[creb]

Originally Posted by azarhal

I'm not sure why LE isn't more popular. From what I read online, most people consider it the best show Gonzo ever did. Also, it didn't lack fanservice. I'm Lavie spend a lot of time showing her midriff, Alvis was a loli with only in a shirt with bloomers and Tatiana/Alister's pilot suit was quite skin tight. The show also had yaoi and shoujo-ai subtexts. Anyway.

*sigh* Russian subs are out already and English speakers need to wait for Monday...

In the mean time, I watched the raw twice and I've been researching the unknown characters shown between Tatiana and Alvis in the OP.

I have read a few theories on 2ch, but seems like people are not as interested in it as I am (or they are not as bored). The most popular speculation is the theory that they are vanship pilots aboard the Silvius. This theory also raised the idea that the Silvius have a all female crew as well.

Personally, I doubt they are part of the Silvius, they lack the ship symbol in their uniform.

Spoiler for My research results on those characters:

First, the only visible marking, the cross, doesn't match any of the known faction. It look similar to the Luftstreitkräfte cross. Also, the two we can see seems different, the dark aired girl in the back have a circle, but the silver haired girl doesn't. This pretty much exclude them from the Ades Fed or the Silvius both of which have other symbols on their uniform. Although, the Silvius have a hidden cross in its "armory", it's not similar to what we see here. While the cross shape isn't uncommon in Last Exile, the one these ladies have doesn't seem to be seen anywhere else. As a bonus, the only place where a cross can be seen at the same place as these ladies is in an unused Tatiana's concept art for s1 (right bottom one).

Second, the suits color match the Guild (white, yellow, black), but the design doesn't. The whole scene show lower tech than what we know the Guild to possess as well. The middle girl have a lot of guildish features, but no pointy ears. The pilot suit have similarities to Tatiana and Alister suits in s1, but they are limited. Also, the vehicle behind them is not a vanship or a starfish: way to big, it is green, seems to have hatches on top and a ramp under it (it give me the impression of being a launching ramp too). The writing on it is also "spray painted" as opposed to lettered, like we are used to see in Last Exile. I'm unsure if it is Greek as well, doesn't look like it. (yes, I over-analyzed 4sec of the OP).

Third, the silver haired girl look like a reused Tatiana design to me. Going by the official website picture of Tatiana. Her hair fringe is split like Tatiana's, her face is quite similar to Tatiana as well. There is differences (ex: Tatiana's eyes are more square, hair color and longer), but it give me the vibe of a younger Tatiana with longer hair (except that s1 young Tatiana looked like this according to Isolated Pawn). I find the similarities and putting both character one after the other in the OP kind of strange, but I might just be over-analyzing the design (which mean they might have nothing to see here). I also discovered that Tatiana's face isn't as round here as in the first season.

In conclusion, I have not idea who they are and who they work for. Which mean that The Silver Wing have at least one mystery!

Spoiler for Speculations! So, uh, possibly spoilers.:

First off, all speculation is just that. Don't take anything I say as fact. But, here's the way I see it. If this is the Earth, the first thing that I find interesting is that there doesn't appear to be a Guild. We know all the different Presters had Guilds that were supposed to guide the various Presters (boy, I wish they had come up with unique names for these colonies instead of calling them all Prester ), until everyone could return to repopulate the Earth. I haven't heard much (or anything), of what was supposed to happen back on the Earth though during all this time.

It wouldn't be a stretch to think there would also be a Guild left on Earth to oversee its recovery. But, in the present, we're seeing what looks like Guild members in the role of the Adess Federation's Presidency and Intelligence Office. This suggests to me that if there was a Guild on Earth, then it fell apart some time ago and the descendants may have spread to the various nations on Earth, each with their own goals, dreams, etc. Having sat on all that technological know-how, they would probably find it easy to gain positions of power.

Of course, it's also possible that one of the other Presters had a healthier relationship between their Guild and colonists, and that they never lost the ability to use Exile to travel between their Prester and Earth. So, it's possible Adess and Turan are descendents of colonists from another Prester that made it back to Earth well ahead of the people of the Prester the first Last Exile was set on. Once back on Earth, there was no need to keep up the Guild/Colonist separation, so the Guild was dissolved and its members merged with the populace.

As far as the pilots that look like Guild members in the OP, I doubt they are members of the Silvana. The Silvana crew looks like they wear far darker outfits in the OP. Maybe the Guild is still around. Maybe some members didn't want to break it up and keep it going in a far smaller, third-party guerilla outfit that might stand in stark contrast with the all-powerful entity we are used to from the first series. At this point, it's all speculation. Though, like you, I almost thought that was supposed to be Tatiana for a half second.

I also toyed with the idea that was Claus in that picture you posted (on the left). It's a fool's game though to try to identify people while they're wearing a helmet. And, I know others would like Claus and Lavie to show up, but I can't help but feel that we'd enter the problem of Gundam Seed Destiny, where the former cast ends up overshadowing the current cast. I'd prefer to let Fam and her crew have a chance to shine in the spotlight without that worry. My wish is for Claus and Lavie living a happy life on their farm, completely isolated from the problems of the world.

I'm wondering about Liliana's flashback where we see the former Empress of Adess behind a young Guild member. It would seem to hint at a time prior to relations souring between Adess and Turan. As for the young Guild member (even if there is no Guild, I'm gonna keep calling the albinos Guild members), I wonder if he was supposed to be Luskinia. The OP hints that Liliana is going to eventually submit to him (whether she does it of her own free will or not, we'll have to see), and he seems to have wanted her alive for some reason. I think they may have known each other, and she may have even liked him as a young girl is wont to like a handsome guy. Certainly, the OP has some symbolism going with Liliana laid out at Luskiana's feet with her hands reaching up all over his crotch. With a few wardrobe changes, that'd be a scene straight out of a Calvin Klein commercial.

There is Greek everywhere, but I am far too lazy to bust open the Greek alphabet and translate it all. If someone OCD enough to do so doesn't show up by episode three, then maybe I will.

And, yea, I get what you said Enzo, but didn't want to precipitate a flood of messages in response detailing how that wasn't the reason, and how X-Y-Z were the real reasons. Well, here's hoping.