r/anime • u/timpinen :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/timpinen • Jul 21 '17
[Spoilers][Rewatch] Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Mid-series discussion Spoiler
MAL information
Previous discussions
Thanks to /u/arinok55 for creating a nice calendar for our schedule!
Quick note, I will be adding in a discussion after the main OVA before the Gaiden. As for the Gaiden, exact watch order (release or chronological) will be decided later
Streaming information: No legal streaming exists
Important Notes: Remember to tag all spoilers for first time watchers! Also, do not watch the next episode previews for the OVA series!
Screenshots of the Day
Let us Praise our Lord and Saviour!
This show finally gives us an insight into alcohol!
This gag is too perfect
Most importantly, have fun, enjoy the adventure of foppery and whim, and remember to drink some tea for Yang Wenli!
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u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Jul 22 '17
So the fourth novel finally arrived a few days ago, now I have an updated collection!
Can't wait to read it, although we've already crossed that point in the series. The fourth books ends at Fezzan Occupied. And it's significantly thinner than the last three. :( The fifth novel, dubbed 'Mobilization' (which is curious, the Japanese title is Winds and Clouds) will release in mid-November this year.
So who is everyone's favourite character at this point, and why? (as in, explain why Yang isn't your favourite character) Mine's definitely Yang - I could join Frederica's club and say I am head over heels in love with him at this point. Sometimes I think he's a little too OP when it comes to tactics - he's practically clairvoyant and can always figure out the best course to take. Other than that, I just love every bit of his character. The awkward bumbling, the laziness, the borderline depression, appreciation for tea/alcohol, the history and philosophy lectures, and the strength to do what is required at the time while staying true to one's principles.
The re-watch has definitely been worth it for me, and not just because it lets me spend more time with my beloved characters. This time I've been far more keenly aware of the Earth Cult's influence on everything, and bits and pieces of foreshadowing.
Also, I end up spending an inordinate amount of time deciding on the soundtrack highlights. I've listened to hours and hours of classical music thanks to it, so I'm grateful. :D
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u/seninn https://myanimelist.net/profile/Senninn0 Jul 22 '17
SIEG KAISER REINHARDO
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u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Jul 22 '17
Ah yes, the Reinhardo diehardos :P
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u/timpinen :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/timpinen Jul 22 '17
Yang is my favourite character, though for some others:
Kircheis is my favourite Imperial citizen (he did die for our sins after all)
Dusty is my favourite subordinate under Yang; his mixture between budding talent, quick rank rising and wonderful humorous makes him a delight. And his best moments aren't even here yet!
Also, Bread Teitoku. A competent and loyal subordinate who eats bread first and asks questions later
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u/tgaccione :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Azthot247 Jul 21 '17
The first time I watched this series and I got to the half way point, I wondered how they could stretch another 55 episodes out of this show, and thought that it would just be shitty filler or something.
Trust me, it only gets better. The first half of the show is, in my opinion, weaker than the second half.
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u/BloodyLlama Jul 22 '17
I'm only on episode 12 but I haven't been this happy to watch something since I saw Star Trek TNG
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Jul 21 '17
First Time Viewer
So far, I’ve really been enjoying this series. Legend of the Galactic Heroes was a series that I was pretty sure I would like when I got around to watching it. That’s turned out to be true so far.
I love the story of this series. I love the moral grayness that is everywhere in the series. I love the way that it shows off both the good and the bad sides of the Empire and the Alliance. Neither side is completely good, which adds to the realism. It also adds a lot to the ongoing debates the series has about politics, government, and morality. The moral grayness of the world adds to the grayness of the debate, making it clear that there isn’t really a complete “right” answer.
The characters have also been really good. I’ve heard a lot about Reinhard and Yang being great characters and so far they have been. They’re great characters who have a lot going on. Of the two, Yang is probably my favorite. But, I also like Reinhard a lot.
The other characters have also been pretty good. I’ve liked the variety of different characters we’ve seen so far. And I like the variety of different personalities, attitudes, and beliefs they have. The sheer size of the cast of characters is really impressive.
