Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam – 04

Millia bonds more with Gisey and Fam’s fam, when Dio shows up with a photo of the mysterious Sylvius, the ship Fam vows to steal for Millia. It’s easier said than done though, as all the pirates’ usual skyfishing tricks prove ineffective, and they’re all taken into custody. Fam makes a deal with the Sylvius’ captain, Tatiana Wisla, to steal fifteen Ades ships, as many as there are years in her life.

Ah, Tatiana. She was one of our favorite characters from the first series. Once the proud, stuck-up, spoiled little princess ace pilot of the Silverna, she’s now captain of her own ship; one that can fly, float, and dive underwater no less, which is pretty sweet. She projects a more seasoned, Alex Roy-like bearing, and the kind, soft-spoken Alister remains by her side as first mate. Tatiana seems mildly impressed by Fam’s cojones – maybe sees a little of herself in her – so rather than killing her, she plans to put her and Gisey to good use.

One beef with this episode is that it took a while for it to get going. We wanted to see a longer sky battle, but the one we got felt almost rushed after the entire first half was spent on more family slice-of-life at Kartoffel, though we’ll grant that perhaps they won’t be back there for some time. Gisey’s ability to use a fuzzy photo to draw up a detailed schematic of the Sylvius (and be able to time maneuvers inside her based on Dio’s vague descriptions) also struck us as a little too clever even for the very able Gisey. Finally, we’re rather amused by Fam’s need to wear garterbelts and stockings to bed.

Rating: 3.5

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Mirai Nikki – 05

Yuki waffles over whom to choose – the Sixth or Yuno, so when Yuno takes him by the arm to escape, he grab’s Sixth’s arm as well. But as her flashbacks show, the Sixth has been victim to some awful acts, which have made her bitter. After letting Yuno dispatch the Twelfth, she plans to kill her, Yuki, the Fourth, the Ninth – everyone with a diary – so she can become a god. Yuno sacrifices herself so Yuki can escape, but he returns to save her, throwing a dart into the Sixth’s diary and killing her. As Yuno’s phone reveals to him, she really does seem to love him, and has been protecting him all along.

He’re’s a Mirai Nikki Top Tip: if you’re half blind, try to do a better job of protecting your enormous roll of paper containing your life force. Also, if you’re a whimpering, waffling coward, better the crazy girl you know. And he knows Yuno much more than he knows the Sixth, who as it turns out is prepared to have Yuno gang-raped in order to bait Yuki to his death. Yuno, for her part, manages to hack a lot of people to bits, including slicing the Sixth’s arm off. The Twelfth, meanwhile was just kind of a bad joke; too stupid (or just too nuts) to live.

The Sixth’s sudden but inevitable betrayal makes the choice pretty easy for Yuki, as she really did stick her neck out for him this time. She’s quite the enigma. With three diary holders down, it will concievably come down to the two of them, and then what? We somehow doubt the DEM will allow the game to end without a victor. So after five episodes, it’s pretty clear that most everybody is whacked out of their gourd, with the exception of our Olympic bed-wetting protagonist.

Rating: 3