gcorkery - 2017-04-03 08:21:04

star wars ripoff

tito30 - 2016-04-24 23:59:45

a classic of the anime, ginga eiyuu densetsu is the representation of how the anime should be, this series blends phylosophy, war and sci-fi in an excellent form.

unolan - 2015-09-25 05:03:11

Critic’s Log - Earthdate: June 18, 2013. Review #50: Legend of the Galactic Heroes

In March 12, 2012, I posted my first anime review which was Cowboy Bebop. it was a Sci-fi smash hit set in space. Back in 1999, I saw the Star Wars Trilogy and I am very fond of that Space Opera series, especially the Original Trilogy. I am now into Star Trek and I like how creative and imaginitive it is as well as it being thought-provoking and intellectually engaging. Up until now, I have posted 49 reviews so far (excluding the supplemental reviews I did in the past) up to this point. I have now reached the milestone of 50. Well... This is it! This is the big one... Let’s go where no one has gone before and set out to Space, the final frontier... with LEGEND OF THE GALACTIC HEROES!

For decades, the Galactic Empire has been involved in an interstellar war with the Free Planets Alliance, a conflict that involves thousands of spaceships and millions of soldiers on both sides. Two new commanders enter the conflict with great hopes: Imperial Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm and the FPA's Yang Wen-li. As they deal with superiors and subordinates, maneuver through complicated political arrangements, plot strategies, and win battles, each will be tested, and ultimately, changed, by the reality of war. All the events that will take place in space, the galaxy and the universe will appear on the pages of history.

To be technical, like My Conquest is the Sea of Stars (the Introductory movie), this anime was made by three studios, Kitty Films, Artland, and Magic Bus. The animation in the movie looks nice and all, I can’t really say the exact same thing for the Main Series of Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I can explain in a reasonable way. The budget isn’t high at first and the quality is at it’s lowest in the first season, but it still looks nice from time to time. It does not take a while to adjust to because this was made in 1988 and ended in 1997... So expect it to look old-fashioned while you’re watching it. When I mentioned that Season 1 has the lowest quality in animation, I am not lying too much about that. This should not turn you away from watching it...because it’s an old anime, there’s not much room to get yourself adjusted to it in time, what you’ll need to get adjusted to is the heavy amount of dialogue and it’s settings. This first season devotes most of its screentime to establish the settings, the story, and its characters for this long epic that is to be witnessed by the viewer. If you can sit through 20 episodes or so, it will start picking up. It will take awhile to get there. Season 2 starts to improve in time, and this is where the story starts rolling on its own pace. Season 3 is where the show starts to look pretty good and become far more interesting.. However, when you start getting into Season 4, that’s when the animation shines. The animation improves over time and this was a good thing back then. Honestly, the animation is good on its own. If there is something I must point out that I commend the creative staff of this anime for making terrific character designs for this anime. The character designs in this show look fantastic.

I can assure you 100% on one thing. The soundtrack is Epic in this show. It makes great uses of classical music from Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Chopin, Ravel, Mussorgsky, you name it! It does make the show elegant in its own way. If you think it was cool to hear Ode to Joy in Neon Genesis Evangelion or if it was cool to hear some classical music in some other anime. Legend of the Galactic Heroes entire soundtrack is EPIC CLASSICAL MUSIC! I like listening to classical music from time to time and it’s nice to hear some in this show. The music is used terrifically in this show. I almost forgot to mention that the only musical pieces that aren’t from classical pieces, it’s the opening and closing themes. They really set the mood for all the seasons.

As far as voice acting goes, bear with me because this will take a while for me to bring up the performances in this show. Let it be known that there is no English Dub to this anime. Like the rest of the franchise, it was never licensed in America. This is an obvious reason why no English Dub exists. With that out of the way, I’ll bring up the performances that do stand out. Ryo Horikawa and the late Kei Tomiyama are fantastic as Reinhard von Lohengramm and Yang Wenli. Keiko Han is great as Annerose (Reinhard’s Sister). and Masashi Hironaka is great as Siegfried Kircheis. There are a lot of standout performances in this show. The late Kaneto Shiozawa was terrific as Oberstein, Nozomu Sasaki is also terrific as Julian. Even Norio Wakamoto is in this show and he is fantastic as Reuenthal. Other noteworthy seiyus for this show are Kazuhiko Inoue, Kotono Mitsuishi, Masako Katsuki, Sho Hayami, Toshio Furikawa, Yoshio Sakakibara, Chikao Ohtsuka, Akio Ohtsuka, Aya Hisakawa, Ryotaro Okiayu, and Unsho Ishizuka. Let’s not forget, Yusaka Yara is the narrator of the show and he deserves to be mentioned. There are some currently well-known seiyus in this show which should be a nice treat if you watch enough anime Subtitled that is. When I reviewed My Conquest is the Sea of Stars, I wasn’t joking that there are a shit ton of characters in this show. Well, there are a shit ton of casting roles in this show and I said what I deemed necessary to bring up. Look up the entire cast at your own leisure because explaining all the other well-known cast members would just drag this review much longer and I got other things to go over with this show.

