Last Exile (Episodes 25-26)

Catch up on previous episodes here)

In my experience, when becoming a writer, one of the hardest things to learn is how to end a story. Because it's the last impression one leaves with the audience, it is often the most criticized aspect of any story. This seems especially true with television shows where series finales are usually remembered as moments of disappointment rather than triumph. I'm happy to say that Last Exile avoids this fate, though at times these episodes did feel slightly rushed and did leave me with many unanswered questions. But that's okay, I always like to leave readers of my novels with unanswered questions too. As a storyteller, you don't want to give everything away -- you want the story to live on in the imagination of the audience so that the characters never actually 'end', they are simply passed on.

One technique for concluding a story that I've always enjoyed is the idea of bringing things full circle back to the beginning. In Last Exile, Claus and Alvis need to make their way back to Exile in order to prevent the Guild from gaining absolute control over the world. In order to do this, they make their way to various checkpoints, allowing us last glimpses of many characters. During their flight, we also see how much Alvis has grown. Acting as Claus's navigator, using Lavie's notes, she is braver and coming into her own. We also see Claus realize his full potential. After being attacked by two Guild ships, he displays some amazing piloting skills to defeat them. On the final leg of the journey, they reunite with Lavie and their original vanship. In order to save the world, they must cross the Grand Stream in their fathers' ship, just as they had always dreamed of doing. I really enjoyed how their personal journey ended up coinciding with the greater fate of the world.

Another good rule for an ending is that you should never give the audience exactly what they may want. During the course of a story, there are certain hopeful outcomes one wants to set up. But I firmly believe you should only deliver on some them because stories, as in life, should never work out too perfectly. There is a great deal of tragedy in the end of Last Exile, but this is offset by the overwhelming sense of good will that comes after the massive battle that concludes the story. This is definitely a series worth investing the time to watch from beginning to end. It has compelling characters, a wonderful sense of story arch and development, and is completely satisfying.

Final Grade: A

Last Exile (Episodes 22-24)

Catch up on previous episodes here)

One tool that a storyteller has is the ability to make sure plans don't go according to plan. The storyteller has the benefit of knowing what will happen and therefore can manipulate the expectations of the audience. Unexpected wrenches in the characters' plans, both positive and negative to their objective, keeps the tension going and keeps the audience interested. In this last stretch of episodes before the final two, Last Exile seems to be doing just that.

Having stolen Exile, the Guild ships return to the palace for the Covenant Ceremony where capable youths battle to the death to see who will succeed Maestro Delphine and eventually run the Guild. The 'changed' Dio is forced to take part in the brutal, wonderfully animated scene, while Claus and Alvis are brought to an observation deck where Delphine finally explains what Exile is, but not what it does. This has been one of the fundamental mysteries of the show and its revelation follows the style of previous ones on the show, revealing information only to create more mystery. Alex Row is brought on deck too, wrapped in thorns that are releasing truth serum into his body. Delphine forces him to recite the Mysteria (the four poems that will open Exile). Exile scans Alvis as Alex recites the first verse and then the second. Alvis falls into the trance like state shown in a previous episode and Exile responds. In a great sequence of animation, Exile appears ready to do something big, but it turns out Alex does not know one of the verses, delaying the outcome and causing Delphine to revise her plans. She must first capture Sophia, the keeper of the last verse.

In these episodes, the viewer also gains insight into Dio and his childhood. We see his compassion for his companion and the harshness that his sister Delphine inflicts on him, which equals the harshness she inflicts on the entire world. Seeing the caring person Dio was makes his recent change even more heartbreaking. But his former compassion is rewarded when his friend helps Claus and Alvis escape, provided they take Dio with them. The three are taken to a hidden vanship within in the palace. In order for their escape to happen, a massive piece of the palace is blown off. It falls to the world below, sending tidal waves through Claus and Lavie's hometown. The three escapees manage to crash land and are taken to a hospital (based in the house where we saw Claus and Lavie on their first messenger mission way back in the beginning of the series). Claus and Alvis are released and go back home to find their house in ruins. All of this reaffirms the beliefs instilled at the beginning of the show. We've seen Claus grow and change, but in the end, his values have never faltered.

