Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing

Steampunk rules in this alternative future where vast fleets of ships sail through the clouds and the Sky Pirates make a living by capturing them. Fearless fifteen-year-old Fam Fan Fan (Aki Toyosaki) is one of the keenest members of the Sky Pirates; with her navi and BFF Giselle (Aoi Yūki) she pilots their Vespa Vanship with enviable ease, on the hunt for ‘skyfish’. Luck – or fate – drives them into the path of an escalating conflict when they rescue Princess Millia of Turan (Ai Kayano) as her older sister Liliana is abducted by the Ades Federation and their kingdom invaded. Millia is determined not to stand idly by and – after some fiery exchanges – she accepts Fam’s offer to help her restore the kingdom. Accepting the challenge to capture fifteen ships (one for each year of her life) by Captain Tatiana Wisla of the Sylvius, Fam vows to use them to build a new fleet for Millia to help her regain her kingdom. But the girls’ plans will pit them against the darkest and most powerful forces and Fam’s idealism may bring disaster to those she loves best and wants to protect.

Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing is the indirect sequel to Last Exile, Gonzo’s 10th Anniversary series of 2003. Like its parent series, the sequel has a tendency to plunge straight into the ongoing situation without much explanation, leaving the viewer to gradually piece together the fragments of plot until they make a kind of sense. (It’s better to just go with the flow, let events wash over you, and not ask too many questions.) On one level, the underlying plot set-up is quite straightforward: the Ades Federation represents the inhabitants of ‘old’ Earth who didn’t flee to another planet when ecological disaster struck; everyone else comes into the ‘returning home from space’ category and these returnees are not welcomed back. Cue many scenes depicting armadas of 3G skyships firing on each other; after a while, these can become somewhat repetitive. But counterpointed against this is the more relatable story of how Fam and her friends get sucked into the bitter conflict through her friendship with Princess Millia. And then, there are still the mysterious Exiles which played such a significant part in the original series. Fam also has a dream: to hold another Grand Race to unite all the warring nations and to compete in it. Ten episodes in (after the recap episode 9.5) we are shown an extended flashback of the last Grand Race and its far-reaching consequences. That day, little Fam was also trying to find her real family (she was adopted as a baby by Giselle’s parents). 

This sequel to Last Exile boasts a strong and varied cast of female protagonists; in this future version of our earth (and beyond) women are captains and leaders, they pilot vanships, and are (mostly) treated as equals by the men. On the visual side, the character designs by Range Murata (the designer for the original series) are distinctive and attractive.

Chess imagery and tactics feature in this series, as in the original, and the common language is still English (but written phonetically, using the Greek alphabet, which gives a sense of ‘otherness’). 

The English/US dub is – for the most part – fine (though some may prefer the Japanese subbed version) with Jad Saxton giving a lively performance as the  independent-minded Fam, well balanced by Leah Clark’s more reticent and sensible Giselle. Where UK watchers will inevitably have problems – as in the US dub of Black Butler – is having to listen to the ‘British’ accents attempted by the voice actors playing the characters from Turan. Carrie Savage playing Princess Millia just about gets away with it, but Jamie Marchi playing her older sister Liliana can’t do expressive plus British accent at the same time and Kara Edwards – oh dear – as the little (boy?) servant Teddy doesn’t convince at all. So its best to stick to the original Japanese if you prefer your English without a dash of Dick Van Dyke.

If you watched the original series and loved it (as I did, in spite of its flaws) you’ll be on the edge of your seat, waiting in the hope that familiar characters will make an appearance. And you won’t be disappointed; the first from the original series to play a significant role is the fey and enigmatic Dio Eraclea (now very effectively voiced by Greg Ayres) who’s been hanging out with the Sky Pirates, swiftly followed by Tatiana Wisla, now older, and more mature, captaining her own vessel…and more still will follow. But if you haven’t seen the first series, you can start watching here without needing to look back; this is a completely new story and is equally accessible to new and older viewers.

The excellent score and most of the songs are provided by Hitomi Kuroishi – the composer for the first Last Exile – and her soundworld is just as imaginative and effective as in the original series, often tapping into a Celtic vein using energetic reel rhythms, bagpipe drones and ethnic timbres (even if there is the occasional tinge of synthesized sounds). The Opening Theme is “Buddy”, stirringly sung by Maaya Sakamoto over a striking (and suitably enigmatic) montage of images from the series; the Ending Theme is the ethereal “Starboard” by Hitomi Kuroishi.

Special Features: Episode 1 Commentary, Episode 11 Commentary, Spinoff Anime CM Series “Friday Night” #0-7, Fam Event Opening Movie, Commercial Collection, Anime Expo 2011: Part 1, Textless Opening Song “Buddy”, Textless Closing Songs “Starboard” and “Starboard (Silky Wind Version)”, Trailers.

This review refers to the Blu-ray version and there were no navigations problems here (as with SAO Volume 1). The colours were fresh and the picture quality exceptionally clear. 

If you like steampunk, you’ll love Last Exile: Fam of the Silver Wing (goggles, dials, mechanisms galore.) If you like anime with strong female characters, you’ll also love it. Fam and her friends make sympathetic protagonists and it will be intriguing to see how the creative team manage to resolve their stories.