Last Exile
Last Exile is a Japanese anime television series created by Gonzo. It featured a production team led by director Koichi Chigira, character designer Range Murata, and production designer Mahiro Maeda. The three had previously worked together in Blue Submarine No. 6, one of the first CG anime series. It aired on TV Tokyo from April to September 2003. A sequel series, Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing, aired from October 2011 to March 2012. A film adaptation of the series, Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing: Over the Wishes, was released in February 2016.
The story is set on the fictional world of Prester, where its inhabitants use aerial vehicles known as vanships as a means of transportation. On this world, which is divided in eternal conflict between the nations of Anatoray and Disith, sky couriers Claus Valca and Lavie Head must deliver a girl who holds the key to uniting the two factions. Although Prester itself is not a representation of Earth, it features technology reminiscent of nineteenth century Europe at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Many of its designs were also inspired by Germany's technological advances during the interwar period.
The series was licensed in North America by Geneon Entertainment in June 2003, two months after the first episode aired in Japan. Funimation began licensing the series after Geneon ceased production of its titles, later licensing the sequel series. It was also licensed for English releases in the United Kingdom, originally by ADV Films until its closure in 2009, and is now licensed by Manga Entertainment, and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. Other published media included two soundtracks, two manga, and artbooks.
Last Exile has received widespread critical acclaim and is considered to be one of Gonzo's best works. It has been praised for its narrative, visuals, themes, soundtrack and production values.
Setting
Last Exile is set on the fictional world of Prester. Prester's two nations of Anatoray and Disith are separated by a turbulent region of the sky known as the Grand Stream and are engaged in conflict according to the code of chivalric warfare. A superior faction known as the Guild enforces these rules. It also provides the two nations with technology but, unknown to them, has dishonorable intentions, to preserve the status quo and enforce its dominance of both sides. Although the story is set in the future, the technology employed differs from that in a typical space opera. Instead, the show's retro-futuristic setting resembles nineteenth-century Europe at the height of the Industrial Revolution. Inhabitants of Prester operate aerial vehicles known as vanships in the world's Golden Age of Aviation; although the technology is primitive, the aerial vehicles use a form of antigravity and lighter-than-air methods of flight rather than the use of wings.Various scenes in the series also show existing tension between the upper and lower classes. Anatoray's nobility and military officers generally believe that commoners do not understand their codes of chivalry. On the other hand, the lower class also despise the aristocracy for their monopoly on resources. This tension extends to the accessibility of clean water, which varies in price according to purity grades. In the larger story, the advanced Guild society is portrayed as degenerate and lazy, while the people of Anatoray and Disith are creative and industrious.
The series introduces viewers to a wide range of naval and military vocabulary. More primitive navigational methods such as dead reckoning and instruments such as the sextant are also used in the series.
Plot
''Last Exile''
The story revolves around fifteen-year-old pilot Claus Valca and navigator Lavie Head, who fly their vanship as sky couriers in the nation of Anatoray. Although they usually take up missions of relatively low difficulty, they are one day asked to complete the mission of a dying courier. The mission, rated seven stars out of ten, is to deliver a young girl named Alvis Hamilton to the mysterious battleship Silvana. Despite their fears, Claus and Lavie deliver Alvis to the battleship but decide to remain aboard to keep her safe. Claus and Lavie are initially treated as intruders but eventually befriend the crew of the Silvana. They learn that the Guild intends to capture Alvis for reasons unknown to them. In the first battle between the Silvana and Guild forces, Guild member Dio Eraclea takes an interest in Claus's flying skills and his signature move, the Immelmann turn. Wanting to learn more about Claus, Dio willingly allows himself to be captured. He reveals to the Silvana's captain, Alex Row, the existence of one of four Mysteria which act as a key to something known as Exile.When the Silvanas executive officer, Sophia Forrester, is revealed to be the Emperor's daughter and heir, she returns to Anatoray at the request of the prime minister. Sophia assumes the throne after the Emperor is killed during a surprise attack at the capital by the Disith nation and pleads for an alliance with Disith in order to capture Exile and end the Guild's control. Sophia reveals to Claus that Alvis is linked to the Mysteria, but as preparations for the assault are made, Alvis is captured by the Guild.
