because it has an interesting cast, very distinctive setting, very detailed flying ships, a mysterious story, as well as some thought-provoking concepts around war and freedom. In practice though the cons simply outnumber the good parts since the pacing is very slow, the resolutions to any major issue are far-fetched, the finale is rushed, and the whole show is heavy on GONZO CGI so it can’t be good. In fact, most of the fans of the series simply like the backdrop story and very few the plot or the presentation.

The artwork is the easiest part to feel attracted to. It has a steampunk feeling to it that makes it captivating, while the flying aircrafts have bizarre shapes and become easily eye-catchy. Unfortunately the bonehead animators tried to make even the human models as 3D as possible and the result was characters who look like plastic dolls. Not too fake but the experienced eye is not fooled. NOTHING BEATS HAND-DRAWN!

The soundtrack is fine in building the proper mood and voice acting is fitting the roles of its characters. There are no memorable songs or voices though; it all felt depressing and dull to pay attention to for long.

The story is amazing in its core themes. While it was about the exposition of the history of the world, the interactions of the two warring nations, or the relationships of the main characters, I can easily say it is brilliant. Too bad the above take up only a small part of the whole since all the rest appear to be some random crap that are either boring, or useless to the plot, or plain horribly presented to bother paying attention to it. What is going on here, did BONES highjack the script or something? Whatever the reason, the overall plot is mostly uneventful, slow, rushed and generally WRONGLY DONE. So as much as I like to give this one a good score, I just can’t because I am a strong fan of proper screenplay. While it begins nicely with two kids having to participate in a global-scale war, it soon turns to some boring slice-of-life full of events that feel very minor and eventually useless to the main conflict. And when it finally moves to the war itself, the way they fight is plain ridiculous. There is absolutely no actual strategy used and the few attempts at it are child’s play obvious. Makes you wonder why they even use armadas full of huge battles ships when a single tiny vanship can infiltrate any enemy facility and inflict fifty times more damage.

The characters are fine. Really, they are all great as personalities. They all have interesting backdrops to easily become likable as well as interesting openings for development to keep you yearning for more. Unfortunately the bad screenplay eventually makes most of their development to feel unexcused, out of character, or plain NOT BELIEVABLE causing you to eventually lose interest in them and forget them fast. What’s with the Star Wars’ pod race rip off? What’s with the crazy plan the villains have? Why am I watching 10 episodes where nothing happens? What does all that have to do with the war? This is no longer considered to be time invested on getting to like the characters but plain dead time.

The show has value for being considered one of GONZO’s best works (which doesn’t say much since most of what they made is shit) and because it still has a strong fanbase, which was somewhat rekindled with the sequel of the series some years later. Speaking of the sequal, it turns the whole interesting feeling of the first season into sleazy lolicon bullcrap, so in case you liked this one DO NOT WATCH THE SECOND SEASON! You will be greatly disappointed and you will probably hate the first one as well.

All I can say is that in order to enjoy Last Exile you need to be someone who doesn’t care if something has proper pace or makes sense in the longrun. You need to be someone who just likes the cool airships, the funky music, and the weird concepts. All that are presented very superficially but they are otherwise very interesting on paper and can easily fool the low tier audience to like the show entirely because of that alone.

If you are not though, don’t waste your time with it. Neither with Bounen no Xamdou; same shit there as well. There has been only one good fantasy anime regarding airships and fantasy, and that is the Nausicaa movie (the manga is of course ten times better). And if you want something with JUST airships, the far more realistic Area 88 OVAs kick ass as war drama and definitely have far better screenplay.

The Highlights
Music: Beautiful.
Visuals: Impressive, especially for 2003.
Setting: Spectacular presentation of a futuristic world with a 19th and 20th century European influence.
Episode titles: A very witty and original idea.
Characters: Most of them brilliantly come to life with unique personalities and detailed character design.
Alvis E. Hamilton: The unexplained weakness of this show.
Dio Eraclea: Haunting; one of the most memorable examples of characterization anime has to offer.

