Last Exile and Newtype

I was expecting them to come, but that still didn’t lessen my joy at finding 3 new issues of NewType USA waiting for me in the mailbox. (In case you don’t know, NewType USA is the American version of the world’s greatest anime magazine, NewType.) I was practically giggling like a little kid as I thumbed through the pages of anime goodness, reading about one new intriguing series or movie after the other (such as Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers).

But the December 2003 issue took the cake — and not just because of the Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi centerfold, or the article on the Lord of the Rings cartoons, or the in-depth article on Kon (who directed Perfect Blue and the utterly captivating Millennium Actress). This issue also has an extensive collection of art from Last Exile, which on the strength of just 4 episodes, has become the anime to look out for as far as I’m concerned.