Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing - Episode 15.5

It's recap time again for Fam, the Silver Wing, in an episode which has broadly been labelled (in the show's number-free episode titles) as episode 15.5.  However, as you know I don't do things by halves, thus I'm sticking with calling this episode seventeen and done with it.

Rather than simply recapping recent happenings however, this particular instalment goes rather further and instead recaps the original Last Exile series - something we could probably have done with a whole lot earlier in this new show to be honest, given how long it's been since I last watched that series.  Anyhow, we're reminded here that Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing introduced us to a world at war, with its artificial homeland the subject of a violent conflict between Anatoray and Disith.  Once again, an Exile is at the heart of the conflict, with its powers giving it an almost God-like quality.  It's into this scenario that a vanship piloting team by the names of Claude and Lavie are drawn, as they take over an attempt to transport a girl named Alvis Hamilton - a girl who is the key to the Exile.

Unsurprisingly, you can't really recreate what was great about a full, twenty-six episode series in one twenty-odd minute recap, but in all fairness this effort did a pretty decent job of jogging my memory, both about the original Last Exile's story and why I enjoyed it.  This episode was also fascinating as a comparison of how far CG effects in anime have come in the last decade, with Last Exile now looking a little dated and very much a product of its time compared to the grandiose mass battles that we've enjoyed in Fam, the Silver Wing.  Say what you like about the modern anime industry and how things were better "back in the day" (when we had to walk uphill both ways to the video store and back to watch our anime), but let's be honest - this latest effort is far, far visually superior.

So, this week's episode turned into an enjoyable little nostalgia trip that leaves me tempted to break out my Region 1 DVD box set of the series - I do wish that it had been placed much earlier within the framework of Fam, the Silver Wing however, as I get the feeling it would have increased my enjoyment of it markedly with the reminders this instalment brought me.  Still, I suppose this just goes to show how important the events of the original series might prove to be for the remainder of this new tale from the Last Exile universe.  In fact, speaking of that DVD box set...