The Review

“What lies in the furthest depths of memory?” “The place where all are born and where all will return: a blue star.” This is the concluding sentence of the four part poem on which the future of mankind depends. Last Exile tells the story of how two individuals who wish for nothing more than to fly the skies are dragged into a war of hate where a small neutral group known as “The Guild” symbolizes the innumerable amount of war profiteers throughout history whom have benefited from the suffering of the less fortunate.

When it comes to aesthetics, Last Exile is practically a masterpiece. The visuals are astonishing even when viewed now, a considerable accomplishment for an anime made in 2003. The setting is extremely varied and the character design is obviously carefully thought out to the finest detail. History lovers will especially appreciate the various 19th and 20th century European characteristics as we see technology reminiscent of the Industrial revolution and ’s Interwar period, Disith military uniforms based on the Soviet Red Army and Anatoray uniforms resembling Napoleon Bonaparte’s soldiers. These fine visuals are boosted by one of the most stunning soundtracks I have ever come across; featuring a wide range of instrumental compositions, Okino Shuntaro’s “Cloud Age Symphony” as the opening theme, and the beautiful “Over the Sky” by Kuroishi Hitomi as the ending theme.

The pacing of this anime is slow when it comes to bringing all the mysteries and twists together into the “big picture” of the plot. One has to be patient and wait until around episode 21 for things to truly come together. The pacing of the episodes themselves however is a completely different story. I found that not a single episode was wasted. All of them are exciting, entertaining and leave you wanting to watch the next. If anything, this anime could have used a few more. Had this been the case, it could have corrected its greatest weakness: Alvis E. Hamilton. We learn close to nothing about her background and it is never revealed how she came to be the guardian of the Mysteria.

With the exception of Alvis, characterization is one of this show’s strengths. The characters are unique and exhibit particular qualities that bring them to life. Last Exile does a predominantly fine job displaying the strengths and faults of each character; making them truly human. Characters like Alex Row, Sophia Forrester, Lucciola and especially Dio Eraclea all have their own complicated background that formulates who they are and creates their destiny. This show’s originality is further demonstrated by the idea behind the episode titles, which chess players will especially appreciate. Each one is named after a specific move or event in a chess match that directly correlates with the episode’s theme.

Time and time again, Gonzo has proven its ability to turn a story with a lot of potential into an utter catastrophe. This is not the case with Last Exile. While it may leave a few questions unanswered; the extraordinary story, fantastic characters and incredible aesthetics make up for it. Very few anime can claim to have such a high level in so many areas. One could make a case for calling Last Exile Gonzo’s greatest creation.

Historically groundbreaking series can often be a disappointment for newer fans; not so with Last Exile. While the show's graphics are no longer pushing the envelope, its distinctive visual style means it still makes interesting and pleasant viewing. Indeed, while the backgrounds and pitched battles compare unfavourably with e.g. Macross Frontier, the character designs actually seem more realistic than all but the highest-budgeted of today's shows. That said, there can be too much facial similarity between characters, and while the effects are mostly good, the mask occasionally slips: the smooth integration of CG and conventional animation, while ahead of its time, is not yet flawless (particularly when it comes to smoke plumes). Parts of the opening sequence also feature the too-smooth CG motion found in earlier anime, but thankfully this is (mostly) avoided in the show itself.

Voice acting is clear, characters remaining distinct, although there seems to be overuse of computer effects. The show's musical themes are interesting, and likely to be divisive; the opening initially put me off watching, but I came to love it as the series moves on. The ending is simply beautiful to my ears, but heavy on the vocals; the show retains both for all 26 episodes. Background music is (correctly) less distinctive, but the show still manages some memorable orchestral themes, and they help set the mood of Last Exile's world, which is the real point of the show. The series is gleefully eccentric, the main war machines being flying battleships that act more like submarines, and the impossible wingless aeroplanes that go from being their couriers to primary weapons as the series advances. The wider world - the origins of the war, eccentric Guild, and its monopoly on engines, even the intricacies of an increasingly plot-relevant political system - are tantalisingly and expertly sketched, giving the viewer plenty to go on while avoiding any obvious expository "dumps". The plot itself - essentially our heroes' attempt to gain control over the titular Exile - is comparatively very ordinary, ultimately devolving into the standard race against time to collect all the pieces and bring them to the right place in time, but it's well paced and never detracts from the beauty of the series (other than with the rather poor ending resolution). The largest weak point lies in the characterisation; clashes between our leads come close to derailing into melodrama, while much time is wasted following one particular musketeer with no redeeming features whatsoever (he's neither sympathetic, nor nasty enough to be interesting, plays no real role in the larger plot, and the attempt at giving him a romance plot is undermined by the empty flirting he's been doing all series. But I digress.)

