Final Impressions / First Impressions / Last Exile -Ginyoku no Fam-

Episode 20

「Triple Rook」

A forced end to war isn’t real peace but it allows everyone to unite to fight the big baddy. It’s only natural that the people you were supposedly trying to “help” would fight back. Who would want that kind of peace? After all, the saying goes: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. No one was meant to control that Grand Exile.

I was pretty surprise by Sorush when he came out of nowhere. How he was able to survive the death pit in episode 16 is beyond me. The strategic importance of the valley in Boreas never made sense to begin with but I guess if there’s no body, you really shouldn’t assume someone died.

There were a lot of convenient things that occurred during the episode. First of all, the whole idea of an altitude limit is once again squashed by using countless other ships as a platform to get up to where the Grand Exile is at. It’s also pretty convenient that the Grand Exile “cannon” would fall off after one use and even more so when the hole became an entrance into it.

I’m not surprised that Anatoray-Disith swooped into the battle at the last minute to help out. They were due to make an appearance again. My biggest question was where was Sophia this whole time?! They changed Sophia’s character drastically – everything from her looks to her mannerisms. She wasn’t always the softest character in the original but she was definitely opening up near the end and now she’s a hardened warrior. Having her come back to play such an insignificant role is kind of disappointing after what Vincent was hinting at earlier in the series.

Inside the giant Exile the Guild’s starfish make a return and give chase to Fam and the gang. Dian’s hammerhead technique to destroy the Guild starfish was pretty interesting. It’s details like that make the flying aspect of the show more interesting since it’s a real move.

Notes:
* Full-length images: 24

 

Episode 21

「Grand Master」

As Fam stood across from Luscinia in the Grand Exile pouring her heart out, I couldn’t help but think she was actually saying something sensible for once. Regrettably at this point in the series, I’ve had enough of her absurd and obnoxious character so none of the things she had to say really had any impact on me.

The anime ends bittersweetly yet predictably. Fam gets the Grand Race and there is peace and harmony between nations. Unfortunately, the ending made many of the deaths seem meaningless. Even after all the posturing and hard work done by Luscinia to undermine the treaty, he gives up rather anti-climatically without a fight handing over Empress Maestro Sara to Fam so they make an escape. It sort of makes what he was fighting for unclear. Was he fighting to bring Farahnaz’s vision of universal peace to the world? Was he trying to secure the world for Ades from the people who came back to Earth on the Exiles because of limited resources? Fam sort of implies that he wanted the world to hate him so they could unite against him but did that really need to come at the cost of people’s lives? If he knew he was going down in the end, did he really have to kill someone like Vasant?

Another death that probably didn’t need to occur was Sadri’s. It would have made more sense to have him survive so that Fam would be able to expand on her heritage. Her origin didn’t play into the plot as I was speculating early on. The show was named after Fam so it would have made more sense to make her story more essential to the main plot. One could argue though that Fam really wasn’t the main character but that’s a debate for another day.

Final Impressions:

This show had the makings to be great. The original Last Exile built a great universe that came along with it a certain tone. Let’s start off with the good parts of this show first. Fam tries to offer its viewers elaborate epic steampunk airship battles, political maneuvering. If one knew chess lingo, you’d see that many of the episode titles alluded to what was going to happen in an episode. Finally, if one paid close enough attention, they could see the little details the show used to try to build a robust and compelling world. For example, one scene that really sticks out in my mind was the meal with Sara and how they explained how resources were scarce. It’s moments like these that really make the show brilliant.

One of the other great things to come out of this anime was the music. The soundtrack sounds amazing and epic – just as Last Exile should be. We got a taste of all the instrumental/orchestral goodness with the six different EDs they used throughout the show.

Even with these positives, Ginyoku no Fam does many things badly. The sequel left more questions unanswered than plot lines it had wrapped up. Fam’s heritage makes you question why it was important in the first place. Also, what was Anatoray-Disith up to for so many episodes? Furthermore, what happened to Claus’ legs? If at times it felt like they didn’t have enough material to cover 2 seasons worth, I think there were enough stories that could have been shown there to help pad the series because we really didn’t need more than one recap.

Ginyoku no Fam under-utilized many of the characters from the original Last Exile. Dio was shown early on but his only role was that of a glorified babysitter. Even though Alvis was a key to an Exile, she played no major role in battle and really only served as a compass at the very end. It was hinted at for the longest time that Sophia would appear, but she played a minimal role in the overall story. Worst of all, Lavie and Claus were reintroduced in the second recap but only served as a nod to fans of the original.

