[Anime]Legend of Galactic Heroes (Ginga Eiyu Densetsu)

Anime total pnts rank=Avg x Eval	Rank 60/in 3,597 titles(Total 243/Deviation 80.98)	Rank 59<= => Rank 61
Anime avg pnts(minimum:10 evals)	Rank 75/in 2,003 titles(Average 2.08=Very good/117 reviews)	Rank 74<= => Rank 76
Anime total pnts rank of 1990	Rank 2/in 60 titles	Rank 1<= => Rank 3

2008/08/11 Best(+3 pnt) [Edit/Delete/Suggest to delete/Show only this review or post sympathy comment/(Everyone can)]
by Carlos Ross (Skip) Review history[Good:80(52%) Normal:18(12%) Bad:55(36%)] / Provider: 11157 Host:11122 Browser: 6524
What an impressive series.

I had this recommended to me years ago by friends, but as it has never been officially translated into English, I despaired of ever seeing, let alone completing it. Of course, times change, and now I have managed to see all 110 episodes within a month. That in and of itself should tell you how good this series is. I don't make a habit of following series longer to one or two seasons, but Legend of Galactic Heroes immediately caught my attention and simply would not let go.

This isn't the kind of series to trot out to newbie anime fans. The animation is old, the plot incredibly obtuse, and there are so many characters that it is advisable to keep a notepad handy to keep them all straight. That being said, it is rare these days that an anime series handles more than two characters with any sort of depth, and yet LoGH manages to make you interested in and sympathize with dozens of characters on both sides of the conflict. It's a truly remarkable feat. In fact, there are very few weaknesses in this series to speak of -- the music (apart from the mildly embarrassing fourth opening song, which comes off as horrendously cheesy to native English speakers) is appropriate and suitably epic. The music editor clearly loves his Mahler, in particular but then, such a composer perfectly sets the tone for the very Germanic Galactic Empire. Admittedly, there are a few moments suitable for the blooper reel (Julian Mintz using DOS on his far-future computer to load up a history program is worth a laugh or two) but these are few and far between and really have no major impact on the series as a whole.

Since the novels are not available in North America, it is impossible for me to compare the anime to the original work, and honestly, to do so might be unfair. It is simply impossible to directly show the events of a novel on the screen, because the pacing simply doesn't work the same, due to the differing limitations and strengths of print media and animation. However, it may be argued that not knowing the novels may work as a more accurate gauge of how well this works as a standalone piece -- and honestly, you don't need to have read the novels to enjoy this, because you'd be hard-pressed to find a better OVA series in existence. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better animated series in existence. Period.

While there may be some criticism about the lack of aliens in a science-fiction work, this is not a phenomenon without precedent, and really, one of the fundamental things to understand is that Legend of Galactic Heroes comes off less as a story about science-fiction and more of an allegory about modern human history in general. Look at modern wars: there are no gods, no superpowers, and certainly no extraterrestrials, only the deeds of men, valorous and venal, on all sides of a given conflict. Where many people (even modern world leaders such as Bush and Ahmadinejad) are wont to reduce all human existence to "good versus evil / us versus them" equations, Legend of Galactic Heroes reminds us that good and evil are to be found on both sides of the battlefield, regardless of ideology. Of course, the heroes themselves are imperfect, but they do what they must in order to be remembered as heroes ... while still being very human.

Legend of Galactic Heroes is intelligent, thought-provoking, and riveting, and I can't recommend it enough.

2005/07/21 Very Good(+2 pnt) [Edit/Delete/Suggest to delete/Show only this review or post sympathy comment/(Everyone can)]
by kylc (Skip) Review history[Good:1(100%) Normal:0(0%) Bad:0(0%)] / Provider: 2476 Host:2242 Browser: 3875
Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!
I can't say anymore.

2002/01/05 Favorite comment [Unable to delete by yourself/Suggest to delete/Show only this review or post sympathy comment/(Everyone can)]
by acient (Skip) Review history[Good:2(67%) Normal:1(33%) Bad:0(0%)] / Provider: 0 Host:1684
This is kind of masterpiece.
This one is old, but still capture many people's mind.
Novel and conmics are also good.

2000/09/10 Worst(-3 pnt) [Unable to delete by yourself/Suggest to delete/Show only this review or post sympathy comment/(Everyone can)]
by Jessica (Skip) Review history[Good:4(67%) Normal:0(0%) Bad:2(33%)] / Provider: 0 Host:2423
I didn't like the anime

2000/05/15 Favorite comment [Unable to delete by yourself/Suggest to delete/Show only this review or post sympathy comment/(Everyone can)]
by Yumi Suzuki (Skip) Review history / Provider: 0 Host:2123
Excellent!You should try this anime once at least.I want to know how other people take this.

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