If these sound like minor flaws, it's because they are. But sadly, while no single part of Last Exile can be called bad, hundreds of tiny things - the character faults, the small dangling plot threads, the brief moments of shoddy CG, the disappointing ending - weigh the show down enough to keep it from reaching its full potential, leaving one aching for what might have been. Nevertheless, this is a very good series.

Hey AniDB, let’s take a moment to talk about Last Exile and share our two cents on the experience.

Animation
”What’s up Chozo? So Last Exile, you just finished it, tell me a bit about man. Start with the basics, how’s the quality of the animation?”
You’re going to like the looks of Last Exile. A 2003 release by Gonzo, it’s gonna stand the test of time down the road. Loaded with exceptional CG that blends in just about seamlessly from start to finish, and helped out a little by the overall color palette of the anime, being a kinda washed out stylized look, yeh it’s visually great. The proportions of the characters and looks aren’t ground breaking or anything like that, but they do have a nice overall look and appeal to them, a more realistic proportioning if you will, save the character head shapes being a bit “Precious Moments”-like… There’s a lot to look at here and a lot of attention to detail. Three unique “civilizations”, all with their own uniquely styled clothing, physical traits, weaponry and technology, from your Aeon Flux futuristic looking “Guild” to the more colonial looking Anatoray… Last Exile is a pretty anime.

”Favorite visual character or moment? Where’s the money shot?”
Watch the intro. There is no money shot I can think of… but there are some really neat designs in the technology they’re created here. The Guild, the villains who possess the most futuristic gear, have these really wicked air craft that look like ninja shurikens. I think they call them Star Fish towards the end of the series. They are all sorts of cool, very alien and even transform and walk. There’s on in the intro. Also, the Vanship themselves… they have this 50’s roadster feel… or maybe World War One air to them, the designers filled their world with neat stuff!

”What about the background art?”
Yeh, yeh that’s good too… noticeably good in fact. I think it’s all drawn, I’m really not good at telling, but I don’t think they’re using paintings. Though a few too often the backdrop is just “in the clouds” there is certainly a lot of effort going into just about every concept and every location here.

”Any pretty ladies?”
Well, soft looking ladies… only when wearing a specific outfit for a few episodes does some cleavage find its way to the forefront, and it’s noticed by at least one in an awkward kinda funny scene. No gratuitous shots of woman or ridiculous proportions or sex appeal. Not that kind of anime, and it’s very fitting.
• Looks/Visuals : 8/10

Sounds
”What kind of soundtrack, says “Beautiful OST” on the entry page?”
Beautiful? Hmm… well, sure, I guess. There were about 3 songs I can immediately recall as being exceptional, not sure if I can get all the names right though. The Opening, “Cloud Age Symphony” by Shuntaro Okino, it’s an upbeat dance rhythm that’s vocals kinda give it a calm ambient feel, that was very unique. The Regular Episode Ending Theme, “Over the Sky” by Hitomi Kuroishi is a soft sung piece with a nice beat. Episode 21, during a flashback interlude has another soft sung piece with a lot of layers, don’t know the name of that one though… and the Final Ending Episode plays “Over the Sky” again, but it felt like the production was beefed up for the last go round. As for the music played during the episodes, it’s good. Fits the mood and scenes and characters correctly, didn’t feel overused but not as notable or memorable to me there. I’d recommend it, though the soundtrack is out of print, you can find it used on Amazon for a good price.