Meanwhile in the skies, the alliance begins its assault. The Silvana and Urbanus continue to trail Exile as it is pulled along by the Guild fleet, through the Grand Stream. The rest of the alliance's warships encounter a massive Guild fleet and commence with the vanship attack they've been working on. It's an overwhelming success, destroying most of the Guild ships. These air battles are one of the many highlights of the show and are simply stunning to look at. The alliance pushes on, ready to enter the Grand Stream and join what promises to be an epic final showdown. Claus must also somehow get back to the Silvana and bring Alvis with him...she's the only one who can stop what has already been set into motion. With two episodes left, I love how there is still a sense that anything can happen.

Last Exile (Episodes 19-21)

(Catch up on previous episodes here)

When I left off, the new alliance between the two nations of Anatoray and Disith were preparing a surprise attack against the oppressive Guild, which controls all air travel and therefore is able to manipulate the two nations. Following another clever device in storytelling, the show has kept the Guild a shadowy institution until near the end of the series. Or rather, there was a shifting enemy that changed as the viewer gained information along with our hero Claus. At first, the enemy is the Disith...then the mysterious Alex Row...then the Emperor, but by episode 19, we know those forces are all united against an enemy far more dangerous and far more powerful. The build-up of this aspect of the story is a great example of how following a character through a story can aide plot development and create plot twists.

In these three episodes, we get another shift in the story, most likely the last one before the climax. Now Empress, Sophia returns to the Silvana, bringing with her the Urbanus (the Empire's best warship, which has tangled with the Silvana in previous episodes.) The two superior ships join forces to enter the Grand Stream. The Disith have provided them with a map of the Grand Stream and a recording of Exile's engines. It is still unknown what Exile is, either a ship or a life form, but in order to defeat the Guild, apparently they need to capture it.

Flying through the swift stream, which is essentially a powerful corridor of converging jet streams, the ships finally locate Exile and launch vanships that will attempt to connect Exile to the Silvana with cables. Once they do, one of the earlier story lines comes back into the play. The four poems known as the Mysteria supposedly have the power to unlock Exile and little Alvis is the key to opening them. Finally, all of the hints from earlier begin to converge.

As the vanships approach Exile, its defense system takes out all but the ship piloted by Claus and Dio. Using his exceptional skills, Claus is able to accomplish the mission. Meanwhile, back at the Guild palace, Maestro Delphine discovers that her brother, Dio, has been hiding on the Silvana and sets out to bring him back. When Claus and Dio dock again, they find the Silvana seemingly deserted only to discover it has been taken over by the Guild. Delphine is there in person and takes Claus, Alvis and Alex with her back to the Guild palace in the sky.

Claus and Alvis are treated as guests, though they are aware that they are truly prisoners. They are disgusted by the extravagance of the Guild when people on the surface starve. In another part of the palace, Dio is forced to undergo a mysterious Guild procedure that will make him an adult. When he next sees Alvis and Claus, he's completely changed. Everything seems to be going Delphine's way. Have the alliance's plans been ruined and is all hope of defeating the Guild lost? Another classic storytelling technique, stacking the odds even more against the heroes.

Last Exile (Episodes 16-18)

(Catch up on previous episodes here)

As the show enters the stretch run, the action really picks up in starting with these three episodes of Last Exile. Now that the back story is out of the way for all the major characters, it's time to establish their places for the final thrust of plot. Once again, I'm impressed with the storytelling and attention to narrative pace in this series. We are certainly leading up to the climax of the story when the first officer of the Silvana, Sophia, revealed to be the Emperor's daughter in the last episode, leaves the ship to return to the capital. We learn that she was originally assigned to the ship to keep an eye on its rogue captain, Alex Row...she stayed only after she fell in love with him. Too bad for her, he's in still in love with a woman that died years ago. By returning to the capital, she hopes to convince the Emperor to end the war that has been tearing apart the world. Her plan is severely sidetracked when she's arrested and imprisoned for treason. During her imprisonment, the Disith, now a desperate enemy with nothing left to lose, unleashes a devastating surprise attack on the capital that night, killing the Emperor and clearing the way for Sophia to claim the throne.

