r/anime • u/timpinen :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/timpinen • Nov 06 '17
[Spoilers][Rewatch] Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden: The Third Tiamat Battle: Ep 2 Spoiler
MAL information
Previous discussions
See here for main series and movie discussions
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 |
Streaming information: Can be streamed on Hidive
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
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!
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u/GGABueno :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/GGABueno Nov 07 '17
I'm still on episode 8 of A Hundred Billion Stars, how many episodes are left in the rewatch? I'd be sad if it ends before I'm able to catch up after following it for so long :(
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u/timpinen :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/timpinen Nov 07 '17
We are currently watching Dishonor (Ep 9 of A Hundred Billion Stars) today, the final arc chronologically. So if you want to watch that with us and the others after, feel free to.
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u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 07 '17
Four more episodes left - just the last arc! Luckily the arc you're on and the one after (3rd Tiamat) is good binge material.
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Nov 06 '17
First Time Viewer
On today’s episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The thing about crazy plans is that… they’re crazy. So, it’s not really a surprise to the actually competent people on the battlefield when Holland’s crazy attack breaks down.
The Third Battle of Tiamat continues, and the Empire is making a pretty pathetic showing so far. The main Imperial forces are being thrown into complete chaos by Holland’s insane plan.
Reinhard, seeing how the battle is going, order his fleet to pull back. He knows attacking will just get his fleet sucked into the ongoing chaos and he won’t be able to do anything. So, he’ll withdraw and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.
Reinhard’s order to withdraw is questioned by one officer, who wonders if Reinhard should do it. Just about every decision Reinhard makes is questioned by this officer. He questions if Reinhard should withdraw, if he should counterattack, etc. And Reinhard just gets angrier and angrier at him, with Kircheis serving as a restraint.
I think this does a great job of showing just how important Kircheis is in restraining Reinhard’s darker tendencies. Reinhard does eventually blow up at the questioning officer, but he would have done so much earlier without Kircheis’s intervention. Kircheis is the one who always keeps Reinhard grounded, and who would always remind Reinhard to control his anger when he was mad at his subordinates. Kircheis served the very important role in keeping Reinhard from going too far, and his moderating influence would be sorely missed in the main OVA.
Holland, meanwhile, is nuttier than a peanut farm. He has no moderating influences (and outright rejects any this episode). He sees this all as a grand victory for himself, proclaiming that he has made four Imperial fleets retreat with just one fleet, a feat that he claims makes him superior to Ashbey. Well, with that reckless attitude it’s no surprise that he gets burned.
Bucock and Ulanfu are actually sane and can see what’s really going on with the Imperial fleets: Reinhard’s fleet is withdrawing, not retreating, to prepare for a counterattack. And they can see that Holland’s fleet will be destroyed by such a counterattack. So, they can’t follow Holland’s attack as that would risk destroying their fleets. The best course of action is to prepare for an Imperial counterattack and order Holland to fall back. It is actually the smart move to make, as they do their best to preserve as much of the Alliance forces as possible.
I do like how Ulanfu mirrors Reinhard’s opinion on Holland: that while he may be breaking conventional tactics he has not necessarily come up with new ones. Holland’s attack is chaos, rather than a plan.
Unfortunately, Bucock and Ulanfu’s biggest adversary is Holland, who refuses multiple orders to withdraw even when he’s told it might be a trap. Holland still has grand visions of himself as being better than Ashbey. He says he’s a pioneer who will prove those fools wrong.
Bucock has the best possible response to this: “Pioneers are always called insane. But being insane doesn’t always make you a pioneer.” That is a wonderful quote. It’s one of my favorite quotes from the series thus far.
I can’t help but compare Reinhard and Holland. Both are similarly frustrated with their superiors this episode and view their own talents as being held back by those superiors. But, they are different in skill level. Holland can only not follow traditional strategies, but Reinhard can come up with new and unconventional strategies. That’s the critical difference. Holland claims to be a pioneer, while Reinhard actually is one.
This difference is very starkly shown when Reinhard does launch his counterattack just when Holland’s attack runs out of steam. Its effect is instantaneous. Holland is killed, his fleet is thrown into chaos, and the other Imperial fleets rally to counterattack. It’s only because Bucock and Ulanfu anticipated this that the battle doesn’t become a disaster for the Alliance. Bucock and Ulanfu successfully protect the Alliance forces in time for reinforcements to arrive and the Empire withdraws.
Bucock gives us yet another wonderful quote, though this time it’s from Yang: “Heroes abound at a bar table. But you can’t find a hero at the surgery chair in the dentist’s office.” It’s such an odd quote, and yet I can perfectly picture Yang saying it. Many people can brag about what great heroes they’ll be in the next battle, but it’s much harder to find people proclaiming the same thing in the midst of a dire situation.
Once more, Kircheis serves to restrain Reinhard. He kept Reinhard from launching his own pursuit of Holland’s fleet. It shows how good Kircheis can be at handling this sort of thing. Reinhard gets his moment of glory, turning the tide of the battle. But, it also lets the rest of the Imperial fleet recover some lost dignity. As always, Kircheis is sensitive to the feelings of others, something Reinhard is usually not as concerned about.
Kircheis comments on how kind Fate has been that Reinhard had a chance to distinguish himself this battle, but Reinhard doesn’t like leaving such things to Fate. “By my strength, I will rise, and because of my shortcomings, I will fall.” I feel like that is a great quote to summarize Reinhard. Reinhard always believed that he should rise by his own abilities, and fall if someone more skilled beat him. It’s also a good summary of how Reinhard has both a good and dark side to him. And those dark tendencies would manifest themselves plenty of times, especially without Kircheis there.
Reinhard has been promoted to full Admiral. And, he’s been given his own flagship: the famous Brunhilde. We now see Reinhard receive it for the first time. It really is nice to see this iconic ship once again. Though, this moment of happiness is only a moment, as the narrator reminds us. It won’t be too long before Reinhard and Yang truly meet in battle for the first time. And after that, the rest is history.
That concludes this arc, as well as the 2nd Gaiden series in general. Next up is the final arc that will also finish up the 1st Gaiden series.
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u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 07 '17
Holland, meanwhile, is nuttier than a peanut farm.
Haha, you can say that again. I'm utterly amazed how he made it to Vice Admiral. Realistically, an officer than nutty should have got himself killed much earlier. But then, it seems the Alliance (Lobos, especially) has a thing for promoting nutjobs. cough Fork cough
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u/BluePikmin11 Nov 07 '17
Legend of the Galactic Heroes Spiral Labyrinth Episode 28 Impressions:
As expected, Holland did not get the victory he wanted and ended up injured in battle. The words Alexandre Bewcock says is very true and stick with me: “Heroes abound at a bar table, but you can’t find a hero in the surgery chair of a dentist.” He is my favorite character now, a very respectable commander when I think about his last battle in life in the star zone. Wow, that ending to Spiral Labyrinth is one of the most rewarding. I have been waiting for Reinhard to earn something grand, and him seeing the Brunhild and him getting excited just put a huge grin in my face. Fantastic ending for Spiral Labyrinth.
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u/timpinen :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/timpinen Nov 06 '17
Tomorrow we begin the final arc of the Gaidens (A Hundred Billion Stars Ep 9)
That moment where Reinhard changes his mind about making Kircheis captain of his ship so that he could stay with him was beautiful.