This show is very hard for me to recommend. The people who I would normally recommend this show to (Last Exile fans) will probably think the show is much more inferior to the original and probably even a waste of their time. While this show isn’t completely bad, especially when thought of as a standalone series, I believe new viewers would still need to see the original to fully enjoy Fam and get why some elements of the show are significant. The completionist in me still thinks people who have seen the original should watch Fam even though it is less than stellar.

In conclusion, the show is not the worst thing I’ve seen. Most of the series was acceptable except there were a few things that spoiled my enjoyment of it. There were definitely parts I could have lived without and in the shadow of the original Last Exile, Ginyoku no Fam fell short. Unfortunately, to fully enjoy everything that Fam offers, one must watch Last Exile.

Notes:
* Full-length images: 01, 10, 27

 

50 Comments

  1. My two big questions:
    1) How did Dio survive back then at the end of the first series?
    2) WTF happened to Claus’ legs? At least he can still fly like that or? -_-

    Too many unanswered questions in the end. If you do a sequel to a series with lots of fans who want some god damn answers you should provide them and not create a 100 new..

    Anyways, thank for your coverage and all the hard work you put into blogging this show!

    mutio
    Reply

    3. There is an ongoing manga that starts with the end of Last Exile and will presumably end with the start of Fam. The manga focuses more on the Claus + Tatiana pair, as the two even set off on a mission without Lavie. So far the plot seems to be them fighting the mysterious guild members present on earth that they don’t elaborate on in the series. I am a chapter or two behind, so presumably more has happened.

      The manga does however explain the whole Anatoray-Disith thing-they brought over a bunch of ships and made a colony.

      So far my opinion is that it would have made a much better anime than fam, as it is the true sequel to Last Exile. My guess is that the only reason they teased us with wheelchair claus was to advertise the manga.

      http://lastexile.wikia.com/wiki/Travelers_From_the_Hourglass_manga

      dustandechoes91
      Reply

  2. i was dissappointed by the series… lacked the intensity and the atmosphere of the firat one. period. the ending felt forced and i was really hoping that the cast from the 1st series played a role in this series but it wasnt.

    and unlisted, one thing i truly gotta agree w u is the music. they got that right

    c2710
    Reply

  3. My main gripe with this series was definitely their decision to focus the story on Fam and her 2 girl friends, Giselle and Millia. Her naive idealism and all-talk-not-much-action behaviour really ruined this sequel for me. The very interesting background and setting could have saved this series, but unfortunately they wasted too many episodes showing “A Day in the Life of Fam” while the setting was only fleshed out in intermittent bursts between the more important “Fam” scenes.

    I also think I’m one of the few who didn’t like the battle scenes in this one. Sure, the scale and sheer numbers far outstrip the battles in the first Last Exile series, yet none of them managed to convey the sheer awe and exhilaration of battle like the fight between Alex’s Silvius VS Vincent Alzey’s 6 Urbanus-class ships at the Dragon’s Fangs or the Mad-thane led Anatoray fleet VS the Disith fleet in the first episode. Besides that, I think that Dio was sooo CRIMINALLY underutilised when I find him to be one of the most awesome character in this series, with his rad piloting and fighting skills and his ever present underlying sadness for the loss of Luciola even after all these years.

    Overall, I have to say I’m really disappointed with this series as a whole. Even with its addition of the setting on Earth to the Last Exile lore couldn’t salvage this series in my eyes, what with it being underdeveloped due to all the “Fam slice-of-life” scenes and pointless recaps. After this, if anyone asks me about this Last Exile sequel, my reply will be – “What sequel?”…

    gandalf8
    Reply

    1. Probably got disqualified for riding solo.

      Anyways, this was disappointing beyond belief. Didn’t bother with the penultimate ep and just caught the ending of the last one to see if they revealed what happened to Claus, which they didn’t.

      Gonzo can/should go the way of the dodo. Or they could just rename themselves to Dodo and make crappy ecchi titles like AIC. I’m sure they could at least “survive” on the money from that.

      Litho
      Reply

  5. It isn’t the second PART of “Last Exile”. It isn’t even alt story. “Fam” is a “one-day show”. Fam is for those who need this childich play and vapid characters.

    It isn’t a story for those who still remember “Last Exile”. They needn’t it just because the first part was perfect. It was the Story with the Characters and with the Soul!

    Seya
    Reply

  6. Ah, well, it was a very bumpy ride but I was more or less satisfied by this ending. Sorush surviving with his entire flagship intact was probably the most contrived element, though I agree that Sophia’s few appearances were like watching an entirely different character. At the end of the day though, I enjoyed these last few episodes more than the entire middle act. The glaring problem of Fam as an uninteresting and frankly annoying protagonist aside, there were a lot of cool elements throughout the show. The massed fleet actions–which the original sadly lacked–were the best part, but I thought that Luscinia made for a good villain (even if I still don’t really understand how his plan exactly works) and the supporting characters, particularly Tatiana and most of the Ades commanders, were fun to watch as well.