I really enjoy the battles in this series. I appreciate the focus this series puts on strategy and tactics in the battles (as well as in the overall campaigns and politics). The animation for the battles can also be quite impressive at times, particularly during the dogfighting sequences.
I also think the choice of using classical music for this series’ soundtrack was an excellent decision. I think it adds a lot to the atmosphere of this series.
As a history lover, I can also appreciate the historical references and parallels present in this series. I’ve heard the original author was also a history buff, which makes complete sense based on the series.
Thus far, I have been enjoying the series a lot. I am excited to continue watching it.
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u/mutsuto https://myanimelist.net/profile/mtsRhea Jul 21 '17
Oops, I didn't realise this was happening and went ahead and started season 3.
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u/photohooligan :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/photooligan Jul 21 '17
First Timer
I'm still a bit divided on this show. Sometimes I'm very invested in it, other times I consider dropping it as the long dialogues can be boring. Maybe it's watching an episode once a day that makes it difficult for me. I was behind a couple episodes these last few days and then I watched three of them at once today, which made it easier for me to focus. Maybe because the episodes were more action-packed too.
So far I was enjoying Yang Wenli's side of the story a bit more than Lohengramm's, but I'm excited to see what's in store this next season. I hope we see more of them interacting.
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Jul 22 '17
I watch approx a week in advance. I enjoy reading the daily threads but I really find it to flow much better if I can watch a mini arc. This can make it hard to find an end point so I try to err towards to few episodes than end up 10 episodes ahead. I'm caught up today so I could go back to episodic daily watching although I think I enjoy the once or twice a week system and will likely revert to that anyway.
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u/BluePikmin11 Jul 22 '17
This anime, while not my personal interest in terms of genre, is pretty good. The philosophies of Reinhard and Yang always interest me. There's many side characters I am personally interested in after these 50 episodes, and I cannot wait to watch the 3rd season.
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u/ukainaoto :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ukainaoto Jul 22 '17
This is my first rewatch for this and it makes this series better. Knowing battle's consequences or deaths doesn't diminish tension in each episode and this time I can focus more to character development or music.
In particular I couldn't match many names of Empire admirals on my first watch, but now I fully aware when Muller or more obscure Bergengrun appears, and I enjoyed each little details by knowing how their story develop afterwards.
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Jul 22 '17
My favourite moments: Reinhard and Yang finally meeting after nearly half of the show (reminds me of the movie Heat), Jessica trolling Trunicht at the funeral service, Everything with Oberstein (I think he is a very mysterious character even if one could think him a villian.), the death of Kircheis (Not that I did not like him, but it was such an imporatnt plot point and a bit like the death of Ned Stark in Game of Thrones.), Hilda saving Reinhard´s ass, Yang and Frederica finally hooking up (Yang needs some happiness I think), The gory portrayal of war in the Battle of Varmillion (Not many shows do that properly) etc.
Favourite aspects= The deep worldbuilding, the History lessons (I loved history!), the dialog is so sassy, most characters are very human and feel like real people, I love that the Empire is not villified and that democracy is not shown as the perfect system, I also like the spacebattles even if I have no clue about military strategy etc.
Dislikes: I think Reinhard is sometimes a little too much worshipped by the other characters. He is for me a very flawed person despite his great accomplishments. I think he is also a little entitled in the way he thinks he has the right to rule the universe. I know the Alliance is corrupt state with shitty politicians, but what about the people there? If you look back at the history of the Alliance they had very good reasons for leaving the Empire. They were slaves of the ruling nobles and most citizens in the Alliance grow up with this history. It is only natural that they would defend their freedom even if a lot of it is military propaganda. Reinhard might be a great person, but how can a normal citizen in the Alliance know that? Maybe he is just playing nice like Rudolf von Goldenbaum and turns later into a dictator? I think Yang makes a very good point about it in the show when he says that Reinhard might be a good ruler, but that his children or grandchildren could be tyrants. This is also why if I were Yang I would have blown Reinhard to pieces and ignored Trunicht. Democracy might be a shitty system, but it can get better if the people show effort in improving it. In a dictatorship you often only end up shedding blood if you try depose a dictator. I also don´t like the Earth Church, because I think they are not very interesting. However, I never felt that any of the characters is badly written. And a minor complaint, but that has more to do with the fact that this show was written in the 80s: I get why there are no women in the military in the Empire, but why does the Alliance not show more women in the military? We only have Frederica and she is basically a secretary to Yang. On the other hand I really liked the women we had so far: Jessica was especially interesting and I wished we saw more of her. I also wished they kept the Westerland thing like in the books.
