The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

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Kenji
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

No problem. :)

Incidentally, I think the other movie, Overture to a New War, is basically Episodes 1 and 2 with added footage. I haven't seen it, myself, though.

So, I suppose you could watch both movies without being spoiled.
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Red Comet90
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

Thanks, I'll look into them and see if I can find any summaries or something describing them. A shame there aren't wikipedia articles on them.
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Chris
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

Kenji wrote:By, "the movie," do you mean My Conquest is the Sea of Stars? I don't think it's necessary to watch it, but I remember there being a reference in the series to a tactic Yang used in that movie. I don't think the movie spoils anything from the OVA.

Then again, I did watch it after finishing up the first season, so my memory's a little fuzzy.
It absolutely is necessary to watch "My Conquest is the Sea of Stars." It was the first thing produced for the anime and sets up everything that is followed afterward by the main OVA series.
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Kenji
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

Well, I won't argue with that. Though, I started with the OVA and never felt lost or confused, so I deemed it "unnecessary" as a result.
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Chris
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

Kenji wrote:Well, I won't argue with that. Though, I started with the OVA and never felt lost or confused, so I deemed it "unnecessary" as a result.
Given that this is the first "official" encounter between Yang and Reinhard in battle and they learn of each other's existence, I'd say it's pretty important.
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Antares
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

I just checked wiki and learned that LoGH Gaiden isn't actually chronologically ordered. They could've fooled me. Anyhow, when re-watching LoGH this time around, I started with the Gaiden since I felt they were laying down the groundwork, moved on to My Conquest of the Sea of Stars, and from thereon out to the series itself. I haven't seen Overture to a New War, though...
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Chris
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

Yeah, both seasons of Gaiden jump around. They're not direct lines. If you go back and watch closely, you can hear establishing time bits in the narration, as well as with people's different ranks. There's also parts where Reinhard is called either Musel or Lohengramm, so that helps shuffle the order too. As for Overture to a New War, it's not a huge amount of anything new. It basically just picks up right after My Conquest is the Sea of Stars and fills in that gap, plus reanimates the first two episodes. The movie quality animation makes it worth the watch, though.
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padre
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

If anyone's curious, this is the chronological order. There may be more dates in the narration than these, but I was not entirely thorough in note taking.

Golden Wings Prologue - 780/471(?) – 791/482
Spiral Labyrinth 1-14 – May 788/479 – Feb. 25 789/480
A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights 1-4 "Silver-White Valley" - July 791/482
Spiral Labyrinth 15-22 "The Mutineer" "The Duelist" - Aug. 791/482 - Jan. 792/483
Golden Wings Main Action - 792/483
Spiral Labyrinth 23-26 "The Retriever" – Dec. 792/483 – Jan. 793/484
A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights 5-8 "Dreams of the Morning, Songs of the Night" - 793/484
A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights 13-24 - Mar. 794/485 - Dec. 794/485
Spiral Labyinth 27-28 "The Third Tiamat Battle" - Dec. 794/485 - Feb. 795/486
My Conquest Is the Sea of Stars – September 795/486
A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights 9-12 "Disohonr" – Nov. 795/486
Overture to a New War - Oct. 795/486 - Jan. 796/487
Main Series 1-110 – Jan. 796/487 – 801/003(492)
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

At 110 episodes I thought this series might have been a slog to get through, but I found myself ensnared by it. I really enjoyed the tactical maneuvering both in battle and in the political arena (and I couldn't stand Job Trunhit, but that was the point of the character). Although I must admit I found myself empathizing more with Reinhard than with Yang Wen-li. I think it was his drive and hope (could you call it that?) for a better Empire than the one he grew up with, and I appreciated his ability to find the right person for the job and to be able to entice them to do it and reward them based on their performance.

So much more I could say, but back to work I have to go...
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Red Comet90
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

padre wrote:If anyone's curious, this is the chronological order. There may be more dates in the narration than these, but I was not entirely thorough in note taking.
I deleted part of your post to not stretch the page, but thanks! I don't know why they made it all so confusing in how the episodes and movies are laid out. Its jumbled and now since I watched My Conquest is the Sea of Stars I'm confused as to how he goes from Musel to Lohengramm.

I may just watch the movie that fills in the gap according to Chris.

