Anime: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu

The art can be inconsistent and character designs can feel a bit clunky in execution. The animation pops in major scenes while feeling a bit stilted outside of that.
The sound work is well done to create tension very well but the music itself can sometimes feel a bit off based on the scenes context.
The story is amazing and well told but in areas can feel a bit forced and repitive and some characters can feel shubbed in but overall a solid story thanks to how the main characetrs and the characters around them are writtent o build to a climax.
The characters are well relaized and expnaeded upon though some times newer characters can feel less like characters and more like props to show anonther characters ability.
This show holds a great deal of value for how to write characters and tell a story.
I enjoyed this series though the pacing did make it hard to enjoy in areas to an extreme.

Art & Animation:
The art is unique and well done but can struggle to be consistent. The animation also struggles with consistency but can be really good.
Sound:
The sound work is average but can overall be improved if it adds more Star Trek likes song themes into it,
Story:
The story is unique and solid but can overplay itself in cases.
Character:
The characters are well done but can fall into stereotypes of certain kinds of people constantly.
Value:
The story holds minimal value personally as it preaches generic messages.
Enjoyment:
I quite enjoyed aspects of this anime bt could be improved.

You may as well skip the rest of this review, because the bottom line is this: this is the ultimate military and sci fi anime to date. There is no other anime that can outcompete it in this genre and this is a universally accepted fact at this point.

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (Legend of the Galactic Heroes) is a 1988-1997 anime that many consider to be the best and most sophisticated anime to date. While there are a multitude of reviews for this anime, I thought I would give it a go as well. That said, this anime is far more complex because of its length and, and as such I doubt I will cover everything there is that can be said about the anime here. Additionally, there are a ton of reviews for this anime that cover in the very least the facts about it quite well, such as the historical prototype of the planet Phezzan, and so I will not go into those too much either. I do not feel I can add too much to what is said in those reviews. Apparently there is even an academic work covering such themes in this anime by a polish man. This review is mostly my impressions from the perspective of cinematography. One thing I will say right off the bat, is that one has to be careful with subtitles in this anime, as I feel some translations are better than others.

As far as I am aware and as was said earlier, this anime completely outclasses most military-futuristic anime as well as political anime or even most live action work for that matter. By that classification I mean popular anime like Code Geass, Attack on Titan, Youjo Senki, or 86, the latter being representative of a more modern series. All of these anime bring forth somewhat overlapping ideas and they fall far short in the same fields of thought as compared to those in this anime. They also fail to achieve the same levels of execution in direction and plot. In the very least I have not come across anything that comes even close. To be sure, it tackles a very ambitious premise and executes it well. That said, at a length of 110 episodes, it is very daunting to watch it fully and take it all in as a single series and is generally prohibitive to people who would prefer to casually watch anime, though it is very enticing and people who prefer to binge watch their anime will spend every second available to finish this series.

