Wandering Earth - 流浪地球

 
 At strange turn of event, a chance encounter from the Sembo Brick Model early this month lead me to this Chinese Blockbuster Scifi Movie called Wandering Earth. I never expect Mainland China could produce a rather interesting Sci Fi series with the strict regulation of their government, but this movie proved that there could be exceptions. 

Legend of Galactic Heroes Die Neue These : Sakubou

  Took me couple of years to return back to Die Neue These, but i am very glad that I get to finish marathoning up to the latest cour of the legendary space opera remake in anticipation for the peak moment of LoGH due in next production season. Die Neue These: Sakubou is the 4th Cour of the LoGH remake which comparitively lack in the combat department when compared to previous seasons but in the political scenes, the balls are rolling for the epic showdown of Operation Ragnarok and the last episode really conclude the season with very high note. By the 3rd season, Studio IG really show attempts to try live up to the OVA legacy with expanding on certain scene down further in order which can be hit or miss. However the effort is evident enough to prove Studio IG Production team respect toward this legendary Space Opera despite DNT kinda lag 4 episodes behind the original OVA at this point. 

As someone who have watched the OVA several times before. Trust me you will not want to miss the 5th season because it will cover one of the highest peak moment of the series. I just hope the 5th season will cover the FPA preparation side properly because the Galactic Empire occupies most of the limelight of DNT 4th season.

Legend of Galactic Heroes - Die Neue These Interlude

 It has been 4 years since the last time I watched IG Production's take on Legend of Galactic Heroes dubbed Die Neue These or "The New Thesis". To be honest DNT had rather underwhelming beginning for the series fans who watched the OVA and doomed not to be able to surpass the former. However it is very commendable for IG Production to be undaunted by their shortcomings and keep continuing their effort and commitement for this Legendary series, in fact they have made it to the 4th season is a feat that is very praiseworthy in the present anime industry. In this Blog post I will discuss some of the reasons why Die Neue These doesn't seem appear to be capable of reaching the level of the OVA's Legacy 

Space Pirate Captain Harlock

 The second Leiji Matsumoto's Space Opera i watched after Yamato, while not as epic as the latter, it still got its own merit. Space Pirate Captain Harlock no doubt is the pioneer swashbuckling space adventure as the series starring free spirited captain with crew of misfits as the casts. In the series the main character Captain Harlock embarks on a solo crusade against Femme Fatale Alien Race called Mazone to protect person he cherished on Earth. 

 For a series from 70s, Space Pirate Captain Harlock doesn't age quite well but it still did something right as well as having good Opening theme just like Yamato. Personally i can't really take things seriously with the series because some of the elements had over the top executions, For instance overly incompetent earth government and the protagonist literally wage a war against millions of Alien Army with a single ship manned by crew of Hobbits. Perhaps due to losing badly in world war 2 decades ago, Japanese had some obsession with one man army miracle or wonder weapon which is quite apparent in 70s Scifi anime. Nevertheless Captain Harlock served as a very good Stoic archetype and Queen Rafflesia herself is quite a beauty. I think there are good chemistry between the two and the Queen Rafflesia no doubt will be quite a beauty with a modern makeover. A reboot version of the series just like Yamato 2199 would have been a good idea though we will probably need to wait until the next Yamato series to be finished first.

Planetes

 A long time ago i read this Sci-fi manga called Planetes that had Human Space Explorations as its theme and it lived up to its expectation as an award winning manga. Then Sunrise made 26 anime adaptation for this series back in 2003 which i gave a watch recently and it aged like a fine wine. Planetes narrates the story of an Astronaut working as Space Debris collector who aspire to own a Spaceship someday. Through his job as Space Debris Collector, the main character encounter various sorts of people with their own dreams and motives revolving around Space which makes up the story of the series. Planetes was renowned for its grounded and realistic depiction of the future Space Travel where humanity has reached the stage to attempt Space Travel to Jupiter and the struggles for such Goal. 

Outlaw Star

 Another Space Opera made Anime by Sunrise Studio in late 90s and this one is surprisingly very good. When it comes to a swashbuckling space adventure, Outlaw Star offers a definitve experience. Outlaw Star tells the story of a young bounty hunter named Gene Starwind journey to become a renowned Outlaw, something similar to 40k Rogue Trader. His fate will intertwined with Top Secret experimental Spaceship and mysterious girl named Melfina.

