StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Just about 45 minutes ago, after waiting about seventeen days, the book I ordered from HobbyLink Japan, has arrived in the mail. At first I was worried that I would never even get it, because when I ordered it the stock status changed to backordered, but they shipped it out, with the status then changing to out of stock, which makes me think that I might have gotten their last copy or something.

The book is called Last Exile Aerial Log, and is the official art book for the 2003 anime series Last Exile, produced by the animation studio GONZO. The book is 135 pages, and cost 3200 Yen. If you're interested the ISBN is ISBN4-8443-5783-2. It's divided into nine sections:

-Visual Archive (official and misc. art)
-Range Murata Works (concept artwork)
-Story Index (individual character artwork and screenshots with text descriptions of their role in the story)
-Staff Table Talk (GONZO staff interview)
-Large Encyclopedia (a 17-page encyclopedia on the series, entirely in Japanese of course, which is irritating because I don't know a single word)
-Mechanical Report (vehicle mechanical design section)
-World Report (seems to be information on the series' world as a whole, including two timelines, mechanical operations, etc; another section which would be fantastic if it was in English...)
-Setting Data (character designs)
-Staff & Cast (pretty explanatory--who worked on and starred in the series)

And now, pictures!!

Front cover with blurb wrap thing and publisher bookmark. I forgot to mention above that it's a hardcover book. Also, it's worth noting that it reads left-to-right (like an western book), which is opposite the majority of Japanese books (which read right-to-left).


Alvis E. Hamiton's pages in the Story Index section.


The first two pages of the Large Encyclopedia section. I wish I could read this so bad...


The pages for Claus and Lavie's Vanship in the Mechanical Report section.


Lavie Head's pages from the Setting Data section.


I am extremely happy to have this book in my hands. I've been a nervous wreck all week since I was worried that it might not arrive in time before Uts and I left for a trip on Sunday, and this was more or less the last day I assumed it could arrive. If you're a fan of the series and like artbooks, I seriously recommend trying to track this book down.

Does it seem to have anything regarding the nature of the space colony?

I think that's what the first part of the World Report section deals with, and includes what seems like a world timeline and brief series timeline. The heading of that part starts with the word "Prester," which is the name of the space colony Anatory and Disith are located.

*weeps openly*

That would be a beautiful book to own, especially if it was in English or if I could read Japanese. The artwork would be fantastic Murata stuff (I have the cover image in high res on my computer). Have you ever seen a copy of robot, Spanky? That's a good collection of his stuff.

Back in college I actually did buy a copy of Robot from a downtown IC bookstore, though if the book wasn't sealed in vacuum-wrap, I wouldn't have. I bought it thinking it would be all Murata stuff, and was sorely disappointed when I opened it and discovered that in truth he barely contributed to the material. That and some of the stories really turned me off.

So I retuned it the next day for store credit and bought something else: an independent graphic novel, I think.

This book is certainly the ball's walls, though.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Back in college I actually did buy a copy of Robot from a downtown IC bookstore, though if the book wasn't sealed in vacuum-wrap, I wouldn't have. I bought it thinking it would be all Murata stuff, and was sorely disappointed when I opened it and discovered that in truth he barely contributed to the material. That and some of the stories really turned me off.

Unlucky; I've only seen one copy of it in Australia and a goodly portion of it was Murata (just pretty damn good).

This book is certainly the ball's walls, though.

You're certainly lucky, especially seeing as how its status changed to out of stock.