A long war between galactic rivals, the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, has approached a possible climax in a major naval battle in which the latter, with superior numbers, plans to encircle and destroy the fleet of the former. But led by the dashing and brilliant Reinhard von Lohengramm, the Galactic Empire has a plan to escape its foes and perhaps strike its own crushing blow in the war—the question is, who will rise up among the Free Planets to counter, if anyone?
The new adaptation of LOTGH has arrived, and with a bang! Focused entirely on a naval battle, the opening episode is packed full of war scenes as Production I.G. shows off its skill at CGI. In fact, it feels as if the entirety of the episode is animated in that style, often to great effect (ex. when the ships attack one another and when looking at interstellar maps), though not always (ex. close-ups of the vessels). I think fans of the original series will find this new one intriguing, and there were nods to the original that even I could tell, even though I haven’t seen the classic. Selfishly, though, I hope there isn’t too much to be gained from investing in the long-running predecessor, because I’m on board and fully ready to enjoy this remake.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes (2018) can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
I’m still very worried about how they’ll pace this; this first ep is almost exactly the same as the first one of the originals. The first season of the original alone had 26 episodes, while this remake is only 12 ep. I fear a lot of character development and plot will suffer. Also, I still don’t like the bishonen character designs; they look funny, compared to the original OVAs. Still, I’ll withhold my judgment until the next ep.
Thanks for the insight, Paul! Here’s hoping we get a good series, even if the lofty heights of the original can’t be reached.