Legend of the Galactic Heroes Die Neue These – 2/3[The Battle of Astarte/An Indomitable Prodigy]

If I was to judge this adaption based solely on the first three episodes I would declare it a resounding success. For while I do really like the old series, it does have a rather slow start. I say i only truly got invested in it around episode 3 or 4 when the more political side of the story surfaced. However the remake here has managed to spice up the space battles with new effects and the presentation of the story is better. The first episode introduced us to only one side of the conflict, thus not overburdening the viewer by jumping around between two vastly different sides with a whole host of characters. Then the second episode introduced the other side which provided a nice transition between the differences in command and a solid introduction to our two leads with vastly different combat styles. I would berate this series for having stupid commanders who ignore their subordinates good suggestions and continue being utterly arrogant…but actual history does seem to have a recurring theme of having really stupid people in high positions screwing things up. I at least appreciate that the commander handed the reins over to Yang once he was taken out of the picture and acknowledged that he was the only man who could get them out of this. It shows that even if he was prideful and idiotic for ignoring Yangs suggestions, he still was a good person. I admit I found it quite humorous for Yang to turn the battle into a game of chasing tails only for Reinhard to retreat cause he hated how dumb the battle had become.

Our story here has a large scope but generally it jumps between two viewpoints. That of Reinhard and that of Yang. The third episode focused on Reinhard first and when watched the old series I found that I much prefer Yangs viewpoint over Reinhards. Mostly because the situation Yang was dealing with was more interesting and Yang overall was a far more interesting protagonist. Reinhard has his draw but I just didn’t quite find his personality as charming. So it really is a merit of the old series to get me to be engaged with parts of the story I once found my attention wander with. True this could be a product of foreknowledge and since I know what happens I have become more engaged in how the plot reaches that point. But I do feel like the presentation here is really working to keep people immersed. Of course that does not mean that this is top tier animation as during talking scenes it can be the bare essentials but even then we got subtle face movements. The animation of the old series was quite basic so from a animation standpoint there wasn’t much to look at. Here there is greater polish to the scenes which I feel really nails down getting the main points across to the viewer. By episodes end you know Reinhard’s ambition, why he wants to do it and his friendship with Kircheis. As well as the general social structure of the empire which to boil it down, would likely be the result if Hitler won WWII. The old series will always be relevant for having for details but I felt this new series could make for a good compromise for those not willing to watch 110 episodes of content. I even get a better sense for Kircheis’s and Reinhards friendship as in the old series I was never was quite sold on their friendship. To me it felt like more of a master and servant association which Kircheis put up with cause he wanted to bang Annerose. Not saying he doesn’t want the same thing here but at least you can get a sense that he is following Reinhard for more than just Annerose.

I like the opening of this series as it’s a rather different kind of opening from what we usually get, being a ballad instead of forgettable Jpop. But as the chorus of the song played I couldn’t help getting nostalgic as something sounded very similar. I had to rack my brain just to remember it but I finally found out why. The reason is that the chorus of this song is a blatant ripoff of the 1987 hit by Starship “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”. I don’t know if it was intentional or purely coincidental but the two songs are near identail when it comes to the chorus. Truth be told I am not sure if I care though as the song sounds good, I just hope it’s more an intentional homage than lazy composition. Truly if I were to fault this series for something it would be the character designs and yes I believe this will be something I will harp on about throughout the series. Some of the designs I can get behind but I rather dislike how it makes everyone look so much younger. Even old characters feel like they have perfect skin and were varnished to a mirror sheen. The reason this is a big issue for me is that the greatest victim of these designs is Yang Wenli as in the old series he felt like a middle aged veteran and thus when he starts talking history or strategy, it felt like it was coming from someone experienced with life. With his HD makeover he still sounds smart but he lost an important characteristic of his manner. It could be just my fondness for his old design but I really did like the way that Yang was like a tired middle aged man who was sick of the worlds crap and just trying to make the best out of a rather terrible situation he was forced into.