History Anime / LastExile

* BilingualBonus: Sort of. All the text in the series is English written in the Greek alphabet. The real Greek alphabet mind you, none of that mucking about using capital sigmas for E's and the such.
** It's not a proper transcription but uses the standard keyboard transliteration into the Greek alphabet, meaning that letters such as h, w and y (with no easy equivalent in Greek) get transcribed into η, ω and ψ which are the letters for é, ó and ps.
** Then there's ''δικαίος, ᾱ, ον'' all over the side of a ship, as if it was all a word -- it's not, it's the dictionary entry. (To make this into a name in Greek, it would also be written with an article, as in ''`ο δικαίος'', "the fair one".)

*** It's meant to be a method of demonstrating the courier's skills. If a pilot can't fly straight enough and his navigator isn't good enough to study the signs and they're not synchronized enough to snatch the ring... go home and practice more, punks!

** The entire Guild-approved chivalry system, which requires - among other nonsensicalities - the routine sacrifice of musketeers in an initial rifle battle ''as a formal beginning of an engagement''. To clarify, neither side can hurt the other's ships in any way with rifle fire, so they just target the other musketeers; the whole thing is merely done so the arbitrary Guild requirement for chivalry is fulfilled and the ships can begin exchanging cannon fire, which is what ''actually'' determines the course of a battle.

** While the Horizon Race pilot raffle is being held, blue vanship number 6 is [[BlueSubmarineNo6 suspiciously specifically]] mentioned before all others.

* CoolAirship: Many, but the ''Silvana'' rules the skies through an innovative design, a competent crew and a [[{{Determinator}} determined commander]].

* {{Foreshadowing}} Lavie's mid-battle "Screw Chivalry" rant in which she screams that chivalry only matters to nobles who have never gone hungry presages the reason the Dissith have abandoned the traditional rules of engagement: [[spoiler: they're desperate because their lands are rapidly becoming uninhabitable.]]
* ForTheEvulz: Seems to be Delphine's motivation for most of her actions, such as not intervening when Dissith ships disregard the rules of engagement in the first fight, and sometimes she seems to enjoy watching people suffer and/or die. [[spoiler: It's even implied that she deliberately allowed the climate to become unbalanced in order to pit Dissith and Anatoray against each other.]]

* LowCultureHighTech: The nations of Dissith and Anatoray have to ''rent'' the anti-gravity engines of their AirborneAircraftCarrier fleets from the Guild; complete with engineers to maintain them. If the ship takes too much damage, the engineers yank a few levers, tear the engine free and let everyone else aboard crash and burn. Sometimes the Guild recalls engines out of ''[[KickTheDog spite]].''

** Averted in his last fight, although he survives, because he's fighting alongside the Dissith this time.

** Played straight in the second half of the series once the Dissith and Anatoray form TheAlliance in order to take out the Guild.

* WorldHalfFull: Figuratively and literally, as the Guild is allowing Dissith to glaciate while Anatoray suffers from drought.

* ConspicuousCG: GONZO style

* OurElvesAreBetter: The Guild, albeit much more like TheFairFolk than standard [=DnD=] elves. Aloof, fair-featured and pointy-eared, agile and graceful, with otherworldly technology, with an outlook of the entire world being their playthings? Definitely elf.

* LowCultureHighTech: The nations of Dissith and Anatoray have to ''rent'' the anti-gravity engines of their FlyingAircraftCarrier fleets from the Guild; complete with engineers to maintain them. If the ship takes too much damage, the engineers yank a few levers, tear the engine free and let everyone else aboard crash and burn. Sometimes the Guild recalls engines out of ''[[KickTheDog spite]].''

* GuyInBack: Quite a few as most vanships required a navagator. Lavie Head, Alister Agrew, and Lucciola were the most noticeable examples.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The two countries in conflict, Anatoray and Disith in the dub, are named for the Greek "Anatolé" "Rising (Sun)" and "Dysis" "Setting (Sun)".
** Also: Claus Valca/Balca/Valka/Barka; Lavi/Ravey/Lavie; Dio Eraclea/Elaclair/Elacrea; Lucciola/Luciola; Mullin/Moran Shetland.
*** But for the record, WordOfGod says it's Claus Valca, Lavie Head, Dio Eraclea, Lucciola, and Mullin Shetland.

*** The mid-episode 'splash' panels (before and after the commercial break) in some of the early episodes clearly spell the name of the 'Silvana' as "Silverna". Given the snakes painted all over its hull, the Urbanas may more be correctly called the Uroboros.

[[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-02-01/gonzo-lists-last-exile-fam-the-silver-wing-for-2011 A sequel series]] titled ''Anime/LastExileFamTheSilverWing'' aired in the Fall2011AnimeSeason.

** The [[spoiler:space colony Prester]] is shaped quite similar to the [[spoiler:PLANT colonies]] in MobileSuitGundamSEED.

* {{TheCaligula}}: Delphine

* CloningBlues: ''Travelers from the Hourglass'' reveals that the Earth Guild replenishes its numbers via cloning. However they've hit the limit of reproductive cloning due to degraded DNA telomeres.

* ForTheEvulz: Seems to be Delphine's motivation for most of her actions, such as not intervening when Dissith ships disregard the rules of engagement in the first fight, and sometimes she seems to enjoy watching people suffer and/or die. [[spoiler: It's even implied that she deliberately allowed the climate to become unbalanced in order to pit Dissith and Anatore against each other.]]

* JabbaTableManners: The guild, enough to make Jabba himself look like a gentleman. Guild connoisseurs take ''pride'' at how a tiny morsel of succulent meat took the lives of dozens of men to acquire and how a slice of fish is washed with enough water to slake a family's thirst. After all, so they reason, the sacrifice makes the food all the more tasty.

* LowCultureHighTech: The nations of Dissith and Anatore have to ''rent'' the anti-gravity engines of their FlyingAircraftCarrier fleets from the Guild; complete with engineers to maintain them. If the ship takes too much damage, the engineers yank a few levers, tear the engine free and let everyone else aboard crash and burn. Sometimes the Guild recalls engines out of ''[[KickTheDog spite]].''

** Played straight in the second half of the series once the Dissith and Anatore form TheAlliance in order to take out the Guild.

* WorldHalfFull: Figuratively and literally, as the Guild is allowing Dissith to glaciate while Anatore suffers from drought.

* BadassPrincess: Sophia.

* AceCustom: the ''Silvana''. Equipped with the heaviest and strongest armor around, loaded for bear with highly destructive artillery, and with a spacious belly full of combat Vanships --a novel concept in aerial warfare-- and at the same time, smaller and more maneuverable than standard airships . And, unlike the ''Urbanus'' class, there is only one ''Silvana'' around, and it's under Alex Rowe's control.

* BadAss: Alex Rowe

* {{Two-D Space}}: Addressed in the first episode--while there is the entirety of the upper sky left empty during war, it's a breach of the chivalry which regulates war to use it.

** There's also the little matter of making the middle of each ship thin with all that exposed framework. WordOfGod is that it's supposed to mimic a woman's body. A woman's body that is instantly torn apart by a single well-placed shot, while their enemies take a huge pounding to put down...

* TheAbridgedSeries: ''WebVideo/LastExileAbridged''. One by [[http://www.youtube.com/user/Virus465 Virus465]], and by [[http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AD4E73753D5FE46F Unwardil]], the latter of which has recently become one of the few completed abridged series out there.

* LowCultureHighTech: The nations of Dissith and Anatore have to ''rent'' the anti-gravity engines of their FlyingAircraftCarrier fleets from the Guild.