    I think the show’s main flaw was that it relied way too much on cutesy imagery to inspire sympathy. By the end, I was ready to throw up every time Gisey’s siblings made an appearance (the phrase “potato pancakes” made me grit my teeth every time it came up). It really came at the expense of more important elements and hurt the show’s overall seriousness.

    All in all, this was a big disappointment for me considering my love of the original, but on its own it’s fairly solid. I hope we see more of this franchise in the future, hopefully with a more serious tone and a look at what’s going to happen with Clause/Lavie and co. in the future.

    Actene
    Reply

    1. I think that Luscinia had been studying Schneizel El Britannia’s Art of War with his stupid plan of trying to intimidate all the countries to stop fighting or he’ll blast them away with the ‘main cannons’ of the Grand Exile. But he seems to have taken a leaf out of Lelouch Lamperouge’s book on battle stratagems with the way he went down with the Grand Exile. I think he was trying to focus all the people’s hatred on himself through his ruthless war tactics and threatening all the countries with the Grand Exile. The reason why he opted to go down with the Grand Exile was because he hoped that through his death, enough of all the people’s hatred will be buried with him that all the countries can strive towards coexisting peacefully with each other.

      Ooh, and I forgot to mention; I was SO glad that Dio won the Grand Race and not Fam and her girlfriend. Too bad he was disqualified for flying without a pilot though. But at least Tatiana and Alister are worthy champions.

      gandalf8
      Reply

      1. I’m with you as far as Luscinia’s decision to go the way of Lelouch, though it does raise the question as to why he went so over-the top evil once he had control of his super weapon, namely in his repeated attempts to blast away population centers and the killing of Vasant when a non-lethal takedown was clearly an option. Maybe he was just trying to prove to the world how evil he was, and in a way he did that a bit better than Lelouch (whose atrocities mostly occurred offscreen) but as Unlisted noted, it also seems a bit pointless.

        In total agreement regarding the outcome of the Grand Race. Fam didn’t even place before Dio was eliminated, so bam.

        Actene
        Reply

  7. I agree. The show is very flawed but it’s certainly not the worst thing I’ve seen. At the very least, we got some pretty awesome aerial battles and a good OST from Ginyoku no Fam.

    Seishun Otoko
    Reply

    1. Dude this who season was just turned into “girls in vanships”. Had a ridiculous ratio of women to men. Hell the show only shows about 3 or 4 important males and any other u saw was just a background character that had no lines. This whole show is just one big moe blob disease. Its such a shame to see such and amazing series be tainted by the moe blob disease just to get more otaku money. In point this season just plain sucked! Plot holes, crappy story telling, too many little girls around to be taken seriously, and didn’t bother including lavi and claus in this season. Its a blemish on the Last Exile series. And seriously WE ONLY SEE CLAUDE AND LAVI FOR A FEW SECONDS!!! (pardon my french but) THATS BULLSHIT! SOMEBODY BURN IT WITH FIRE!!

      Zero
      Reply

  9. Hey, I just barely finished this myself XD. perfect timing~.

    *sigh*. I didn’t think the Sky Pirates even had that many ships left. To suddenly see an armada of them playing Aircraft Carrier orz… We never learned what was up with the 5 “moon” exiles. Luscinia’s Call and Response for Sara’s Mysterion was wholly disappointing compared to Alvis and Claus in the original.

    This show hampers itself with having too many important people to follow, and they’re nearly always god knows where, thousand of miles apart. Makes it harder to tell all of their stories. Lots of little teases, never enough meat to make you happy. If Last Exile were a New York Steak; Ginyoku no Fam would be the Korean BBQ, and not the all you can eat kind.

    I would rank it as more coherent than Guilty Crown, but it has a super strong advantage from the original series :/… … I still dont get why they wasted those episodes in the beginning gathering 15 ships for Turan…

    *Sigh* Enough Rambling out of me. Overall, I found it a mediocre series. Still worth watching, but it certainly did not live up to the legacy of Last Exile. Reminds me of how I thought Onegai Twins fell short of the standard Onegai Teacher raised.
    ~紅真

    Kumakaori
    Reply

  10. Ah finally. A chance to vent… Last Exile 2 has ended up as a big steaming pile in the floor. That Luscinia got what he wanted and basically won makes all the deaths that more meaningless and pointless. A mass murderer of his caliber winning in the end makes the entire show feel very cheap. Also I was rather glad at the death of that foolish lovestruck sister of Millia’s. She was a traitor to her people and allowed herself to be used to murder civilians on a rather large scale. She earned far worse when she was shot. Fam’s childishness was a major turn off all through out. I just wanted to slap the piss out of her. With terrible plot holes, bad writing, and just fucking shitty BS, this is a show best forgotten. The only reason I feel most people finished this crap was the original Last Exile cast showing up occasionally. But even all the Dio and seeing a brief glimpse of Lavie Head a bit matured, aren’t enough to redeem this.