Meanwhile back on the Silvana, Claus is going through some turmoil of his own. As the main hero of the story, his destiny and ambitions are still up in the air. He is still unsure if he should remain on the ship as a fighter vanship pilot or leave with Lavie and attempt the to cross the Grand Stream as they had always said they would since they were kids. In another clever literary device, pieces of an earlier plot line are revived as the Silvana docks for repairs in a hidden station where a secret force is training for an assault on the Guild. Part of that assault is training vanship pilots and using the smaller ships as the main attack force. As it turns out, a large group of the pilots training are Claus and Lavie's old racing friends from the first few episodes. The reunion brightens Claus and Lavie's moods...until they realize the idea for the vanship attack was born during their first encounter with battle, seen by the viewer in the earliest episodes. They are both horrified and feel responsible for turning their beloved vanships into battleships, a purpose far from their noble intention.

Back in the capital, as the city lay in ruins, now Empress Sophia is able to organize a cease fire with the Disith. Then she travels to Claus and Lavie's hometown, now occupied by the Disith, to meet with their commander. She explains that the entire war may never have happened if Claus's father had been able to deliver his peace treaty years and years before, blaming the Guild for his death. It is finally (at least, partially) explained that the Grand Stream is a kind of barrier between the two nations, operated by the Guild. Sophia asks the Disith to join her against a common enemy. Their alliance is quickly forged and members of the Disith join the secret training squad. Of course the Guild, having been presented as a superior, almost omnipotent force, is aware of the alliance. In order to make their presence known, their Maestro, or queen, arrives at Sophia's coronation, hovering over the ceremony in warship that puts the entire alliance fleet to shame. It's hard to imagine even the Silvana can match the Guild's warships...but I'm sure we shall see in future episodes.

Last Exile (Episodes 13-15)

(Catch up on previous episodes here)

Yesterday morning I buckled up and climbed back onboard the Silvana after being away too long. I'm officially entering the middle of the 26 episode series and as I suspected, these three episodes started to provide some answers to the many mysteries raised in previous episodes. As I've mentioned in the other posts, the storytelling is following a the narrative style of a novel. And as I wrote in a post last week, one of the key elements of a novel is the middle. Traditionally the middle is where some questions are answered, only to bring new questions to light. Last Exile achieves that nicely here.

When I last left off, the Silvana had apparently sunk--not that I truly feared it's destruction. We soon discover that it is simply hiding, playing possum until it is repaired and ready to set off on its real mission which has been kept vague until now. Meanwhile, after crashing their vanship in the desert, Claus and Tatiana (a sideline character who emerges more to the center of the plot in these episodes) grow closer and manage to repair their ship. During their time together, we learn that Tatiana was an 'abandoned noble', a member of a noble family in one of the conquered towns in the ongoing war. We also learn that Claus and Lavie's fathers were famous vanship pilots who attempted to cross the still mysterious Great Stream in order deliver a peace proposal that would have ended the war. They failed nobly and the war still rages on. Claus and Tatiana encounter that first hand as they run into the Disith and learn that Lavie and Claus's hometown has fallen.

Following another novelist's trick for storytelling, the middle episode is devoted almost solely to telling the story of Claus and Lavie's fathers and how they were friends with the Silvana captain, Alex Row. One rule to telling a long story is never to bore the audience in the beginning with tons of back story. You always want to jump into the middle of the story and reveal important pieces of the back story over time. That's what this episode is, we see Claus and Lavie as children who soon become orphaned children. We watch them teach themselves to become pilots. We see as they first become messengers and build the house in which we first encountered them. Basically we learn everything about how they ended up where they were in the beginning of the series. This segment not only provides us with some key clues to the larger story, but it also serves as reminder of just how close these two characters are, especially since they have been drifting apart in the the last few episodes...which leads us to the next episode.

