A giant flying war ship is attacked by a multitude of metal stars.  They attempt to fight them off with their own fighters that resemble a 1950's automobile as much as they do a torpedo.  What are they fighting over?  The possession of a small girl.

This second volume of Last Exile takes off where the first one left off.  Clause and Lavi arrive at the designated spot to drop off their cargo, a young girl named Alvis.  The commander of the Silvana, Alex Row, arrives in his ship to pick her up.  Not content with the way the Row treats the young girl, Clause, with Lavi tagging along, flies after the huge warship to retrieve the girl.  Of course that is much easier said then done, for when they do catch up with the Silvana, it opens fire on them.

Like the first volume (reviewed here,) these episodes contains a lot of action, suspense, and mystery.  The story builds upon the groundwork set in the first episodes, while still leaving a lot of questions unanswered.  The first three episodes out of the four on this disc are all related, showing the interaction of Alvis, Claus and Lavi.  You get the feeling that the main plot of the series is just starting, and that greater things are yet to come.  There are still many questions about Alvis that are left unanswered, and who, or what, the Last Exile actually is.  The mystery does not overpower the plot though, as it has in other anime shows.  There is a linear story line that is not confusing or mystifying, it's actually quite exciting.  The unexplained aspects of the show do not make the program hard to follow, though they do keep you watching and yearning for more.

The last show on this DVD is sort of a breather after all the action the first three had.  In this episode we learn a little more about the musketeer who was featured in the first two episodes but hadn't appeared since then.  Some of the main characters start to meet and mingle and their personalities are developed a little further.  All this set against the backdrop of a floating casino.  It's a funny episode with a great ending.  A good way to end the disc.

Last Exile is an excellent series.  It has the look and feel of a feature film.  There is a depth to the picture that reminds one of Disney's best work.  The seamless blending of CGI and traditional animation is the best that I've ever seen.  The trouble the animators went to paid off well.  The action scenes are so good because of their attention to detail.  Whether it is the highlights from the sun moving across a Vanship as it speeds past, or the way they will blur a ship slightly to give it a feeling of vibration while it is in a fight, the animation is top-notch.

If you enjoyed the first DVD, this one gets even better.  With you learn a little more about some people, and get drawn into the story even deeper.  A great series.
 

The choices for audio on this disc are either the original Japanese or an English dub, both in digital stereo.  There are optional English subtitles.  I was very pleased with both audio tracks.  They were very clear with no hints of distortion or hiss.  Good use was made of the front soundstage, with the sounds of flying ships by panning across the speakers to match their streaking across the screen.  The English dub was very good too.  An excellent sounding disc.

Video:

The video quality was very, very good.  The anamorphic widescreen picture was clear with very good definition.  There was only the faintest digital artifacts present.  A few instances of aliasing, and some slight posterization in some of the sky scenes.  The colors were bright and the transfer excellent.  Beautiful.

The Extras:

Included on this disc are a textless ended, the Japanese ending, and a collection of Japanese commercials advertising the show and CDs of music from the show.  There is also an art gallery of 25 drawings, and a selection of previews.

Final Thoughts:

This second disc doesn't disappoint at all.  The first volume was very good, and this second one lives up to the high expectations that were set.  Action, drama, and just a touch of comedy make this series an easy one to highly recommend.