10.27.2005 - Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Seasons 1 & 2

Posted in Anime, Legend of the Galactic Heroes by Epi at 8:06 pm

Reinhard Von Lohengramm	Reinhard’s childhood friend, Siegfried Kircheis
Yang Wenli, with Frederica Greenhill (L) and Julian Minci (R)	I thought it was funny that Frederica has a mullet
Each one of the dots in the background is a ship. These battles truly are on another scale	They don’t try do pretty anything up. Here an injured soldier’s guts are spilling out

Over the past week most of my free time (and not so free time) has been dedicated to watching one of the best anime series that I’ve ever seen, the Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Over a decade old, this 110 episode series is broken up into four seasons which were released over many years in an OVA format. Based on a series of books by the same name, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a story of war in a massive scale, and the lives that it touches.

The story concerns a time 1500 years into the future when mankind has expanded to the stars, during a time of great war between the two main powers of the age, the democratic Alliance of Free Planets and the autocratic Galactic Empire, each controlling roughly half of the known habitable stars in the galaxy. More specifically the story chronicles the actions of two great military leaders, the young but infinitely ambitious Reinhard Von Lohengramm of the Galactic Empire, and the reluctant soldier of democracy, Yang Wenli of the Alliance. At only 20 years old, Reinhard is the youngest admiral ever in the history of the Empire, and his tactical genius and ambition make him an enemy to be feared. Meanwhile Yang Wenli is a 29 year old commondore of the Alliance fleet, gifted with superior tactical ability but is a reluctant soldier who sees the futility of war. In the midst of all this is the neutral territory of Phazzan, a merchant planet out to make a quick buck.

As our story begins, we learn that the Galactic Empire is a pretty horrible place for most of its subjects who have been fighting the wars of the powerful nobles who enjoy lavish lifestyles. At a young age Reinhard who was born to a barely noble family had his beloved sister shipped away to live in the Kaiser’s palace. Accompanied by his only and loyal friend Siegfried Kircheis, Reinhard vows to destory the empire and rescue his sister from the evils of the nobles. To that end the story follows Reinhard and his quest for universal domination. Meanwhile on the Alliance side, we learn about the corrupt democracy that Yang lives in, and one of the main themes of the story soon becomes what is really better, a corrupt democracy or a well run autocracy?

With the story being as epic as nothing less than galactic domination, LoGH manages to impress in many ways. Right off the bat in the very first episode, we are treated to a battle between the 20,000 ships of the empire against the 40,000 of the alliance. With no giant robots, super weapons and angsty teenagers the battles and wars of LoGH feel much more like the Napoleonic campaigns then that of traditional space operas. Perhaps the only other anime comparible to LoGH is the Crest of the Stars/Banner of the Stars series although even compared to that the thought and scale of this anime is at another level as the battles in LoGH are much less about the personal stories of any particular soldier than of the overall strategy of the commanders of the armies. Indeed one almost feels like they are watching a documentary on the history of ancient ship battles than of a sci-fi anime based millenia in the future. With a bunch of constraints because of technology, the large fleets move in formations reminicent of Napoleonic age except on a vast scale. It’s a testiment to this show that battles are decided by strategic decisions and the size of a force rather than by the individual soldier who has a lot of ‘fighting spirit’. War is shown very differently here than in almost every other anime but the aformentioned Crest of the Stars series. Yet the show never gets too caught up in only showing a few characters, and everyone from the admiral to the subcommanders down to individual soldiers are given screentime but you never feel overwhelmed. The staggering amount of characters in the show is somehow managable, and I applaud the decision of the show to have the character names flash underneath everytime you see someone unfamiliar.

One of the most important things to remember while watching LoGH is that it was produced over 15 years ago and on a very tight budget. The animation isn’t exactly the best, nor is the sound but perhaps looking only at production values is a bad way to go about it as the many great things about the anime far outweigh the shotty production values. To start off with the design of the anime is very original for a sci-fi epic. First of all, the entire empire is modelled after 19th century Germany, complete with the ornate state rooms inside the spaceships themselves. Meanwhile the alliance’s technology is more traditionally sci-fi, but its cities are modelled on modern day America, and Phezzan is modelled on modern day Japan. The technology is deliberately kept simple to very standard sci-fi technologies (the type you might see in Star Wars) which is preferable as no new complex systems need to be described or explained. Instead of having new and powerful technologies win the day, it’s human ingenuity and intelligence that wins battles. Meanwhile instead of having an extensive musical score, original music is kept to a minimum and the rest is filled in with classical music. Combining Beethoven with an empire modelled on 19th century Germany was a brilliant decision and adds a touch of class to this anime. The only thing I don’t really get in this anime is the extensive infantry battles. There seems to be a lot of infantry battles featuring guys in powersuits and axes which are seemingly more powerful than guys with guns. It’s pretty strange, but aside from this one thing, everything else in the anime is well explained.

Overall LoGH was a brilliantly orchestrated undertaking on the most massive scale. As you watch it, you feel as if you are living and watching the rise of Caesar, Alexander or Napoleon. The characters are complex, their motivations realistic, and the subject matter serious. LoGH is also one of the very few shows out there to actually try and discuss higher ideals as much of the show deals with what really is democracy and autocracy, and the merits and pitfalls of each system without trying to sound too preachy leaving one to make his own conclusions. As well the meanings of war and human failings are discussed as well. Definately a gem among even the brightest of animes, LoGH is one of the best shows that I’ve ever watched and I can’t wait for the rest to be subbed.

The Legend of the Galactic Heroes is currently being subbed by Central Anime and recently reached episode 51/110.