Out of all the things about this anime, the story will be the hardest thing for me to talk about concerning Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I can assure you that watching 110 episodes of this anime was no easy task. This is because this anime is heavy with political and military intrigue. Not to mention there’s more than 100 characters in this show that are tied into character threads with the more important characters. This show somehow made the cast prove their worth in the long run. Or did it? Well, let’s get over the main leads... Reinhard is a political idealist and a military genius and he sets his ambitions to conquer the universe to end the corruption of the universe. His sister Annerose was sold by their father and Annerose was to serve as a consort to the Emperor - Kaiser Friedrich IV. By Reinhard's side is his best friend Siegfried Kircheis and Kircheis vows to follow Reinhard until he accomplishes his goal. However, Reinhard is not the only military genius floating around in space. Yang Wen-li is also a military genius. However, he harbors no great ambitions. Reinhard is affiliated with the Galactic Empire and Yang Wen-li is affiliated with the Free Planet’s Alliance. These two commanders are terrific and they are great opposites that compliment eachother while they are part of a massive conflict in space. The main focus of the show is mainly about Democracy Vs. Autocracy. It is about one form of government against another. Now that I explained this, it should be made very clear that this anime is not a roller coaster ride. It is like reading a long novel. In fact, Legend of the Galactic Heroes was originally a novel series written by Yoshiki Tanaka. There are three things this anime comes with...It is very political, If you think the political moments will slow the story down while you watch this series, keep in mind that it serves the story. it is also has Military intrigue because there is a great amount of detail on strategy. This is also a very intellectual anime. This plays a huge part with our two main leads as well as the many characters connected to them. Every single episode of this show requires the viewers’ attention. This is the hardest aspect of the show for some to sit through. It is very intellectual with its political settings, military intrigue, and the characters’ thoughts, ideals, and political opinions. It also does not hold anything back when something horrific happens. The theme of war is present throughout the series and that comes to no surprise, really, and it tells this story effectively when it can. The portrayal of Humanity is displayed pretty well in this show and there are a lot of characters that are likeable. Reinhard is interesting as the show progresses further and further, for those familiar with historical events. I heard that Reinhard shares many traits with Napoleon Bonaparte, which it’s fair to say that Yoshiki Tanaka probably has a love for history. One of my favorite characters in this anime is Yang Wen-li, I just love his personality. He’s a very smart tactician who doesn’t want a damn medal for his accomplishments. He just wants to live his life in a simple way, I really like this guy. Mittermeyer and Reuenthal are also great in this show.. Characters like Oberstein, Schenkoph, Frederica, and Poplan are also pretty memorable. Julian is also a great. I can honestly tell you that this show was able to contain an elaborate setting and story with well-developed characters, a soundtrack of classical music, and avoiding any fanservice and many clichés ALL IN 110 EPISODES! This anime is very different than meets the eye. This anime is considered to be unrivaled by some, which now brings me to some issues I have with this anime...

This is a minor nitpick because this is to be excused much later on. The animation isn’t all that great at first. it seemed to have a lower budget to begin with on this show. This anime makes up for this because the animation improves over time. I have seen many shows where they either stay consistent from start to finish, or the animation quality in the show diminishes over time. There are few animes I have seen where animation improves over time or stays consistent. I am glad that the animation in this show improved over time.

However... after the show’s completion, it was released on DVD in Japan. not only was it released on DVD, it came with new animation cels in certain moments. These “Re-visions” either made certain scenes look better or they were made to fix errors. A common complaint would be understandable that it can be distracting to see old animation cels and new animation cels being shown back to back. If you end up watching the Remastered Version. You will be dealing with this on Seasons 1 and 2. It seems Star Wars isn't the only Space Opera series with these kind of problems. Now to think of it, Why do I keep thinking of a Star Destroyer whenever I see Reinhard's Flagship "The Brunhild"?

I wonder if Star Wars had some influence over this anime

Maybe I am overthinking this. Anyway, The Remastered Version might not sit well with all viewers of this show... It’s a take it or leave it thing I guess.

One other minor nitpick is that the notable characters that are part of the Terraist Cult are like stock bad guys, that and maybe it would be nice to see a positive side to religion being portrayed instead of just showing the negative extremist side.

However, my last minor nitpick are the scenes where the characters are talking to eachother like in a normal-life situation. I will excuse this completely because it gives the show a sense of realism. This aspect may not sit well with everyone. I was patient to sit through those kind of moments in the show even though this anime is riddled with dialogue.

