Into the Blue

Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu Minna-san! I’m Fred, and I’m proud to be a brand new addition to the Anime Diet team. I’ll be throwing out updates here and there, talking about some older series, and basically filling in the gaps wherever I’m needed. Pleased to meet you.

Last Exile

As an introduction of sorts, I’d like to talk about a series most near and dear to my heart, Last Exile. A tale of airships, fantastic battles between ancient kingdoms, and all the little people caught in between. Our hero, Claus, a vanship courier and his best friend and navigator, Lavie, fly errands for wealthy clients. One such errand finds them escorting a young girl named Alvis, as she is pursued by the mysterious and all-powerful Guild. While a large scale war is waged between the nations Anatole and Disith they must get her to the rogue battleship Silvana, whose air pirate captain Alex Rowe and crew may be the only ones who can protect her.

What really draws me to the series is the steampunk/fantasy world and the epic story. I grew up on Final Fantasy and Dragonlance novels, so something like this is right up my alley. You watch Claus and Lavie go from mere couriers scraping by to getting caught up in a desperate war between nations, and the operatic heights of drama it reaches. Giant fleet battles between nations, full-throttle vanship races and dogfighting, and the cat-and-mouse airship-to-airship battles reminiscent of old naval combat. You’re really watching an epic conflict unfold.

Airship BattleVanship

I often see series that try to go large miss out on the relationships between characters and the “small drama”. Lost Exile does a spends a lot time on the little people caught in these massive conflicts. Claus and Lavie meet a apoplectic footsoldier Mullen Shepard, who is tired of his comrades fighting and dying in a war in which they had no say. Tatania and her navigator, Alister, are the hot shot pilots on the Silvana that eventually warm up to the “amateurish” Claus and Lavie. We even see hints of a relationship between the cold, distant captain Alex Rowe and his first mate Sophia. While you’re paying attention to the explosions and the massive fleets of airships broadsiding each other, there’s all these little plots that play out between the main characters.Claus and LavieAlex Rowe

If all that isn’t enough to entice you, the character designs are by Range Murata, whose work on Blue Submarine No. 6 was superb. And it’s airships, people! Airships! If you haven’t seen Last Exile yet give it a shot!

Author: Reckless119

Fred is a former staff member who has moved away. He will be missed!

5 thoughts on “Into the Blue

  1. Last Exile is right there at the top of my favorite animes of all time. The art is incredible, the story epic, and it’s one of the few series where the characters don’t get lost in all the spectacle. It’s a fantastic story. I really wish they’d do a follow-up, but on the other hand, it’d be incredibly hard to measure up. Definitely recommended.

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