As a whole, the main thing in terms of themes that differentiates this anime from the aforementioned millitary-futuristic anime is that the anime overall avoids any edgyness and yet it is deathly serious on its non trivial themes and messages. It goes to the point that you not only sympathise with the 'villains' (if they can be called that) but it is always unclear for whom you should be rooting for and not because of the "you know the villain's backstory and how he came to be this way but he is still bad' cliche, which happens all too often. There are a lot of themes present in the anime, from merits of democracy versus autocracy, to Machiavellianism. It should be said, though, that the themes themselves are often looked at on the surface and there is no deepness or newfound truths, so to speak, that are shown here. Instead we get how these themes intersect and work convincingly, which is just as good. The anime tackles the various paradoxes that can threaten the existence of schools of political thought and how to rectify those paradoxes. For instance, the very existence of the perfect and just autocratic ruler in the face of Reinahard von Lohengramm already threatens the advantages of a democratic system, in the eyes of Yang Wenli. At the same time, the defender of democracy Yang Wenli is himself an amalgamation of some of the best takes I have heard of in terms of politics and life in general. He is also a very conceptual character in that he may not be a perfect soldier or a ruler like Lohengramm, but he is a ridiculously powerful tactician and strategist as well as completely unwavering in his beliefs. His Achilles heel is the fact that he is ready for a lot of sacrifices for his beliefs. There is also some irony associated with him as he collected a lot of his friends and allies not only through his beliefs, but through his character, which on its face is the hallmark of an authoritarian ruler to be, even if he defies any such transformation. That just goes to show that even good would-be authoritarian rulers have their place in a democracy. Similairly, the existence of Job Trunicht shows the weakness of democracy. He was not some alien or part of any particular conspiracy. He was even worse than an opportunist, as someone who had nothing even vaguely relating to honour as part of his character, and thus allowed the Alliance to fall even when it had more than enough power to fight. Both of these examples are potent. There is also an overhanging theme of warfare going back to its roots with infantry using axes and crossbows in certain situations and not having access to reliable communication in the middle of a battle. This is supposed to say that mankind will fight with sticks and stones once again eventually. This goes to the larger point of futility of warfare, in that in the battles shown, it is normally tens of thousands of ships engaging one another and firing almost arbitrarily, which results in absolutely abyssmal casualties that are measured in the hundred thousands. In episode 51 it is shown that it becomes more of a chaotic event than a coordinated action at that point. One of the more subtle and powerful themes is that people can be much more contemptable than they themselves think. If even a small fraction of anime that is released nowadays had even vaguely similar ideas, then most anime would not be relegated to one season isekai stuff, ridiculed by the community. This anime trumps any anime I know of in terms of its themes, in the very least those that dictate how a government should be run as well as philosophy on warfare. Compared to this anime, almost all anime I have seen only use political and war themes in the form of mere repetitive platitudes, that is if they use them.

One fun thing to do is to read the texts that are shown in the anime, like on a piece of paper that is on screen. Some of them are so random it is hilarious.

The plot to the anime is very well done and excellently accentuates certain events and characters to fuel its message. I personally have never seen a more displeasing act of government control than that of what happened to Jessica Edwards, for instance. I suppose there are a couple of uncertainties in plot, but they are by far overshadowed by the merits of the plot and its tenets. It should also be noted that only twice in the whole anime do the authors show faster-than-light travel, despite it being mentioned earlier and clearly necessary for travel in this universe. This seems to exist as a given.

One aspect that makes the plot really successful is its pacing. With 110 episodes, the director had ample time to play his plot out fully and develop characters, not to mention tailor the direction to the music perfectly. For instance, with the case of Reuenthal's child, such a plot twist and all the other associated developments would not mean nearly as much (and are almost cliche on their own) were it not for the fact that Oskar von Reuenthal has been extremely and patiently developed as a character. There are quite a few such plot mechanisms that rely very heavily on them being executed patiently that would not work or would be cliche otherwise. Nowadays very few anime can maintain such pacing.

There are quite a few references in the anime to military lore, especially what appears to be the military history of the USSR. An FPA pilot was named Ivan Konev, a pretty obvious reference to a famous WWII Soviet commander. In a flashback to Yang Wenli's academy days, he can be seen looking at pictures that seem to depict the Eastern Front as well as possibly the Afghan War. A lot of the names of Imperial officers also vaguely correspond to famous German generals, though that is far from accident. Even Yang Wenli's story of wanting to become a historian which then turned into military leadership is reminiscent of Vo Nguyen Giap, a man who is credited with the defeat of about 4 different nations at the hands of People's Republic of Vietnam. A lot of places also resound of famous battles, such as Hotel Batavia on Phezan. An Alliance carrier is called Ameretat, which is a term in Zoroastrianism denoting that ancient religion's concept of immortality, which is ironic since that carrier did not last.

The direction is impeccable, especially in the battle scenes. I felt Antonin Dvorak's 9th Symphony Op 95 reverberate through my bones in Episode 15. In fact, episode 15 is an excellent example of how many "battle events" can be shown properly within one episode, something very few anime directors succeed at. This anime can compete with Star Wars in terms of direction with relative ease, though I would be hard pressed to say which one is a better series. Despite ample opportunity for shock scenes, the director used them very sparingly in order to suddenly show them in places like episode 51 to hammer a point across very effectively so much so, that that scene is more tragic rather than shocking. This puts this anime apart from Attack on Titan or 86, where gore is there simply for shock value and show generic and edgy "reality of warfare" type of thing with no overhanging motif. In particular in the case of Attack on Titan, because shock scenes have been overused, the viewer gets numb to them.

