The Unbeatable Magician and the Indomitable Prodigy
April 22, 2018 7:04 PM   Subscribe

Japanese novelist Yoshiki Tanaka's sprawling 10-volume space opera, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, was published from 1982 through 1987. Additionally, 5 volumes of side stories were published from 1984 to 1989. While the novels only recently became available in English, the series became well-known outside of Japan through an anime adaptation that began in 1988 and did not conclude until 2000. The series has also been adapted to computer games, manga, and the stage. Most recently, a new anime adaptation, Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, started airing in April, 2018.

The series describes the military and political struggles between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, which had been at war for 150 years when we are introduced to the "Indomitable Prodigy" Reinhard von Lohengramm and the "Unbeatable Magician" Yang Wen-li. Reinhard and Yang are opposing military leaders, each espousing different beliefs about the role of government, but sharing mutual admiration and distaste for the existing leadership in their respective governments. The Galactic Empire was founded on principles of eugenics, suppression of political dissent, and the establishment of an aristocracy. The Free Planets Alliance was formed by escapees from the Empire, who organized themselves as a representative democracy.

The first anime adaptation spanned 110 episodes of 25 minutes each for the main story, 52 episodes of side stories, and 3 anime films. The adaptation did not air on TV, but was an OVA series, with episodes released monthly to subscribers, initially as videotapes. While animation quality varied wildly over the episodes, it boasted an impressive classical music soundtrack, courtesy of the novels' publisher Tokuma Shoten, which had acquired the back catalog of an East German classical music record label during the bubble years, and let the OVA use it for free. For those embarking on viewing the OVA series, this blog can be an interesting companion: icebergs: A queer, episode-by-episode close reading of Legend of Galactic Heroes

According to a 2016 interview, Tanaka had no involvement with the OVA version. He was more closely involved with the 2018 anime adaptation, reviewing meeting note and able to order changes if deemed necessary.

The new adaptation will cover vol. 1 of the novel in 12 episodes, and vol. 2 through three films composed of four episodes each. Their success will determine the fate of further adaptations.

Legend of Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These ep. 1 Anime Feminist review
posted by needled (18 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
Damn, thanks for reminding me about this series. I had taken it down at some point as a recommendation that seemed right up my alley but totally forgot.

If anyone has read the book and/or manga and seen the anime, would you recommend one over the others? I'm mostly likely to seek out the manga and then watch the show.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:32 PM on April 22, 2018


Huh. This looks interesting. I'll probably have to see if I can track down the novels in electronic format, since the anime and so forth is pretty inaccessible to me.
posted by Alensin at 8:19 PM on April 22, 2018


I just started watching this, and it is certainly operatic.

I should probably be polishing the braid on my epaulets instead of commenting here.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:24 PM on April 22, 2018


My husband adores this. He likes pointing out to me how straight-up cribbed from Star Wars some of it is (pilots in orange jumpsuits...). I like pointing out to him how slashy it is.
As the FPP points out, it also has a fabulous soundtrack. It's a lot of fun to play identify-the-piece; okay, that's Bruckner 4th (and so it should be, given the Star-Wars-y theme), that's, oh jeez, which Mahler is that again, that's the scherzo from Beethoven Seven, that's... and so on.
posted by huimangm at 8:41 PM on April 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


Well. I suppose if one really wants to watch a eugenics-based empire invade and conquer a democracy, LoGH will definitely scratch. I mean, the empire started out murdering anyone they regarded as physically or mentally inferior. And the background is a bunch of peasants escaped and founded their own nation, and to the Empire, that's intolerable.

I'm not exaggerating. From the wiki:
the Kaiser expressed his distrust in constitutionalism due to the possibility that it would lead to a completely democratic society, which in his opinion led to mediocrity and the stifling of the talented and driven individual.
That's our hero Reinhard, ladies and gentlemen. If Star Wars really bugged you because the Empire should have won, here you go.

I've really been bugged over space opera's idolization of empires. Poul Anderson, Asimov, H. Beam Piper, L. M. Bujold, Hiroyuki Morioka, Marc Millar, it doesn't matter how ridiculous it is in the setting, the default polity is an empire. Very few writers, such as Anne Leckie, in even interrogating what the concept of an empire entails.

I mean yeah, enjoy problematic things and all that, but still, I am just so tired of the idea of space opera defaulting to empire.
posted by happyroach at 9:49 PM on April 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


> That's our hero Reinhard

"Main character" rather than "hero" is probably the more appropriate term. One of the problems with large-scale storytelling is the bad guys can't be unilaterally bad, and the good guys can't be monolithically good, otherwise there's a whole lot less story to hang hundreds of thousands of words on. And it also means that the bad guys' badness might not disambiguate itself until the eighth novel or such. Letting evil play out in a more direct way isn't necessarily the fix either, given fandom's long tradition of developing strong followings for bad guys who get to have all the fun because they aren't letting consensus morality get in the way -- Batman's The Joker, for example.
posted by ardgedee at 3:38 AM on April 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Well, the one thing Legend of the Galactic Heroes has over Niven and Pournelle et all is that here the big stadium massacre clearly based on the Nika riots was actually perpetuated by the villains, rather than the nominal good guys.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:53 PM on April 23, 2018


> I've really been bugged over space opera's idolization of empires. Poul Anderson, Asimov, H. Beam Piper, L. M. Bujold, Hiroyuki Morioka, Marc Millar, it doesn't matter how ridiculous it is in the setting, the default polity is an empire. Very few writers, such as Anne Leckie, in even interrogating what the concept of an empire entails.

