Some of the faces are so poorly animated they're repulsive, such as the first officer on Reinhard's first ship assignment.
And this gaiden seems to have no focus. The first one chronicles Reinhard's and Kircheis' rise to power. This one haphazardly switches from Yang to Reinhard and the time changes seem random.
It's actually something I never want to see again while there are parts of the second gaiden I'd watch again and the main series I could watch for the rest of my life over and over again.
It begins with Yang Wenli's military career and shows how he became the hero of El Facil. This part is good but kind of boring and rushed. In the flashbacks of the OVA main series there was a lot more tension and I felt the darker color palette suited it better.
Also this gaiden doesn't take itself seriously like the main series and how the first gaiden does. There's an annoying humorous friendly tone in all the episodes and thus there's never ever any tension.
The Bruce Ashbey prequels were kind of all right but it all seemed pointless since I don't even think Bruce Ashbey was mentioned once in the main series.
And then the conspiracy involving him and Empire defectors and a secret intelligence network that fed him information that led to his victories all seemed boring, pointless, and contrived.
When Yang became assistant to the warden of a prisoner of war prison that also seemed pointless. When it switches to Reinhard it gets much worse.
Everyone says how awful the Golden Wings OVA is but I thought it was a far better portrayal of Reinhard's first time on a ship than this series was.
Then we have the duel arc which was so boring I skipped to The Third Battle of Tiamat arc and watched this only at the very end after I already finished the show.
