Reviews for Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (8.65) 392j48

Note: This review is based on Central Anime fansubs, which are surprisingly good considering the age of this anime. Quality is plausible, while the translation is pretty good.



Based on a novel written by Ishigoro Noboro (Astro Boy TV2) Legend of Galactic Heroes is an magnificent space opera, an undying classic which not only holds the value of helping anime media to go as far as it did, but is interesting and engrossing enough to overshadow many anime which came, or will come after it. It is a massive historic record of the life of Reinhard von Lohengramm, a man of unrivaled talent, enormous pride and invincible will. A man who sets out to conquer, to get his hands on the whole galaxy known to humanity. It is a tale about politics, about vigorous clashing of absolutism, democracy and religious sects. It is a tale about the foolishness of humanity which, even after thousands of years, still wages wars for the very same reasons, repeating the never ending circle. Rich both in strategy and political dogmas, Legend of Galactic Heroes is a must-watch for everyone daring to call himself an anime fan.

Animation: 5/10

Animation by Kitty Films, as could be expected from a show of 110 episodes length, improves with time. However, as could also be expected from a show made more than 20 years ago, animation is certainly outdated. I it it must have been quite good when the show originally came out, I mean, it doesn't look that ugly even now, but, well, in some instances you will definitely feel the drawbacks of now ancient technology. Well, still better than black and white movies, mind you.

Bland backgrounds and lack of fluidity certainly leaves much to be desired. Especially space battles appear quite lame. All you see are some geometric ships in the dark background shooting weird lights around the screen. Well, I guess, it's as far as they could go in those years. People also look quite weird when they move. Especially in the first episodes there are many cases where they seem to literally slide around the screen. Oh yeah, it should be noted that there is some really cool gore scenes in this show. I certainly didn't expect to see intensities coming out of a maimed person in anime of the previous millennium.

Character designs is the part which aged the least in this show, for example the design of Lohengramm is simply amazing. Be it his young days, be it his later years, his majestic aura never ceases to shine. When he grows long hair and people start comparing him to lion, I got the feeling he is getting quite similar to Griffith (Berserk), my all time favourite character. So yeah, Lohengramm does look awesome. Other characters, unfortunately, are quite generic: short hair, simple faces, one brush here other there; nothing to gaze at. Well I guess it suits the show though when you consider the fact that Lohengramm is supposed to be above normal humans in every way possible. Though I still felt kind of unfulfilled without any attractive female designs. Also, near the end of the show, for some reason, animation as a whole suddenly improves, but character designs, in a few scenes, become slightly inconsistent. Weird.

Sound: 8/10

Yeah, sound effects might not be the greatest, but the music quality is marvelous. And it's no surprise as the track offers classical music collected from various distinguished composers. I have even had the luck to hear some compositions of my favorite Czech composer Dvorak here and there. I must it I was quite surprised there. However, the somewhat clunky direction by Akegatawa Susumu (Barefoot Gen, Utawarerumono) doesn't do the great music justice. Too much silence, far too much silence! And even if the great composition is on a go, it's barely modified, they just let a 10 minutes long track go from the beginning of the episode to its middle, even though a lot of different stuff happens during that time. All opening and ending songs of the show without exception are soft, lyrical pieces, which, well, kind of suit the mood of space opera. Though I must say classical instrumental themes would have suited the epic feel of Legend of Galactic Heroes far better.

Voice-acting talents, however, are worthy of the great music this show spurts. Mitsuishi Kotono (Neon Genesis Evangelion as Misato Katsuragi, Sailor Moon as Usagi Tsukino) has a role of Katerose von Kreutzer and successfully makes her into the only female character that I have actually noticed in this show.

Story: 9/10

It's not so common in anime to find a story which fixates on such heavy politics. It's really cool when they show the weaknesses as well as strengths of both democracy and absolutism. It actually made me realize that absolutism is not only a logical polity, but is more efficient than democracy. If you have a good ruler that is (which is the same idealistic impossibility communism was). Anyway, it's really cool when you can observe both sides of the conflict. It kind of makes you want root for both of them and you usually get confused in the battlefield. Who is really right? Who is really wrong? Both of them are right, both of them a wrong, and humanity simply cannot exist without causing conflicts after all.