If I had any problems with this show, it would be pointed at the Narrator at some parts of the show. I personally have no issue with a narrator explaining events that took place off-screen inbetween certain moments. What I did not like about the Narrator of this show is that he strongly hints an upcoming event at times. This was done lightly before Episode 26, and there was even a moment where the narrator strongly hinted an event that would happen on Episode 82. You know what; This is technically a spoiler, but the hell with it! That Narrator’s job is to explain things like events that take place inbetween scenes or recap previous episodes or events. His other job is to not TO SPOIL A F***ING PLOT TWIST! This anime is supposed to be intellectual, and this is not a smart move by the creative staff. Episode 82 should have left an impact to not only just the characters, but the viewers as well. The events in this episode had little impact for me thanks to the narrator! But you wanna know something? the narrator is there to give this anime the feel as if it is being told from a history book. That is exactly the intention in Legend of the Galactic Heroes when it comes to narration. All I can say is that you need to get used to it. Still, there is no excuse for having a narrator spoiling something before it happens.

Now it all comes down to this... I am NOT going to blindly give this anime a 10. Why? Because even though Legend of the Galactic Heroes is mostly terrific, the animation had a few hiccups, and some characters are bounced around in certain episodes, making it harder to follow or care for these characters. However, they are used extremely well. Thank God for the name subtitles or I would be confused as hell. Seriously, those subtitles come in handy. However,  I find the narrator's hinting future events a bit questionable. What really does work is the portrayal of politics and war and this is one of the best Anti-war messages portrayed in anime and even other fictional mediums.

However, when I review an anime, I do not fall for public opinion just because of what the majority claims something to be. I also don't buy into the hype that quickly either. Legend of the Galactic Heroes on the other hand is a very underappreciated anime, but deep down inside despite my nitpicking, I don’t have much to hate about this series. This show is actually very good. I can’t lie about that. I commend the creative staff for putting a massive amount of effort in making a show of this scope. The late Noboru Ishiguro deserved to rest in peace knowing he made the what is arguably the greatest Space Opera anime ever made, as well as making the longest OVA series ever made.

This is an epic space opera and this is a show for anyone that likes Science Fiction. This is science fiction taken seriously even though this is an anime that deals with politics, military intrigue, war, and humanity in space.

I strongly believe that everyone has their own opinions and should form their own opinions. When it comes to Anime, I believe everyone has an equal say concerning a specific anime regardless of differences in opinion. In the end, I can’t say that Legend of the Galactic Heroes is required viewing, But I can say that Legend of the Galactic Heroes is for those with acquired taste.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is unlicensed, as well as Yoshiki Tanaka’s novel series of the same name. A movie prequel with the subtitle “Golden Wings” is also unlicensed, another movie called “Overture to a New War” is also unlicensed, a prequel series called “Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden”, which consists of 2 seasons is also unlicensed. The entire franchise is unlicensed; your only way to experience this series is by watching it online. When this series does get licensed someday (which might not happen), pick this show up if you like it.

With all that said, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is an astounding piece of work. It exceeds with its scope in the story and it has an epic use of classical music. This anime may not have been perfect in animation. This is later excused as this series progresses.   With its elaborate political settings, smart military intrigue, social commentary, and intellectual level as well as character development... Legend of the Galactic Heroes is worthy to be called an Anime Masterpiece in its own right. It is also considered one of the Greatest Animes of all time. Regardless of personal opinion from others. I highly recommend this anime to anyone that is into Science Fiction and Space Operas.

I give Legend of the Galactic Heroes a 9.5 out of 10. It is EXCELLENT!

Feel free to leave a comment.

Critic’s Log - Postscript: Well... with this review wrapped up. I have now posted 50 reviews. It might not sound like much, but this is a milestone I was looking forward to. I know that I intend to continue as long as I can. If you have been sticking around on my reviews. I want to thank you. If you went through this entire review, I thank you for your patience and I apologize for making it long-winding, I hope you can fully understand. I want to thank all the friends I have made inside the anime community. (no matter the amount), and I want to thank a good friend of mine (which I will not name by request) for getting me back into anime after I had a brief disinterest and I also thank her for recommending me some shows which turned out to be fun.

I want to give everyone one last message while I wrap-up... This message is to all but at the same time, This message is to you...

Live Long...and Prosper.

hpouros - 2015-04-22 03:26:22

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is renowned by many as a space opera of epic proportions. After watching this I can say with certainty that this is true. The one thing that this show requires for you is a large portion of time to complete its large 110 episode length.  While watching this series myself I regarded it as a journey rather then a destination. 

Story: This is a section that LOTGH excels at. The world that this show builds is rich and filled with history and characters. And I think it is only fitting that this show is told from a perspective of a historian reading from a history book at points. It makes show feel really authentic. The meat of the story is about the battle between the Free Planet Alliance and the Galactic Empire.  Both factions have been at war with each other for hundreds of years. The back story on their history isn't told right away but later in the series there are two episodes that deal specifically with the back story of the Alliance and the Empire. The entire history of the show is rather complex so I won't go into details as it is better to experience it for yourself.  

