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Now how did I miss an anime series such as this?? Last Exile came out?in 2003 and I was only slightly aware of its existence through the work of one of my favourite Japanese illustrators, Range Murata.? I took the time to locate a torrent that offered the full 26 episodes in subtitled/dual audio format.
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In a nutshell, Last Exile is set on the planet Prestel, who’s societies have just entered the industry revolution.? Claus Valca and Lavie Head are two messenger ship pilots who are inadvertently drawn into the turmoil of two warring nations when they are entrusted with the care of a mysterious 11-year old girl whose destiny could change the world forever.
I’ve only watched two episodes so far and I like what I’ve seen for the most part.? The animation is outstanding, with high production values.? The visual design is creative with a mix of high tech and low tech “Steampunk-esque” trappings.? The integration of cel shaded CG is done smoothly and isn’t visually jarring.
There were some scenes?that bothered me in the first two episodes so I’m not sure how I feel about the writing.? I’ll have to watch further to form a solid opinion but so far I like what I see.
Last Exile has been fully localized and box sets are available through retail.
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Is this done is a similar way as Blue Submarine? BS was also cell with CGI and animation as a whole was quite outstanding. The only problem was that I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a story and I was just seeing some chunk of a grander story arc.
I haven’t seen Blue Submarine, but from the caps I’ve found, I’d say the CG integration’s pretty similar.
The initial episodes of Last Exile don’t spend a lot of time on establishing the setting, but luckily they don’t drop too much information on the viewer all at once. You feel like you’re starting from the beginning of the adventure.
Well keep us posted on the overall series. It might be something I might pick up.
I watched the first few episodes of LE that I got from a friend. It was a good show, and I absolutely loved the character and world designs. Very beautiful. I need to download the rest of the show and give it a look. I don’t remember if I ever linked the LE resin kit of Tatiana. I mourn that it isn’t a PVC. Though, this figure could certainly use the PVC treatment. It would be really clean and striking. DAMNIT!
http://www.hlj.com/product/AMGLXF-002
I’ve loved Range Murata’s work before I’d seen Last Exile. Last Exile’s visual design and animation manages to remain quite faithful to the Murata look-and-feel. I don’t know why I never endeavoured actually watch it.
Have you seen the new Last Exile “GrandStream Box” collection shown at WF2006? They look amazing! HLJ doesn’t have them up for pre-order yet though.
I might try and hunt down some of the earlier Murata PSE trading figure sets. I know vol. 1 is next to impossible to find but Vol. 1.5 (colour variants) would do.