Delphine Eraclea, the Maestro of the Guild, reveals that Exile is a colony ship used by those who first settled their world, and she intends to use Alvis and the Mysteria to take control of it. However, Claus and Alvis escape the Guild stronghold and are reunited with Lavie when the alliance fleet attacks. As the fleet follows Exile past the Grand Stream and enters Disith, it is able to destroy Delphine's forces. After Claus and Alvis recite the four Mysteria, Exile reveals itself as a starship that will carry people back to their old home world.
''Last Exile: Travelers from the Hourglass''
A manga set right after the events of Last Exile and before Fam, the Silver Wing, Travelers from the Hourglass continues the story of Claus, Lavie, Alvis, and the others who left Prester and settled on Earth, their ancestors' home world. As they get used to their new home, Al is pursued by the Earth Guild.''Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing''
Taking place two years after the events of Last Exile, Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing is set on Earth, the original home world of the colonists of Prester. The new story focuses on Fam Fan Fan and Giselle Collette, two vespa vanship pilots who work as Sky Pirates, capturing and selling battleships for a living. Fam and Giselle get into an adventure when they and the Sky Pirates rescue Liliana il Grazioso Merlo Turan and her younger sister, Millia Il Velch Cutrettola Turan, Princesses of the Turan Kingdom, from the clutches of the mighty Ades Federation. The Federation, led by Empress Sārā Augusta and Premier Luscinia Hāfez, is on an all out war against nations who descended from immigrants who came back to Earth by Exile ships.As Ades was the only nation to stay on Earth when it was in a state of chaos and ruin, Luscinia believes that the Exile immigrants have no right to return to Earth since their ancestors abandoned Earth when it was in chaos only to return when Earth was viable to live on again and force the original inhabitants of Earth off their lands to form their own nations. To return these lands to their original inhabitants, Luscinia leads the Ades Federation to conquer the immigrant nations and destroy their armies, with Turan being one of them. After Luscinia kidnaps Liliana, who has the ability to control an Exile, Luscinia summons an Exile to destroy Iglasia, the capital of Turan, killing its soldiers and the King of Turan, leading to the surrender of Turan to Ades. With everything she cared for lost, Millia is given refuge by the Sky Pirates, where Fam promises to help Millia regain her kingdom.
Production
Last Exile was created by Gonzo in celebration of the company's 10th anniversary. It featured a production team led by director Koichi Chigira, character designer Range Murata, and production designer Mahiro Maeda. The three had previously worked together to create Blue Submarine No. 6, one of the first CG anime series.Art design
Conceptual designs were created by Range Murata, who was given complete freedom to create the setting. He began drawing detailed sketches of machines and everyday objects from a daily newspaper. His research was given no constraints with the exception of production deadlines. Gonzo initially intended for Last Exile to be shown in a space setting, but producers did not want the characters to wear sterile space suits. Murata believed the design took "the course the story had laid out". His character conceptualization included a great amount of time spent on costume design. Wanting to portray each character's personality more fully, he "tried to draw in the kind of material that would have been used in creating their clothes and try to represent the stitches connecting the fabric." In contrast to crewmembers of the battleship Silvana who wear modern and utilitarian uniforms, other characters wear traditionally aristocratic attire. High amount of attention was given to character animation. Animators especially experienced difficulties with Alex Row's hair and flowing cape.Production of Last Exile relied heavily on 3D computer animation. Of the 350 shots used in the first episode, more than 200 included computer-generated animation. In comparison, Gonzo's previous work, Vandread, used an average of 40 to 50 computer-generated shots per episode. Animation was also supplemented with Victorian era flourishes. In order to combine hand-drawn animation with computer-generated ones, the production team used a technique for non-photorealistic rendering, which could not be used for Blue Submarine No. 6 because of a stylistic conflict. At the 2003 Anime Expo, Maeda, who also worked with Studio Ghibli's production of Castle in the Sky, commented that " is very advanced in how it will incorporate the two mediums".