    GuardMonkey10
    Reply

  11. Bah, Dio being disqualified is BS, everyone there still knows he beat the crap out of them :P.

    This show was total pants compared to the first season. I don’t even feel a need to try and point out the few things they did right because they are way outweighed by the parts they screwed up.

    Beckett
    Reply

  14. I loved the original Last Exile and I was psyched when I heard they were making a sequal. I followed the reviews here to see if it would be anygood and I’m horribly disappointed. I’m afraid of watching this for fear that it would taint my vision of the original.

    I don’t think I’ll ever watch this. I’ll just be too disappointed.

    Roguespirit
    Reply

  15. I kind of agree with the final impressions. I’ve seen far worse shows (Guilty Crown, anyone), but this was kind of a dissapointment. So many opportunities, characters and plots wasted, I still don’t get some of the things in this show (like the villain’s actual plot), too much filler, too much recaps and while I still liked Millia and Giselle, Fam only succeeded in pissing me off with her naive, stupid worldview (that she only started to rectify in the final two eps, but it was too little, too late). There were still things I liked in this show (some characters and the return of Dio, the battles, the extra worldbuilding), but the original was way, way better.

    In the end, I didn’t hate it and the ending was still decent (I expected far worse, anyway), but I have no desire to ever sit through this series again. Hell, even though Guilty Crown was a far inferior show, I have more desire to rewatch that one because the stupidity in that show was mostly hilarious instead of aggravating (besides emo Shoe, obviously).

    Dvalinn
    Reply

  16. A very predictable end… I’m disappointed too, A great classic… fucked up… WTF GONZO!!! GO TO HELL!!! MOE MOE MOE MOE EVERYWHERE… COME!!! This is like Guilty Crown, this end is shit, These animes were shit, I never will recommend… this Last exile never existed for me. That’s all…

    O_o
    Reply

  17. This is for you GONZO!!!

    …………………. .. … /´ /)
    …………………. ..,../¯ ../
    ………………… …./… ./
    ……………….. ..,/¯ ../
    ……………….. ./… ./
    ……………/´¯/’ …’/´¯`•¸
    …………./’/…/… ./… …./¨¯\
    …………(‘(…´(… ……..,~/’…’)
    …………..\………. ……..\/…./
    …………….\”………….. _.•´
    ………………\…………..
    ………………..\…………

    THIS LAST EXILE BULLSHIT…

    .I.
    Reply

  18. I never expected to see Claus and Lavie at all in this sequel since Gonzo made it clear from the very beginning. While the writing and the last episode was rather weak, I never been so engage to any other series like this one before. Everything I’ve seen these past two seasons pale in comparison to this show. Despite all its flaws this show has, I still gave it my highest grade I would give to an anime series since all the good parts outweigh all the bad ones.

    As for the OST itself, it completely topples any other anime OST in the past years. It’s the best OST I heard from any Anime series I’ve ever seen including the original LE OST.

    elmaton04
    Reply

    2. Totally agree with you elmatono4.

      This was great despite it’s flaws.

      While it couldn’t surpass the original, Last Exile GnF still was totally worth it and beat the pants off pretty much everything else that’s aired in the last several seasons and way more engaging, not to mention way more imaginative thanks to the return of the LE setting. Also, while flawed, the parts at various points where it did at times hit it’s potential were more awe inspiring than just about any show that’s aired in the last few seasons, be they some of the character moments, epic aerial display/awesome fleet battle, or the godly soundtrack, or moments where these elements mixed utterly perfectly at times.

      “As for the OST itself, it completely topples any other anime OST in the past years. It’s the best OST I heard from any Anime series I’ve ever seen including the original LE OST.”

      I totally agree with this. I think the the soundtrack is something even a lot of detractors of the show can agree was fantastic. And the original was no slouch in the OST, but this one even built on the originals greatness with totally stunning new tracks and handpicking some of the great old ones. This and the original LE have two of my favorite soundtracks ever.

