The Anime Society 5: Tentacles For All!

The new Last Exile had a lot to live up to. I did like watching it and especially liked the inclusion of the head in the clouds song from the first series OST. Didnt like the OP song all that much the one from the first series was just so much better. Many of the characters seemed quite young, wheras the previous series had like 3 young characters in the world of adults on that ship. Although there was a nice big fleet of ships, I didnt think the animation had improved all that much. All those cg ships and explosions did stick out against those clouds and the characters. I guess given gonzo's financial trouble this was sort of to be expected. But to make another comparison with the first series ... that had a first ep with men on the decks of ships shooting at the enemy and being shot at ... all whilst flying thousands of meters in the sky ..so yep there was more of an impact from that battle ...but then i guess this first one wasnt really a proper battle since there was only one Turan ship still it was pretty good. Good to see Dio back and doing his own thing. Thought that grey haired one eyed man might be an older him from the promo pics. So yeah I couldnt help but compare that with the first Last Exile series. However I still found it to be an enjoyable ep and will also be watching this. ..but then I decided that before I watched the ep.

sorry for that ramble.

Not much to add that I haven't already mentioned in my previous post regarding this series only that I agree.



I'm undecided at the moment. What I liked about the original Last Exile was how original and different it was from everything else I had watched before. There simply isn't enough steampunk anime (neither then nor now), which made Last Exile all the more distinguishable. Whereas, although this second season was engaging to watch, and the animation impressive (even though I agree that the CG did seem misplaced on occasion, but not jarringly so), it was almost as if this second season is trying to live off the success of its first. I can appreciate that it's incredibly important for Gonzo that this series is a success, both in terms of television ratings and subsequent DVD sales, and given that Last Exile was one of their greatest successes, it's only natural that they'd choose to produce a second season when the studio is still in limbo regarding its future. I would still say they've succeeded, because it certainly wasn't a bad episode and probably one of the best of this autumn season, but I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it offered us all of the bells and whistles without any real substance in regard to the plot. I'm also not completely convinced of the new characters they've decided to add. They're reasonably likeable, but a part of me can't help but feel that Gonzo is pandering to its audience by including a bunch of cute girls who all possess archetypical personalities that are usually popular, with Dio to boot for extra measure (as he was one of the more popular characters in the first).

Not to give the wrong impression, though, I do accept that I'm basing all of these concerns regarding the plot on the first episode. I'm sure it'll come together sooner than later, likely in the second. Looking at the staff, everyone from the first season is back for this, barring the scriptwriter, of whom hasn't been responsible for anything noteworthy, quite the opposite which is a little worrying. Have to wait and see.