Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing - Episode 2

The opening episode of Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing was certainly a busy piece of work, taking us from piece to war in a broadly satisfying fashion in a single episode.

With Turan and Ades now very much in a state of war, and with the people of Kartoffel and the Space Pirates lending their services to Turan's forces (at a suitable price, of course), the big question is what to do next.  While Princess Millia is sent back Iglasia to tend to her sick father and provide him with plans for the defence of the land, sister Liliana has a plan for dealing with Ades, and quite the precocious (some would say suicidal) plan it is too, involving a full frontal attack with the flagship of their fleet, the Lasas, directly taking on their opposing number.

While this plan swings into action, it's up to Fam and co-pilot Gise to transport Millia back to Iglasia, from which point they're paid and given instructions to take Millia onwards to the relative safety of a far-away villa - a plan which soon falls into disarray on account of the failure of Liliana's plan.  With this elder princess kidnapped, Millia implores Fam to save her sister, leading to a daring raid upon the vast flying fortress that is Ade's Impetuous - a raid which proves to be in vain as Ades' head honcho Hafez has yet more cards up his sleeve...

After a decent start, this second episode of Fam, the Silver Win proves to be downright excellent - grandiose in both its scope and animation (provided you can forgive heavy usage of CG, which works fine for me) and with a break-neck pace that barely leaves you time to breathe as it twists and turns at speed without ever leaving you feeling lost or out of touch with what's going on.  If this comeback for Last Exile can continue in this vein, it might even be capable of surpassing its predecessor if it can prove to be suitably intelligent at progressing its story from this point forward.