The last of these three episodes is where all the new questions start to rise, just as the Silvana rises once again into the skies. Almost unaware of it, Claus is the center of a love triangle between him, Tatiana, Lavie, and possibly even the first officer Sophia. In a whirlwind of revelations, the Silvana's true mission is revealed when Claus confronts Alex about knowing his father. Alex admits to having been on the mission and seeing Claus's father die. He also confesses that his mission is to steal the Guild's exile and destroy it, thus ending the Guild's control over the world. In another twist, it is revealed that Sophia is actually the Emperor's daughter and has been asked by a close advisor to step in and stop the Emperor from waging a war with the Guild as he's planned.

The second half of the series promises lots of action and shifting character alignments. Should be a great finish. Stay tuned.

Last Exile (Episodes 10-12)

(Catch up on previous episodes here)

This week I was able to make my way back on board the rebellious airship Silvana to visit in with Claus and Lavie on their continued adventures in what is turning out to be one of my favorite anime series of all time. When I last left off, the young vanship pilot Claus, along with navigator Lavie, was engaged in a marathon vanship race and leading, while the mysterious Alex Row was planning to get his hands on the last exile, a cube shaped object believed to have powers as of yet unknown to the viewer. It's the unknown to the viewer part that is making this series so fantastic for me.

So often television force feeds the viewer its plot in large, easily digestible portions. Like any great quest novel, Last Exile is content with revealing one little clue at a time and trusting the viewer to piece together the information over the course of the show. In these three episodes, the viewer is gradually getting a better understanding of the larger political intrigue that has only been hinted at up to this point.

It turns out there has been some recent turmoil with the Guild, which we now know is made up of several different houses or families that seem to behave much the way that royal families operated centuries ago. The little girl Alvis is apparently the last of the Hamilton House and the true heir. She also has some great power related to some, as of yet unknown, prophecy as evidenced when one of the members of another Guild house is able to put her into a trance that causes intense energy surges simply by reciting her a few lines of a poem. It's been clear from her entrance into the show that Alvis is important and I like that we are only now finding out the real nature of her role.

Nearly half-way through the series, the characters are beginning to change and take on what will most likely be their missions for the rest of the show. Each of the main characters seems to have their own quest to pursue, sometimes bringing them together and sometimes leading them apart. I've been very impressed with how well constructed this aspect of the show has been. But of course, like any good story, when things are getting to deep on the revelations, the storyteller needs to step back and mix in the action.

The last of these three episodes ends with an epic air battle that sees the Silvana taking on five of the Emperor's war ships and apparently being sunk at the end. What will happen next? I can't wait to find out.

Last Exile (Episodes 7-9)

(Catch up on previous episodes here)

My journey on the Silvana continues with three more episodes in the 26 episode series. One things I love about television shows that have a defined one-season arc is that you can read the show like a novel, each episode being a chapter. Last Exile achieves this better than most other shows I've seen. It's unconcerned with giving the viewer a nicely wrapped up half-hour small story within the context of the bigger story. It treats episodes more like chapters, making sure there is action, forward momentum, and intrigue at the end.

In my last post, I noted how the story was following a lot of the traditional elements for a heroic quest story. In episode 7, Claus's role as the kid with immense potential is highlighted. The commanders of the Silvana has seen it and now a mysterious member of the Guild also sees it during a bold Guild attack on the Silvana. The episode focuses mainly on showcasing the excellent aerial dogfights that the animation captures so well. This episode reminded me of Battlestar Galactica defending against a Cylon attack. And by the end, Claus and Lavie have done a great deal to prove their worth and slowly start fitting in with the rest of the crew.

Of course, after the beating the Silvana took in episode 7, the next chapter has the ship docked for repairs at a kind clandestine Deep Space 9 casino. As with any well-written work, a setting like this should achieve several things beyond the natural adventure it produces. By having one of the Emperor's ships also docked there with its crew aboard the station, the Silvana's position in the ongoing war is subtly defined through the relationships between the crews. Also, we get to see more of Alex Row, the mysterious captain of the Silvana and discover he's looking for an object known as an 'exile'....a perfect a-ha moment where the title begins to make sense. And just for good measure, we have ship duel between the Silvana and one of the Emperor's ships, the Goliath. When the Silvana sinks the other ship, it's really the first moment when the viewer feels on board with its captain and whatever secret mission they are on.

