Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Waga Yuku wa Hoshi no Taikai

Thanks to the constant nagging of my friend razortongue, I've finally decided to give Legend of the Galactic Heroes another shot with its prequel film: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars. To my understanding, this was actually the pilot for the entire franchise and as far as pilots go, this was definitely a strong start. At the same time, I feel like I should provide a fair warning to anyone who's interested in tackling this massive beast. I'll say this right now: Legend of the Galactic Heroes is NOT an accessible franchise in the slightest. There are no scantily-clad princesses held hostage by giantslug aliens, no fast-paced giant robot battles, no mystical superpowers, no space stations that destroy planets, or anything of the sort. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a franchise which requires large reserves of patience from the viewer. This is a war drama through and through, told not from the perspective of the soldiers but rather from the perspectives of the commanders in charge. The focus of this franchise is not on fast-paced battles and the rule of cool, but rather on politics and the human condition. No entry of the franchise was ever released outside of Japan and as such, watching the series subtitled is the only way to go which may very well be to its detriment because there is NO shortage of dialogue. If you come into this franchise expecting Star Wars, Code Geass, or Fate/Zero on steroids like some of the OTHER reviews on this site make it out to be, you're going to be thrown for quite the loop when you find out just how much of a stark contrast the franchise is to its comparisons. Now if you read all of this, you understand all of that, and you STILL want to keep going, I highly encourage you to watch this film prior to watching the rest of the franchise as it's the perfect introduction to the situation at hand. Legend of the Galactic Heroes takes place in the distant future, where there's been a long and protracted war going down between two factions: the Galactic Empire (which isn't ruled by Emperor Palpatine... oddly enough) and the Free Planets' Alliance and we're treated to a long opening narration which essentially tells us that LOGH is the tale of two people whose actions have managed to leave their marks on history forever. The driving force behind Legend of the Galactic Heroes as a whole are Reinhard von Musel of the Galactic Empire and Yang Wenli of the Free Planets' Alliance. So... the two men who changed the course of history forever happen to be on opposing sides of the battlefield. Gee, ain't that subtle? Despite all the praise that LOGH as a whole receives and my slowly-changing views of the franchise, there are some things about it that I can never suspend my disbelief for. Oh well, c'est la vie as the old adage goes. Thank GOD there aren't any Yang/Reinhard slash fics in existence... that I know of, anyway. When it comes down to the storytelling, I can safely say that the narrative is mostly sound but one problem that I have with it is the fact that this film basically paints out the Free Planets' Alliance to be nothing more than a bunch of bumbling buffoons who can't take advantage of conditions which will easily lead to victory whilst portraying the Empire as a faction that more or less has its shit together. Now this is partially forgiveable since My Conquest is the Sea of Stars IS a pilot film, but it's just that one minor detail which doesn't really sit right with me. Beatnik's review of this film says that LOGH isn't like Gundam because it doesn't portray one side as inherently superior to the other and vice-versa, but this film does exactly that. That brings me over to my next biggest problem: the characters... or rather, how Yang was handled. To put it short: Yang wasn't given as much time in the spotlight as Reinhard was so we don't know much about Yang to begin with. Don't get me wrong: Yang has a sense of characterisation about him, but I know absolutely nothing about this guy and have no reason to root for him OR his faction. Meanwhile, the exact opposite can be said about Reinhard. I mean, I don't support autocracies whatsoever, but I can actually find myself wanting to side with Reinhard more than I do with Yang because well... I got to see more of him! I got to see why he's even in this war in the first place, executing strategies that would ordinarily be HUGE gambles succeeding, etc. Now with that said, there is another problem I have with the characters and that's the fact that Yang and Reinhard are damn near infallible. Seriously, Reinhard got away with pulling one of the most insanely risky tactics I've ever seen in war drama and managed to actually get the high ground on the opponent whilst everything that Yang predicted came true, and were it not for Yang's timely intervention, the Free Planets' Alliance's military may very well be handled by a bunch of screeching monkeys throwing faeces at each other. Why is this a problem? Well... LOGH is hailed for its supposed realism and yet I don't find Yang and Reinhard realistic in the slightest. Well... moreso Yang than Reinhard because once again: we spent more time with him and we ended up learning more about him than we did with Yang. Oh well, enough of that babble. With all of that nastiness out of the way, let's talk about what I really did like about this film. As an introduction to a two-sided conflict, Conquest doesn't quite do the best of jobs but it provides us with more than enough information to actually get the general idea of what's going on and it's quite evident that what we're clearly missing from the pilot movie will be further explained in what's to come later so if this film really did leave that good of an impression on you, it would be a good idea to follow up this film with the main OVA series (which I may or may not do in the near future, but that's a different story). On another note, and this pertains more to the franchise as a whole rather than the movie specifically but honestly... it's nice to see a space story which focuses on the political side of things rather than just giving us epic starship battles with plenty of lasers and exotic alien women who become masturbation material for overweight, basement-dwelling comic book geeks who tout the supremacy of the original Star Wars movies over the prequels. I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of political dramas, but then again... I love the everliving Christ out of crime procedural shows and I've been getting a taste for stuff like Law and Order, so Legend of the Galactic Heroes isn't really THAT much of a stretch for me. Moving over to the visual side of the spectrum, My Conquest is the Sea of Stars is the fourth (I think) anime I've ever watched that came out of the 1980s (the other 3 being Fist of the North Star, Akira, and the first season of the main LOGH OVA series). I'll say this right now: I absolutely love the art direction in this movie. If you were to ask me what a space opera *should* look like, I'm more likely to point you over to Legend of the Galactic Heroes than Star Wars. Everything is beautifully designed and I actually love how the character models stay fairly close to reality and don't have huge eyes or bizarre bodily proportioning. Hooray for an anime series that actually has humans that look like humans that AREN'T suffering from severe radiation poisoning! Animation is a different story however. I get that this came out in the late 80s and more importantly, it was given the budget of a film so it's definitely a cut above most of the other stuff that came out around the time period. At the same time, there are parts where the animation looks a bit choppy/stilted that just don't sit right with me. Don't get me wrong, the animation in this film is actually pretty damn good but it's just those moments where character movements are stilted or there's a frame or two re-used which just stick out more to my eyes than the good parts. Get what I mean? On the audio side of things, this film gets a solid 10/10 from me. The musical score of this film makes the score that John Williams composed for the entire Star Wars franchise look like discordant drivel. I don't think anyone who's ever watched LOGH can disagree with me on this one. THIS is how a space opera should sound like. The music carries each scene that it's played in exceptionally well and as far as I could tell, there was no repetition of tracks or anything that felt inappropriate for whatever moment was on-screen and that shit always nets a few points in my book. I can't really speak much for the voice acting since I'm not Japanese but to my understanding, there are a few high-profile Japanese VAs on-board with this project so there's always that to look forward to. Final thoughts? My Conquest is the Sea of Stars can be likened to the prologue/foreword chapter of every novel that most people tend to skip over. Whilst the main OVA series (from what I understand) is capable of standing on its own, this film provides a fair amount of context which can help the prospective viewer better understand what's going on. Also, this film provides a relatively accurate benchmark of what you're in for if you're planning on watching the main OVA series so if you really didn't like this film all that much, chances are that you should stay the fuck away from LOGH in its entirety. Conversely, if you found yourself enjoying this film, you should definitely give the main OVA series a shot... which again, I may or may not do in the near future.