”How were the Seiyuu?”
Fancy word for voice actors… the “Seiyuu”, I must it I didn’t listen to. I went English Dub with this one, don’t really know why…. The voice actor crew is what I’m gonna start to call the “Good but Overused English Dub” cast. I really like these actors voices and not having to read an anime gives me more time to look at it, but the downside is these actors are in so many English dubs doing the same kinda voice that it throws you off a bit. Like Johnny Yong Bosch as Klaus, clearly doing his Bleach/Ichigo and Eureka 7/Renton voice. Kari Wahlgren as Lavie (Blood+/Saya and Samurai Champloo/Fuu), Alex is voiced by Crispin Freeman (Eureka7/Holland), and the man among men, Steven Blum voices Vincent (Blum is awesome Cowboy Bebop/Spike and Samurai Champloo/Mugen). A few others we’ve heard all over the English Dub Anime World are in here too, sounding good, but sounding like they always identifiably sound.
• Score/Voice Acting: 7/10

Story
” So what kind of story do we have here? Seems we have a lot of material so far…”
Well, sometimes you make art, and other times the big picture ends up being confused and convoluted when you have too many crayons in the box and try to use them all you know? Last Exile begins exactly as the Entry Page says it does… Claus and Lavie have simple lives as air couriers, a dream to aspire to, but then they pick up a girl who is the key to something bigger than they ever dreamed. The story kinda gets outta hand, mostly because the world of Prester that they live in is so unique and complicated and with the three distinct civilizations and all. It’s hard to put a scope on their world, get perspective on what’s going on, who is fighting who for what and why, where they are, what they want, etc. An interesting part about the story is that a few times the lead characters, simple couriers, are asked if they want to go home because they’re over their heads… it made for three of us.

”How well were the episodes and the story paced?”
Tough question. I was very happy with the first dozen episodes pacing. Not too much happened, but enough certainly happened ya know? Haha. Every episode was intriguing and interesting and the continuity was great. However, after episode 12 or 13, just when I thought I had an idea where the story would go, it started speeding up and going elsewhere. Then it ran into the ol’ “gets lost” for a few episodes, and then when you get towards only having a few episodes left you start to wish they just omitted some characters and side stories to fill in more about the Sci-Fi world they’re created to help understand the main plot more. Not the worst I’ve seen by far, but like many many anime before it, the time was no utilized to its fullest and we’re left with too many questions by the end.

”So those headers on the entry page, accurate? Airships, Aviation, Dystopian, War, Epic?”
Well let’s see… airships, check. Lots of them. Aviation goes without saying there. Dystopian? Hmmm… they talk about it, but you don’t “feel” it, if that makes any sense. The characters don’t seem desperate or down-trotted enough for that. They’re too optimistic. Epic? Well, in a Final Fantasy type way sure… they start as nothing and end up unlocking ancient secrets about their planet and changing the world, all the while learning nothing… No, I have to disagree with epic… again, mostly because it’s hard to get a foothold into their world with all that’s going on. Precious Water? They say so often, it’s never fully explained the layout of the land or why, and again, they never really act truly desperate for thirst. Orphans, check. War Setting, check. Steampunk? No… they use a really neat technology that I don’t think we’re ever shown is steam. Rather they put some kinda rock into water and shake it and create “Claudia”… that powers their ships. And Philisophical? That’d be stretching it… I think they’re talking about nobles and higher powers treating the rest of the world as serfs. That’s there. Gee, the person that writes those AniDB Tags is pretty good.

"Why's it called Last Exile?"
Well... I don't know why it's called Last because I believe their is only one Exile. That's all the hint you're gonna get... but I'll share/spoil this little bit... since it did indeed confuse me. Skip this part if you want, you've been warned! Okay. So, in one scene around episode 10 we're shown Last Exile at an Auction... and it's like a bolt looking thing or something. But then later... it's totally something else. I won't say, but it's not a bolt... no, no. I must've missed something there and am still confused...
• Story: 6/10

Characters
”So who is our Hero? The Protagonist, what’s their motivation and role in all of this?”
The Protagonist is Klaus Valca, he’s a young talented Vanship pilot, working with is childhood bestfriend Lavie as his navigator. The two are orphans, living together (not romantically) scrapping a living as couriers delivering messages. The Vanship thing is neat… it’s in the entry image. A tiny two seater plane that has no wings or visible propulsion system. Powered by Claudia, capable in some scenes of vertical flight, they’re extremely maneuverable. Klaus is your typical young goodie two shoe, naïve hero that’s in way too many anime… Lavie is the hot tempered female, with the vulnerable side under all that yelling also often seen a few too many times. What ends up making them neat is that their relationship with each other starts to change as they begin to disagree on topics after they kinda place themselves into the middle of the war. They both begin to change and become more realistic.

