"This is a free country. We have the freedom to not stand if we don't want to. I'm only exercising that freedom."
"Then why don't you want to stand?"
"I exercise my freedom to withhold my answer."
‒ Yang Wen-li, in the audience at a government speech
Does this sound familiar to anyone? You find yourself in a "free" country where you have the freedom to agree with the political leadership or a masked group will come break your windows in the name of patriotism. The Free Planets Alliance even has "free" in its name. See how much it helps.
Throw your beret in the air! Legend of the Galactic Heroes is back. This is a new adaptation, but its central focus remains the same: the characters like nothing more than discussing political philosophy. By itself, a war between an empire and a republic would be nothing new, just another entry in a long pile of similar works. You know the drill: Good Republic vs Evil Empire, etc. Here we have the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, which just based on their names may alarm viewers bored with such settings.
But what is different here is the presence of actual debate about political topics: democracy, nations, individual liberties, and so on. The arguments are not overly complex or difficult to follow, but these topics are not ignored or brushed aside like they so often are in fiction, even when there are prime opportunities to examine them. Instead of blindly praising democracy, they actually portray some of its flaws. They hold elections in the Alliance, yes, but does this guarantee that it is a free country? How do you think authoritarian strongmen get into power in the first place? Often by winning elections. The Galactic Empire was not always an empire either. When people begin to think that governing is not something done by them but for them, this is the outcome. They abdicate responsibility and blindly follow a self-proclaimed figure of authority who claims to "speak for the people".
Since this is a war drama, surely it will be in favor of nationalistic flag-waving, right? No, quite the opposite, actually. Political institutions such as states are only tools, not something that should be valued for the sake of itself, no matter what the government propagandists say. And in this show they say quite a bit. But why fight for the fatherland when you can fight out of foppery and whim?
In fact, there has been quite a bit of war. The Empire and the Alliance have been at war for some 150 years, at great human and economic cost but very little progress for either side. By the way, given that the death toll in a single battle can be over a million soldiers, "great human cost" is putting it pretty mildly. But who cares, right? A million is a statistic. The war is great for the Alliance government because it provides the citizens with an external enemy and distracts them from domestic issues. Same for the Empire; it helps keep the nobles in line, to an extent at least.
Well, it is not as though the series is without issues. For instance, some of the fleet tactics in space may easily raise an eyebrow or two. It is the age-old space opera dilemma: if you had a fleet of spaceships, would you actually command them like a seafaring navy? Yes, they are equipped with scifi tech, so not all of our familiar laws of physics apply, but it feels oddly convenient. What is the optimal method of warfare in space? Is it really gathering up ships so close to each other that you can probably hit one by firing in the general direction? Apparently, there are also chokepoints in space because you can't navigate in some areas. They even built a fortress on one of those chokepoints. From a tactical standpoint, all of this could have been more easily realized by placing this war on the ground.
And even if we accept all of this, there are a few military commanders who lack a basic understanding of tactics, even by standards of ground-based warfare. There are also those who place honor before reason to the point of suicide or are so convinced of the moral virtue of their expedition that they do not even think it through tactically. If they can arbitrarily lose millions of soldiers and thousands of ships, you might argue that they should have been sacked long ago. However, it is not entirely unrealistic, as there has always been an abundance of incompetent commanders and politicians. They got their jobs because they are "friends" with the current regime or because of the general stupidity of the population.
That said, it is surprising that the Empire has managed to survive as long as it has, given the amazing level of intellect ‒ or lack thereof ‒ portrayed by some of their high nobles. What is even more surprising is that the Empire appeared in the form that it did, with archaic nobility instead of a more modern dictatorship. Of course, fiction does not have to be perfectly realistic and being ultra-realistic is not always the best writing choice, but I generally prefer a realistic approach.
On another note, a few words about this adaptation and the older OVA. There are some differences, for sure, such as the visuals: they have CGI ships and different character designs, which I didn't particularly mind. I found the visual design of Iserlohn Fortress pretty impressive, actually, and it shows the advantages of CGI when used right. You can see the metal structures beneath the liquid surface, the reflections of the stars, and even the small waves when the turrets are moving around.
In terms of the actual script, the new adaptation follows the novels a bit more faithfully. Some characters are introduced later, some of the scenes in the older adaptation are absent here, and some of the flashbacks and infodumps are actually organized better. While there are individual episodes that benefit or suffer from these differences, they do not overturn the central themes of the show in any substantial way. Also, this 12-episode season is only a modest beginning. This series is a doorstopper, so there will be much more to follow, including many of the highlights.
In the very beginning of the first episode, they said, "If the events depicted here bear a resemblance to anything you know, or the people appearing here bear a likeness to anyone you know, it is but a fluke of history, and an inevitability". They were right.
Now, remember to watch out for broken windows, stray traffic, and other unfortunate patriotic accidents, in case the show was a little too accurate.
