Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Finished watching Legend of Galactic Heroes


One of the greatest masterpiece of Science Fiction

Finally after 110 episodes i have finished Legend of Galactic Heroes or "Heldensagen vom Kosmosinsel" or "Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu". I picked this anime since /m/ praise this series and watched it on youtube. My first impression of this series is LOGH is one of the most epic Sci fi ever animated and soon it is easily entered one of my toplist. Basically the story is about constant war between Monarchy and Democracy and a man fulfilling his ambition to unite the whole galaxy while facing a rival from opposing side. The story takes place in a galaxy where humanity had left the Earth, the two opposing side is Galactic Empire led by Goldenbaumm Dynasty and Free planet Alliance.



The main protagonist is Reinhard Von Lohengramm, prominent young Admiral of Galactic Empire who eventually become the ruler of Galactic Empire by overthrowing Goldenbaumm Dynasty. In the beginning of the series he is shown to be a low rank officer in the army but eventually rising through the ranks slowly. Despite his young age, he possess great charisma and intelligence which makes his ambitions can be realized.


The other main protagonist isYang Wenli , a Free Planet Allliance Officer. He is a genius strategist and aims to be a historian but ends up joining military to protect his Nation. Yang Wenli serve as Rival of Reinhard due to opposing side. Just like Reinhard, Yang met lots of oppositions from his side but he never attempt to overthrow the government despite he is capable to do so. Yang also often quote plenty of philosophies which are really valuable and my favorite one is Soldiers are tools of Violence, Violence to Oppress or Violence to destroy.

The main selling point of this anime is its richness in political values and philosophies as well as Brilliant war tactics and strategy, rather than fan services or flashy mecha actions which makes this series is really one of a kind. This series also show the example of the worst Democracy and the idealistic Autocracy. Probably LOGH is the only anime that i have ever watched that handle Philosophy and Politics properly. While LOGH didn't have any mecha in the series the Battleship battles are really interesting and the infantry warfare are exciting.

Probably the only downside of this series is that it has too much texts for regular anime fans to enjoy and it takes 110 whole episodes to finish which might discourage some to watch it. However all 4 seasons of the series are consistently enjoyable and you won't regret to watch it

If you are a fan of Scifi and you like philosophies and briliant strategy rather than flashy mecha action, you will definitely enjoy LOGH. However i have to admit that this series will never be mainstream material since the animation has aged and no moe stuffs which are popular for general demographic. You can also watch the sidestory of this series like Gaiden and the other OVA which are really good as well though it is best to avoid the Golden Wings.

2 comments:

  1. did you also watch other episode with different side. because we did focus more on Reinhardt story but you saw and hear moments of the other episode... i did also watch them but i found not so decent than first 110 episodes...

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  2. Gaiden may not be as good as the Main series considering they are made to sate the thirst of the fans after the main series finished and thus Gaiden is not that deep compared to it. But it is still interesting to see how Reinhard and Yang goes really long way to reach their position in the main series.

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