The animation looks very archaic as compared to modern anime obviously, owing to it being rather retro. It does take some getting used to, but it is detailed and fluid for most part. The animation quality and even some of the characters designs are somewhat inconsistent throughout, but that is because this anime took a decade to air. This means that Yang Wenli can look completely different a couple of episodes on, from a curved chin he goes to a more oval head with massive eyes, especially in the first half of the anime. The 4:3 format is also outdated and requires patience from the viewer. Many of the scenes containing spaceships have been reused as well in other episodes. Thanks to the animation and the direction, though, the viewer has a pretty decent time of following the various space battles, because it is not chaotic. The space battles do at times look a bit simple, because quite often they break up into ships simply exploding to indicate who is winning, which feels a bit primitive to do too much. Compared to a non-anime movie, Star Wars was quite a bit more creative and daring in its direction, thanks to Lucas, but he focused on following individuals through battles, with the battles themselves serving as more of a backdrop, whereas here the characters are directly in control and engaging in these massive battles. It should be noted that while it may seem that there is not too much gore and shocking scenes, this certainly changes with episode 52. In particular, the deaths of alliance crewmen in that episode is not something one can easily forget. This scene is also a very good example of how to use a shocking scene to underpin the ideology in the plot, unlike the 1st season of Attack on Titan, for instance, where it seems that the gory scenes were just a backdrop or a situation for the characters. Overall, while the direction is great, the animation is outdated and inconsistent, which may drive away some people from watching this anime. Animation is definitely the weakest part of this anime, though I feel they did what they could with it and did it well for the time and the massive amount of work.

There are several OPs and Eds throughout the anime, but the third ending was the most memorable for me. It showed what life Yang Wenli wished for. As the ED progressed and the music continued being dreamy, characters appear in the scene that are unlikely to appear as they were in front of Yang Wenli in his civil life. It soon cuts to Julian Mintz watching these scenes almost like a memory.

The characters in this anime are impeccable. Even all of their names sound so distinguished and yet natural, even the minor ones. That said, it is annoying that for most of them you have to actually remember their names, as there are quite a few characters. Louis Mashengo's repetitive eternal wisdom of "Humans cannot go against their fate" is notable and oddly fitting, that is for sure. Another thing I noticed is their likability. There are not really any characters who suddenly turn bad or the other way around. Simply put, most of the characters are very likeable and in general can be seen as very good people, but those characters that are shown as bad are literally presented as the worst things to exist. Probably the only mistake made in regards to characters is that some seemingly important characters are not given enough attention, such as Fyodor Patorichev of Katerose von Kreuzer. This also applies to Lao, who appears to feature more prominently in the novels and even in this anime he is recurring. Had they and other similar characters only had more dialogue, then the characters of this anime would be even better as a whole. For Patorichev to be given relatively little attention is also a shame, since he features quite prominently in the Spiral Labyrinth arc of the Gaiden series.

The OST is somewhat unique in that it almost entirely consists of either OPs and Eds or classical symphony music. Such music includes works by Frederic Chopin, Antonin Dvorak, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others. The precise music can be found on the many Spotify playlists relating to this anime. The symphony music is used very well and timely by the director, and I will never forgive them for that because I have found quite a few works by Mahler and Dvorak, but every time I listen to them, I instantly get thrown right back into the scenes from this anime. One thing to note is that AniDB lists the record brand VEB Deutsche Schallplatten in the credits to the music, presumably the classical ones. This record brand was a monopolistic enterprise in the German Democratic Republic. Among other things, I feel that even this adds more of the Prussian feel and adds to the political aspect of the anime, considering that Prussia was part of the GDR. Since GDR ceased to exist in 1990, it would make sense for that record brand to be able to sign an agreement to license the music for this anime, which started to air in 1988.