Dirty Pair

 For what initially i thought to be an ecchi fanservice series with its somewhat suggestive name, Dirty Pair turns out to be yet another hidden gem among Sci-Fi anime! The premise of this series lies around the misadventures of Female crimefighting agents Kei and Yuri forming a duo named Dirty Pair whose infamy spread across the galaxy. Dirty Pair Tv series took episodic formula where Kei and Yuri encounter a case each episode with a good share of wacky and serious moments.

For a Sci-fi series made by Sunrise in mid 80s, the writing quality is surprisingly good and had some attitude defining the charm of 80s Sci-fis, a stark contrast with Tomino's works in the same period who seems only waste potentials after another. To me what makes Dirty Pair stand apart is its depth of the futuristic setting which is quite ahead for its time and sometimes not fully surpassed by its successors.

Kei and Yuri are portrayed as a pair of problematic misfits who only cause troubles but completely competent Agent when the situation requires. Being one of the pioneer of its Genre, Dirty Pair sets up important trope for its genre. If you like Cowboy Bebop and prefer something lighter, Dirty Pair is a good choice. Considering i am sold with the Tv series, i will at least complete the Original OVA series.

Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Soldiers of Love

 I suppose when you look for a good Space Opera Anime apart from LOGH, Yamato series is the only good one nowadays. Serving as the direct sequel for Yamato 2199, Yamato 2202 bring the Legendary Battleship Yamato to embark on another Journey with even more dangerous adversary that humanity ever faced yet. From what i know Yamato 2202 is based from the 2nd anime of the 70s Yamato series which the Earth facing another Alien Race named Comet Empire which are hell bent on destroying Humanity. And then Yamato Crew still lingering on Captain Okita's legacy, facing dilemma that the Earth Leaderships direction took to defend themselves, abusing the technology that Iscandar gave in order to gave Earth a fighting chance. Nevertheless the new journey that Yamato took will greatly change the life of its crews yet again.

Glass no Kantai

 One of the relatively obscure mid 2000s Space Opera that i gave a try a while ago and it was rather different experience. To put it simply Glass no Kantai is a victorian renaissance style drama with a space setting and it probably had rather ambitious vision at its time. The main premise of Glass no Kantai is the intertwining fate between three different individuals which will decide the destiny of the Galaxy they lived. The main protagonist Michel Volban served as the focal point as he leads the revolutionary army to overthrow oppressive Empire regime and his destiny soon changed as he encountered the legendary glass battleship.

Heroic Age

 One of the anime that i watched halfway when i was in highschool and another backlog cleared in my list! I remembered Heroic Age as a Space Godzilla anime with Hirai sameface slapped on it. The premise of the series is similar to Yamato where a group of people looking for the key to save for humanity except that instead of battleship, the group gains a support of a Space Godzilla to help the reach the goal. Overall Heroic Age is mediocre despite it had solid start and ending because the middle part feels dragging and a 13 Episode series would fit better for this series. In any case Heroic age is another good SRW material that brings more variety into the fray though Belcross could be rather overpowered if its ported directly. I am not too fond of Hirai sameface but i could look at Majestic Prince if i need some torments.

Cowboy Bebop

 One more post before wrapping up this year! I think it is the 20th anniversary of Cowboy Bebop and couldnt be happier to complete this series in time. Bebop is a showcase what an anime can pull off with its storytelling capacity and a top one at that. It is inevitable that the Anime nowadays are mostly created only to pander the consumers but back then there was more opportunity for anime to do its own thing and Bebop is a prime example. Cowboy Bebop had your typical Space Outlaws as premise with bunch of misfits doing their own things, I have watched Baccano and Coyote Rag Time which felt most similar to this one. But Bebop is a Space Outlaw anime with 26 Episodes of solid story and are not afraid of to pull some tragic stories. No Doubt this series is the all time favorite of Western anime fan because it is definitely a timeless masterpiece. If i want to get my fix for Space Outlaws again, i will be moving onto Dirty Pair and Outlaw Stars.

