If anyone here has not seen Last Exile...which I am betting is many...you should. You really should.

Imagine....enormous steampunk naval battles in the SKY, and hovercraft races, and tiny adorable girls with adorable stuffed goats. Indeed, Alvis Hamilton teaches us that the application of goat solves all problems.

Not to mention that the characters often remind me of DDT. Like...if Akurei was an airship captain and Marimon was dead, he would be Alex Row. And if Ryota was many years younger and everyone's sex object, he would be Claus Valca. And perhaps, if Suki were to be a short-haired fighter pilot, she would be Tatiana Wisla. (Or Starbuck. )

It also has an awesome deck crew.

;_; I need Last Exile, I LOVE that series!!

Yeah, Last Exile was really Awesome.

Also, adding to Graham's comments, it's also one of the few series set in an alternate world that just has that feeling to it that's really easy to become submerged in ... if that makes sense >>; Er, something that has an 'epic'/somewhat nostalgic feel, to it, I guess. The only other anime I've seen that even comes close to a setting with a similar 'feel' would be Simoun (also awesome, and also including dogfights with fanciful ships... just not steampunk or quite as epic of an overal plot... and where everyone's a girl >>; ).