“A slight glimpse into the vast ocean.” This is what this movie feels like, taking a slight glimpse into a vast ocean full of wonders awaiting you. If the gigantic ocean spanning more than one hundred episodes that is called Legend of the Galactic Heroes represented said ocean, then this particular movie would represent the shore before the galactic wave hits the viewer. It is a small, but intriguing introduction for the viewer to get a taste of what high caliber class the Anime medium could pull off. To put it simply, this movie is a touch of classy; it may not be as classy asthe main series, nor is it as gigantic of course, but it still gives off this sense of formality and dependence that the main series would still give off nonetheless. Well thought out tactics, such as the helium incident, are tactics which begin to show themselves early on during this movie, and in turn, they slowly introduce said viewer to what well thought out arcs, tactics, world building and character development this gigantic franchise could pull off. Speaking of the characters, if you had seen the main series, missed them after completing it and wanted to see more of them yet again after the OVA had ended, then they are all present here. From the egotistical blonde brat Reinhard Von Lohengramm, to his immortal nemesis Yang Wenli. Both of these admirals are shown as the tactical geniuses that they are throughout this movie, exhibiting how experienced and inherently tactical they are when it comes to military warfare and battles. Yang also exhibits some of his pessimistic ways of thinking of himself here, such as his denial of praise when receiving it from his mates, which is also a trait Yang outwardly shows throughout the main series. Unfortunately, the roaster is not that full, because some prevalent LoGH characters are missing in this movie. Julian Minci is the main culprit, but so are other characters missing as well, such as Schenkopp, Frederica Greenhill, the Phezzan cult and Annerose. However, even if some minor fan favorites are not to be found in this movie, the viewer should take note that this wasn’t the intention anyways. This movie was not really aiming to introduce a large cast of characters, since as I said, it was trying to be the sandy shore before a colossal wave hits. It succeeded in fleshing out the two central characters, Reinhard and Yang, and that is all it wanted to achieve in the first place. Other characters such as Oberstein show up, but barely does Oberstein get any screen time. The scene with him could have been cut out from the movie all together and it would have made no difference, since it didn’t serve to characterize him. We also get a glimpse into the actions of the imperials for a bit, but they barely show any character growth as much as the two central characters. As for Reuenthal and Mittermeyer, they show us the brotherly love they developed for each other during the run of the original series, and how loyal they are to their new Kaiser Reinhard. Finally, as for Kercheis, he follows the Kaiser’s orders to a tee without any hesitation whatsoever, and his loyalty and strict behavior and sense of responsibility are as prevalent here as they are throughout the original series’ run. Even if some characters were not developed, this movie never wanted to do that anyways, it just wanted to show an introduction to one of the greatest rivalries in Anime, and that is what it accomplished. Regarding the audiovisuals, they are dated more than the series if you take a closer look, but that shouldn’t hinder the enjoyment of the viewer whatsoever, since the art style and the music are both timeless. Even then, the viewer should excuse the Anime since it is so old, and some viewers may choose to watch this after the long series, so it really shouldn’t be much of a problem since the expectations for exquisite animation should not be too high. The length of this movie is quite perfect, and just like the original OVA, it did not need any filler moments in between. It is short and down to the point, which serves as a great introduction to the series. This movie is so important because it serves as both an introduction for the newcomers and as a short and enjoyable movie for people who so dearly missed our dear Kaiser and his eternal rival. It serves two functions excellently, even though it may be a bit iffy at times, and that is what makes it so important.