Other neat characters are Alex Row, the mysterious and solemn, determined and enigmatic captain of the Silvana Airship a large portion of the story unfolds on. Tatiana Wisla, a militant “proud and noble” by the books, comes off cold pilot on Silvana. Alex’s number one officer Sophia, who is quite capable and used to handling large responsibilies. And Dio… a very odd aristocratic sort of narcissistic individual, who probably ended up being my favorite character for all the potential he ends up having… being the villain’s younger brother and all.

”So the main villain then? A worthy foe?”
Maestro Dephine, leader of the Guild. Imagine her as the Pharaoh of Egypt, because essentially that’s how she acts. Her dominion is in the sky and the land dwellers below are her play things and might as well be insects to her. Not the coolest villain I’ve ever seen, but she does command fear in her subjects and they for the most part give her their undying (unless called for “to die”) loyalty. Ruthless and commanding the most powerful technology in the world, she’s formidable enough.
• Characters : 7/10

Value
”So originality? Does it seem like you’ve seen this before?”
Well, at a few moments I found myself thinking of Eureka 7. Could be because pretty much the entire cast voiced both anime, but also because of the airship, character being a device, cool collected hidden goal captain, young naïve kid finding his way onto the airship elements. You can definitely draw comparisons. Last Exile however was release two years prior.

”You have a favorite or most memorable moment? Anything I HAVE to see?”
I don’t think there is a MUST see moment in this series. Bu that doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching. As for favorites, I’d say around Episodes 11 or 12 were very exciting, though from there the story did not move where I thought it would… still, there’s a line, where when losing a race and in need of some speed, one pilot says to his navigator “get out” to lighten the load while flying, which would certainly send them to their doom. I liked that. That’s probably my most memorable moment.

”I heard there were tentacles in this series?”
Yes, you heard correctly… and for the first time I can recall in anime they’re not used for rape. Amazing right?

”Is the series re-watchable? And what’s with the episode names?”
They use a lot of terminology in the episode titles that pertains to playing Chess. One minor character plays chess, and pretty much any time you’re at war you can draw some chess-type comparisons up. Points for using the word Zugzwang. As for re-watching… it’s the kind of anime where you can re-watch it, though it might seem a bit slower the second or third go round it’s always going to be enjoyable to look at and find new details.
• Value : 7/10

Enjoyment
”Well you had a lot to say, so did you enjoy Last Exile? Would you recommend it?”
Certainly on both s! The characters, while maybe a bit forgettable a few series from now, and the story while maybe a bit confusing, are still above average. They’re noticeably given lots of effort to round them out and add detail and try to make you care. It’s not a smashing success, but they do succeed. You can feel this series was given some love. My favorite part though is really how neat their world is… it’s not often we get SO much creativity in one series. And again, it just looks good and the CG is top notch. Watch it sometime soon.

• Enjoyment : 7/10

Overall : 7

If you read it, please rate it
Thanks!

***MAY CONTAIN SOME LIGHT SPOILERS***

[Animation/Sound]
LE is a beautiful show with some decent music. To me personally, this doesn’t really matter, but if you want to watch a show with great animation and above-normal sound LE is for you. 8/10.

