i dont like LOGH. You are all welcome to start sending me hate mail and tell me how wrong i am and how much of a heretic i am for daring not to like LOGH, the greatest things since sliced bread. Bu i just dont.
Why? Well, despite the fact that the show does have an impressive scale, great music, and is trying to be a realistic anime show, i just found it to be a self-important, unrealistic at times, elitist story filled with mary-sue leads and propaganda.
Lets start of with the elitist part. For one, this show has a ton of propaganda. For one, it is pro The Great Man Theory. Basically, if your not Yang, Julian, Reinhard, or Oberstein, your stupid. They are the only characters that manage to do anything significant in the show, are smarter than everyone else, and can do no wrong. Yang knows everything and never loses a battle. Reinhard knows everything and never loses a battle. Julian is good at everything;somehow. Oberstiens Machiavellian methods always work and he is always right about everything.
That leads me to the next problem, Machiavellian propaganda. Some of you may say "This isnt propaganda, its just that Machiavellian methods always work and your stupid if you think otherwise". No, its propaganda. Not once does Obersteins methods fail. Not once does a alternate route of success work. Not once does a good argument against Machiavellianism ever come up. According to this show, Machiavellian methods are always the way to go and if you agree otherwise, your wrong. Screw you, people with solid moral convictions. No wonder this show hates religion so much.
The next part is mary-sue characters. Like i said before, if your not Yang, Julian, Rienhard, or Oberstien in this show, your stupid. There are several times in this show where characters basically say "we would have lost that battle if it werent for Yang". Same for Reinhard, Julian, and Oberstein. Never mind the fact that battles are won by a collection of people working together, not just great leaders telling everyone what to do.
And for those of you who dont believe me, lets go over what a mary sue is and see if each character fits the criteria.
Mary Sue:A Mary Sue is an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character.
Lets start with Yang
:Knows more about history than everyone else(does NOBODY else know anything about human history other than him?)
:Is a tactical genius
:Is loved by everyone (remember, another quality of mary sues is them being loved by everyone or generally hated by everyone, or both loved and hated by generally everyone)
:thinks for everyone else(especially Fredrica Greenhill)
Yeah, i think he fits the criteria. Yeah, hes messy at his home life, but that doesnt effect how good he is at everything else at all. Hes a mary sue.
Next Julian.
Julian is
:An expert at axe battles
:An expert on ship battles
:A master strategist
:A master leader.
:loved by everyone
:and essentially thinks for everyone else once Yang dies.
he is also a mary-sue
Next, Reinhard
: Is a tactical war genius
:Is a flawless leader(yes, hes arrogant, has a ego, and is reckless at times, but that never harms him in the long run or affects how much of a genius he is at everything)
:Is too perfect of a leader(every decisions he makes is always right, he can do no wrong)
:Is loved and hated by most
: Always thinks for everyone, except Oberstien.
Speaking of which
Oberstien is
:always right about everything.
:a master strategist when it comes to important decisions
:thinks for everyone, including Rienhard at times( like at Westerland)
So, yeah, their mary sues.
And now for the rest of the problems i have with this show.
: characters constantly praising the other side before or during battle, even when they just wiped out millions of their men. Unrealistic much!
:Rienhard praising Yangs battle skills and hoping that they will battle again (in episode 2), like they just played a friendly game of chess as opposed to a real battle in a real war. Uh, Rienhard, this a war, not chess. You just killed millions of innocent people and lost millions of your men in battle. Try acting like a adult instead a pompous whim bag.
:Yang, please treat you job with more seriousness instead of praising the enemy and being mellow about every single subject 90% of the time. Sit properly in your chair when in battle. Stop slouching and stop wiping all the time. And stop with that pompous "i know everything" tone of voice you have at times. You also need to get beaten up a bit by the sergeant from Full Metal Jacket
:Rienhard, i know your a good person and all, but damn if you didnt cause a lot of death in this because of your lust for war and stupid ambition. You had one job, defeat the evil nobles, earth cult, and phezzan and establish a good government. You did that job, but you sure did it in the most bloody way possible. Are we sure Oberstien didnt get a hold of those mind controlling drugs that the Earth Cult had and used them on Reinhard at one point?
:In episode 22 or something, Rienhard is getting ready to go out and battle the nobles and he decides to call his independent fleet "The Rebel Fleet". A subtitle then comes up and says "remember, the Alliance is also called "The Rebel Fleet".
Thank you show, but i already knew that and i also know the meaning behind that. I'm not stupid.
:Also, thanks for spelling certain plot developments out when i could have figured them out myself.
:In episode 1, there;s a frame when Rienhard is giving orders that shows him positioned in such a way that the Empire symbol is right behind him, making it look like he has angel wings. Subtle.