The legend of the Galactic Heroes is a product of tremendous ambition and extremely skilled execution in writing to back it up. If you are a fan of strategy and politics in anime, then I couldn't think of a better title, even taking into account its length and age. In this respect, it probably even trumps Code Geass, not to mention inferior and more edgy titles like Guilty Crown, that just involve these aspects simply as erstwhile plot mechanisms. It is also better than Youjo Senki, which has a relatively fresh setting, but is still just a pompous attempt at exposition of WWI style combat. In terms of dialogue between Prussian officers, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu outdoes Youjo Senki by a mile, if you are into that. With all of this in mind, it is a bit sad to see this anime fail to gather the same kind of classic status as other anime of the time and is instead relegated to a relatively obscure series, held in high regard by those that have watched it, but one that seemingly does not appeal to the general audience, contemporary and present. It seems that this is why the Die Neue Thesis series has been greenlit, as not that many people will link it to this anime at this point and it will seem newer than it is. Nevertheless, there is a fair amount of fan material made for specifically this anime, such as a wiki page (not hosted on Fandom, which is kind of quaint) and a mod for Sins of a Solar Empire, the latter of which, unfortunately, has not been updated in over a decade. To end this, I will agree with one of the earlier reviewers, greenobeano, in that this anime certainly has reconfigured my own scale by which I judge cinematography as a whole now. I can't bring myself to doubt that this anime is better than my "best" anime, but it certainly ravaged everything below that in my list and placed itself solidly at number 2. The curse of this anime is that having seen it, one will automatically compare other anime to this anime, and god forbid that the anime in question has any political or war themes.

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is based on a series of books written by Yoshiki Tanaka, which started to be published in 1982.
In the 36th century, the entire galaxy is divided between two forms of government: the democratic Alliance of Free Planets (13 billion people) and the autocratic monarchy of the Goldenbaum dynasty, the Empire (25 billion people), with the planet-neutral state Phezzan (2 billion people) located in the middle. The Alliance and the Empire have been at war for 150 years, with the aim of spreading their political system to another, but things are changing: in the Alliance, Admiral Yang Wen-li begins to rise through the ranks and gains momentum thanks to his strategy almost undefeated military. In the Empire, Reinhard von Lohengram overthrows the corrupt Goldenbaum dynasty to give its citizens a better life aimed at universal conquest. At the same time, a secret Earth cult wants to secretly rule the Universe, once one side conquers the other.

It is also worth remembering that the battles that take place in the anime are absurdly epic. They involve thousands of spaceships, all gigantic, with crews also in the thousands; and as a result, with each battle, hundreds of thousands of people end up dying. The term "large scale" would still be little to describe what happens during the battles in "Galactic Heroes".

However, the best part of this anime is not the plot and the battles of epic proportions, but the characters, especially the two protagonists. This is one of those series that show the characters over the years, giving us the chance to see the characters growing and becoming more influential within their respective nations. On the one hand we have the officer of the Armed Forces Yang Wen-Li, of the Alliance of Free Planets, and on the other side Reinhard von Lohengramm, who is part of the monarchy of the Galactic Empire. I’m not going to go into detail about what happens to them within the course of the series so as not to spoil the surprise, but you can be sure that these two eventually become extremely important figures and capable of influencing the course of history (within the anime universe, clear).

The most interesting thing is that the two are fascinating characters, who manage to advance their careers treading paths and using completely different strategies - and the two also end up becoming true rivals in the art of war (although they respect each other a lot).

In addition to these two protagonists, there is an incredibly large number of secondary characters, who are basically the officers subordinate to the protagonists, and many of them are, believe me, as interesting as Wen-Li and Reinhard.

One of the strongest points of the work is its history, it is very well built and rich in details. One of the main characters, in fact, is a historian. Yang decided to become a military officer precisely because at the officers' academy he would have the chance to study history without having to pay for a college. It is also worth remembering that the anime has a narrator who, at the beginning and at the end of the episodes, describes the events as if he were presenting a documentary, talking about the events that happen in the anime that they were part of the past. Several of the situations that happen in the anime can be compared to the historical events of our world - and many of the subjects and themes covered in the series are very current, “Galactic Heroes” is an anime that can really make you reflect on the socio-political context that Brazil and the world lives today.

