Legend of the Galactic Heroes Die Neue These – 21-24

I am certainly late with this post but my excuses are christmas and just having more important things to do. But we come to the end of the second season of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and with this end comes the end of the two rebellions within the stories societies. The parallel remains for both with the two main character winning a bittersweet victory. Reinhard got what he wanted but lost something truly irreplaceable while Yang restored order only for the corrupt democracy to take charge and begin plotting against him. The death of the National Salvation Military Council was truly poetic as they set out to stop corruption, fell to it themselves and then tore itself apart when it was discovered that they truly were nothing but a pawn for the enemy. The final testament to their mistaken actions being the remaining soldiers still believing that they did nothing wrong. Meanwhile the Lippstadt alliance falling apart from their own arrogance as they rush into a defeat seeking glorious death only to find that no one wants to entertain such a notion and with some even shot and killed by their own soldiers on the ship who were not too keen on following the glorious death of some brat. The death of Braunschweig is a thing of beautiful dramatic irony with him being force fed poisoned wine, drowning in his own decadence. Beforehand you even wished that for once, just once, he could conduct himself with dignity now that his death was decided but alas when the time came to bite the bullet he went out like the manchild he always was. The thing I must ask though is despite knowing of Braunschweig’s character, his subordinate still went through with fulfilling his last request. Maybe like Merkatz he was just a man sworn to duty even when that duty pushes him to serve the selfish and greedy but it just seems like such weak modivation for a suicide attack. It certainly wasn’t to uphold a promise as Braunschweig broke his end of the deal hereby making anything he swore invaild. Perhaps at the end of this foolish journey he saw no real way out and just decided to follow through on his role to the very end.

Thus the pivotal moment comes in Reinhard’s life, the death of Kircheis and while I have likely mentioned this before i have always found this relationship to be rather suspect. In that I do see how much Kircheis meant to Reinhard but I am not certain that Reinhard meant the same to Kircheis. I do not mean to say that maybe he hated Reinhard but more that his motives in staying with him where not solely out of friendship. It’s clear that he was in love with Annerose and that his promise to her was a massive factor in what kept him with Reinhard. Feelings which seem to be mutual as Annerose decided to break off any contact she had left with her brother, partly because she felt she was a chain to him but also likely in that she was resentful that he got Kircheis killed. I will admit that part of the problem with that scene was in not showing how the hell that man managed to sneak a bazooka into the council chamber as it does seem like something futuristic security would scan for. In the OVA it showed him stowing away the bazooka inside of Braunschweig’s body which is why it escaped detection. But I do like that this remake emphasised that it was Oberstien who stripped Kircheis of his right to bear arms in the chamber which could have very well saved his life if he still had his blaster. But that is the beauty of a character like Oberstien, as he does seem like a character whose just ready to betray Reinhard at a moments notice and yet his actions are always to serve him. Oberstien’s problem is a lack of emotional morality as while his logic is often sound, his methods are quite resentful. At the point when the rest of Reinhard’s crew thought Oberstien would use this moment to grab power, he instead suggests to make the Prime Minister the scapegoat for the assasination in order to secure even more power for Reinhard. It’s a beautiful move but the fact that he can take the death of Reinhard’s best friend and use it to benefit the ultimate goal of having Reinhard rule the universe is truly cold and calculating. He is the greatest ally you could ever have but never someone you could ever come to like.

This story really does show the difference between it’s two protagonists as we seen Yang deal with grief in a manner that could be considered dignified and reasonable. But when Reinhard is faced with grief he becomes a complete emotional wreck. One could argue that Jessica didn’t hold as high value to Yang as Kircheis did to Reinhard but I am not so certain of that as Jessica was Yang’s first love. Even the finale of the series has both protagonists visiting the grave of the one they lost though I admit that it is a powerful sentiment that upon thinking over what to put on Kircheis grave, Reinhard simply gave it two words “My Friend”. Yang managed to move past grief and focus on what’s important for those outside of himself but Reinhard…he’s a broken man moving forward because he has no other choice. Yang is a person I can call a good man through and through but Reinhard seems to be slowly turning to the side of ruthlessness. With his killing of Braunschweig’s heirs being quite morally questionable. The dictatorship of Reihard has begun and while he may be beneficial, one has to wonder if he won’t repeat the mistakes of the rulers of the past and his kingdom falling with his life. Moving aside to the Free Planets Alliance, it is not lost on me the symbolism of Yang using ice to destroy the defense satellites surrounding the capital and how the founder the planet was named after used ships made of ice to birth the nation. Almost the last spit in the face of National Salvation Military Council, a statement to say that in the eyes of the founder they were wrong. After all they basically followed the methodology of the founder of the Goldenblum dynasty to enslave Heinessen. Meanwhile Yang followed the methodology of the founder of the Free Planets Alliance to save it. Yet still for all that they did, they never admitted to their mistakes. I still say that their ideas were not wrong but the methods proved them hypocrites.

So Trunciet is still alive, god damn it. I most certainly share Yangs utter contempt for the man as he disappeared when people really needed him but right when the dust settles he comes right on out to sing the praises of the Free Planets Alliance while trying to score political points by forcing Yang to shake his hand. I honestly wanted Yang to just to refuse but I think he sees just what is happening in the background. If he refused this handshake it would be seen as a strike against the politicians who already view Yang negatively for his statements which can be considered anarchist. With this we now start the ever incredible stupidity of democracy as the Free Planets Alliance are forced to commend and rely of Yang while at the same time trying to crush him because they are absolutely terrified about him making a grab for political power. The cherry on top of this sundae of stupidity is that if any of these people actually took the time to get to know Yang they would know that he wants nothing to do with politics and just giving him a retirement package would have him out of their hair for good. The final scene showing off the weakest aspect of the series, the earth cult. In an anime so full of factions of complex agendas and motives, it’s a pity that one of the most pivotal also happens to be the most one dimensional. As for the future of this series there does seem to be word of another season incoming which I do hope are true as we have made it this far so why not make it to the end. But if we reach that end we would have the question of which version to recommend to people, is it a Fullmetal Alchemist situation where both series should be experienced? Or more of a HunterxHunter situation where the remake completely replaces the original? In LOGHs case it makes for a hard question to answer. The original OVA has its charms and the benefit of the time to really flesh out the characters and subplots of the series but the remake has the advantage of being an easier sell with it’s updated visuals and more condensed plot. The remake also happens to have a dub which may be a preferred method for some to experience it. At the moment it is hard to truly place one over the other as the remake does do some things better while the OVA also has it’s things which it excelled at. In this case I think it will come down to what people truly want from the series but for the majority of the mainstream the remake will likely be the primary experience with the OVA a secondary option provided that they do not mess up the stories later seasons.