      DangerMouse
      Reply

    3. Everything I’ve seen these past two seasons pale in comparison to this show.

      ARE YOU KIDDING?! Natsume Yuujinchou 4, Chihayafuru, Nisemonogatari!? LAST EXILE FAM FAM BINKS ABSOLUTELY PALES IN COMPARISON TO THOSE THREE.

      ish
      Reply

  20. The reason why the characters from the original aren’t revisited in the sequel is because that’s going to be covered in the bridge manga, which focuses on what occurs directly after the end of the original Last Exile.

    I’m guessing the producers thought that it would be redundant to do it for their new take on the series in animation. The manga and anime were clearly collaborating extensively to make sure no crazy continuity problems cropped up.

    As for Sophia’s character, it seems to me to make complete sense that she has hardened both as a ruler and as captain of the Silvana, after the man she loved died by her orders. She was already showing the signs of becoming a mature leader that would do what it takes to succeed no matter the personal loss, especially during her command at the last battle of Prestor against Delphine.

    As for Luscinia, his motives don’t seem so strange. I imagine that the mental trauma and guilt over watching Empress Augusta die under his watch drove him to the extremes of his rationality and understandably he resolved to make up for it by realizing her dreams of world peace for her. But along the way, he lost the true spirit behind Augusta’s intentions, trying to achieve his goal the only way he knew how.

    After so many years of loss and sacrifice, even if you realize it’s a lost cause, it can’t be easy to just give up. Otherwise everything up until then will have been in vain. Death was probably the respite he needed from his duty, the only way he saw that he could settle things.

    As for the series as a whole, I personally enjoyed it for what it was. Objectively speaking there were many places for improvement as well as many parts that were well done. I feel like much of the bad press comes from very high expectations for the show as a sequel, but at the same time, I also would find it hard to recommend this to many people without disclaimers.

    All in all I was happy just seeing more of the world that I’ve come to love, with it’s vanships and politics in the sky.

    DaSilva
    Reply

  24. As I said, it’s the worst directing I’ve ever seen in comparison to prequel.
    (At last one had to beat GSD)

    The raw elements of this series were superb!
    And still… really, I hate you Gonzo…

    Xanathos
    Reply

  26. Thanks for blogging this series, Unlisted and Enzo! I haven’t seen the original Last Exile but I really liked this show.

    I’d say at least its first half can be recommended as a moe show with nice yuri elements. Most LE fans seem to despise exactly this aspect but I enjoyed it!

    Besides, I loved the feeling of freedom when Fam and Giselle rode their vespa. The political machinations were interesting, too, although Luscinia’s ultimate goal remains unclear to me, as well. I also agree with you that the soundtrack was amazing – it’s one of the few anime OST’s where I like not only some pieces but the whole thing.

    jreding
    Reply

  27. This is what happens if you make an interesting and complex premise, and then throw characters at it that approach the whole thing with utmost naivety.

    The ending is fitting in a way, cause it resolves the whole thing in one of the most naive ways they could. All that political turmoil, the returner vs. remainer conflict, the impending doom because of a lack of resources in a few generations… all of that forgiven and forgotten. And what was Fam’s role really, but a mild annoyance? The plot seems to work quite well without her for the most part.

    Can’t say I wasn’t entertained by this show, but overall it ruins a lot of its potential in various ways.

    Zreon
    Reply

  28. Really, this series came off as a bad fanfic.

    I wanted a sequel for Last Exile. I guess the saying is true, be careful what you wish for, you might just get Ginyoku no Fam.

    Now to pretend it doesn’t exist.

    Random
    Reply

  29. lol this series failed in a huge way for showing such a weak and vague story of its titular character. at least with Gundam SEED Destiny, Shinn’s name wasn’t part of the title! i can’t respect a show if it doesn’t respect the character in the title role!

    ish
    Reply

  30. Sorry to say but the highlight for me for this series was getting to see all the characters from season 1 again. Just sayin’, but we all know that if Claus wasn’t crippled (for some reason) he totally would have beat all the other competitors in the Grand Race (although maybe not Dio, who is now short one Lucciola).

    It might just be me, but Claus and Lavie seemed a little more couple-y this time round. So maybe they did end up getting together? I like Tatiana and all but I can’t really see Claus and Lavie without one another tbh.

    raitei_shourai
    Reply

  31. I guess as the comments above say, the true sequel of Last Exile is the Travellers of the Hourglass manga.
    Fam of the Silver Wing wants to start anew with new characters and stuff like Aquarion EVOL.

    Maybe they should have made a movie instead.
    Nothing from the battles in the middle portion left an impression on me.

    Random thoughts:
    What if they made a third series that focus on Vespa racing?
    Wonder how will Last Exile Earth look like in the distant future?

    iron2000
    Reply

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