By the next episode, Claus, Lavie and Alvis feel practically at home on the ship. They are even invited to take part in the ultimate vanship race with the aide of the Silvana mechanic crew. Of course, they are unaware that the ship has another dangerous agenda. Alex Row is there for an auction among nobles and the wealthy. He is there to bid on only one thing...the last exile--a square stone object that is said to have powers no one has ever been able to unlock. Bingo! There lies the mysterious object with strange powers, another cornerstone element of a heroic quest. It's a fascinating twist in the storytelling however that we still don't know what the quest is for.

Will he get it? Will the mission succeed? What will Claus and Lavie do when they learn they are being kept in the dark? All questions for the next chapter because every good chapter ends with the reader wanting to turn the page. A lesson the writers of this show have taken to heart.

Last Exile (Episodes 4-6)

My journey through Last Exile continues and with each episode I find myself drawn deeper into this wonderfully told story. One of the things about anime that I find so appealing is the storytelling can be just as amazing as the art. Having watched six episodes now, it's clear that the show is following a type of narration typically found in a novel. As I stated in my post about the first three episodes, the show jumped right into a story, choosing to give little to no exposition and allowing the viewer to the slowly come to speed.

One of the main characters in the show, a little girl named Alvis Hamilton, was introduced at the end of the third episode. Her past is a mystery. Her fate is clearly important, but also a mystery. Clearly, there is a lot of mystery surround Al, but the fact that she is seemingly alone in the world pulls Claus, our young vanship pilot hero, closer to her. The bond between these characters is presented in that great anime way of sustained eye-contact and subtle changes in expression as they stare at each other with lots of mumbled sounds of surprise and confusion--a device I like to use a lot in my own writing.

It's clear from Claus's protective instincts toward Al that once he delivers her to the near mythical ship known as the Silvana, he's not just going to be able to simply leave her there with the shady crew. As a result, Claus and Lavie end up becoming entangled with this strange ship. Where the Silvana's loyalty in the ongoing war lie, and those of it's (yes, you guessed it) mysterious leader Alexander Row, is unclear. But by the end of episode six, the story begins to expand, giving us hints that what we thought we knew, we didn't truly know. The characters seem set in their places and now the bigger story has just begun.

So far, Last Exile takes heavily from the touchstones of an epic quest, incorporating the elements in clever ways. I can't wait to learn what is to become of heroes during their amazing aerial battles, which are as good as any dog fight in Star Wars. Claus and Lavie are perfect character duo. Alvis is enchanting as the child who could save the future. The set-up between the different fractions in the war is very intriguing. I also love how these big events are secondary to Claus and Lavie. And while we still don't know which side are we supposed to be rooting for--we can always just root for them.

Last Exile (Episodes 1-3)

Feeling the need to invest my time into a new anime series, I began watching Last Exile yesterday. A series that aired in Japan several years ago, spanning 26 episodes, Last Exile is an instantly engrossing adventure. It takes nearly two episodes before you even get a good sense of what is going on, but once you do, it's clear the journey will be an epic one.

There is a war going on, that much is clear by the striking battle scenes between two rival armies of Star Blazer type air ships. Caught in the middle of this war are a fleet of messengers known as sky couriers. The story follows two young messengers, Claus and Lavie, who perform a daring mission in the middle of a brutal battle only to find themselves pulled further into the conflict by the end of the third episode where they encounter a little girl, which they must then deliver to the mysterious ship known as the Silvana. These two characters are a great pair, the kind of perfect team that every good story needs to guide the viewer through.

So far, I'm loving every second of the incredible animation and evolving story. One of the things that I truly love about many anime series is that they challenge the viewer in a way American television rarely does. The stories tend to be told more in the way a great novel unfolds than traditional television writing. This especially true for the opening episodes of Last Exile. Personally, I can't wait to dive into the next batch of episodes.