January 22, 2012
Last Exile – Fam the Silver Wind – Ep14: Scorched Earth
It’s one thing to conquer another country, and another thing to want to burn it to the ground. It’s honestly hard to gauge what Ades really wants to do, and given the level of control Lusciana has, makes me question whether the child empress even fully aware of the actions of his subordinates. Glacies for one doesn’t look to be a very hospitable or even arable land; it looks much like how I imagine Siberia to look like, and yet the Ades fleet thinks that carpet bombing the hell out of the land is their best bet to counter Glacies’ high tech weaponry. This is the scorched earth tactic often used by many armies.
What you can’t have, you burn to the ground.
December 14, 2011
Last Exile – Fam the Silver Wing – Ep9: Like Sisters
They say that blood is thicker than water, but true bonds are thicker than blood. I’m sure that some of us probably have adopted or foster brothers or sisters, and most of us some friends we thought of as family. So much importance is placed on blood ties that sometimes I think that we forget that blood means nothing if there aren’t any bonds that tie people together. Family is not limited to sharing genes and a house. Family is not merely a physical and genetic distinction. Family extends beyond something simply tangible but also to something more emotional and more profound. Who is to say that someone isn’t your family just because you don’t share any chromosomes? Family is all about the connection, and when that connection exists, then you are a family.
December 4, 2011
Last Exile – Fam The Silver Wing – Ep8: Jetstream
The concept and practice of rocket propulsion has been in use even during the ancient Chinese eras, but it was during the second world war that jet propulsion really came into being. I forget who was credited with the original basis for rocket propulsion, but the first widely publicized use of jet engines was under the Third Reich. Upon the defeat of Germany during WW2 their most talented scientists fell into the hands of the Americans, British and the USSR. These countries benefited from the rather advanced technologies they captured, and this helped form the weapons of war the would ultimately shape the Cold War.
The jets and rockets in this series look pretty basic, as opposed to the rather thick Russian accents, but presents even then just how different the techs between countries really are. Ades may have the number, but Glacies have the obviously superior technology.
November 14, 2011
Last Exile – Fam The Silver Wing – Ep5: Head of State
As long as the people exist, as long as their beloved leader exists, a nation will keep on going, or so they say. The lands of Turan are gone but it’s people live on in the wilderness, and it’s leader lives among sky pirates on a wandering battleship. So then as long as Millia keeps on believing that Turan has a future, as long as the Turan people live to see that future, Turan will exist again on day. Until that time of course she has to set up her government in Exile (pun and irony intended) by hook or by… maid costume.
Yeah.
October 31, 2011
Last Exile – Fam The Silver Wing – Ep3: Prayer For The Departed
War is hell, war never changes. During the lull between battles one will realize that the bigger the war, the more dead lie in the streets. Who will bury the? Who has the time to? Would even care to give a proper one for the dead of your enemies? Perhaps one single piece of humanity that still exists in the middle of a bloody war is the way we treat our dead. Behind the front lines, between the battles when everyone is supposed to rest, it is characteristic of humans to pay respects to the dead, any dead for that matter, even of your enemies. We give the time of day to bury them even if they were just shooting at us minutes ago. No matter the circumstance, humanity honors the dead and departed no matter the reason.
It’s almost ironic that this episode comes out mere days before November 1 and 2.
October 25, 2011
Last Exile -Fam The Silver Wing- Ep2: Seas of Red
The sky is a deep shade of crystalline blue. The sea below, a crimson red stained by the blood of people. The horizon divides beauty and horror by a thin line as Milia sees her city burn in the background. A new world, an old planet, the same condition of humanity still engaged in endless war for ideologies and desires. This is the world from which humanity was exiled, but as I has said before, humanity doesn’t learn pretty well.
This is war, and war… war never changes.
October 16, 2011
Last Exile -Fam The Silver Wing- Pilot: Back Into the Blue Skies
(Screenshots from the best RAW I could get my hands on. Content itself is based on the Animax simulcast.)
6 years. I first watched Last Exile 6 years ago when I managed to snatch some copies from my friend. I am glad to admit that Last Exile was one of the first anime, alongside Escaflowne, to show me that the realm of epic adventures is not an alien concept in anime. When I first read that Last Exile was getting it’s sequel, spiritual or direct, I was ecstatic. For me very few anime series holds the same degree of grandiosity in storytelling and presentation that shows like Last Exile and Escaflowne did, and thus the story entitled Fam The Silver Wing holds a hefty pedigree as the successor to what is considered studio GONZO’s best work to date.
High hopes were placed. The question is, were high hopes met? The moment the airships took flight as kingdoms go to war, the moment Vanships flew and weaved through the cloudy skies in an effort to save what was dear to them, the moment a young (and now female) pilot too it upon herself to place herself in the middle of it all, I new I was back into the skies I flew in as well as I stared into the TV, feeling the skies for myself 6 years ago.
Back into the blue skies.
Medical Student vs. Anime 