Ginga eiyû densetsu

Legend of the galactic heroes (LOGH) is a massive space drama that is being set in a small section of space. This anime is almost unmatched in any media, there is not many shows that have these many locations, characters, topics, side plots and intricately strategic battles and have all of them written not only well, but exceptionally.

It is a sprawling epic with many dynamic and interesting characters that have their own philosophy and thoughts on extremely complex topics, and they represent the many facets of these topics without presenting one inherently above the other and instead showing the natural progression of certain philosophies and belief and what they would lead to.

I won't mince words here, forget star ratings and all the 9.3213/10 or whatever ratings you see here. It isn't possible to convey thoughts on a topic/show/movie with a simple rating, what I can tell you is that you should do yourself a favor, if you have any interest in politically dense, philosophical, and detailed world then give this anime a shot, there is almost nothing like it.

One of best series I've seen in a long long time. This space opera is without equal. Words fall short of praising this creation.

Great character development in this anime. Its evident that a tremendous amount of effort was put into the production of this anime, with detailed background info on most characters as well as locations, history, art, culture and the scenery.

Each episode will leave you wanting for more. Stories have been carefully designed not to show any bias to any particular political view. Impartiality is the motto of this anime.

The animation is good, considering the anime is from the late eighties. But, animation is not at all the defining aspect of this anime. Its the story and the characters.

The soundtrack is exemplary. The tracks clearly voice the thoughts of some of the characters in the sage. Beautiful to listen to.

Overall, this anime is a true masterpiece. Comparing this with other creations from this genre would be a disservice to this anime.

Whilst the mentions of Babylon 5 aren't far off the mark, I'd say this is more akin to what Game of Thrones would want to be once it grew up - and was set mainly in space.

I recommend Failsafe to anyone with control of nuclear weapons, and this series to anyone who is in or intends to go into government-it covers timeless questions concerning power and how those in charge manipulate others, and themselves, and the justifications they use. A much more nuanced look than the 'evil vs good' plots dominating Western media - both fictional and in reality.

Introduction:

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is one of the best anime ever made. An excellently written space opera, with interesting characters, and one of most original science fiction shows. And if you're getting started with anime, I recommend this as a start.

The Narrative & Characters:

This show has some of the best writing of any TV show. Why? Well let me tell you.

The show centers around a war between The Alliance and The Empire. And the show doesn't portray either side as evil. The Alliance may be a democracy, but it's still incredibly flawed and filled with corruption.

And while the other is a dictator ship. It gets things done better than the democracy. And has less corruption, however, there are more limits in freedom. Both presenting arguments, and asking the audience to choose. Like a good war story should do.

I can't praise this series enough, it also had interesting characters on each side. Some in the Alliance are evil, and some are descent people. And the same goes for the Empire. This is honestly the most realistic space opera ever written. As it feels like a real war, it just happens to be in space.

The series raises questions and gives us interesting characters to follow.

The Animation:

This is a weaker aspect of the show. The animation, it's only okay, and just kind of low quality. And I don't mind so much, because the writing makes up for that, but it's an anime. And I just expect a little more.

Conclusion:

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is an anime that should be watched by more people. It might be long, with 110 episodes, and there may not be a dub, but it's still worth a watch.

Perhaps you've seen this superior science-fiction series on the Net or at your anime club. It looks like a TV show because each episode is 25 minutes long but I understand it is a direct-to-video adaption of Yoshiki Tanaka's 19-book series "Legend of Galactic Heroes". Thanks to that devoted fan-base the 28 tapes finally were completed after 10 years.

LGH tells the story of Reinhard, son of a poor nobleman in the Galactic Empire. Reinhard's father allowed his older sister Annarose to be carried away to court as a concubine when he was a young boy. Because of that Reinhard vowed to topple the Emperor one day. This series is like a soap opera because there are a lot of schemers and schemes and while the plot seems to advance slowly you really can't skip many episodes. There is a big payoff at the end and everything comes to a satisfying conclusion. The writing is very good but I can see people getting bored.

I know there are efforts underway to get an official subbed version to the US but it is going to be a hard sell because there are so many episodes.