"Legend of the Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars" is the prelude to the "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" main series. It focuses on the fateful first encounters on the battlfield between Yang Wenli and Reinhard von Lohengramm. Lohengramm, with his vast ambitions and Yang the reluctant soldier form an interesting contrast. They're almost the polar opposite of each other, but in many ways they are similar. There's a sense that the two men are destined to become great rivals, and what makes the movie fascinating is the anticipation it creates for the future. Yang and Lohengramm aren't the only characters seeded in thisprelude who have future significance. If you come back to this after watching a portion of the series, you'll find plenty of other important characters lurking around, but most of them don't have much of a role to play, so it's unlikely that you'll have taken too much notice of them first time round. As a movie from the 80's, it shows its age quite clearly. Everything about the movie less than polished. Yang's initial characterisation feels a little heavy handed. In their attempt to portray him as an easy going fellow, they went too far and ended up dehumanising him a little. His overly nonchalant demeanor means that he seems less than bothered by the loss of so many lives during one of the battles in the movie, and it feels like he barely regretted his lack of effort towards its prevention (being marked out only by a single casually delivered line). Another gripe I have with this movie is how incompetently they abused the use of classical music. Normally, making classical music work with the scenes seem trivially easy - rarely do I come across instances where people messed it up, but this movie somehow managed it, and in a manner that's comparable to "Mars of Destruction" (I've probably just landed myself in hot water with the legions of LoGH fanboys with that line, but I stand by what I said :P). The makers' idea of good music production seem to be to start playing a long, random piece of classical music (presumably one favoured by the director) when a battle begins, then just leave it to run its course, giving themselves a self congratulative pat on the back for a job well done. This shockingly lazy approach only resulted in battle scenes that are jarringly devoid of tension and excitement, and a movie where the use of classical music comes off as awfully pretentious. The battles themselves aren't bad. There are some strokes of genius to be found - the battle at that planet being one such example - but there are also parts that seem to be reliant on the somewhat far fetched stupidity of the opposing commanders, a fault that unfortunately extends and amplifies into the main series. But as far as preludes go, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars" is a decent one. The movie may not be amazing, but it does promise far more interesting things are to come in the series it's preluding, which is its main purpose anyway.

The story involves leadership, and exploration of collective capacity from a great mentor, and have elements "political" involved since it is an anime based on wars, as well as the introduction franchise comes to remembering with phrases like, " THE HUMAN HISTORY IS A WAR HISTORY "," PROGRESS IS SON OF WARS ". The evolution of the plot focuses in this elements and for several moments indicates that a large barrier between some great leaders like Musel and other commanders of enemy ships to come. Art has classic style characteristic of the old animes however the features are better defined and beautiful, the animation is good, justfew thing makes it a little confusing, that are the munition fired by sky-ships, it's look to be something inaccurate in details or explanations of how they work. The songs are sometimes operas that synchronize precisely with the anime style. About the characters, they are deep, I don't think I need to go into detail now, once it has been said that the anime involves leadership, which can youself to wait are premises of giants strategy. All the animes I saw this was one of the few I saw again, not for lack of quality to others but the Ginga Eiyuu that has all the merits of be an anime that motivates you to get closer to the story

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