120216(2) - サーラ 〔莎娜，Sara Augusta〕 (Photo credit: ccsx)
Last night I finished up Season 2 of Last Exile, aka Last Exile: Fam of the Silver Wing via Roku streaming and via the full-service FUNimation application on my iPad. One thing that struck me while watching these few remaining episodes, it feels as though the script was being devised by two competing script writers with very different worldviews & visions and understandings (or lack thereof) of how the politics of war play out. At times the hippy-dippy "can't we just all get along!?" writing team is in the ascendency, handwaving past and papering over very legitimate differences between the warring factions. This is usually when the writerly focus is on Fam herself, and the Augusta Sara. The "peace conference" after the sudden truce was laughable. The aggrieved parties state their cases and grievances very eloquently. But all of this is waved aside and swept under the rug by an emotional outburst from Fam and the Augusta, a teen and a child emperor, who just want everyone to play nice. I kept asking myself the whole series, why doesn't this brat of an Empress have a designated Regent who makes the actual decision and in whose hands the real power lays until the child reaches the age of majority. The Premiere fills this role in a defacto sort of manner, but it's not officially recognized and accepted, and much blood is shed because adults take the commandments of a child as absolute law.
When you think about it, Glacia got completely screwed by the Peace Agreement. It's no surprise that the Glaciens resort to assasination to seek justice for their country. Though the attempt on the Premiere's life is thwarted, the Quisling monarch of Turan is assasinated, leading to Millia's succession as legitimate heir to the throne, after having previously abandoned her chance to instigate a coup d'etat in league with disgruntled Turan nobles and officers. It's here that the more competent writing team takes over, the one that understands power politics and the hippy-dippy team is pushed to the sidelines again.
The ending is confusing and muddled. It's a great battle, and there are callbacks to the original Last Exile cast of characters during and after the battle. Fam gets her 2nd Grand Race and all is well, more or less, but not after a big Sound and Fury, signifying nothing, apparently. This anime is all about incompetent writing and wasted potential. It looks beautiful, but it's much dumber than its predecessor. The coolest part for me are the Russian speaking Glaciens. That and the cool aerial battles kept me watching, but the terrible writing had me gritting my teeth most of the way. I can only weakly recommend this series, and only then if you're a hardcore fan of the original. If you haven't seen the original, just watch that instead.