But that is exactly what Legend of Galactic Heroes is doing, as you say, "interrogating what the concept of an empire entails." It presents and discusses at length two different political systems, and the ways they can develop, positively and negatively.

Reinhard wants to overthrow the current Goldenbaum dynasty, having personally suffered its abuse of power. Oberstein, one of his advisers, shares in Reinhard's cause, as he himself notes that in Emperor Rudolf's days eh would not have been allowed to live due to his congenital eye condition necessitating the use of artificial eyes. And it should be noted that the Goldenbaum dynasty came about because Rudolf von Goldenbaum was voted into power by the citizens of the Galactic Federation, who opted for security and dictatorship.

On the FPA side, its elected government is choosing to engage in an ill-advised invasion of the Empire to distract the citizenry away from economic woes and counting on military wins to cement their re-election chances. Meanwhile an alt-right militia victimizes anti-war activists. Yet the majority still believe in democratic institutions. Yang Wen-Li: "I believe that being ruled by the worst democracy is preferable to being ruled by the best autocracy."

> That's our hero Reinhard,

LoGH has a sprawling cast of characters, the locus for the Galactic Empire being Reinhard, and his counterpart in the FPA being Yang Wen-Li. They are adversaries, holding equal weight in the story. If anybody should be considered the hero of the story, it is Yang Wen-Li.

And the overall theme of the series is that empires / nations rise and fall, and the particular chapter of history presenting Reinhard's ascent to power does not signify that the Empire won and the story ends there.
posted by needled at 6:12 PM on April 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


I have the OVA here but one of the main reasons I've struggled to watch it, along with other problematic themes, would be lack of interesting important women in entirety of 110 episodes. I've asked other viewers about this omission but it goes into a circle of SPACE OPERA and it was different back then. I mean, there could have at least 1-2 women right?
posted by chrono_rabbit at 6:14 PM on April 23, 2018


Well, on the Galactic Empire side, Hildegard von Mariendorf is an important and influential figure, who becomes Reinhard's most trusted advisor. On the FPA side there's Frederica Greenhill, Yang Wen-Li's adjutant, and later in the series Katerose von Kreutzer, who's a Spartanian pilot.

I almost forgot, there's Margareta von Herxheimer, who appears in the Gaiden, a self-possessed 10 year-old who makes me wish there was another side story about her 10 years later.

Above-mentioned iceberg blog's take on Hildegard (spoilers), take on Frederica and some other female characters (spoilers)
posted by needled at 6:29 PM on April 23, 2018


I mean, there could have at least 1-2 women right?

Not many more though. I'm currently half way through the original OVA series and so far we've had the following women:

Reinhard's sister, who is there mainly as inspiration for him and Sieg (who'd clearly like to be the meat filling in a von Musel sandwich, but I digress)
The wife of a friend of Yang Wenli, who becomes an important antiwar/opposition politician in the League
Yang Wenli's adjudant and later love interest
Reinhart's advisor, the daughter of a minor count

None so far that really rose above secondary supporting character; this is a very manly series.

But it is I'd argue a major flaw in LotGH, this old fashioned even for 1988 view of a strictly gender separated future. You oculd argue that the empire, with its deliberate return to a simpler, more authoritarian time, would also embrace 19th century ideas about gender, but the alliance should've been more egalitarian. Especially considering the imbalance in the population.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:54 PM on April 25, 2018


The few women in LoGH who do get their turn in the spotlight are generally pretty well fleshed out characters, but yeah -- there aren't enough of them. And that's putting aside all the low grade sexism their everyday surroundings are steeped in. As a returning fan it's one of my disappointments with the series.
posted by redrawturtle at 2:20 AM on April 26, 2018


If I may go into spoiler territory, I'd say that Hildegarde von Mariendorf has the most fleshed out arc out of all of them. Frederica's basically set up to be her Alliance counterpart, but on some level it feels a little forced. Probably just me, though.
posted by redrawturtle at 2:34 AM on April 26, 2018


Hmm---one of the reasons I wanted to watch LoTG other than it being well-know is how people have compared it to Rose of Versailles which is one of my favorite anime series. So it was disappointing to see that there was a lack of women in space compared to Oscar. It certainly is a manly series :(
posted by chrono_rabbit at 5:19 PM on April 26, 2018


> how people have compared it to Rose of Versailles

I admit to scratching my head at that one (alternatively, visualize head-tilt and "Nani?").