LOTGH also doesn't just wear one hat it explores multiple aspects of the world rather then just focusing on war. It goes into such topics as terrorism, politics,religion, tactics and many other issues that can relate to war overall. The battles themselves are nothing spectacular to look at so don't watch this show if you are expecting space battles like they have in Gundam. But, what LOTGH does in space battles is shows the viewers how important strategy is to winning a battle.

Now the story isn't perfect by any means and I did have a few minor issues but by no means did these take away from my enjoyment.

Combat on foot is done with Axes at times. This was weird for me since the show is set in the future you would think that they would have moved past using blunt and bladed weapons. 

There is a massive weapon in this show that can decimate entire fleets which the empire knows that the alliance has but yet they keep running right towards it in multiple battles even though they know what it can do. At times they use the excuse that they can overrun the alliance before they fire it but still I think they should have learned their lesson the first 3 times. 

The geography of the show doesn't make a lot of sense either with space being as huge as it is I found it funny that the alliance and the empire were actually really close to each other. They also state in the series that they can only travel between the two factions using corridors something that I don't think was explained as well as it could have been. Corridors from what I gather are basically the only points of space that allow travel for some reason. 

Animation: For an anime made in the 80's I can't say I have any complaints with the animation. I really liked the animation in general for the characters and backdrops. The animation did a great job at helping develop the history and atmosphere of the show. There are a few dips in quality at times but considering this is a 110 episode show I would say it is rather consistent overall.   Another downside is the fact that some of the same animations for ship explosions and backdrops get reused quite often and can get rather boring after seeing them half a dozen times in one episode. 

Sound: also another great aspect of the series. The sound fits the show well. It does a great job at making that battles seem more intense and making the emotional seems more gripping. Overall I have no complaints with the general music. I thought the voice actors did a good job at playing their part but this also leads me into my one complaint. There is a lot of dialogue in this series. A lot of times I feel they gave more details then needed or explained things that were already obvious to the viewer.  

Characters: This show has a lot of them. With a large cast like this show has some characters will obviously get more screen time then others. There are some characters that probably could have been fleshed out a bit more. But, in general I think the show did a good job at making many of the characters motives and values clear. 

The two main characters that we spend most of our time with are Reinhard Von Lohengramm. Throughout the series we see his rise to power as he strives to unite the universe and become an autocratic ruler. On the other side of the spectrum we have Yang Wenli who is a strong supporter of democracy and would like to create a society based around it.  He often monologues on how bad war is and how beneficial a democracy would be. Sometimes these monologues were a bit to long and wordy for my taste because they were repeated often. Both characters have strong moral beliefs and strategies for pursuing their ideal world. They are also both genius tacticians and masters of war. 

The secondary cast of characters which consist of mostly subordinates under the command of the main two characters are also given an ok amount of depth and personality. There not overly fleshed out but you learn enough about them to get a sense of where their moral values are and how they see the world.  Even some of the less developed ones have something memorable about them. I found the majority of the Admirals to be memorable in some way.  

Lastly the one downside to characters is some of the ones that fall under the tertiary character tag. These are mostly some politicians and religious leaders. Who I felt seemed a bit generic and I never really understood why they did some of the things they did. Which is why I feel they didn't have as much depth as some of the other characters of the show. Which isn't a good thing since some of these characters had important roles to play as well. 

Enjoyment: LOTGH is definitely not a show for everyone. If you would rather have epic space battles and less dialogue go watch a Gundam. But if you want to watch an interesting anime that builds an interesting world and a great cast of characters then by all means watch this show. 

willow.harber - 2015-01-15 04:20:31

I watched this anime as people have been touting it as the bee's knee's on forums I frequent. I have bad opinions and watch terrible shows, and can't write.

The story mainly follows 2 main characters in the series yang wenli of the free planets and reinhard von lohengramm of the galactic empire, but switches view points as needed to other not main characters but still significant to give a greater perspective on the events happening. 

The large cast of characters sets this apart from your typical short anime season as it can fully develop and allow you to immerse yourself into the characters roles and see how and why things happen. Explanations are given as need be to help you understand the polictical intrigue and battle tactics.

The animation is old and may be disconcerting to modern tastes but it fits the series perfectly. There is blood and gore in the series but it's not mindless and only further proves actions taken and the consequences of them.

Regarding the storyline I felt it was the natural progression of characters going from lowly ship commanders to running opposing empires. There are no ass pulls in the series and every character logically acts as best they can.

My personal sticking points on the series are the first 20 episodes show casing the military incompetence of both sides which eventually are overcome by the main characters getting promoted and killing off the really stupid admirals, but if you got through that the series had excellent political intrigue, and smart battles that didn't rely on friendship or ass pulls to win just hard work and playing smart.

freeman29 - 2014-09-26 22:42:55

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, known as Legend of the Galactic Heroes (LOGH), is a tale of the rise to power of two men, born at the right time but on opposite sides, leading to a clash of factions and brillant spectacle. In LOGH The main part of a battle isn't the fight itself, but the planning of it. What is really important is strategy and tactics, of course politics play a very big role in this series.
You should not expect some cool and fast-forwarding anime when you watch LOGH, but sort of a history documental.

mikayla59 - 2014-03-03 20:17:57

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a bit of an outlier among the anime I’ve seen. The amount of dialogue in it exceeds probably every other anime I’ve seen, and so does the number of characters.It occasionally goes for action scenes involving hand-to-hand combat despite its fairly rigid animation.

