Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

splavin00 Overall I'd say this is a great series, a solid 8 out of 10.The biggest strength for the series is by far the amazing artwork and animation. Reminiscent of Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky", the steam punk airship technology are all interestingly designed and are beautifully translated onto the screen. Character animation is very solid, the studio clearly didn't try to cut corners, which provides expression and life to the characters. Top notch stuff all aroundThe first half of the series had me completely hooked, particularly the first two episodes. I totally bought into the steam punk tech especially. The characters that were introduced were likable and their motivations (or lack thereof in some cases) were clear. The scene was set for some epic reveals and an exciting ride. However, I felt that the pacing of the second half of the story was sorely lacking. I found myself begin to lose interest at times, even as things began to unfold. Not to say it wasn't competently done, but from the expectations I had from the first half, it didn't pay off the way I wanted it to. The art and animation is incredible and the story is well above most others, give it a watch.

howl_jenkins I'm an animator and I was initially drawn to the series after seeing the artwork, which by the way is beautiful. Nice clean lines, good use of color to enhance scenes, and the standard Japanese affinity for attention to detail. For a series, I was rather impressed as I am choosy about what I watch, some series have such terrible animation that not even a good story can redeem it. There needs to be a fairly strong marriage between animation and story for it to be a success, and Last Exile has it. As far as animation goes, it was very good. I'd have to say that it looked as though GONZO was pushing to show off the use of new 3D technology with this one and at times the 3D and 2D elements collided in odd ways. As you see, in animation when using 2D and 3D together generally we try to mesh them together so as to make a unified style and no one can tell the difference. As is sometimes problematic with series (deadlines deadlines deadline!!!) some of the animation looked a little stiff, but hey, you clearly get the idea of what is going on and it's the story that really gets you.The plot, which everyone else has kindly outlined, is rather intriguing. The writers don't spoon-feed you the entire story so you must do some thinking and imagining on your own. Characters definitely have appeal, whether you love them or hate them, they are evoking emotion and opinion from you as a viewer. My personal favorite character is Dio.As far as the dubbed version goes, the English voice actors were well selected (unlike some of Disney's choices for the English dubs of Ghibli films *cough cough*). Whether you listen to the Japanese or English audio, both versions use good vocal dynamics (re: none of that monotone "I'm just reading the lines off a paper" stuff) The voice acting gave you a sense of each character's personality (although Lavie's English voice acting got irritating at times).Overall, if steam-punk is your genre you will enjoy this series. The fantasy world is quite like something that Studio Ghibli would have created and I found myself seeing similarities between this and Laputa (dubbed Castle in the Sky). This is definitely one of the more enjoyable series to watch in English or Japanese.

TheWorldofAnime It is a rare anime series that requires 26 episodes to tell its story well. Most could do with half that number, as much of the time directors and writers stray too far from the plot line itself into meaningless subplots. However, Last Exile is one of the few, if one of the only, series I have watched that merits more than the allotted number. Last Exile does not find itself bogged down in side-stories - there are no side stories in Last Exile - everything matters, down to the very last second of the show. In a way, this is why the show needed 30 episodes rather the allotted 26. The last episode especially shows that the creative team had so much more to tell, but just didn't have the space. Because of this, the ending may seem rushed and unfulfilling, which it is. However, all of this fails to noticeably detract from GONZO's masterpiece.As with the majority of anime series, the plot line of Last Exile is simple and, to say the least, predictable. What separates anime from traditional American shows is the level of emphasis put on characters and the emotional connections between them. With its fair share of tragedy, the characters in Last Exile do not disappoint, right down to the very last moment. From the strength of deep ties of friendship to the incredible power of revenge, Last Exile presents the emotions of each character so powerfully it compels the viewer to understand and accept them. These characters are what will, someday when the animation is dated and the audio considered choppy, tie to the viewer to the series and draw them back for more.

Douglas The truly interesting thing with Last Exile is how it has stolen from everything imaginable. So much so that it has to be on purpose. Plot points from Robotech, style from everything by Miyazaki san, ideas coming everywhere from Tenchi Muyo to Speed Racer, and characters from all the venerable old classics. (Could Alex be more Captain Harlock? Could Alvis be more Sasami? I defy you to argue this.) I could go on and on and on about the things this stole. Even a fighter scene right out of Return of the Jedi. Unbelievable!But it does it all so well.I couldn't have enjoyed this more. Most of the CGI animation is very seamlessly integrated with the Cell animation in a way that they seem to get better at every year. Even if stolen the story is interesting and draws you in. I truly care about each of the characters and most of them are fairly multi- dimensional (at least as far as Anime standards go.)I highly recommend this. Particularly if you have an extensive Anime background and can look for all the references. On the down side I think there were way too many female characters, which is about standard for this kind of Anime. Also, there are a few CGI scenes that I don't think look good enough for a series of this high quality. Minor complaints.Don't rent the first DVD if your video rental place doesn't have the complete set. You will be extremely frustrated when you realize that you simply MUST watch the whole series right away!