Anime Review – Last Exile: Where Steampunk and Miyazaki meet.

Thanks to Netflix, my anime viewing has been greatly refreshed.  Recently I was given a recommendation for an anime called Last Exile, and I loved it.  I cut my teeth on the great:, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, all of Miyazaki’s work, Ninja Scroll, DBZ, and more.

While the majority of my anime exposure in my youth was almost exclusively feature films due to video rentals, I did get into one or two series.  The commonly known DBZ, Dragon Ball Z for the uninitiated, and Tekkaman being forefront in my memory of the few series I watch as a kid.

When I got a little older I began discovering more movies and eventually was exposed to the fantastic work of Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli.  I fell in love with his meaningful, moral storytelling and the enthralling depth of his magical worlds.  While Spirited Away was my first introduction to his work, my wife and I have since collected his entire body of work to date from Our Neighbors the Yamatos to the most recent American release of Poño.

I have a confession: yes, I watch Glee occasionally and feel guilty about it, but that’s not it.  I love fairytales and childhood stories.  As a matter of fact my next novel will be a fairytale and I’ve already begun some preliminary planning for it.  There is something sentimental and heartwarming about the storytelling that makes me long for the better days of youth when innocence and imagination ruled.

There just might have been an ogre living in the woods behind my house where my brother and I stormed through, using sticks as machine guns and pinecones as grenades.  There existed a place where friendship is stronger than anything else. And if we dreamed enough, we may just find that wardrobe that leads to a magical world where we could be kings, and death would never claim us because our love is stronger.

**Sigh**

The works of guys like Lewis, Tolkien, Miyazaki, del Toro, and others are the inspiration for me and great for cold winter nights alone when your wife is working night shift in an Bronx ER.

Now that all of that stuff is out and in the open air, I guess we can move right along.  On a night such as this I was perusing the great wealth that is Netflix and came upon the recommendation of Last Exile.  Honestly I was just looking, as I do many nights, for background noise while I paint my little men, because I’m a proud grognard.

But I was so quickly pulled into this engaging quasi-steampunk story that I had to put my brushes down and pay attention.  The 26 episode series is about an orphaned pair Claus and Lavie that work as sky couriers in aerial vanships only to come across this special little girl that is in need of rescuing.  Shortly after they’ve been entrusted with her care from a dying pilot, they find that she is the key to uniting the two warring factions in their world of Prester.

The story is filled with great races, aerial shots, and engaging dialogue between all the characters.  The story is one of unyielding friendship in the face of adversity, the preservation of innocence and idealism.  And that it takes place in a steampunk style of storytelling is a bonus for me, as my current novel is in that genre and I love it.

So if you’re looking for a heartwarming and enthralling story of teens overcoming the harshness of life set in a magical world of air, go over to Netflix and check out Last Exile today.

What are some of your favorite anime series and genres?