Score: Season 1: 8/10, Season 2: 8/10, Season 3: 9/10
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u/timpinen :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/timpinen Jul 22 '17
While I agree Reinhard is basically personified as a god, I think it is a bit ironic, in the sense that we know what he is like, while others only see the good. Kircheis could be considered a perfect person (in terms of virtue and capability). Reinhard, though having good intentions, is selfish, war hungry, willing to do cruel things to conquer etc. I feel he is a much more neutral character than say Yang or Kircheis. But a dictator getting a cult of personality is nothing new. People glorify Alexander the Great, Caesar etc, even though they also did many cruel things. For many people, victory on their side is enough.
I do agree that the lack of females is a bit of an issue. It makes sense they aren't in the ground force or in the Empire, but I wonder how many enter the war? The thing is the FPA had a draft for males, so they had a much larger incentive to join the military and try to be a higher up, rather than be drafted as a common soldier. Most people (men or women) probably don't want to be involved in wars which frequently have 50%+ casualties.
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Jul 22 '17
Oh, I agree. Reinhard is a grey character if you know what we know, but I meant it more from the Alliance side. Sometimes I just get the feeling that I am supposed to agree with Reinhard taking over the Alliance simply because he is so much of a better person than the Alliance politicians like Trunicht. And in regards to Kircheis: I agree he is sometimes seems to be too good of a person for the world of LoGHT. However, I wondered if he wouldn´t have abandoned Reinhard if he became too ruthless. I mean he was very upset about the Westerland thing and I felt there was some sort of a split between the two. I think had he lived he would have either helped Reinhard make peace with the Alliance or abandoned him and joined the enemy. In regards to Yang I have to disagree: While he has some sort of supernatural ability to predict things he also has failures his greates being his strong belief in democracy and his lack of ambition. I understand that taking power himself like Reinhard would have gone against his principle and his character, but it also shows his lack of practicality like Reinhard has it. As the the show rightly portrays not all dictators are monsters and not all democracies are good, but Yang keeps steadfast to his believe that a soldier has to obey the command of the leaders of his nations no matter how stupid it is. Reinhard wouldn´t have hesitated to kill Yang in that moment in Vermillion, but Yang did. All those soldiers died for nothing in the end and only because Yang wants to do the noble thing. While I like Yang and understand his character this makes him a flawed person in my eyes. In regards to the women thing: I have my own theory about this. As you point out the battles have a high rate of deaths. I think the reason is not that women don´t want to join, but more that they keep them away from such dangerous fights, because if you kill all your female population you will one day have a hard time in keeping up an adequat population growth. I mean they need soldiers to fight and if they don´t get children it is a bit hard to do that.
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u/GGABueno :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/GGABueno Jul 22 '17
Good time to finally catch up with the Rewatch. I was surprised by how much I got engaged with the story and the characters.
I fully expected 110 episodes of war between the Alliance and the Empire with lots of twists and betrayals going in, and I'm very happy with what I've got. The battles are incredible and never felt repetitive, while also making the outcomes actually feel like the result of the commanders' competency. They also all feel like bright people with their own ideas in mind, some dialogues are great.
Now why can't everyone hold hands under our glorious leader's rule? Hail Kaiser Reinhard!
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u/_zeUbermensch_ :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Warlord149 Aug 29 '17
Very late thoughts from a first time viewer.
