Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing Part 1 DVD Review

Director: Koichi Chigira,

Starring: Ai Kayano, Carrie Savage, Aki Toyosaki, Jad Saxton, Aoi Yuki, Leah Clark, Chiwa Saito, Kara Edwards, Eri Kitamura, Clarine Harp,

Running Time: 300 minutes

Certificate: 12

LAST EXILE was a highly acclaimed series that I found to be quite lacking. It wasn’t bad, but the hype surrounding it just placed it on a pedestal that was almost impossible to reach. In this spin-off series, set in the same universe, naturally expectations were lowered, which proved to be a huge plus. It must be stressed that the series, LAST EXILE: FAM, THE SILVER WING, isn’t as good, but it also doesn’t have the surrounding praise. Once again set in the skies, we follow a band of sky-pirates that aren’t the cruel kind of pirates you might expect. In fact, they’re relatively lovely, if perhaps a little opportunistic. However, that’s just a side effect of the political situation their world has come under.

The opening two episodes get things under way as a fast paced action adventure. It decides to entice and intrigue with adrenaline rushes rather than settling the audience down first. This proves to be the right thing to do, as the characters come through naturally depending on the situations they find themselves in. Such an exciting opening also allows you to appreciate all of the visual style that can be found throughout the series. The show mixes CG and traditional animation, which doesn’t always work perfectly, but is put to great use during high speed chases that take us through the complex mechanisms of the sky ships.

Our sky-pirate protagonists build up a special relationship with some princesses, resulting in fascinating dynamics throughout. Having a solid core of five female characters sets this far apart from the male dominated anime world. They’re also fairly young characters and the writers do them the honour of keeping them away from needless romantic twists and turns. The pace does begin to slow after the action packed opening, and it never again quite reaches those heights. Fortunately, with such beautifully constructed worlds, costume and character designs, and the sweet innocence of many of the lead characters, it’s doubtful that anyone will find themselves bored.

Certainly one for those fans of high-flying adventure epics, many of the elements fit together nicely as opposed to slamming you over the head. Both vocal tracks are worth a listen, although the British inspired accents during the English dub were jarring and not always convincing. The Celtic inspired music adds a fantasy feel that keeps things feeling calm even during the battle sequences. A gentle little series that will probably appeal more to fans of the original, but doesn’t exclude newbies nor does it repeat the formula to an alarming degree.

LAST EXILE: FAM, THE SILVER WING Part 1 is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 2nd December via Manga Entertainment.

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