Hey remember 2003? It was the year that Kinos Journey aired. Planetes was hot stuff. Fullmetal Alchemists original run not Brotherhood the one that had its own wild ending separate from the Manga was this year. Wolfs Rain? 2003. Stellvia of the Universe too. Even some lesser known solid entries like Scrapped Princess hail from this venerable year. It was a good year for anime right? I dont know if Last Exile was forgotten precisely but it doesnt often get brought up in these lists. And thats a shame because Last Exile is probably the best thing Gonzo ever made and thats not damning it with faint praise. Set in a fantasy world with a general steampunk aesthetic Last Exile tells the story of two warring nations Anatoray and Disith fighting over living space in a world rapidly falling out of balance. Anatoray is experiencing shortages of fresh water and droughts Disith is slowly freezing solid. Over it all is the secretive decadent Guild nominally in charge of maintaining the balance of the world but disinterested above it all a strange combination of tyrant and referee thumbing the scale just enough to maintain their own power. Claus and Lavie are two vanship pilots making their way in this world running jobs as couriers and participating in races on the side. Its their dream to cross the Grand Stream in their vanship a feat that few have attempted and no one has ever succeeded at. They accept a mission to deliver a young noble girls letter to her father one day and end up fatefully entwined with some of the most important people in the world. Through a series of coincidences and extraordinary events of their own making they end up the guardians of another young girl and living onboard the Silvana the most advanced warship their home of Anatoray can field. Last Exile is a stellar example of early 2000s animemaking a time when studios were flexing new muscle given them by the rapidly lowering cost of CGI and the freedom granted by digipaint. It is clearly a labor of immense craft and preparation with countless hours of worldbuilding and design going into every detail of the world that Last Exile so lovingly portrays. Featuring Gonzos trademark combination of 2D animation and 3D CGI you can feel the crew growing more and more comfortable with the medium as they go on and especially in the touchedup bluray release the character animation is stellar and nearly always on model. A surprisingly restrained color palette helps keep the show consistent in visuals and the design work of Mahiro Maeda on the mechanical side and Range Murata on the character side sing. Readers this show looks good. The music never disappoints either with a stellar soundtrack provided by Dolce Triade an excellent opening provided by Shuntaro Okino and a pitchperfect ending provided by Hitomi Kuroishi. What about the plot you ask? Its a slow burn with the main plot kicking off about five episodes in long enough to let you get really attached to Claus and Lavie and to build the world they live in every day. Vanships are dismissed as little more than couriers or toys by most of Anatorays nobility and Clauss own blood doesnt spare him from being looked down on by others spouting nonsense about Chivalry. The Silvana is different but ominously has the nickname Kill em All Silvana and dark rumors swirl around both it and its captain Alex Row. Then theres Alvis the waif who ends up attached to the two of them of mysterious provenance and the target of Guild enforcers desperate to kill her before whatever power she possesses can be turned against them. Its all a bit of a standard set up but modern anime fans can tell you that the execution is often what matters. And execute Last Exile does. It builds characters who feel wellrounded and experience trauma and suffering in realistic ways. It continually expands and enriches its world without it ever feeling too contrived or baroque. And while the ending isnt quite nailed those pacing problems that rushed epilogue and a few poignant character moments are sacrificed in literally the last minute of the last episode in favor of a saccharine feelgood ending that undercuts the bittersweetness somewhat it all still hangs together well enough to come out of the far end feeling like time well spent and a world worth experiencing. Is it perfect? No. But the good wildly outweighs the bad here and despite being almost twenty years old the design sensibility quality animation and rapidly improving CGI make it still an enjoyable watch two decades later. Recommended.