Now let's comment on the animation quality of this series. This is one of the only points where I would say that the “Legend of the Galactic Heroes” may end up not pleasing, since, as it is a very old anime, both the line and the animation have a very old-fashioned aspect. It's nothing I would say is exactly bad, but you can see the look of this series is not comparable to the current standard of the Japanese animation industry.

Regarding the dubbing and soundtrack I can say that the anime does much better. The dubbing is very good, with the performance of some characters being quite striking, and the soundtrack is full of songs orchestrated in the classic style, which perfectly complements the grand atmosphere of the battles that take place during the episodes.

“Galactic Heroes” marked an era for having an extremely complex story, with realistic characters, as well as a very convincing and incredibly detailed universe.

As an anime from the 80s, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, or Legend of the Galactic Heroes (LOGH from now on) has become one of the big anime old classics, and with good reason.

Because it's an old anime, you can't expect the best animation sequences or anything close to what you can see now, almost 30 years later, but LOGH still managed to age perfectly well, as it never really relied on such things.

LOGH is a series with a lot of detail, were the main part of a battle isn't the fight itself, but the planning of it. What is really important is strategy and tactics. You will get full explanations about the formations of battleships, traps to lure the enemy and the many mind games played by the different characters.

Outside of battle, politics play a very big role. This series will give you a good chance to think a little bit about the advantages and disadvantages of democracy and autocracy, and probably learn a little bit (or a lot) of both.

Tactics vs strategy is a very big theme here. How can tactics affect the whole strategy, and how can a great tactics be worthless if you don't manage to win the strategy battle.

Watching LOGH is a little bit like watching a history documental (of course, a fictional one). There are many characters, and a lot of them play a big role some time or another during the series.

A great story needs great characters, and LOGH definitely delivers. Through the story you will get to love many characters, and probably hate others. Character development is also a very huge part of this series.

LOGH really likes to depict the horrors of war, so death is, of course, a very big theme, and there are a few strong images that might not be good for the faint of heart, but will help making the story much more meaningful.

LOGH is full of dialogue and requires a lot of attention from the viewer because every detail can be important... and that's exactly what makes this series special.

Again, animation is not perfect, and if you are good with details, you will most likely spot a few mistakes here and there, but none of those mistakes should really be a problem in you overall experience.

Finally, you can't talk about LOGH and not mention its music, which besides the openings, endings, and hymns from both sides of the battle, everything is classical music. Mahler, Beethoven, Tchaikovski, Mozart and a lot more, with everything very well applied to their corresponding scenes.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is really a unique journey in the anime world an beyond (its not fair to limit it only to anime). A very unique, long story that you will most likely not forget.

Please, you don't even have to bother reading the below - Just go see it. :-).

This is sort of what I felt after watching - An anime which tries to tell us the meaning of history, politics, love, character, selfishness, ego, greed, etc, etc; almost all aspects of life.

Animation:
This anime is now 20 yrs old, but even when I just started watching it, I did not feel that it was too old (the story starts slowly so maybe a tiny bit bored initially). Some things, like the space battleships, look quite outdated. But once you get engrossed into the story, none of this is going to matter.

Sound:
They have done it wonderfully. The sound of the people truly reflect the character it portrays. Music too was good.

STORY:
One thing that is super clear is that they wanted to tell us about life and they used this anime as a canvas to sketch it. While Full Metal Alchemist tries to do the same in a simpler and straitghtforward good guy bad guy way, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu does it in a mature way.

It was fun, the strategy and tactics in battle, politics, the subtle but beautiful love story woven into the multitude of issues happening throughout, etc.

CHARACTER:
They have gone to a lot of trouble to bring out a lot of characters in detail. What we see around and call the world is actually a culmination of the characters of the people who make it.

Value:
101%!

Enjoyment:
For me, animes like Avatar the last last air bender are more enjoyable. This story/anime is complex and I was repeatedly thrown into retrospection of my own life - it was that strong. I felt a lot of respect to this anime!

Even if you feel that its a little boring initially, please stick with it, you will be pleasantly rewarded.