Legend of Galactic Heroes Reboot Trailer

 After few years in planning finally we are getting a glimpse of the new anime adaptation of LOGH series. I can't really say much at the moment but the reboot seems to go into proper direction. Because the I.G Studio looks quite serious on the adaptation project therefore i will give the series a proper attention to appreciate their effort. To be honest even if the LoGH OVA series animation aged slightly it is still a masterpiece and it will be a tall order for the Reboot to surpass it. From the trailer, the new Character Design for Yang Wenli and Reinhard is not really a huge improvement of the old design but still better than the manga version. However i had my doubts with the new ship design. The LoGH series reboot will be airing on Spring 2018 as 12 Episode Tv series for the first part and 3 Movies for the second part. I do hope from the bottom of my heart for this series to succeed because the Original OVA is still Timeless Masterpiece.

Coyote Ragtime Show

 A solid action anime made by Ufotable back when they don't make TYPE-MOON stuffs. Coyote Ragtime Show is a short but intensely fun Space Pirate anime. For such solid overall quality, i still wonder why the series doesn't seem to be that popular and just end up to be anime of the season, i suppose it is not up to the taste of Japanese. Coyote Ragtime Show tells the story of two groups of Space Pirates racing down for a Space Pirate King treasure. One group is led by the Pirate King's best buddy who's an infamous Space Pirate by himself and taking care of his buddy's daughter while the other side is led by a powerful Female Space Pirate who murdered the Pirate King himself in the past and led 12 Gothic Lolitas battle maid android as elite squads.

 For a Sci-fi anime Coyote Ragtime Show gets a solid score as its intense actions and compelling story will get you hooked into the series. Best comparison would be that Coyote Ragtime Show is what Baccano will look like if it had futuristic setting and the latter is awesome anime. On the sidenote, the Space Pirate King kinda resemble Tokiomi from Fate/Zero and the Twelve Maids are quite nice eyecandy especially their leader named April which is the character in the header pics of this post. So if you are sick of Shonen protagonists and prefer characters who relies on their wits to solve their issues in a Sci-fi setting, Coyote Ragtime Show is a good choice. I suppose the series got better charm for Western Audiences and i think i will give a watch to Outlaw Stars or Cowboy Bebop eventually.

LOGH Character Discussion

It is such a great relief for me after i have posted the character quotes of LOGH which had been a side project of mine few while ago. I wished i could have done it sooner i am still pleased that i am able to achieve this goal at last. So this post will be like some afterwords for my LOGH posts which i will discuss my view on the main stars of this series; Reinhard and Yang Wenli.

In a nutshell Legend of Galactic Heroes is about a showcase of struggle between corrupt democracy and ideal autocracy. Nevertheless it wouldn't have worked without the main stars of the series that represent each sides, Yang Wenli and Reinhard Von Lohengramm. In essence the main quality for both characters if interpreted in 4 Platonic Virtues would be Courage and Justice for Reinhard and as for Yang it is Wisdom and Moderation which is kinda polar and that makes them really good rivals.

It was Reinhard's Courage and Sense of Justice that lead him able to overthrow the decadent Goldenbaum dynasty and that was the very quality of him to lead an empire encompassing galaxies known to men and have competent subordinates follow him loyally. However Reinhard's lack of wisdom lead him to make a choice that he regretted for his life (but he is very wise already for a man of his age). As for Yang Wenli it was his Wisdom that leads him wins the unwinnable battle and survive through many perils while it was his moderation that makes him true to himself despite he got many chances to overthrow the incompetent government. However it was his lack of Courage that lead him to hesitate making choices that could have changed his life. But to Yang i guess it doesn't matter because he made all of his decisions that feels works the best for him and i feel he did live a full life.

If i was asked to pick a side, i would have picked Reinhard by slight margin. Not because Yang is not good enough but something that makes Reinhard feels an ideal person to serve with because he walks toward the worthy goal in mental sense. If you can pick a side which one you have picked?

Space Battleship Yamato 2199

No doubt this the best anime that Japan has airing from the past 2 or 3 years and i can see how the original series affect the anime industry back in the past. Marathoned the series after catching up to the latest episode of Valvrave which i will share my thoughts about it as well once the final episode come out. Anyway i will say Space battleship Yamato 2199 is a good reboot as a person who never watched the original series considering the series have solid story and characters who drive it. Along with the epic series opening it is good enough to make me interested to make the original series get into my watchlist.

