About ten years ago I was big into buying complete series of various anime and bingeing them over the course of a few days. I went through all the big name stuff that people talked about that I never had the opportunity to watch, like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo (I did see a few episodes of this prior to watching and knew I’d love it), Berserk, Hellsing, and soon moved onto new things like Shigurui. But as people that loved the medium years ago know, that’s not exactly a cheap form of entertainment. Buying complete collections of the stuff was indeed cheaper than the individual DVDs holding a few episodes each, but I spent hundreds on things I finished in a matter of days. In recent years, I’ve not had the time to indulge in anime, as I’m now married (my wife doesn’t like it) and about to have a kid. So if I’m going to dedicate time to a show that lasts several hours that no one else wants to watch, it better be good.
Enter Lastman, a French series that I had seen stuff about for quite a while on Facebook from the director (Jérémie Périn), but had never given a chance. Knowing nothing of the comics that take place ten years after this series, I started watching the show a week before the finale aired, and boy was it nice jumping back into a world like this.
The show starts off with all pistons firing, with action every step of the way. The first episode introduces us to the character Richard Aldana, our hero of the story, being smart-mouthed with a sense of justice. He is soon faced with a predicament he wouldn’t anticipate and the show goes from a boxing type series to full on paranormal real quick. The story telling mechanics in the first few episodes are exceptional, with several flashbacks interspersed for your feel good boxing match that wraps up an arc and leads to some new intrigue by the end of the fourth episode. Early on, the show sets up plenty of questions, and typically answers them with more questions. This is a fine tactic for a series that has twenty-two more episodes to go. The animation does tend to be a bit sporadic, with some scenes verging on the likes of Archer, while others are very fluid and immersive. At only four episodes in, I was eagerly clicking “next episode” every time one ended.
About a third of the way through the show, and you begin to see more of what it’s about. We learn the lore of the paranormal beings, which helps with knowing what the hell is going on. As much as I love the supernatural, having some reasoning behind their existence always helps ground it for me. We are also introduced to the rest of the main cast we’ll be seeing throughout the series. There’s a sort of groove that is going on at this point of the show. While it certainly works and could go on indefinitely, one can’t help but wonder if it will change again, as it’s such a departure from the first four episodes. One thing is for sure – there aren’t any episodes that feel wasted.
At the halfway point, we don’t see a whole lot of development story wise from the end of the first nine. The first boxing match of the FFFC happens, which is the talk of the town from the very beginning, and what you’d expect from it plays out. The ending of the episode does leave the viewer wondering what will happen though, as an event takes place that doesn’t leave Aldana in the best situation. Some of the episodes feel like they could be enjoyed on their own between nine and thirteen, as many series have stand-alone episodes. It’s not that they have nothing to do with the story, but you don’t need to be following it to enjoy what’s happening. At this point, it’s pretty clear as to whether or not you’ll like what Lastman has to offer. The previous complaint about animation looking rigid doesn’t appear to be as prevalent at this point, and all of the characters have their obvious motives.
From episodes thirteen to nineteen we get a lot of progression in terms of story development as well as character development. There’s a scene unlike any other part of the series up to this point with a soft song being sung as it focuses on both the singer and the struggles the Aldana is facing at the time. It’s really powerful, and not something I expected from the show. We also find out about who Siri is, where she comes from, and what’s special about her. We learn about why the paranormal events are happening, and the reason for the hunt behind them. Honestly, many questions I had throughout were answered in these episodes, and this is typically the anime series slump for me. This stretch even has a unique “news” episode, which shows the events of the previous one from a different perspective, and creates a very interesting development. Usually this stretch is where the plot kind of slows down, or becomes the same old thing I’m used to, and things don’t pick up until the last six episodes. There has been an extraordinary amount of buildup in this portion of the series, and there’s still seven to go.
The next several episodes focus much more on the boxing matches, as well as the deconstruction of relationships that have been built up. While the comedown is often in the act leading up to the final one, the last third breaks that trend with a constant breakdown of the characters. It’s here that we also see a surprising yet inevitable betrayal for the ending itself. The final two episodes take place once the FFFC is over, and we’re given more insight into the truth of how everything has come to be, and leads to an ultimately very exciting end. The penultimate episode does a great job of setting up what is a bombastic ending. The final episode is perhaps the most stylish in the series, and certainly the most action packed. It’s a fitting end, and one that promises a lot if you enjoyed it.
With the series complete, let’s discuss more of the show itself without delving into story spoilers, which I tried to do throughout. The main characters you’ll meet are Richard and Siri, who are the constants you’ll see throughout. There are a few other big characters that come and go, but they all play second fiddle to these two. Richard, as mentioned previously, is the hero of the story. While he has a sense of justice, he is also in it for himself. He doesn’t put everyone else ahead of himself in many cases, and he makes plenty of mistakes, seemingly ruining the good things in his life. Siri is a young girl who is sought after by a sect of people known as The Order of the Lion. They seem to think she is the key to the Valley of the King. Richard is tasked with protecting her and doing everything he can to help with her mysterious medical condition, whether he wants to or not. And it’s this surrogate father type of situation that shines and shows his true nature, although he certainly has help from other supporting characters in doing so.
I’m typically one for subs over dubs, but the English dub for Lastman is stellar. I also really appreciate the difference in the show’s progression over the norm, in addition to each episode getting to its point without any waste like anime series that last for several hundred episodes. I can honestly say I’m excited to dive into the comics after this fantastic run, and hope they get the opportunity to do more seasons of this, whether it be another precursor to the comics, an adaptation of them, or something else that takes place in the future.
Lastman is one of the most fun serials I’ve had the opportunity of watching in a long time, and it’s certainly worth your time if you’re looking for something new to watch, but don’t have an excessive amount of time for sitting down. At just eleven minutes per episode, you’re bound to be sucked in with the beautiful action, dark story, and charming characters. The French animation scene has been building up in recent years, and it’s wonderful to see a full series that rivals many of the bigger flagship series from Japan. You will at times think you know what is going to happen, but like most of Périn’s work, things get flipped upside down quickly, and it’s all the better for it.
9 out of 10
Pros
- Interesting Story
- Fun Character Designs
- Beautiful Animation…
Cons
- Occasional Stiff Scenes
Lastman was directed by Jérémie Périn, written by Balak, produced by Everybody On Deck, and animated by Je Suis Bien Content. It is available for streaming on VRV; the final episode debuted on January 26th, 2018. A month of the streaming service VRV was provided to us for reviewing purposes. For more information on Lastman, check out the official site.
Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth your time, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great series that you can feel confident about paying money to purchase or stream. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate movies, please let us know.
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