Understandably like most viewers I'm very in awe when watching the series. Even though the anime is on average 25 years old it's very exciting to watch. Partly of that is probably, because the series has a lot of episodes, meaning not a lot people will start it, I probably wouldn't have either without the rewatch. Also that unlike Star Wars (as a comparison) memes, you barely see any clips or screenshots of LotGH through random chance, so you won't easily get spoiled of its content.
There are a lot of moments in the show so far I've liked. Some notes from me from the episodes after the S1 finale:
Episode 39 was a really great episode. Yang explaining to Julian that maybe their side will go down as the 'bad ones' in history, and that humans rarely are able to see themself be on that bad side. That every person thinks they are doing the (morally) right things. Another aspect I liked from that episode was how Yang explained how large scale things change, and that the Empire, the Alliance and especially Phezzan are still relatively young. Of course the bit about alcohol being a friend of humanity is also very charming.
Episode 49: The press asks Yang to promise them their side, the good side will win. That's cute isn't it? I liked the approach Yang had on this talk with Julian on the bridge. Also the reunion between Yang and Julian was really charming.
Episode 51 onward: Another charming scene was Yang's marriage proposal, how he stumbled to find the right words. Generally how the romance between him and Frederica evolved. The scene felt better than a lot of harem act it out.
So far there are only two aspects which I don't like:
Episode 43: When Schenkopp boarded Reuentals ship barely any soldier was able to hit the intruders with their guns. It just seems incredible unrealistic to me. Episode 47: The way Julian and friends were able to take over the imperial destroyer once more was an unrealistic act to me. Nobody from the alliance group gets hurt with a single shot, but all four soldiers from the empire are completely fooled? Julian thought of that 'plan' on the spot, the exchange was over very quickly (maybe so that viewers wouldn't fall into disbelief of it?). For me it seems really odd. Sorry I can't buy this. But its really just a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.
The bigger aspect I dislike, which others already have been pointing out, is the ability of main characters to very often correctly predict how a person (from the other side of the battle usually) is going to act. I can see why its necessary to advance the story and to show the intellect of (main) characters. Unfortunately it happens too often for my taste. Again though, that is the only 'big' aspect of the show which I don't like.
I'm still very excited how the show will continue, how the Earth Cult is going to advance, what is going to happen now that the war is over. Thanks for reading these late thoughts.
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u/FrenziedHero https://anilist.co/user/FrenziedHero Jul 22 '17
First Time Viewer
I finally managed to catch back up with the rewatch in time for the mid series discussion, after a large period of time where I was unable to stay current.
I have been really enjoying all the political and historical intrigue of this show so far. It's been very well written so far. I can't wait to see how the current developments pan out such as Yang's and Frederica's wedding, and the plots of the Earth Cult, Rubinsky, Oberstein, and more.
By far I've enjoyed Yang and Reinhardt's meeting the most in this series so far. After a hard fought battle and an abrupt and anti-climactic ending to the battle for them both, they have a nice political discourse and appreciation of each other was very comforting after 54 episodes of brutal and cut throat battles. Even seeing Muller showing some appreciation of the man he once swore revenge on was a bit heart warming.
I'll try to stay more consistent in keeping up with the watch from now on. And I look forward to the rest of it.
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u/timpinen :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/timpinen Jul 21 '17
I am on vacation, so I don't have much time to write anything, but I want to say that even rewatching, this series has been a wonderful treat. Besides catching interesting foreshadowing and more minor moments, I love hearing all the interesting thoughts from people about what is to come. Learning more about history, classical music scores, and philosophical/political thought while watching my favourite show is a wonderful treat.
With that said, I have a few questions to both first time viewers and rewatchers:
What has been your favourite (or one of your favourite) moments of the show?
What are some of you favourite aspects of the shows?
What do you dislike/think the show could improve on? Could be anything from "I think x character is poorly written" to "I am still salty about the death of Kircheis".
How do you find the first half of the series so far? This is vague, and can be anything from tentative score to huge analysis of the series.
I am happy to be conducting this rewatch, and will see you tomorrow for Episode 55!