Other than that I really enjoyed the movie and I like how the entire space battle scene doesn't have a single explosion sound effect or "pew pew" noise. Its all silent and the space battles are actually pretty "real" in how they were depicted between the fighters and ships.
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Koshernova
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

I just wrapped up season three, so I guess it's time for a spoiler tag.
Spoiler
Dear lord this show pulls no punches.

I knew of Yang's death of course, before I started watching the show. But by 'pulls no punches' I mean that the writing of the episode, and the ones after, really bring home the suffering that Yang's death has caused, the void it has left in everyone, and the nonsensical brutality that brought it along. If this were a 'typical' sci-fi anime, Reinhard would have gotten his final showdown with the previous kaiser, and with Yang. But that's not how things happen in the real world, most of the time, and the writing of LoGH reflects this perfectly. Instead, it gives us the drama of a pointless death, the emotional impact it has on the higher echelons of the galaxy.

His death is so slow, too. It's not a simple headshot, but rather a drawn-out sequence as you see him slowly bleed to death and lament his own sins. Absolutely brutal on your heartstrings. A few episodes later, I must admit to being a PATHETIC FANGIRL and singing along to the FPA anthem in its glorious democratic bad english.

And, to leave this post with a question, something that has been bothering me for a bit. I really, really don't get Merkatz. As far as I can figure out, he leaves the Empire because he doesn't want to work with Reinhard, and believes in restoring the Goldenbaum dinasty with Erwin Josef as the legitimate heir to the throne. But he then falls in with the Yang fleet and becomes a very, very loyal ally to Yang, essentially fighting for democracy through battle after battle after battle. He's highly trusted, yet neither him nor Schneider ever stop wearing their imperial uniforms. In a latter episode of season 3, Poplan asks Schneider why he fights with them, and Schneider doesn't answer. I have heard that non-OAV material speaks a bit more about Merkatz's motivations, but no specifics. Has anyone got any light to shed on this?
On a final note, I want to say that even if you've watched the main series already, My Conquest is the Sea of Stars is worth your time, purely for the battles of Regnitzer and Tiamat, which are both quite fantastic and set to amazing music.
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

On a final note, I want to say that even if you've watched the main series already, My Conquest is the Sea of Stars is worth your time, purely for the battles of Regnitzer and Tiamat, which are both quite fantastic and set to amazing music.
Ravel's Boléro does that, yeah. :)
Spoiler
I didn't know of Yang's death in advance, and right up to the point before the screen went charcoal and the narrator said "his time ran out", I had expected a last-second rescue by Julian. I fully agree with you Kosh, it is one of the best deaths in sci-fi simply because it is so utterly pointless, and even mundane. There are no specific heroics related to it, and the poor man bleeds to death. I distinctly remember getting a little misty at that.

On Merkatz I don't really have an opinion. I always thought he saw himself as a complete outsider, an old man in a world he didn't feel like he belonged in. He fought for the nobles, and found them irredeemably corrupt. He couldn't agree with Reinhard, so exile seemed like the only recourse. Perhaps Merkatz is an old soldier in the sense he simply looked for a cause to fight for, and found one in Yang. Then after Yang's death, I assume he stuck around out of sense of honor and loyalty. Maybe they didn't remove their uniforms because they didn't sign up with the FPA, but with Yang.
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Red Comet90
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

I just recently finished the main series myself after taking a really long break from anime watching in general. It was fantastic. The show had so many high points all throughout. It wasn't flawless but the scope of the show easily shakes those flaws off. Every death in the show was brilliant in its execution because it didn't feel unnatural or forced.

In many ways the passing of characters was very much like real life where its sudden and unpredictable but it was also done in such a way where you weren't left wondering about the character himself.

I also noticed how so many other anime shows were influenced by this in some way with how the story developed and even the characters themselves. Its a shame that anime isn't geared in this direction, but I'm glad LOGH is around.

On that note though I've started the Gaiden series and its rather disappointing so far..I feel like I'm just watching filler episodes rather than back story episodes.
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

I agree going back to Gaiden after the main show seemed a little odd. Maybe Kircheis was a little too goody-goody to survive in the main series for very long so they got more mileage out of the seiyuu? :mrgreen: And in many cases the storylines themselves were a little boring when you compare military academy murder mystery hi-jinks to, I don't know, conquering the known universe. ;)

I think LoGH has been fairly influential, but most of that hasn't stuck visibly in many shows. For one, LoGH required the setting of an epic, and few shows have the patience (or the funding) to follow that lead. The best case in point in my mind was Tytania, which was penned by the same guy who did LoGH. Tytania got short-changed in almost every single way, and after three promising opening episodes it deteriorated into bloodless silliness where the showiness of space battles gave way to lack of logic or tactical sense. This was especially glaring when it was clear that the story was rushed to get past some point (to settle for 24 episodes) with a cheap trick. Fan Hyulick was no Yang Wen-Li, and never had the chance to develop into one. In that sense, I am doubtful that they could do something like LoGH again.