Other than OVA Reinhard's character design looking like he'd fit right in Rose of Versailles, I'm not sure how the two series are comparable. Could you point me to some comparisons?

Regarding the lack of women, both the novels and the OVA were products of their times and cultural context, early to mid-80s's Japan when the novels were written and the OVA series started. It's also a genre that even now does not have a multitude of female characters.

The argument can be made that the new adaptation could have tried to introduce more women, by gender-switching some of the existing characters. It's certainly something that's been done with Shakespeare adaptations, say, but that's after centuries since initial publication and countless adaptations of his work. Given the reactions to any deviations from the novels or the OVA series, and Yoshiki Tanaka's closer involvement with the new series, I feel it would have been difficult to accomplish with the current adaptation. The episodes so far don't look cheap, and Production I.G. needs to make enough money back to fund adapting beyond vol. 3 of the novel.

Perhaps some future adaptation will find a financially and artistically feasible way to have more female characters.
posted by needled at 4:21 AM on April 27, 2018


Although... The new series at least changed how Jessica and Yang first met. I don't know if that's 'changed', or 'has a different interpretation of'. The new adaptation seems to draw from the manga as well but I'm getting a bit sidetracked. Either way, this is how the OVA did it:

- Jean takes Yang somewhere on the pretext of showing him something.
- It turns out to be Jessica playing the piano and they watch her practice from a window (?!).
- Jean says she'll be at a certain function and the two boys agree to go.
- At the function, they flip a coin to see who gets to dance with her first.

In the new series...

- Yang's in a library reading when he hears someone playing a violin on the roof.
- He goes there to listen, and the violinist (Jessica) stops to remark on how unusual it is to see a cadet in uniform out and about.
- They start talking. She realises she knows who he is. Somehow, she knows a lot of things about him!
- Jean then comes along and clears up the mystery: it turns out he and Jessica are childhood friends, and he's the source of her knowledge.

It's probably a concession to the times but as far as I'm concerned, I'm good with this change.

It's a setup that preserves the old dynamic while underlining Yang's outsider status. Even if that wasn't actually true, that's probably how he feels, and he has even less self-justification to insert himself into a potential love triangle. The strokes are more subtle, and I very much like that. It treating Jessica less like a object is a bonus, of course.
posted by redrawturtle at 12:41 PM on April 27, 2018


needled: I read about it on MAL . Not sure if it's actually accurate or not but I wanted to re-live the retro exp.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 3:12 PM on April 27, 2018


As soon as I made those posts I was already looking for justifications for the OVA to handle things the way it did and to my embarrassment, it made me wish I hadn't posted anything at all. The more I got back into it, the less and less I had a problem with it. I don't like that and it makes me think bias that a series can do no wrong is an easy trap to fall into.

I'm not walking back what I said, because I think it's not false. You have to be prepared to sit through at least some of it to get to the good parts.

Though, my point above, with the post about Jean, Jessica, and Yang, is that there are things the new adaptation can do the change the framing of things, to lessen the feeling of sexism. In this case it might be one step forward and two steps back, but it's ... something?

They did a lot less with Jessica in the new adaptation so far; no more than the novels did.

It comes late, but I think the agency of women characters really gets going in the last half of the OVA. It still bothers me that the novels would say something like "For the military, even women were an indispensable human resource in the Rear Service, vital in resupply, accounting, transport, communications, space traffic control, intelligence processing, and facilities management." You'll notice that they are all supporting roles. But this is at the beginning. Whether the series comes to refute that in the end is something I'm kind of undecided on.

Because, well. While there are women who end up as leaders, in a sense, it's because men have already done all the fighting and now it's the women's turn to preserve what's left that's of worth. And that framing strikes me as problematic.

Though I haven't been able to find the right words for it before, I think that's pretty much what's been bothering me about it.

The framing is basically baked into the series, from what I could tell. I think LoGH could still preserve the message and make it more general (turning into a 'soldiers fight, civilians preserve' type of thing) rather than making it strictly gender-based. Because LoGH does on occasion as symbolism equate women and children with civilians. But I might be reading too much into things.

You won't find a woman commanding a fleet. That's probably a spoiler, but it's more like potential the series never taps into. Hilda comes closest in terms of directly influencing fleet movements, but she's not the 'commander' in those cases. She goes and pitches a plan to an existing fleet commander and using her using her intellect and wits, gets them to see her way of thinking.

> Above-mentioned iceberg blog's take on Hildegard (spoilers), take on Frederica and some other female characters (spoilers)

On preview, reminds me that I should probably check out those links at some point. I'm sorry, I went and made this comment without doing that; I realise now that it's premature of me to do so. (It's probably the nerves.)

Well, here goes.
posted by redrawturtle at 5:09 AM on May 5, 2018


« Older Like Choose Your Own Adventure, but with...   |   Just Like Pigses At Black Masses Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments