Old Last EXILE vs New Last EXILE
Characters is the thing that bothered me the most with the new Last EXILE series based on the first episode so far.
The original series had well-matured characters that would not get emotionally worked up, agitated, or hyperactive over trivial problems and situations such as manners (which was seen at the end of LE2 ep1). But, I guess even if they did get worked up, their choice of words should probably be along the lines of “You are in the presence of the princess!” in a stronger voice rather than something passive like “[WTF?!] Where are your manners?”. The characters themselves felt like they lived in the world and spoke that way given the situation rather than using some of today’s generic personas.
A trait I’m starting to notice and really liked about the original series was that although the most characters were mature, they all seem to still cling on a single childish aspect that really brings out them well.
Alex Row: Represents a bullied victim. He was laughed at while struggling on the brink of death and now spends his time waiting patiently to get revenge.
Delphine Eracles: Represents a spoiled child. She wants everything, wastes everything, and doesn’t seem to care about anything.
Dio Eracles: Represents the curiosity of a child. He got interested in Claus after an encounter and spends most of the series with him.
Lucciola: Represents a child’s brotherly friendship (one of the most touching part in the series). Although the series doesn’t show how imitate Dio and Lucciola’s relationship were, it was sudden hit close to the end as it all came out.
Sophia Forrester: I thought she was more of adult out of most characters being able to leave the place she wanted to be at to take up her responsibilities. If I were to give her a childish aspect, it’d probably be somewhere along the lines of wanting to play in her comfort zone.
Tatiana Wisla: Represents the attention of a child. I think (IIRC) she wants to be the best pilot there is to make her parents/family proud.
Sadly, I think Claus, Lavi, and Alvis were the characters that didn’t change much from beginning to end, and I don’t think they have any childish aspects associated to them. Either that, or I may have missed it.
The new series seems to lack this level of depth and maturity in their designs. Character development in the new series is very much disappointing as the character personas can be found in many anime series today. But, I’ll still watch it to see how it turns out; hopefully for the better. -.-