It is hard to find any value in this anime: characters are not interesting to pull all the attention; action is dull; mind games are weak; depiction of war lacks necessary authenticity or meaningful commentary; rivalry is done better in any shounen anime. Where is the epos I heard so much about?
RATING: 3 – Bad
STORY: “Legend of the Galactic Heroes” - except every word is a lie.
“Legend” is an overstatement in association with events in this show. Yes, we see a greater scope of corrupt and egoistic governments mismanaging countries, disillusioned about their dependence on permanent state of war. However, (unintentional?) bad writing coupled with serious delivery tanks any credibility as social commentary as well as a parody.
“Galactic” does not serve the setting any justice, because the show lacks sci-fi vision. Technological progress is present only in military tools; everyday tech, clothing or architecture are frozen in time. It seems like society structures also did not evolve despite new hurdles, like administration of multiple planets; on the contrary, the society even degraded back in case of the Empire. Furthermore, warfare is executed with practices from Napoleon wars: huge armies stand before each other and trade losses or undertake a head on charge, which is sold as strategic masterpiece. Considering war is one of the major themes, the presentation is disappointing or even laughable. Just let it take place in 17th century with stupidity in commando tents and on the battlefield. The show simply does not explore potential of its own setting.
“Heroes” implies there are individuals, who excel above the masses. However, there are no such characters in this show. Wen and Reinhard are considered strategic prodigies, yet their skill is just an illusion, created by comparing those two with utterly incompetent and/or mentally challenged side characters, whose sole purpose is to make the supposed heroes look good. As one example look at Commodore Falk. The show simply fails to build up genuinely smart lead characters.
There are even more issues, like blatant introduction scenes and info dumps. The later ones are sometimes incomplete, like the world-building attempt in ep 3, which explains the history behind the conflict between Empire and Alliance, yet does not mention the 3rd faction. Where did they come from?
“Anecdotes of the Unimaginative Fakes” would be an appropriate title.
CHARACTERS: No bonds, no motivations, no characters.
The main characters are Reinhard, on the side of the Empire, and Wen on the side of the Alliance. In their environment, those two are considered strategic prodigies, as repeated ad nauseam on multiple occasions. Wen acquired his skills by reading history books, whereas Reinhard is a natural, I guess, because the show never bothers to show his development.
Should Wen’s character be close to source material, it would make him grandfather of all lazy and laid back attitude main characters infesting today’s light novels. Occasionally he will make a smart comment on events or dumb speeches, however his words are directed more towards the viewer and not his environment, thus have little narrative impact and serve as moral guideline for the viewer, which further devalues this character.
Reinhard is an ambitious smug with hatred towards the Empire because…I actually don’t know. How is it not an honor, but disgrace, for his sister to be Emperor’s wife? What are those motivations?
Support characters also got a budget treatment; relationships are clearly defined in dedicated introduction scenes, however there is no time to reinforce those bonds, so that in the end you know who they are but you do not care about them. “Wen’s little slave is cleaning the house and cooking meals again? Oh, it’s his adopted son. Didn’t notice that.”
ART & ANIMATIONS: talking heads; Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V ships.
LftGH 2018 is bland: bland character designs, bland ship designs, bland backgrounds, everything is bland. Animation did not strain the budget either, because there is not much to animate in a dialogue heavy show. Around episode 10 the overall quality takes a major dip with off model characters and horrible gray backgrounds.
Space battles are boring and void of any energy or tension: all you see are copy & paste CGI ships trading red or blue laser beams left and right. Expect to get zero visual entertainment. Fast-paced battles between small fighters, as you can witness in the OP, are rare and not impressive.
SOUND: Geshiikaaa!!!!!!!!!
Music, especially the OP, is way better than the show deserves and is the only positive remark I can make. Original voice act runs into serious troubles pronouncing overabundance of western names; professionals should show more expertize on their field.
