Last Exile opened here before the "NO-GONZO" policy was installed, so I grandfathered it. I'm still of two minds about finishing it. Last Exile is painfully GONZO, especially by the end when the typical wink-wink, pay-no-attention-to-problems, everything-is-resolved-outside-the-frame direction takes hold (where did Dio get that vanship? how did Alex free his arm?). I see now why bloggers say that all GONZO shows are exactly the same (except Vandread): they really are.

Last Exile is only better than the rest of the usual GONZO fare thanks for Sophia (pictured). And she's not even the female lead, formally at least.

Liked: It was ok, nosedived like all GONZO shows.
Rewatch: Not even for Sophia.

P.S. I hated Vandread's ending too, but for a different reason entirely. It did not unravel like all other GONZO endings. Instead, it delivered the message with which I disagreed. So, that end being bad was completely coincidential to the normal bad end everywhere else.

P.P.S. Now that I'm done, I went to check what Aziz thought. His analysis is much deeper than my superficial complaints above, but I think that he expends too much mental energy on an undeserving subject.

UPDATE: Sagematt points to an exception to the "all GONZO shows are the same" rule.