I bought this knowing little about it, I just liked the look of the artwork and the price. When I started to watch the first disc I knew that I'd made a good purchase. One is immediately thrown into the action as we see the Silvana, a giant aerial battleship engaging a fleet of enemy ships. The next scene introduces the two main characters; young pilot Claus and his Navigator Lavie who are working on their aircraft. The planes in the world of Last Exile aren't like ours, they lack wings but gain lift from a chemical called claudia. Thankfully the series doesn't dwell on the technology the viewer just has to accept that this is how things are in this world.
Initially Claus and Lavie fly as couriers, this all changes when they see another vanship crash and agree to complete the dying pilot's mission. This is to deliver a young girl called Alvis to the Silvana. While on board the ship is engaged in battle and they end up staying on board. From then on they get into adventures with the Silvana and her crew as they confront various opponents and find out what makes Alvis so special and why the mysterious Guild is so keen to get their hands on her.
There are three main groups in this series; the nations of Anatoray (where our heroes come from) and Disith seem to be in perpetual battle using ships which use technology provided by the Guild. The ships themselves look more like early battleships than aircraft as they lumber through the sky engaging each other with cannons and soldiers armed with muskets.
While the series looks great its real strength lies in its large cast of interesting characters, not all of whom are quite what they seem at first and some of whom won't survive till the end. Everybody will have they own favourite characters, after Claus and Lavie my favourite was Lord Dio, a young Guild pilot who befriends our two heroes after being impressed by Claus's flying.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
Initially Claus and Lavie fly as couriers, this all changes when they see another vanship crash and agree to complete the dying pilot's mission. This is to deliver a young girl called Alvis to the Silvana. While on board the ship is engaged in battle and they end up staying on board. From then on they get into adventures with the Silvana and her crew as they confront various opponents and find out what makes Alvis so special and why the mysterious Guild is so keen to get their hands on her.
There are three main groups in this series; the nations of Anatoray (where our heroes come from) and Disith seem to be in perpetual battle using ships which use technology provided by the Guild. The ships themselves look more like early battleships than aircraft as they lumber through the sky engaging each other with cannons and soldiers armed with muskets.
While the series looks great its real strength lies in its large cast of interesting characters, not all of whom are quite what they seem at first and some of whom won't survive till the end. Everybody will have they own favourite characters, after Claus and Lavie my favourite was Lord Dio, a young Guild pilot who befriends our two heroes after being impressed by Claus's flying.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.