How do ships fly without wings? Why do they power their guns with steam? Why is the The Guild so weird? How did the world become such a wasteland? And what the heck is Harlock doing here? No, seriously, Harlock is in the show. You will likely have all of these questions at the end of Last Exile. None of them really have an answer, but that's not the point. Steampunk flying machines: That's the point.
 Well, maybe it's a little more than big flying things, odd bits of mixed technology, and a very atypical style. There's the opening song, which features bagpipes. Yes, bagpipes, and the song actually ties into the show in some way rather than being a random pop song chosen to promote the singer. The world of Last Exile features 20,000-ton flying ships, but no radios, at least not for the little people down on whatever planet the show is set on. (It might be Earth, but like much of the show it's never really made clear.) As things stand at the start of the show, the world is divided into three parts. One part on the ground is controlled by Anatory, a nation that resembles a mash up of France and Britain. Another part is controlled by Disith, which resembles a combination of Germany and Russia. And there's The Guild, which is reminiscent of Star Trek's Vulcan race, if the Vulcans were a bunch of fruits, floating high above it all and governing the rules of chivalry that Anatorry and Disith fight under in their giant flying ships.
So, we have our warring nations, fighting over access to water, as Anatory is a desert and Disith is rapidly freezing over, and an indifferent-to-occasionally-hostile overseer of the fights. Caught in the are the semi-free people who fly the van ships. Think hot rods of the sky, that somehow fly without wings. (In fact, nothing in this world that flies has wings, except the birds.) These ships are flown by two-person, effin' loco crews garbed in minimal safety gear as they pilot what amounts to a giant engine with some ailerons attached to it through the turbulent, strife-filled skies of this world.
These van ship crazies, pilot Claus Valca and navigator Lavie Head, are the heroes. In one of the few nods to the typical (in this case, to the Angsty Anime Hero Past), they're orphans. Their father died together on an extremely important mission to deliver a message across the Grand Stream, a jet stream of immense size and power that divides much of the world in two. Claus and Lavie keep themselves alive much the same way in the semi-free city of Norkia somewhere on the edge of the Anatory empire, delivering messages for the Van Ship Union and running in van ship races when they can. It's not that exciting, until you factor in some of the missions that involve flying right into active war zones; and the races generally involve a pretty high likelihood of wrecking your ship. Still, it's not as high on the "likely to end your life quickly" scale as, say, being a musketeer on one of those flying battle wagons.
But into each life a disruption must fall, and in this case the disruption is a young girl, a deus ex machina/mcguffin device named Alvis. She is being chased by multiple groups, including the enigmatic Guild and our Harlock stand-in, Captain Alex Row and the rest of his band of merry misfits. The deeper you get into the series, the more you find Claus, Lavie and Alvis bound to the uncertain fate of the Row and his crew, especially the XO who has a secret of her own to keep.
Last Exile has a lot going for it right out of the starting gate. It was the 10th anniversary production for Studio Gonzo, and they poured every bit of time and money they had into it. They assembled an incredible team of people to work on the production, including character designer Range Murata, director Koichi Chigira and production designer Mahiro Maeda, all of Blue Submarine #6 fame among other works. Unfortunately, the show also reveals some of the more endemic problems to a lot of Studio Gonzo's works over the years. The art work ranges from incredible to a-bit-rough-in-spots, and there are pacing problems throughout the whole project. A lot of problems seem to stem from the production work being divided up among a number of different teams as evidenced by the large number of companies credited with working of various episodes of the show. Claus's total lack of a personality until about half-way through the show doesn't help much either. Nor does it help that Lavie's importance to the plot fades as the number of attention-demanding side characters rises.
 I certainly don't mean to imply that there are major problems with Last Exile that should dissuade anyone from seeing it. Far from it. When they really crank up the action it is awesome, and I highly recommend finding the biggest TV or projection screen possible to watch it on, as it is truly spectacular when it is firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, there are some misfires: a couple of very badly paced episodes, a few plot threads that never really go anywhere meaningful, and the truly unfortunate decision to deemphasize Lavie towards the end of the production. There are also a couple of issues with the DVD set itself. Some of these, like the rather low quality of the DVD case itself, have been rectified, though if you end up with one of the older sets like the one I got to review the parts that hold the DVDs in place are very brittle, causing the discs to come loose as the "teeth" break. The set is also lacking a 5.1 soundtrack as of the time this review was written, though future production may include that option, and I very much hope they do as both the English and Japanese tracks were originally recorded in 5.1.
All quibbles with the show are minor, however, as Last Exile is spectacular. From the distinctive art style to the incredible flying sequences to the amazing vocal tracks, everything is top-caliber the whole way through. Absolutely recommended. Fly high in the free skies Claus and Lavie, you've earned the right.
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