Every so often, I try an anime that’s totally different from what I usually watch. Like Le Chevalier D’Eon. And what I’m watching right now, Ergo Proxy. But the last anime I watched was a popular steampunk show called Last Exile. In a world similar to Victorian England, except with stream and liquid powered airships and whatnot, everything is divided into two nations: Anatoray and Disith. In Anatoray, which is ruled by a monarchy, two kids, named Claus Valca and Lavie Head, eke out a living making deliveries in their vanship, or a small, two person plane. When someone else’s mission and a little girl named Alvis Hamilton, as well as a strange looking ship, drop on top of them, they are whisked away on a journey to the world’s most infamous ship, the Sylvana, entangling them in a mystery about the greatest power on their planet, Prestor, and a power struggle between the two nations. Even worse is that they get tangled up with the Guild, a powerful organization that provides the two nations with the units that allow their ships to even function. With Alex Row, captain of the Sylvana, Sophia Forrester, his first officer, Tatiana Wisla, one of the Sylvana’s top vanship pilots, Mullan Shetland, a former musketeer, Dio Eleclair, the younger brother of the head of the Guild, and many others, they try to fullfil their dream to make it through the Grand Stream, the powerful winds that separate the two countries, protect Alvis, and sort out their own feelings about each other and the sky itself.
This is a show with some really great characters. People like Alex Row, Tatiana Wisla, and Dio Eleclair don’t just fade from your mind. Especially Dio. He’s so ambiguously odd that he’s one of the most entertaining characters on the show. The plot primarily follows the two threads of Claus, Lavie, and Alvis and the power struggle between Anatoray and Disith, as well as the resulting battle with the Guild. The steampunk elements are really cool, even if I don’t quite get the aerodynamics of the vanship and airship designs. That’s okay, since this is mostly about looking awesome rather than physics. Otherwise, we’d get a better explanation as to what Claudia fluid actually is. The characters are likable, the story is fun, though it strays a few times, and the villain, Maestro Delphine Eleclair, is deliciously evil. She reminded me of someone a lot while I was watching the show, but I can’t remember who it is at the moment. I’ll update this when I do. The plot got a little silly when it got too concerned with the various women in Claus’ life, but that’s the only real shortcoming. The music isn’t terribly notable, which is a minor shortcoming. The animation is pretty, and it really gives a sort of Fullmetal Alchemist feel to it. Lastly, I watched this show, once again, with English dubs, since Netflix only lets you watch them in English. It’s got a great cast, and I particularly liked Michelle Ruff as Alvis and Tatiana, Julie Ann Taylor as Sophia, Crispin Freeman as Alex, and Karen Strassman as Maestro Delphine. Joshua Seth makes a decent Dio, but he has a tendency to switch sometimes between being ambiguously creepy to sounding high. The latter of those two is less than satisfying. This is a pretty dang good show, though I won’t tell you that it’s one of the best. It’s not. But it’s well worth watching for most anime fans, as it can appeal to a lot of different kinds of people.
Story: 8.9 Artwork: 8.5 Soundtrack: 7.2 Acting: 8.8 Overall: 8.8