I would think LoGH is required viewing (or reading) for any writer of sci-fi, especially if they do it for the telly. As I'm also still rewatching LoGH myself in a leisurely pace, I've wondered how well the series could take it if they made it live-action. Do you think the risk of ruining the original (anime, not the book) would be worth it?
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Koshernova
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

Antares: Well, the side stories are based on side story novels, so it's less to get more mileage out of Kircheis's Seiyuu (the drastically underused Masashi Hironaka), and more to get mileage out of Yoshiki Tanaka's writings. I'd imagine Tanaka was always interested in exploring Kircheis and Reinhard's backstory, and how their friendship went from childhood buddies to loyal war brothers. Although, IIRC, some of the story arcs we see in the Side Story anime are taken from the original novels, not from the Side Story novels, but were excised from the original 110 OAV, possibly to make the main present story flow better.

Also, hey, there's a LoGH musical premiering next year! They've put up pictures of the entire cast in costume, and it looks interesting to say the least. This will be the first of a series of musical dramas, and from Google Translate it appears it will focus on Season 1 of the OAV series, exclusively from the Galactic Empire side (look at the cast page, they've got everyone down to Wahlen but not a single Alliance character).

My thoughts? Their Mittermayer looks too femmy! And their Oberstein doesn't strike me as super evil. I hope we get to watch this in some form :)

http://gineiden.jp/
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TakaTahuNuva
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

Kosh wrote:Also, hey, there's a LoGH musical premiering next year! They've put up pictures of the entire cast in costume, and it looks interesting to say the least. This will be the first of a series of musical dramas, and from Google Translate it appears it will focus on Season 1 of the OAV series, exclusively from the Galactic Empire side (look at the cast page, they've got everyone down to Wahlen but not a single Alliance character).

My thoughts? Their Mittermayer looks too femmy! And their Oberstein doesn't strike me as super evil. I hope we get to watch this in some form :)

http://gineiden.jp/
Wow. I've heard of the musical before but this is the first time I've seen the cast.

Mittermeyer isn't blond enough, Bittenfelt isn't red-haired enough, Mecklinger isn't mustache'd enough, and Merkatz... Merkatz doesn't even resemble his anime version.

That said, I'm sure it's going to be a very impressive play. Doubtful we will ever get to see it though.
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

Wait WHAT?! Why am I hearing about this only now?! I would've paid all the necessary moneys from my hoard to see this thing, and it's on only until the end of Jan?
Argh. Frustration. Choking. Life. Out of me.
I'm going to go to Japan either way in April to see the cherry blossoms bloom (yeah, a cliché, I know), and this would've been so awesome.
I can only hope this was just the first part and they'll do the rest later. They didn't even have links to promotional clips. :(

Sure, none of the cast even remotely looks like their namesakes, but then again these are Japanese actors portraying characters that were veritably teutonic in their countenance. They had to make do with what they without massive make-up, I would think.
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tHeWasTeDYouTh
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

I remember the entire series was posted in some website and I was lucky enough to see it all before it got taken down

wow man what an epic tale, I really love how one of the quotes from Yang is something like "wars are almost never about good vs bad people, most if not all are about good people against other good people"

that is so true, I love how they show how corrupt democracy can be but Yang still continues to fight for it

Great show, I hope one day I will be able to buy it
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Darkerangel
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

nvm.
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kayone73
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Re: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes Thread

I managed to grab the entire main OVA series (1-110) and just hit the start of the 3rd season/story arc. man I am addicted to this show, and for something plot and dialogue heavy, I'm tearing thru 5-6 eps a night. What kind of depresses me is one of the main points the author makes about the cyclical nature of war in human history and some of the fictional history from the transition from humanity on earth to the eventual Galactic Republic and atrocities committed by people of all types, was horrifying and depressing.

I'm amazed that a historian like Yang Wen-Li has even a grain of faith in the nature of humanity at all. I'd become all cynical.
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