It’s a little hard to write about any canonized classic like this because so much has already been said both for and against it by people who all have very valid points to make. I would like to say my own thing about it, but I’m not sure if that’s possible.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes, or Heldensagen vom Kosmosinsel as it prefers to call itself, is a story about a war between two nations in the 36^th Century. One is the Galactic Empire, a large and powerful nation ruled by a monarch, and the other is the Free Planets Alliance, a comparatively small democracy that broke off from the Empire some years back. There are essentially two main characters.One of them is Reinhard von Lohengramm, an enterprising mastermind out to dismantle the Galactic Empire’s old ways and replace them with a utopian society of his own design. The other is Yang Wenli, a reluctant hero of the Alliance who just wants to survive his time in the military so he can eventually retire and live in peace.

To begin with, the greatest strength of Legend of the Galactic Heroes’ story is its two-sidedness.It’s never quite clear whether the series takes the side of the Empire or the Alliance. On the one hand, the Empire has an antiquated culture that causes problems for a lot of people, and the only way it can be altered is by a hostile takeover of the government. On the other hand, most of the people who attain power in the Alliance are people who actively seek it out and will do anything to hold onto it; in other words, corrupt politicians and psychopaths. There are good people in the Alliance, but they either have their chances crushed by rigged elections or they work in the military and are subordinate to people who lack a conscience. Conversely, the morally upright politicians and military officials in the Empire are able to do anything they want because they don’t have to appeal to public sensibilities.

What might put some people off to the show is how it goes about achieving this kind of even-handedness. Some shows will humanize all of their characters, while Legend of the Galactic Heroes will have some characters with no moral centers and others who hold to their ideals with integrity. Still, the characters all have rationalizations to offer for what they do and you can always find at least one person who genuinely believes they’re doing the right thing on each side of every argument.

However, all this two-sidedness goes out the window when it comes to the show’s treatment of religion.The major religion in the show is Terraism, a cult that believes that humanity should return to the Earth. The problem? All but one of the cult’s leaders actually believes that. They’re all charlatans out to take the masses for their money so they can spend it on drugs. The only one who actually believes in Terraism ends up addicted to drugs anyway after being forced to take them by politicians who wanted him under their power. This is a show that has a serious chip on its shoulder about religion.

The characters in Legend of the Galactic Heroes are larger than life, in the sense that their actions have consequences that affect the whole world. They all reflect in different ways the show’s overarching theme that people strive for unattainable things. Reinhard strives to establish a nation run by a meritocracy, an autocracy run by the talented and morally upright. Yang strives for world peace.

I’ve heard people call Reinhard a Byronic hero; I don’t think he is. A Byronic hero knows that he’s not morally superior to his enemies, but takes on the responsibility to oppose them anyway because he feels someone has to. Reinhard definitely thinks he’s morally superior to his enemies. He not only believes it, he’s out to prove it. He recognizes the inherent flaws in the old autocratic system and also sees how much less successful the democratic nation’s military endeavors are, so he decides to put his own system into place.

Yang is a little different than Reinhard, because although his greatest ambition is world peace, he understands on some level that it’s never going to happen. He does what he can to make sure his soldiers survive and avoids violence when he can.This leads to him having a bit of a drinking problem and to occasionally be naïve about the political state of his country. Still, it doesn’t take much convincing to get him to do the right thing when he gets like that. He believes in democracy because it doesn’t take violence to change the political atmosphere of a democratic nation when it’s needed, and he’ll fight for it when he thinks it’s truly threatened, but mostly he just wants as many people as possible to stay alive and enjoy the little things in life. He’s one of my favorite anime characters because of his sense of humor and his pragmatism; his priorities lie with dealing with the situation at hand and keeping the peace. He’ll fight for what he believes in but not at the cost of too many of the more immediate things in life than one’s political ideals.

Yang and his circle of friends in the Free Planet Alliance military are a big part of this show’s entertainment value. His friends Alex Cazellnu, Dusty Attenborough, Walter von Schenkopp, all have something in common with him in that they constantly crack jokes when trying to figure out how to act when the politicians above them are corrupt and their enemies are threatening their way of life. However, they’re all more concerned with broad ideals than Yang is compared to the simpler things in life that are more often at hand.

