Last Exile Last Exile...Spoilers included

Alright, I just finished watching Last Exile, a relatively new anime in Japan and now slowly coming to America. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it follows the story of a couple teenage courier "vanship" riders, a pilot and a navigator, in a world where the sky is the battlefront and airships are the troops. There are three major factions warring for land and power, the nations of Anatore and Dusis, and the Guild, where most warfare is executed through cannonfire, ship ramming, and running alongside one another and engaging with musket fire.

If you haven't seen it or heard of it, I greatly recommend it, though you may have some of the same questions and concerns I am about to bring up.

Spoiler: Last Exile

The Hamilton Family is a prominent name in the Guild, and it also happens to be Alvis' surname. When Claus and Lavi accept the mission of guarding Alvis, it is not very clear whether she is really from the Guild, or from the surface. At any rate, she is the key to Exile. My question here is, was the Exile built with lost Guild technology or something else altogether?

And another question:

Spoiler: Last Exile

Alex Rowe spent a good deal of time, effort, and potentially money during the auction which included the "Door to Exile," only to be ridiculously outbid by Maestro Delphine. If you have seen the episode, you know that the auctioneer is killed afterwards by the Maestro, but it seems that the "Door to Exile" is not mentioned at all in the last five episodes, which revolve almost exclusively over the security of Exile. My next question, therefore, is what in the name of all that is holy happened to the so-called "Door to Exile"?

Anyhow, I figure if you've seen the anime, you have questions, and here would be a good place to air them. I look forward to responses from anyone who's seen it.

 

Has anyone seen the anime?

I knew that Last Exile was a fairly new and undiscovered anime, but it certainly does not seem like anyone has even heard of it.

At any rate, for slightly more information, go to the American release Last Exile DVD site. Personally, my friend downloaded japanese fansubs from Direct Connect, and that is how I was introduced to the series. At any rate, I would definitely recommend looking into this show, I have a feeling that it will grow in popularity as more DVDs are released in America.

 

I've been watching it on TechTV all this week and I like it.
2 Eps. a night for 7 night, Monday-Sunday, can't what for *looking ay the time*...... 9:00pm Cen. time for the last Ep....ooo, and all the Ep. from 4:00e/3:00c pm.
Any-way a Like the show.....
Dio kind of freeks me out, but I like him any-way.

 

I LOVE Last Exile! I'm currently collecting the DVDs here in the U.S., and it's hard to think of waiting a year for the whole collection, but it's well worth it. The series is funny, sweet, and when it choses to be serious, it's never dull. I'm definitely going to finish this one out to the end.

One thing that amuses me somewhat has been the reaction of Last Exile fans in the U.S. to the translations chosen by Pioneer/Geneon versus the fan/pre-release translations, i.e. CLOUD-IER is Claudia, Silverna is Silvana, Anatore and Dusis are Anatoray and Disith. I can see where they were coming from, but a lot of people had literal fits over the "mistranslation" of places and things in Last Exile. Personally, it doesn't bother me at all (though it IS very fun to watch some of the eyecatches and see the word SILVERNA in huge, obvious letters). I have no idea what the big problem is here with the translation, since I think Geneon did the best they could. In Japanese pronunciation, it's likely difficult to tell whether a word really is what it sounds like; if "CLOUD-IER" sounds like "CROUD-IEL" or "CRAU-DIEH" when it's spoken, I can see where they might logically go to "Claudia". Then again, I don't know what reference materials they used. If their materials SAID "CLOUD-IER", in English, then by all means, it should have been the same.

Does anyone have any imput on this or know more about the translation issue?

 

It's just the japanese accent/pronounciation I guess. That is what it would be in english if translated. Take for example 'Lavi', it is heard as 'Ravi' sometimes so that in a way justifies that Claudia is sometimes heard as Croudia. L = R in japanese (my assumption)

Another issue with the names is Spike from Cowboy Bebop... it is heard as 'Spikel' and Vash the Stampede as 'Vash the Stampedal' Emphasis on the 'e' in both cases.

- Shen

 

Yeah, it amazes me that in my searching the internet for resources about Last Exile, I will run into a great deal of discrepencies in translation, not to mention the finite rules of spelling names in English, or wherever they are supposed to have derived from. For instance:

Lavi Head=Lavie Head=Ravi Hed
Claus Valca=Klaus Valka
Lucciora=Luciora=Rushiora
Dio Elaclaire=Dio Erakuraru
Silvana=Sylvana=Silverna
Claudia=Cloudia=Kuraudia
Alex Rowe=Alex Row=Alex Low
Delphine=Delfine=Delphene
Anatore=Annatoray
Dusis=Delsis=Dusith

I try to go by the spellings listed on the Last Exile DVD site I posted above, since if they are the American publisher of it, the likelihood any merchandise released in English will bear those spellings. For those of you watching it on TechTV, I know the end of episodes can really leave you with a cliffhanger, but hanging in there will be worth it by the end. One thing to think about in the meantime, however, is that the cliffhangers will only get worse and worse as you learn about what Exile is, who Alex Rowe is, and why Alvis Hamilton is so important. If this thread is still around when any of you finish the series, see if you don't share my questions or have new questions of your own.

While the ending is a lot less vague than many other animes out there, it still leaves a good deal unexplained in my opinion...too much is left to the imagination.

Oh, and about Dio: when you meet the other Guild members, Dio seems rather tame. Plus, he'll grow on you as the episodes go on. I promise

 

What I'm happy about, is that on the 25th TechTV is going to start play Last Exile again..I hope were they left off at.

 

You forgot "Luciola." ~_^

Oh, he already has. XD If I had a tolerable sound system I'd definitely be into the fansubs to get the rest of the series, specifically for Dio. It's rare that I like a character from their first moment of screentime, but there's just something about him. ^^

Of course, I could probably be accused of liking pale, light-haired, rather creepy bishounen just on general principle. XD

 

This series is great. Though I can't say much about it because I'm still in the process of watching it.

I'll report back later

 

They're not playing the last 13 episodes until next year.

 

Ya, I saw it on there site last next there starting with Ep. one.....but that okay.

 

totally

Ya man last exile is the shiz niz i find it to be a mixture between Desperado and Final Fantasy 9 which is my favorite FF so that is a main reason i like it so much.

I, however do not know much about it because it is only on so late on tech TV and I am always 2 tired to watch it. This same problem goes with all my favorite shows on the international channel, if all of you have this problem maybe i should open a post with a siqnature thingy from all the post people to give to IC and maybe they will play the shows more often and earlier because all of us will like help their ratings or sumthing? :sweat2:

:blush: well maybe thats a stupid idea but if its not yall can give me feedback on this via email or PM thanx

 

***warning Spoilers Ahead***

***Read no further if you have not seen upto and the end of episode 26***

Right. To start off Last Exile was brilliant on the whole. As usual there are a few things which require confirming:

Moran died right? if so why was he featured at the end with the kid on his shoulders? (presumeably his son)

- I assumed Dio died, rather cheaply in fact, despite all of Lucioura's effort to 'free' him.

- I didn't quite caught on, but where did Al come from? and what exactly is this power she possess?

So those are the main things I have in question. Now onto some positive notes. Alex Rowe's scene when he killed Maestro was great, and how he finished her like that was totally unexpected. His death was a pity though... Sophia was too impatient on blowing the damn ship up before actually thinking through that Alex might be on it.

I must say that the ending along with the song (extended and modified version of 'Over the Sky') rounded up the ending nicely and it gave a sense of satisfaction to finsih off a great series.

- Shen