LastExile

My (Brian Kirkpatrick's) favorite AnimE series. Read the description below, or - even better, and you will thank me for it - see the series itself by yanking it off of \\Peregrine\Movies. Believe me, it's worth your while. AniMotion showed this series earlier this year, too, if I'm not mistaken. If you can, try to see the subtitled version - like a lot of AnimE, the dubbed version stinks.

• I disagree on this one. There's a lot of bad translations out there, but the dubbed version of LastExile is done really well. The quality of the voice acting is on par with the Japanese, and maybe even a bit better.

Claus Valca is from the world of Prester, where he and his longtime friend, Lavie, live and work as sky couriers. They pilot a van-ship left to Claus by his father. Together they dream of one day making the journey their fathers were never able to complete - flying across the notoriously dangerous stretch of space known as the 'Grand Stream' - to deliver a truce to the malevolent race of Deusis, who have repeatedly invaded the world of Prester from across the Grand Stream.

One day, after Claus and Lavie agree to shuttle a mysterious girl named Alvis Hamilton to the air-battleship, Silvana, they become involved in a war that shakes their world - Prester, a world where mighty wind and a sea of clouds spreads far and wide. (Ripped and modified from the official site at http://www.lastexiledvd.com/).

A beautiful, but short (26 episodes) series set in a fantasy industrial-age world where battles take place on giant frigates that float majestically above the clouds. Smaller craft, called vanships, are used for postal and reconnaissance. Society is very Victorian, with emphasis on class differences and honorable, Guild-moderated battles.