Aside from being funny and fair to different belief systems (as long as they aren't religious), Legend of the Galactic Heroes’ setting also adds to its appeal. The animation may be rigid, but the art is detailed and makes it easy to tell where things are happening. The Empire and Alliance both have their own distinct look, as does the independent economic power Phezzan and the run-down, no-longer-inhabited Earth. There are also a lot of little details shared about the setting that make the world feel lived-in, like the defense system surrounding the Alliance’s capital planet or the tank beds that soldiers can use in battle to get the equivalent of eight hours of sleep in only one hour. The soundtrack consists mostly of famous classical pieces that you would probably recognize. It's all used to great effect. The voice acting is also impressive, considering how much needs to be said in the show. It's not easy to nail the sort of joking but somewhat dejected tone that most characters of the Alliance have but I think they get it right.A

The last notable thing that makes Legend of the Galactic Heroes such an enjoyable watch is how unpredictable it is. Up to a point it’s possible to have a general idea of what’s going to happen, but it’s near impossible to tell how a given arc is going to end or what could happen when the show is completed. This makes it that much easier to take the side of any of the many characters who represent different ideas.

The show has some odd bits that might put some people off, but they also might pull people in that much more. At several points of the show the characters sing songs with English lyrics in heavy Japanese accents. There are even more scenes of characters in space suits fighting each other with battle axes (justified by the fact that they always fill the air with explosive particles before ground combat takes place to prevent the use of firearms). The singing sounds silly and the fights look silly, but both are clearly sincere; they did the best they could with what they had. Whether you think they should have done this or played it safer is up to you. My opinion is that the battle axe fight scenes compensate for the space battles, most of which are blandly staged save for the ones where ships get hit by asteroids or forced into black holes.

Overall Legend of the Galactic Heroes is an extremely satisfying show, but a heavy investment of time and energy. If you like classical music and share its sense of humor then it's probably for you. If you don't like politics, you might want to avoid this one like the plague. Unless seeing corrupt politicians get screwed over sounds appealing to you.

caleb.feil - 2013-10-06 09:32:04

Three years ago, it was the beginning where i'm starting to go into anime forums and delve inside the community. I heard of an anime called Legend of the Galactic heroes and was making quite a fuss during that time although not that huge of a fuss unlike Sword Art Online or Attack on Titan today(In fact, chances are you haven't even heard of this anime yet and right now, the LoGH fanbase is nothing but a cult unfortunately). But i pay no attention because i'm stupid and the series is not popular. Because if it's not popular, how can it be good right? Such is myself three years ago. Now after three years during that time, i finally have watched and finished that is called the best space opera of all time by many of it's fans. Does it lived up to it's reputation? Let's check it out.

Story/Characters:
First and foremost, the scale of this series is simply huge. The setting is the whole galaxy itself however we will only gonna know at least 6 or 7 planets. Out of those planets, there is Planet Odin where the galactic empire resides and Planet Heinessen where the Free planets alliance resides. Basically, this series chronicles an inter-galactic war between these two opposing forces. The Galactic empire is an autocracy and unified the space where the empire rule with an iron fist. Therefore some people leaved the empire as they don't agree with it's dictatorship and founded the Free planets alliance which is a democracy. For hundreds of years, these two never ceases to battle in the galaxy. The story is mainly told from the two perspective of two military geniuses, Reinhard Von Lohengramm from the Galactic empire and Yang Wenli from the Free planets alliance. These people are basically the Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan of this time. So the main story line focuses on both of their respective rise to power and the difference between their ideologies and the political and historical events that shapes the world of LotGH. Basically, you're gonna witness an epic that goes through the sea of the stars.

The story is told in a non linear way. For the first season, you'll basically gonna switch perspective of the main characters in each episode. For example in episode 3, you're witnessing Reinhard's perspective then on episode 4, you're now gonna witness Yang's perspective. This was told mainly for the first season. Of course this is a war story. We're gonna expect a lot of explosions. However, if you're expecting action like Berserk, Mobile Suit Gundam or Macross, it's not gonna happen. The fights are simply not like shonen action fights. They are extremely tactical and extremely strategic that will give both Code Geass and Death note combined a run from it's money. Therefore while the commander orders their fleets, you'll need to pay attention to the dialogues of how their tactics or strategy will carry on. Otherwise, you will be lost since the author wants to depict a realistic depiction of military engagements. You'll begin to question, how the hell did he do that? What the hell just happened? Speaking of dialogues, yes there are a lot of them in this series. Lots of lots of them. Try to multiply Fate Zero's dialogues 35x then you'll get the idea. The dialogues are very well written itself and interesting for the most part but sometimes you'll get bored if you're not really into very dialogue entertainment. So i'm telling this to you right now that if you can't stand dialogue heavy anime then this series might not be for you. The story had huge range of topics and sub plots. From war, ideology, politics, economics, religion, romance and other stuff like that.

