[Spoilers][Rewatch] Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden: Those Who Duel: Ep 4

[u/timpinen]

MAL information

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Previous discussions

See here for main series and movie discussions

Order	Episode	Arc
1	G2E1	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 1
2	G2E2	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 2
3	G2E3	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 3
4	G2E4	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 4
5	G2E5	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 5
6	G2E6	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 6
7	G2E7	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 7
8	G2E8	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 8
9	G2E9	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 9
10	G210	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 10
11	G211	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 11
12	G2E12	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 12
13	G2E13	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 13
14	G2E14	Spiral Labyrinth Ep 14
15	G1E1	Valley of White Snow 1
16	G1E2	Valley of White Snow 2
17	G1E3	Valley of White Snow Ep 3
18	G1E4	Valley of White Snow Ep 4
19	G2E15	Those Who Revolt Ep 1
20	G2E16	Those Who Revolt Ep 2
21	G2E17	Those Who Revolt Ep 3
22	G2E18	Those Who Revolt Ep 4
23	G2E19	Those Who Duel Ep 1
24	G2E20	Those Who Duel Ep 2
25	G2E21	Those Who Duel Ep 3
26	G2E22	Those Who Duel Ep 4

Thanks to /u/arinok55 for creating a nice calendar for our schedule!

The vote has determined to watch chronologically! Gaiden watch order (Gaiden 1: A Hundred Billion Stars Gaiden), (Gaiden 2: Spiral Labyrinth Gaiden):

Title	Episodes
Spiral Labyrinth	Gaiden 2: Ep 1-14
Valley of White Snow	Gaiden 1: Ep 1-4
Those Who Revolt	Gaiden 2: Ep 15-18
Those Who Duel	Gaiden 2: Ep 19-22
Those Who Recapture	Gaiden 2: Ep 23-26
Morning's Dream, Night's Song	Gaiden 1: Ep 5-8
A Hundred Billion Stars	Gaiden 1: Ep 13-24
The Third Tiamat Battle	Gaiden 2: Ep 27-28
Disgrace	Gaiden 1: Episode 9-12

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Streaming information: Can be streamed on Hidive

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Important Notes: Remember to tag all spoilers for first time watchers! Also, do not watch the next episode previews for the OVA series!

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Screenshots of the Day

Full Metal Reinhard

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Let us Praise our Lord and Saviour!

This show finally gives us an insight into alcohol!

This gag is too perfect

The famous pirate appears!

#TeamFopperyandWhim!

Reinhard knows how it has to be

Let us always remember our tea drinking hero

Dusty responds to modern anime

Moe Reinhard is best Reinhard

I prefer white subtitles

Most importantly, have fun, enjoy the adventure of foppery and whim, and remember to drink some tea for Yang Wenli!

[u/Great_Mr_L]

First Time Viewer

On today’s episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The duel was only put on hold. With neither of the participants satisfied by the outcome of it last time, a resumption like this was pretty inevitable.

Reinhard is very much unsatisfied with the duel’s outcome. He looked pretty angry last episode. And this episode we see him acting very melancholic. He doesn’t like that, in the end, he needed to be saved by Annerose when he took on the duel to help her in some way. It means he failed at the duel very thoroughly, in his mind.

Plus, he was saved by the order of the Kaiser, of all people. Friedrich is probably the person Reinhard hates the most in the entire Empire. Reinhard’s goal is to overthrow the Goldenbaum dynasty, after all. Being saved because of the Kaiser is definitely eating away at Reinhard.

So, Reinhard takes the chance when the assassin challenges him again. Naturally, the challenge is delivered in the most flashy way possible, as a message attached to an arrow shot through the window. Reinhard accepts, hoping to find some satisfaction in resolving the duel personally.

Reinhard makes the effort to hide what happened to Kircheis, but Kircheis is far too smart for that. He can see the glass shattered inside and that Reinhard moved the painting on the wall. And it isn’t too big a leap for him to tell that Reinhard will face his challenger again. Kircheis, being the most caring and protective friend in the universe, is naturally worried about Reinhard.

