Last Exile / Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing

The only way the first episode of this show could have been more awesome would be if the Dola Gang had crossed paths with Fam. Also I suppose there could have been some more consistent quality with editing and pacing in the first few minutes, but otherwise that was really cool.

Also this was Gonzo's most interesting opening Panty Shot yet.

Well, that was awesome. I think this'd be my favorite series of the new season if I wasn't so worried about GONZO inevitably ruining it like they did with everything else they've ever made

Some specific observations:

• Fam said some interesting things while sleepwalking. I think within the first thirty seconds may be a record for the earliest bit of Les Yay in a series
• We're certain Dio isn't a girl? He sounds and looks like one
• Some parts were storyboard identical to the manga, others were pretty different. Kind of odd

edited 17th Oct '11 6:57:26 PM by Hylarn

Actually, the original Last Exile was one of the two shows they ever did where they didn't fuck it up in the home stretch (the other being Gankutsuou; and Full Metal Panic season 1 if you want to be generous, as it was just kind of rushed due to cramming like 4 novels' worth of material into 26 episodes), so I'm reasonably confident Gonzo will handle this one well.

edited 17th Oct '11 7:09:20 PM by rbx5

I'll turn your neocortex into a flowerpot!

Heheheheh...

Did you watch the Geneon dub or the original Japanese for the first series? I watched the dub so I can't really tell but I'm assuming that it wouldn't be that far off.

EDIT: Fixed a brain fart.

edited 17th Oct '11 7:54:00 PM by Pokénatic

Follow me on tumblr!

True, they didn't screw it up in the home stretch. The original Last Exile was confusing and lacking a clear plot focus throughout it's entire run

I mean, I liked it well enough, but it was not all that it could have been

^Hmm. I can see the lack of clear plot focus, but it never bothered me that much. The characters and the world were enough to keep me satisfied even apart from the overarching Exile plot.

I'll turn your neocortex into a flowerpot!

Oh, this is real. I thought it was a practical joke when I first heard of it. >_>

So some episodes are out now? Cool. I'll have to watch 'em.

^It does seem like one of those things people would put on those "dream season" charts you see floating around, but lo and behold.

I'll turn your neocortex into a flowerpot!

Did you watch the Geneon dub or the original Japanese for the first series?

Fixed cause this was a rescue. Yep, Dio's definitely a guy (though don't expect Joshua Seth to reprise his role here).

edited 17th Oct '11 7:34:23 PM by PikaHikariKT

^Yeah, shame about that, as he was quite good :T

I'll turn your neocortex into a flowerpot!

Just watched the first episode and I must say, I'm already liking it better than the first Last Exile (which I suppose isn't really that much of an achievement seeing as how I didn't really enjoy watching LE, but still). It helps that the art is way better and we get a battle right off the bat.

Also, how did Dio end up here? Not that I'm complaining.

Dio almost certainly: somehow survived the first series and then came to this setting from Prester on Exile.

On that note, thanks to whoever it was the worked out the journey time was probably six months. That's still a long time...but damn, Exile is fast! (Ok, we don't know how far apart the two worlds are...) You could probably set an entire show on board it...

Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.

Note that I said that a round trip is probably 6 months. The issue is that I used both the manga and the anime to come to that conclusion, so there is no way to be sure of that time until the anime confirms that Dio has been there 6 months or the manga confirms that the ship just came back. There is also the possibility that Dio was not with the pirates the entire time he has been on this world, making it a "minimum of" 3 months each direction, not "just" 3 months. Hmm... another item that might throw it off is how long it "parks" at each end of it's trip...

Laconic version: take that "6 months round trip travel time" as a possibility, not a hard number.

Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!

I'd be surprised if that ends up mattering

first episode looks pretty awesome
and the typecasting of Aki Toyosaki is a no brainer
not that im complaining
i should be expecting the same awesomeness from the second episode

edited 18th Oct '11 4:09:02 AM by CommanderObvious

This level of trolling is reasonable for Commander Obvious. What do you think of this, everyone?

I think it's been a bit longer than 6 months myself, in the manga Fam says that Dio has been with the Sky Pirates for six months but Al looks a couple of years older in the shot in the opening.