The story of the series is basically about when Humanity face the brink of destruction as the Earth as they fought losing battle against Sentient Alien race called Garmillan and have the surface of the Earth become uninhabitable. During these darkest hour, mankind managed to create a powerful battleship called Yamato which is tasked to travel to distant planet Iskandar where the ruler of the planet promised a technology to restore the Earth back to its former self. However the journey will not be easy as the crews of Yamato will face alot of trials and attack by the Garmillan in order to reach Iskandar.

While Yamato itself is Scifi rather than mecha series, i can see how it have profound effects to series like Gundam due to theme of "One Ship become the hope of Humanity" which inspired ships like White Base, Macross or Nadesico and definitely Zentradi are definitely based from Garmillans(wonder if they will get Deculture if Yamato has Basara/Minmai on board). Okita Juzo, the captain of Yamato is one of most badass ship captain i have seen, because he shows how a man can overcome any odds with his willpower and probably he got auto iron-wall seishin every turn. My only complain with the series is that it lacks fleet to fleet battle which makes it less epic than LOGH and Hadou Cannon could be less broken and finally Desler should have been portrayed to be less reckless because he should be a Sympathetic villain. Otherwise Space Battleship Yamato is a very good anime and my personal favorite episode is the 9th one.

Legend of Galactic Heroes 2nd run finished!

The Legend ends and history begins. 

I think it has been 3 or 4 years since i finished my first run of LoGH, could have done it faster but at least i really enjoy this series more than ever. From my second run i come to appreciate the 4th season more but the pinnacle of the series are still the 2nd and 3rd season without doubt.  It will take a while for me to finish the character quotes from the series but i will try my best not to procrastinate myself and i am planning the making the quotes segment divided into 2 parts, From this 3 years of time since i watched LoGH for the first time, no anime have been ever to reach the depth of the series when it comes to politics and philosophy which even make anime from nowadays a shameful display. Unfortunately the youtube videos of the series which the most accessible ones has been purged due to some stupid policies but if you really want to watch the series grab the torrent and Bluray treatment is the best.

Rewatching Legend of Galactic Heroes

It has been 2 years already since i watched the main series and up until now Legend of Galactic Heroes is still the best anime that i have ever watched. I rarely bother to rewatch the anime that i have finished already but for this Masterpiece I will give an exception as i wanted to see the series in its best form considering i just got the Blu-ray version of the series recently. Currently i am on the first season of the series, while there are not much difference with the DVD version some of the scenes are remastered up to LOGH Gaiden Quality of animation like the episodes 26(which is still really sad as ever ;_;). Along my 2nd run of watching LOGH i also intend to collect meaningful quotes of the characters which the series have plenty of it especially from Yang Wenli because i think this the only thing i can do to help this series. If this series had been released on the West considering there were plans to do it back then(there are dubs samples) i think LOGH would get the attention that it really deserves which is my only regret for the series. Anyway for those haven't watched this series i would like to recommend watching this series again since it is simply one of the best series that animation world ever created which we don't see much these days.

By the way this the Dub sample for the LOGH which are really decent actually

Legend of Galactic Heroes: Spiral Labyrinth

This OVA of LOGH is also known as Gaiden part 2 where it continues shortly after the first Gaiden. Unlike the first Gaiden where the focus is primarily on Reinhard and Schenkopp. This time Yang get an equal attention as much as Reinhard. In this OVA the background of Yang Wenli is revealed and how he earned the title of Hero of El Facil, then the story goes on the investigation of Yang about the history of Free Planet Alliance greatest hero; Bruce Ashbey. As for Reinhard the OVA show his adventures after his short assignment on Kapche Lanka as he avoided every attempt of his assasination. I didn't know that Reinhard is very skillful in physical department as he is even proficient in sword fight. The OVA is concluded to the part where Reinhard is promoted to admiral and finally become the rightful owner of the future flagship of Galactic Empire Army, Brunhild.

LOGH: Overture to a new war

Another Prequel of the Legendary Series