The Big Smoke

Holy shit.

I don' even know where to start on this one. This mini-series is Anime at it's best, and it's even a bit better. I'd reckon there isn't anyone who wouldn't like this one, because there's something for everyone. And it's all mixed in so casually, and skillfully, it really let's you get into the story. I haven't been so excited watching a TV show since I was a little kid.

I think what speaks for this story the most is the characters. God, there must be a good thirty some characters in this, and they're all strong. You get to know them all, and like them. They're incredibly believable for such a far-out steampunk, and their motivation makes the (sometimes overly) complex story all the more natural and entertaining. In the middle of the bizarre, anime universe they've created, you can still suspend your imagination, precisely because the characters are so convincing.

And the story itself? It's fucking fantastic, and the whole series is dedicated to it. There's no filler, which tends to always suck in Anime. There's a very clear beginning, middle and end to Last Exile. Every episode has to be watched in order, because the whole thing builds up to an amazing finale that lives up to the rest of the series. There are a lot of great mini-series and movies out there, but it's pretty rare to see a great ending like this. It's god damned satisfying.

The only real problem with the storyline, though, is that it's so detailed, it's kind of hard to write a spoiler-free outline that actually makes sense. I'll give it a shot though:

There's a massive war between two poverty-stricken kingdoms which lie on opposite sides of a massive, steam-filled, windy chasm that can only be crossed in large, sturdy airships. The two nations know nothing about each other, due to the physical divide, and are only fighting to steal each other's clean water and farmland, which are always in short supply. Both sides are really classy and gentlemanly about the war, though. Possibly because the whole thing is being mediated by a technologically advanced and mysterious Guild, which, unknown to either nation, manipulates the war to its own advantage.

The story follows Lavie and Claus (pictured), two poor, lowly orphans *cough* who work as couriers in a wicked little plane-thing (pictured). Their fathers, also couriers, died ten years beforehand while trying to deliver a peace treaty. It's their (impossible) dream to one day complete their fathers' mission, and help end the war.

After being given a mission to transport a little girl (pictured) to a large warship, the Silvana (pictured), they decide to stay aboard under the pretext of helping to protect the girl. In reality, Claus becomes caught up in the drama of the war and wants to fight, something which Lavie detests. The series follows the warship, and how the long and increasingly pointless war effects the crew, from the mechanics on the lower decks to the bridge.

One last word: The visuals are absolutely incredible, as is the music. With most anime series', you come to expect cheap ass animation, and lots of repeated footage. Not here. There some serious high-quality stuff here, including plenty of expensive-looking and artfully handled CGI, which blends comfortably with the beautiful hand-drawn stuff. That mixed with great acting (in the Japanese, of course) and a great soundtrack means atmosphere ahoy.

If I was going to recommend an Anime series to anyone, it would be this. It's an epic fucking masterpiece. Five Fucking Stars:

/ five

Special thanks to Neatorama for This Article.

To summarize for people who don't feel like clicking on the link, an elementary school-teacher in Holland was about to die of cancer, and another teacher in her school (with her approval) had the kids build a coffin for her.

At first I thought they were a bunch of fucking freaks, but then I had a good think about it. Maybe we need to start teaching our kids that death is a normal part of life. I mean, so many people are controlled by their fear of death, they go fucking insane, and start popping twenty vitamins a day and shit. And when a loved one dies, most people can't handle it. I know my aunt's death, at the age of five, sort of destroyed my entire family. It's been a good forty years now and we're still all living with it. That's not right.

Understanding that death is natural and inevitable is going to, maybe, help us enjoy life while we're here.

But I think the real question is: Is that coffin really going to be useful? There's no way they're going to be able to fit a grown adult in there.

As far as I can tell, all the fucker did was take some LSD and start some weird cult. Whoop-dee-doo. People do both of those things all the time, and normally we don't put them on TV until they kill themselves.

Here's my big issue with this: When I was 17, I dropped acid too, except, like most people, I was smart enough to not mistake the melty walls for fucking God. I was smart enough to remind myself that it was just a bunch of chemicals in my brain. And that's what most people who drop acid experience as well, I hope.

To me, it sounds like Tim Leary is the kind of pathetic loser who can't handle is drugs and freaks out and starts screaming. Those people are a pain in the ass, and no one invites them anywhere because they ruin all the fucking fun.

But, no, the fucking baby boomers have once again convinced themselves that they're hot shit, and that they're the genius generation that tried to save the world.

I hate this baby-boomer shit. For my entire life, I've had the fucking 60s shoved down my throat, as if it were some kind of amazingly important event in world history. Guess what, fuckhead? Every generation of young people wears stupid clothes, and listens to new music and takes drugs and talks about politics. All that shit that you considered profound back then? I bet you right now that there's thousands of 16 year-olds sitting around right now doing the exact same thing. Except now they're called 'goths' and 'emos' instead of 'hippies'.

The only difference between baby-boomers and the less annoying generations is that when they grew up and got jobs and joined the world, they continued to convince themselves that they were making a difference instead of just following some retarded teenage trend, and so they still, decades later, watch VH1 and blare Classic Rock all over the place and make up bullshit phrases like 'I didn't sell out, I bought in'.

That generation needs to die soon. I'm tired of younger people having to live in the shadows of those fuckheads. And I am really fucking tired of classic rock. How many more hours of my life am I going to be forced to listen to that fucking talentless noodling?