ラストエグザイル-銀翼のファム-/Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam
Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing – 01

After an early-morning wake up by bungee jumping off an airship, young, female pilot Fam and her navigator Gisey take their small, Vespa flying craft and intercept the large, flying Skyfish-class ship Claudia and disable it, allowing the rest of her pirate bunch to capture the ship in grand fashion.  Meanwhile, at Grand Lake, the Princess Liliana of Turan performs an early morning ritual and is joined by her younger sister, Milia. Milia is worried that the Ades Federation are up to something sinister in the upcoming peace negotiations.  A giant, mufti-propeller plane slowly comes overhead and Liliana says it is time for them to go.

Fam and Gisey return to their base and are greeted by younger girls than themselves. Giesey promises to make a meal as Fam chastises the androgynous Dio for not participating in that day’s work. As Fam and Gisey discuss what they have to do work-wise, the topic turns to the peace talks between Turan and Ades as well as the two princesses who run Turan since their father is ill. Their conversation is interrupted by a battle alarm and the two get suited up.  There are apparently a large number of Skyfish-class warships at Grand Lake and the Sky Pirates send out ships to investigate.

At Grand Lake, a war fleet from the Ades Federation arrives, but instead of peace, they come to declare war on Turan. As the Ades begin taking out the Turan ships, Fam decides she wants to take the Turan flagship Lasas as a prize. Gisey signals the choice to allow the Sky Pirates to take the ship and live or die at the hands of the Ades. Over Milia’s protests, Liliana agrees to the terms and Gisey signals the rest of their fleet. Dio joins the squad of Vespas in his larger Vanship and they create a smokescreen before using Ades’ own battle signals to cause the warships to fire on each other in the smoke. Dio lands on the Lasas and takes the helm, flying seemingly recklessly and making it look as though the ship were scuttled.

The ruler of Ades, Luscinia is visited by Alauda with a report from their 2nd Fleet commander, Kayvan, regarding the destruction of Lasas and the loss of the princesses. Luscinia asks what Alauda’s opinion of this is, to which Alauda indicates that until he sees it with his own eyes, he doesn’t believe it. Meanwhile, Liliana thanks Dio, who says the thanks belongs to the crew for jettisoning the wings and to Fam for coming up with this plan. Fam is clinging to the outside bridge glass, happy to see a real princess, which does not sit to well with Milia. Liliana orders that repairs be made at once so that she can rejoin what is left of their fleet and meet at the Turan royal city Iglasia.

It has been ages since I saw Last Exile, but I swear I thought Dio had died there. ^_^; Further, I didn’t remember his voice sounding so feminine. I was thinking it was more androgynous sounding for some reason. ^_^;

Still, that does beg the question of why this former Guild ruling person is working with Sky Pirates.  I have to admit, I kinda like the way he just doesn’t take things that seriously and is so good at flying.

Not having done any pre-research into this sequel, I hadn’t realized that Fam was to be a young girl. I knew Gisey would be, but it doesn’t matter. I like the pair as a team and I like Fam’s ability to think on her feet.  Making a deal in the middle of combat to secure a big ship like Lasas is a win-win for all parties.

Liliana and Milia are rather stock, royalty-type characters with Liliana being older, mature, and a good leader while Milia is still impetuous and often finds herself not on the same page as her “oneesama.”

Beyond that, from a story perspective, its hard to comment on much more than that. The reasons for Ades invading Turan and using peace talks as a ruse will come to light soon enough.

Visually, Gonzo does what Gonzo does best.  I’m betting that when this comes out on Blu-ray, this will look even better on my HDTV.

So, a good start to a series that I had apprehensions about watching. After one episode, those have been put to rest (at least for now).