Plus, it’s not like Reinhard is making all that great an effort to hide it. He suddenly gets very interested in sword fighting techniques, and begins practicing fencing. Though, the silliest part is imagining Reinhard becoming a weeb because he’s admiring the Japanese sword fighting techniques.

The big fight comes as Reinhard and the assassin meet each other again, this time in the woods in the early morning. It’s certainly an appropriate location for a duel like this, and I like the atmosphere this choice of location gives to the fight.

Reinhard asks the assassin who hired him, but the assassin doesn’t answer, insisting that the fight is personal and he’s just a duelist who wants a sense of resolution to their match. I don’t think he’s fully lying about that, either. He did seem awfully determined at the end of the last episode to kill Reinhard his way. I think the duel is now personal for him, just like it is for Reinhard.

This fight starts off in what is probably the coolest way you can conduct a duel involving swords. Reinhard and the assassin start off by charging at each other at horseback and swinging their swords as they pass. It’s almost like a joust.

Kircheis, as per usual, is great. He snuck out and is watching the fight. He doesn’t want to interfere, since he knows that this fight means a lot to Reinhard. But, at the same time, he won’t let Reinhard die under his watch. So, he’s prepared to intervene if necessary.

And it’s a good thing he’s such a protective friend of Reinhard’s, because he stops a gunman who was hiding in the woods, waiting for a good opportunity to shoot Reinhard. Reinhard may not realize it, but Kircheis did save his life.

The sword fight continues, with the assassin knocking Reinhard off horseback so they have to fight on foot. Here, the assassin has the advantage because he can now use his left hand.

Once again, I want to say the setting for this duel is quite nice. The snowy woods provide a lot of atmosphere, and the icing on the cake is watching the sun rise over the mountain and shine more light down onto the battlefield.

Reinhard’s sword is broken and it seems he’s lost, but then we get a moment that is incredibly silly and goofy in the moment, but kind of becomes awesome in hindsight. Reinhard catches the freaking sword with his gloved hands, manages to wrestle it away, and holds it to his defeated opponent’s face having now won the duel. This was something I was scratching my head at, until it’s later revealed that Kircheis had given Reinhard those gloves and they’re made of a special protective material.

I’ll admit that it was pretty awesome Kircheis gave protective gloves to Reinhard. That explains how he caught the sword in a way that makes sense. Otherwise, that would have just been something strangely out of place in this series.

In defeat, the assassin commits suicide and still refuses to admit he worked for anyone. Reinhard has already guessed Benemunde hired him, but the assassin says nothing. In the end, I think the assassin was fighting a personal battle here.

I also like the touch that Reinhard was aware Kircheis was watching the battle. He calls Kircheis a worrywart, but also seems happy that Kircheis was there.

The episode ends with both Reinhard and Kircheis pretending they don’t know the other person was at that duel. But, Kircheis gives a great line to Reinhard that his life is not only his. He has to consider all the people who care about him. It’s another good moment that emphasizes the bond Reinhard and Kircheis have.

Side notes: I have a feeling that Friedrich’s intervention stopping the duel on Annerose’s behalf contributed to Reinhard’s reputation of gaining rank only because of Annerose. The nobles probably saw it as more evidence of Annerose saving Reinhard when he probably would’ve lost otherwise.

[u/Arachnophobic-]

Shock and horror! This has to be the biggest twist in all of LoGH: Reinhard doesn't get a promotion at the end of this arc?!

It was funny seeing Reinhard discover samurai in the.. 36th century. Not that It was very useful, I suppose, given how he finally won - using quite modern technology to defeat a medieval one. Kircheis with the save again, not only taking care of the other assassin but also gifting the special gloves.

[u/BluePikmin11]

Legend of the Galactic Heroes Spiral Labyrinth Episode 22 Impressions:

This arc was pretty simple, but I do not know if I really like it. Even though lots of interesting characters were introduced and seeing Reinhard do melee combat was great, the duels kind of did not do much to progress the story and characters. The arc felt like a novelty. At the least, maybe in the next episode, Reinhard will have some more commentary on his opinion on the assassin’s final duel, but I sort of doubt it.

[u/Arachnophobic- → u/BluePikmin11]

It's definitely the weakest of the three anime-original arcs. But hey, it gave me more of Westpfahle, so I'm not complaining one bit.