Now i did mention that the scale of this series is huge right? Well, this series had huge range cast of characters. The minimum of main characters that we're gonna follow is at least 30. That's the minimum. We're talking about the military leaders of the Free planets alliance, the political leaders of the Free planets alliance and the SAME thing for the galactic empire. Farmers, common citizens, aristocrats, the soldiers all the way up to fleet admirals and the Emperor. Of course how can i forgot terrorists? Expect terrorists. Now each characters have different perspective and ideologies, each character is interesting and each character is morally gray. Most of them for the most part and this is a another element that i like from the characters of this series. They don't think in a black and white perspective where Autocracy bad and democracy is good because both system are flawed their own way and the series depicts that as realistic as possible. Despite the huge quantity of the characters, we see them develop and we see them grow. We see them challenged in their beliefs and we see them fight for what they think is right. Of course, the main bread and butter of the characters are Reinhard and Yang Wenli. Reinhard Von Lohengramm wanted conquer the entire universe(But seriously it's just the entire galaxy) in order to rule it into peace, prosperity and to free the people from the oppression of the Goldenbaum dynasty, and also to free his sister from the grasp of the current Kaiser of the galactic empire. He is intelligent, charismatic, handsome, a genius in war and his hair in season 3 is simply just brilliant. Yang Wenli is a simple guy who wanted to be a historian but he didn't have any money to pay for his tuition so he joined the army to get a scholarship. He believes in the spirit of democracy despite thinking that the system is still flawed. Yang is lazy, messy, cool, unsurpassed tactical intellect during his time and an alcoholic philosopher. I really don't want to spoil that much about the characters since they are basically what drives the story but one thing that i can say is that the characterization is simply top notch. In the end, they are both really likeable characters and it up to you, the viewer to decide which ideology or which character you wanted to root for. Living Free or Reinhard?

Animation/Visuals:
It's not the prettiest but it's not the shittiest either. This is an OVA series with over 110 episodes and currently holds the position to be the longest OVA series since the existence of anime thus far. This aired on 1988 till 1997. Till today, the animation is still pretty dated. During it's time, i would say that it is great. The studio behind this series did it's best to portray the battles, the characters and the conversations as realistic as possible. This series also have very gory deaths that will make you sick to your stomach and they don't dared to censor it one bit.The deaths are not that ridiculous like in elfen lied though so i guess it's a good thing. Now i know a lot of anime fans today tend to dismiss old anime just because it's old. So if you're one of those then again, this is not for you. Plus, the quality of the animation increase as the story progress unlike some anime today where you can see the significance drop of quality in the later episodes. Hand drawn animation for the win!

Sound:
I really don't have that much to complain about this. The voice acting is very well done and it's pretty realistic. You won't really hear high pitched female voice in this series. It's very rare in fact. The voice acting sometimes felt emotionless, not lively and not active(this is mostly during season one)but props for the increase of quality in the voice acting as the series progress. Oh, and there are many famous voice actors in this series such as Reinhard being voiced by Horikawa Ryo whom also voiced Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z, Shuuichi Ikeda the voice of the Legendary red comet Char Aznable, Norio wakamato(Does he really needs any introduction?), Shiozawa Kaneto, Mitsushi Kotono and others. For the soundtrack, it's ballad and classical music for the most part and it's pretty good. The openings songs are good especially the 3rd opening which is simply eargasmic. The other soundtracks or most of the soundtracks are composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and other famous classical composers. What more could you want?

Enjoyment:
This series have: Outstanding rivalry? Check. Funny and interesting characters? Check. Character development? Check. GAR characters? Check. Great story? Check. Ethical and political complexity? Check. What could i want more?

Verdict:
Story - 10/10. One of the best story in anime heck in general entertainment that i have ever seen.
Animation/Art - 8/10. It's old but it's still pretty dated. Significant increase in the quality as the series progress.
Sound - 8/10. Classical and ballad music that was composed by classical greats? Count me in. 3rd opening is godly and i didn't even once skipped it.
Characters - 10/10. Dynamic characters with great characterization, multiple and interesting perspective and likable main characters.
Enjoyment - 9.5/10. Enjoyed every part of it with the exception of the history lessons. I still find it interesting but i can't help but to yawn every 5 minutes.
Final Verdict - 10/10 - It is highly advised to watch the movie "My conquest is the sea of the stars" since it tells the story of Reinhard and Yang's first meeting on the battlefield, as a prologue to the main behemoth itself. After that, it is also highly advised to watch "Overture to a new war" movie which is a retelling of episode 1 and 2 in a much more detailed way with superior production values.

Is this series perfect? No definitely not. Nothing is perfect. The first season have major pacing issues and anime-original stories. You might be iffy at it first but i recommend to stick into it until episode 26. Season one is like a set up to everything just like berserk's golden age arc. Personally, season one never really bothered me that much. The main cream of the crop of the series is season 3 and it seems many LoGH fans also agree with this. Season 2 is also really great so don't be discourage(Season 2 is my personal favorite). Also, DO NOT WATCH THE EPISODE PREVIEWS. It hugely spoils the next episode for you so skip it and BEWARE of the narrator.