:Later on, theirs a moment where Rienhard is shown as an angel. Yes, Rienhard turns out to be a great leader, but i dont care how bad the war was(and it was bad), that was ridiculous.
; near the end of the series, someone laments on how if they had just talked things out with the enemy, so many lives would have been spared. He then goes on to prepare for another battle. Seriously? You bring up the possibly of talking things out and just say "Fuck it, i'm gonna prepare to resume the conflict". What the fuck?
:the politics and philosophy in this are way too simplistic as well as elitist.
the politics basically boil down to this. Democracy is fairer because of the whole freedom of the people to decide and its easier to get corrupt people out of government, but a autocracy is more efficient in decision making, political and military action and if lead by a kind smart leader, is MOTHERFUCKING awesome.
as for the philosophy
Heres the AMAZING lessons to be learned in LOGH
the ends justify the means(Oberstiens character being a testament to that)
;necessary evils are necessary (cough Oberstien cough)
efficiency before morality(cough Oberstien cough)
mankind is flawed(DURP!)
All religion is EVIL!( which it isnt)
Most people are stupid(check that, most people are born stupid since this shows believes in The Great Man Theory) and need to be lead by someone smarter than them.
(as demonstrated by the four main mary sue characters i talked about; seriously this is show is pro-facist)
The Great Man Theory is true and so is the Cult of Personality (as demonstrated by the four main mary sue characters)
;mercy and compassion is weakness(as demonstrated several times by Oberstiens character)
;you need to spoonfed every detail to everyone because their so stupid( the narrator for example, and the several times the main mary sue characters spell out obvious things to the characters and thus the audience)
;war is a sophisticated sport for intellectuals
;history repeats itself(DURP!)
;Machiavellian thinking is the way to go man. Screw you morality!
;their is no such thing as talking things out with your opponent and perhaps coming to a truce.
;no co-existing with each other. We'll shed blood forever until only Democracy or autocracy wins.
;during a war,theirs always time for witty dialogue, especially after someone has died during a battle( seriously, go die in a ditch Poplan)
;young people are so much better than those stupid old people (seriously, this show has a hatred for most old people, 99% of the main characters are young people and of course Yang and Reinhard, the revolutionaries, are the youngest leaders in history).
;Yang and Reinhard are the greatest men ever and should be worshiped as gods(they might as well be)
; fuck you people, Yang and Rienhard are so FUCKING great you should go FUCK yourselves you FUCKING cunts. FUCK YOU YOU MOTHERFUCKING COCKSUCKER! FUCK!
;emotions are for the weak( cough oberstien cough)
;have other people speak for humanity rather than have humanity speak for itself(Yang during the court martial episode for example, Yangs constant speeches about humanity, history, and government, and Yang and Rienhards talk about government)
: A quick detour into the Democracy vs Autocracy thing, the supposed meat
and potatoes of LOGH. Heres the thing, besides speed, what does a Autocracy have going for it. For me, it seems that the only reason you would say a Autocracy is superior to a Democracy is if you believe that most people are too stupid to think for themselves and that they need someone whos smarter than them to tell them what to do.
Now i dont believe that notion, but it seems to me thats the only logical reason
i can think of of why you would think a Autocracy is better than a Democracy. All you have left if you take away that is speed, and speed isnt everything, especially if you have to sacrifice morality at times in order to establish a system in which speed is a number one priority (cough Oberstien cough). This is my opinion, of course, and your welcome to believe what you want.
I'm not saying a Democracy is perfect(the show makes sure to show that its not), but again, in my opinion, i think a democracy is fairer as its government for the people. It may not always be the most efficient form of government or even perfect, but i believe in it.
In terms of positives, like i said it has great classical music, a ambitious scale, and at times is pretty realistic(AT TIMES). I cant really call it bad, but i still certainly cant call it great. The show does try to do a lot of things, so i cant really rate it lower than 7. But it still has all the flaws i mentioned that make it come off as juvenile and snobby.
If LOGH were a person, it would a a male wearing a suit, a top hat, a monocle on one eye, and sipping tea mixed with brandy and eating crumpets, with his pinky in the air, before looking down at a group of farmers and regular townsfolk with both smugness and disgust.
The whole thing seems specifically made for elitist assholes. And surprise surprise, their are elitist assholes among this fanbase. Note, i said AMOUNG the fanbase, not the entire fanbase.
Nevertheless, that wont stop people from telling me how wrong i am and that i should kill myself for even suggesting that the great LOGH have any flaws. Thats at worst. At best i might just get ridiculed by fans because you cant criticize this anime. Its considered the Holy Bible to a good amount of the fanbase. If they could, those elitist fans would probably come over and probably beat me to death on camera.
But oh well, what can you do.Thats what happens when you have, gasp, your own opinion. |