If it has a plot then I have something to say about it!

I enjoyed it! The CG looks a little bit too real though, but at least it doesn't clash massively with the traditional animation.

Not Three Laws compliant.

The CG explosions are very bold. Very orange.

But the ships look great. And everything is so much brighter...the original show had a sort of dullness to it overall, which in some ways is kind of refreshing and interesting. But it gets boring after a while.

That random ship that we first see the pirates capturing...I wonder what that was. Presumably it was from some nation other than Ades or Turan, which if we believe the manga do indeed exist...they're just not important to the plot.

edited 18th Oct '11 8:37:59 AM by frog753

Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.

I generally didn't mind the CG, except for the clouds. Those looked really weird.

Yeah. The clouds had that strange copy-paste effect. That thing where it looks like a series of flat images that are all faced towards the camera.

Not Three Laws compliant.

I wonder what kind of weird planetary system you'd have to have in order to get six moons like that.

It actually looks WORSE than the original Last Exile though.

Also, these ships look a whole lot flimsier than the ones inthe first show.

"No, the Singularity will not happen. Computation is hard." -Happy Ent

Just finished watching it. Not much I can say, since it's still the first episode. It does look promising, though. Right now it's not very interesting, since I already read the manga. Once it gets past what that covered, though, I'll start paying closer attention.

The characters seem likeable enough. Obviously I haven't seen enough of them to make any real observations. I didn't see anyone I disliked, and that's a good sign. Dio seems pretty much the same as always. I really liked him in the last show for some reason, and I was pretty happy when I heard he was in this one.

I can tell it'll be different than the first series, but hopefully it'll be just as good. :)

Whoa! What's with all the negative comments? I find the CG and animation just fine. What just confuse me is that since Dio is alive and Luci is now officially an asshole, is this a sequel? Dio mentioned he knows Sophia when he saved those princesses.

...a little brother should belong to his older sister, right? - Orimura Chifuyu

This is almost certainly a sequel. Also, that's not Lucciola...unless that's not what you were trying to say...

So I watched episode...umm...18, of the original, yesterday. Promotion Sophia, whatever number that is. Got to see Mullin and Dunya Meet Cute, and I was amused by the fact that I'd been thinking of her name all wrong. I was pronouncing it more or less phonetically in my head, first name exactly how it looks, last name (Scheer) like "shear". I don't remember the original Japanese, but the dub has her pronouncing it as, essentially, "Doonya Share". Interesting. Also, she almost sounds like a guy. Well, a young guy, like an annoying shonen hero or something. And another strange thing about her, do we ever see any other female Disith soldiers? I don't think so.

Speaking of lack of female characters, I'm not sure if there were any other women on board the Silvana besides Sophia, Tatiana, Alister, and that one listening officer on the bridge, whatever her name was.

Not complaining. Just having a sudden realization. Also, a design thought about the Silvana...it's certainly a great example of a Cool Ship, but it's not exactly elegant. It's very boxy and stubby. I think most of the other ships in the anime look cooler, and I think the Lasas/Lasses/whatever in Fam is going to make for a much more graceful hero ship.

Further thoughts on that episode: One, it is entirely not obvious that Fat Chicken is bald until we actually see her without a helmet on. Two, we get to see the Silvana starting up from being entirely off. As in, we actually get a brief glimpse of how a claudia unit activates. And that yes, steam is involved. So I think that makes this steampunk by some definition!

On a related note, I think of all the anime I've seen on board a Cool Ship, the goings-on on the bridge of the Silvana seem most thorough and realistic to me. We actually get to see the chain of command, shortened though it is with Sophia gone and not around to do her job as first officer by repeating everything Alex says to the crew!

And finally...am I missing/forgetting something, or is it ever explained how Alex is able to do all this in the first place? Where does his wealth come from? He seems to go right from being a random vanship pilot to, x amount of time later, captain of the Silvana. Is he in fact independently wealthy?

edited 19th Oct '11 7:01:24 AM by frog753

Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.

I think its at least implied that he's a member of one of the Houses, like Alvis. He knew one of the codes, whatever they were called.

Not Three Laws compliant.