Last Exile Ginyoku no Fam - This was truly a good ending.

Today I watched episodes 19 to 21 and completed the full story of Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam. I have to say it was a better ending than I was expecting. They managed to bring closure to most of the points of the series while still acknowledging that things will still be rough in the future for humanity.

The story continues from the death of Liliana, with the negotiations ending and the war starting back up again. From this point, death happens in quick succession, reducing the cast considerably with Alauda and Vasant both dying in the first few moments.

Luscinia, after kidnapping Augusta Sara, enables the Grand Exile. This is an old ship that was never completed, originally intended to bring the last people on Earth to another world. With that weapon, he decides to declare "peace by force" with the threat of using the Grand Exile to subjugate the entire world under his rule. He technically says Maestro Sara will rule, but she is just a kid, so it would end up all in his hands anyway.

The other countries are not willing to submit and begin a final bloody battle, in which even Anatoray appears with Sophia as leader to give support to the armies. The plan is clear: recover Augusta Sara thanks to a special force of vanships and destroy the Grand Exile to prevent its use in the future. We even got Sorush, who was supposedly dead in a previous episode, appear with his fleet to support the effort to recover Augusta Sara from the enemy. 

I have to say that I really liked how, in the last moments before the final battle, Fam realizes that her attitude trying to make everyone friend and stopping all fights is idealistic and doesn't consider the pain that each person in this war was feeling. The cycle of hatred is not something you can easily cut off, especially when people are losing their families in this war.

The scenes are very action-packed and well-made, with even Tatiana leaving the Silvius to join back the fray with a vanship. The leadership of the Silvius goes to Millia, who does quite a good job considering how little experience she has with this kind of role.

In the end, it is Fam and Giselle that manage to reach Luscinia, and they have a bit of a talk about their goals. Fam agrees that things won't always go like she wants and understands that her dreams may not be achievable, but she states that she still wants to be able to dream.

Luscinia doesn't fight and leaves Augusta Sara in their hands while waiting for his death. Apparently, this was one of the possibilities he took under consideration for the end of the hostilities, and the General of the First Fleet (who turned out to be Fam's grandfather) was aware of it.

At the very end, we also get a cameo of Claus (now in a wheelchair) and Lavie together. They really look like an adorable couple even though nothing is explicitly said about it. Apparently, he got hurt in a battle to make Dio return to his own self, but he has already forgiven him and hopes to come back to the skies in the future.

Now I want to talk a bit about the series as a whole to close up these reviews. Did this series do justice to the original Last Exile anime? Without any doubt, yes. It was a great, memorable sequel and it was an enjoyable experience all around. I loved every second of it.

At the same time, I have to say that the genre and direction of the show feel a bit different compared to the original. I watched both of them recently again, so I don't think that nostalgia has had too much of an effect on me, but I feel the original had more of an impact on me episode after episode.

Fam's energetic behavior and lovely personality definitely made this show stand on its own, but at the same time, it lost the feeling of "dread" that I felt while watching the first series. While even this series touched on hard themes, sometimes it felt that the overall happy-going vibe would clash with what the story was trying to deliver.

Either way, I can easily give this series an extremely positive mark. It is something I can genuinely suggest to anyone who loves anime, and it will definitely enter my list of most cherished series.