With all that said, i don't know if this is the greatest space opera ever written since i haven't watched that much space opera to judge the quality of this sub genre. But do enjoy one of the greatest war epics ever told, and one of the greatest anime ever produced.

kenna86 - 2013-07-05 12:38:12

Before all, I'd like to state that this rather lengthy review contains no spoilers. I can assure you, you can read it and you'll enjoy the anime just as if you've read nothing about it before - to be honest, I don't even touch the story. Now, on to the review.

In every society and community there are certain expectations that have to be met if you want to regard yourself as a part of said community. Be it an initiation ritual, a predefined amount of wealth or knowledge, we strive to achieve these to be full fledged members.

Of course the anime community isn't different. If you like shounen you can't add anything of value to the conversation until you've seen Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. If you like thrillers, you can't avoid watching Monster. If you're interested in the piloted humanoid battle robots that we call Mechs you most definitely need to watch Gundam and Evangelion.

Why am I talking about such things? Because Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, or as it's more known, Legend of the Galactic Heroes (LoGH) became a requisite for calling yourself a "sophisticated" anime viewer. Even more, it became a scale of one's taste. Just ask for an intelligent anime with interesting and "non-whimpy" characters on any anime forum, sooner or later - more likely sooner - in a reaction to recommendations like Death Note and Code Geass, someone is bound to say that the two above are nothing next to LoGH.

The question is: has this anime become what it is today only because of its age and hype that accumulated trough the years and is nothing more than an arbitrary obstacle that serves only to help the "anime elite" retain its position, or is it really something that's worthy of your time and can be called a must watch to those who like mature anime? To sum it up shortly: it is, but not for everyone. Interested in the longer explanation? Read on.

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is an OVA series that was published from 1988 to 1997. Given its long timespan one would think that it's an overly long, artificially lengthened story, full of filler episodes and without a clear direction. Thankfully that's not the case, but regardless, the series consists of an overwhelming 110 episodes, all of which actually drive the story forward. Needless to say, this number is - along with the dated visuals - the biggest argument against watching it by the average anime viewer. If you count the additional OVA stories, by the time you can finish the series you could complete Monster and Brotherhood from the previously mentioned anime, both of which are already considered lengthy. There's no argument against it, the series is long. Yet, for some reason masses watch Naruto, Bleach and other, much longer shows. Then why does the episode count stop people from watching this series, and not those?

The short answer is: its casual enjoyment. While the more popular battle shounen of today have their fair share of haters along their fans, no one can argue that they are entertaining - at least for a while - without requiring your full attention. It's not the case with Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu. Imagine Star Wars, but replace the action filled battles, training, jedi powers and stunning visuals with political intrigue and strategical thinking. You can't just sit down after work and watch a couple of episodes to blow some steam off.

Before I started watching the series it was described to me as Code Geass without magical powers, overpowered units and excessive use of deus ex machina. Maybe this is the best angle to approach the anime from, since Code Geass is one of the most popular anime, and the similarities really are striking. I wouldn't like to go into details, - the review is long enough as it is - but Reinhard can most definitely be seen as a more plausible version of Lelouch. Name any event that happened to Lelouch and chances are, it happened or will happen to Reinhard too at some point in his life. Even their motivation is identical, that is, creating a world in which their sister can happily live. And, however much people protest, even though there's no godly unit like Lancelot in LoGH, Yang Wenli - Reinhard's most worthy opponent and the other protagonist of the series - achieves everything that Lancelot does, and more. If I had to name one problem with the series, it would definitely be related to his achievements. While they start off as plausible and his plans - or rather, schemes - are ingenious in the beginning, later on the story he becomes an invincible force, to the point that even though the enemy has 10 times as many ships as him, even the viewer feels that they are in a clear disadvantage against Yang, which is achieved by suddenly making the previously ingenious and level headed enemy admirals to commit ridiculous mistakes over and over again and falling for the most basic traps. This plot armor made me so outraged at times that at one point I literally started to play a rage game on the internet to calm myself - and no, I'm not kidding.

Regardless of this, if you try to detach yourself from what's happening and just focus on the story, relations and scheming, slowly but surely the world's going to pull you in. While I don't like to use the word 'epic', since it became much too ordinary and common these days, it certainly is the best word to describe the scale of the series. Solar systems and dynasties fall, tens of millions of soldiers die in battles, riots and rebellions start in square lightyears of areas, and you get to know dozens of fortresses, admirals, commanders, politicians and schemers. And by the time you finish the series, you feel like you witnessed a small piece of history.

Most likely that is the main selling point of the anime. Not one area of the anime is flawless, it's not even close to it. But when you put it all together and look at it as a whole, you understand that it's something entirely different. In my honest opinion that's why it became a trophy in the community. Because by watching and actually liking this series one doesn't acknowledge the art, the story or the characters of it. By not picking on the details and appreciating it as it is, the viewer matures from his teens to the adulthood of anime viewing.

So, to answer my own question: this anime isn't watched to be enjoyed. It's something that you experience. So, if you're ready to watch something to change your views of anime, not solely to enjoy yourself, watch it. Otherwise, it's not for you. Not yet.