The show is long, but it is so good you will not notice how fast do those episodes go. It's a great political tale, it gives you much insight in politics, it tells a tale of a hero. There are some awkward moments in the beginning, like when one of the characters repels terrorists with a water hose, but once the stage moves to space all becomes believable and emotionally engrossing. It's also pleasant that you never know who will win and who will die, as even some of the main characters might not be shielded by the definite "immortality". Like in the real history.

Characters: 8/10

This show has two main characters, Reinhard von Lohengramm and Yang Wen-Li. One stands for autocracy, one for democracy. Both of them are unrivaled war leaders, and both of them respect each other. While Reinhard is fueled by ambition, Yang is fueled by the feelings of protecting peace. Reinhard is a natural born leader and, once he attains power, makes his empire advance fast and far. Yang Wen-Li on the other hand wants to end the war and become a historian. Since he has little interest in politics, corrupted politicians make use of him, and usually screw everything up in the battlefield thanks to their incompetent decisions. Though very different, both stars of the show are really attractive human beings and great leads. Both of them represent something and do a great job at that. Though I personally lean to Reinhard's philosophy, I can easily see many people rooting for Yang. Anyway, it kind of reminded me of Death Note and Light Yagami's battle versus L. Though not as engrossing, Legend of Galactic Heroes might have been the great grandfather of such battle of wits.

There are some great side characters as well. Oskar Von Ruental is the first one who comes to mind. Though not very important at the beginning he starts to carry the show near its end. Though not as brilliant as Lohengramm, Ruental is also a genius military leader with many ambitions, who though, likes autocracy, views it in different eyes than Lohengramm. Another great character is Paul von Oberstain who is using Machiavellian dogmas in pretty much every situation. In turn he is hated by everyone, but his actions keeps the stability of things and makes the state to efficiently move forward. Though completely emotionless, I found much to like in his evil labeled character.

On the other hand, despite the fact that this show spurts a tremendous amount of various characters, only very few others without the already mentioned ones, are developed to the level where they can be called human beings. The biggest disappointment is probably the fact that this show doesn't have a single engrossing female character. All females which come into the picture are like background, they ask questions, make coffee and do other useless stuff. Katerose was the only female character I found interesting, but, unfortunately, she didn't get enough screen time to become a full fledged character. Hilda von Mariendorf, on the other hand, gets her screen time, acts a fairly important role in the romance inclined episodes and works as a plot device quite a few times, but her, well, simple existence, is so overshadowed by the brilliant male leads that you can barely notice her. Also, the leaders of religious sects are way too shallow. I mean, after having an 'evil' guy like Oberstein who seriously has many reasons to be 'evil', it kind of feels weird to see a generic evil guy commanding a crazy sect of lunatics to blow everything up and ...err, attain power through that? How exactly?

Myers-Briggs personality indicator:



Value: 7/10

Let's face it. Legend of Galactic Heroes is good, it's even great, but it's still 110 episodes long. I certainly wont delete it, I will keep it in my collection and will write it to the DVDs. However I can not tell I am going to re-watch this anime for sure. It's a show which should be experienced at least once, then kept in the memories with all the other classics.You wont find that many shows similar to this one after all and it's always interesting to see an evolutionary cornerstone of a particular media.

1. Conclusion: Though officially labeled for 13+ years old viewers Legend of Galactic Heroes is a classic which is best watched by a more mature 17+ audience. I mean, what kind of insight in politics and Machiavellian dogmas can you have when you are 13? Anyway, not only it is a classic, it is a great anime by itself. Many emotional, many engrossing moments await you in there. Even after 20 years there haven't been a show which could mimic Legend of Galactic Heroes. So if you like space operas, you fancy megalomania, are interested in politics or like strategy, darn, give this great show a shot and you wont be disappointed. Seriously, there haven't been a show like Legend of Galactic Heroes yet, but if I were to say, I think Code Geass are relatively new shows which resemble this anime best.[/i]