[Story/Characters]
The story is set in a world where two nations (Anatoray and Disith) fight for… ehm… well they fight and the Guild is watching them… fight. Now we’re not told much about the Disith, but in Anatoray there is a clear social structure with the rich and aristocracy rule over the working class and just being your run-of-the-mill arrogant baddies. There are several mentions of people not being too thrilled about this order of things, but I’ll get back to it later.
Now I’ve mentioned the Guild before, but the only thing I know about them is that power comes from supplying the two nations with engines for their warships. How the Guild got those engines and why they would want to share them with anyone is never actually answered.
The main characters are two orphans: Claus Valca (15) and Lavie Head (15) who work as couriers using their vanship (vanship is, according to Wikipedia, a "flying boat" in that it does not fly by means of aerodynamics like planes do, but rather by floating on the air and propelling itself through the use of a substance known as Claudia) to accomplish different jobs such as delivering letters or… delivering letters. One day they come across a crashed vanship where a dying pilot asks them to deliver a small girl to a certain location and hand her over to a man called Alex Row. After accepting this important 10 star (the difficulty of a mission is determined by amount of stars. 10 stars being the toughest one) Claus decides that he’s willing to risk the life of Alvis (Alvis Hamilton is the girl’s name) and Lavie and to finish the assignment by himself.
Upon meeting Alex, Claus decides that they guy is an @$$hole and isn’t worthy to look after Alvis; despite the fact that Alex is the captain of an awesome warship called “kill-em'-all Silvana” or, to her friends, simply “Silvana”. And, of course, he hates the Guild (DUH!). Now, I’ve mentioned that the Guild’s power comes from supplying and working with the engines of warships? Well, Alex is one of the few people whose engine doesn’t belong to the Guild. Oh it’s operated by a guildsman, but he’s loyal to Alex and not the Guild. The reason for that is revealed later in the show. Suspicious of Alex’s motives, Claus decides to stay on “Silvana” and look after Alvis.
So far we had everything needed for an average anime show; a brooding character with a mysterious grudge against the main baddie? Checked. A small child with some sort of mystery surrounding them? Checked. A teenager with above-normal skills in some area? Checked. So far – so average.
And this is where everything crashes and burns.
You I talked about the status gaps in the Anatorayan society? And the Anatoray /Disith war? Well, sometime in the middle of the show everyone decide to let bygones be bygones and live happily ever after. Not before they destroy the Guild and its main source of power, the ultimate warship “Exile”. So everyone decided to build one huge@$$-mega-fleet and attack the Guild and the “Exile”.
‘But wait, didn’t you say that the Guild has its own people working with the engines? Didn’t they take any precautions to avoid such mishaps?” Well kind of. The engines were placed in an independent shuttle that could disconnect from the ship at any given moment. Unless, of course, an angry mob kills the few guildsmen and take over the engine-room. If you’re thinking that adding a remote-control detonation or a self-destruct mechanism to the shuttle would have been a better idea, give yourself a cookie; you’ve just outsmarted the Guild.
We also learn the reason why Alex hates the Guild and Maestro Delphine (the head of the Guild and the uber-lame main baddie). Apparently, back in the day Alex was a part of a team that consisted of himself, Eurys (his love interest), George Head and Hamilcar Valca, who were sent by Anatoray to Disith with a peace proposal, but when they tried crossing the Grand Stream (a tremendous air current that separates Anatoray and Disith. In the periphery, wind speeds sur 100 knots) their vanships were destroyed and the three other of the team died. Oh and Alex saw Delphine standing on the deck of “Exile” and smiling. There, if that’s not a reason to want someone dead, I don’t know what is.
Now, why would Anatoray send two small vanships instead of… oh I don’t know; a fleet capable of crossing the Grand Stream, to deliver this important message or why didn’t they try sending another team after the first one failed? Well, who knows? Certainly not the writers. Ah, and in case you thought that the names George Head and Hamilcar Valca sounded familiar, give yourself another cookie – they were Claus’ and Lavie’s fathers.

From here on, the show is just a mess, which I don't feel like re-watching. The characters and plotlines are all over the place, some so ridiculous it makes you wonder if anyone bothered reading them before animating them.

The ending of the show is just… I don’t even know how to describe it, it feels like they just stopped trying at that point. Like someone said before me it felt rushed, with logic thrown out the window.

[Summary]
LE has many, many flaws and I mentioned only a few. The weak characters, unsolved storylines, basic question about the world left unanswered; these and other make LE a poorly developed show with a great animation and a nice soundtrack.
4/10.