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 – 08

As the Ades First Fleet flagship Anshar waits for Silvius to respond to their demand for Millia, Rocket Fighters from the country of Glacies dispatch since this large Ades fleet is close to their border. Millia wants to be handed over to save the Silvius, but Titania will hear nothing of it, telling her that her fight to regain Turan should mean more to her than that.  Further, Tatiana is sure that Ades has no intent on letting them go and so issues the orders to get ready for combat. As the crew goes to battle stations, Fam is frustrated at not being allowed to participate since she feels responsible for their current predicament.

Silvius deploys a group of Vanship fighters, and as the First Fleet opens fire, the Vanships deploy both a smoke screen and launch torpedoes into the First Fleet. Silvius blasts its way through and clears its way through the fleet, but General Sadri has other ships waiting for the Silvius as Ades is very keen to capture this rogue warship. Gisey has become very depressed, but Fam suddenly has an idea and gets permission to launch a sortie though Silvius won’t be able to retrieve them now that their own fighters are back. Fam has Millia be her navigator and they launch.

Meanwhile, Silvius takes moderate damage and Tatiana decides to blow through a mountain range into Glacies airspace. The Ades warships follow despite taking damage all over as the Glacies Rocket Fighters engage the Ades ships. One fighter is sent to the unidentified Silvius and attaches a line to the ship, but the pilots get knocked out when a boulder crashes into Silvius, causing it to lose altitude and jerk the Rocket Fighter down as well. Fam and Millia return to Silvius and see the Rocket Fighter and give it assistance until the pilots regain consciousness and are helped by another Rocket Fighter.

General Sadri orders a stand down to avoid further battles with the Glacies people, but has Anshar and a few escorts continue to chase Silvius, which has left Glacies airspace. With Silvius now having taken heavy damage, Fam decides to buy them breathing room by taking down the Anshar. To do this, she has Millia fire a shot into Anshar‘s Claudia fuel tank. With the tank ruptured and leaking fuel, Anshar starts losing  power and the ability to stay afloat, forcing Sadri to abandon ship to save the crew. With the escort ships now tasked with picking up the crew of Anshar, Silvius makes its escape. The crew celebrates Fam’s and Millia’s actions and Gisey breaks down and cries on their return.

We went from major action in the last episode to massive action in this episode. ^_^ For my money, Gonzo always knows how to do these kinds of massive fleet battles.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the Glacies people all spoke Russian continuously, save for when the Silvius was challenged. I’m curious to know how well the Russian was spoken, or was it the same as when a Japanese seiyuu speaks Engrish with a sock in their mouth.

It was sad to see Gisey have her breakdown. She’s such a great navigator but she looks to be afraid, which would not be a stupid thing. As I said last episode, I think Gisey would rather be a homemaker, housewife, and mother (when she gets old enough, of course) rather than be a Vespa navigator. While Fam may be in her element, Gisey is out of hers. I hope Gisey and Fam can get back together soon though.

Still, taking Gisey out not only gave Millia a chance to be a hero, but since it had been established that Gisey isn’t good with a handgun, Millia’s previous gun experience was apparently enough to get that lucky shot.

Speaking of Millia, her education as the future leader of Turan (assuming Turan is re-established as a nation) continues here. I liked Tatiana’s response to Millia’s request to be turned over.

Tatiana shows why she’s captain though it was a very near thing. Question is, how long will it take to get Silvius back into fighting shape?

OK, with the Anshar going down, does that count as the 15th ship? I suppose if it isn’t too heavily damaged and could be repaired, it would count as a captured ship. However, if it were that easy, it would seem that Ades would send a recovery team and leave some warships in the area to defend against pirates taking the ship.  Maybe the Anatoray folks just scrap the Anshar.

I liked the ED this time, showing the 14 ships Fam and Gisey captured. Pretty cool. ^_^

So, another good episode. I hope Gisey gets back in the saddle soon.