Happens somewhere in the 4th millennium, mankind has conquered all of the Milky Way Galaxy and the story it's about a conflict raging on for 150 years between 2 opposite forces that split The Galaxy: The Empire led by The Kaiser and the Allied Forces led by a corrupt government. Supposedly the Allied Forces stand for righteousness but having a corrupt government you might argue at times the Empire has a more just cause. What fascinates in this anime is the spacecraft battles, truly ingenious in the geometry portraying of the opposing forces, to use them proper it would take a commander both brilliant in anticipating the opponents moves as well as render them null or even turning them against his opposition. The 2nd thing is the more than a millennium gap of story well covered in this anime! Not exceptional but pretty nice connection between the present of the action and the past of the action(our present). Shortcomings: hand to hand combat is hilarious, they fight like in the middle ages with axes hacking at each other because the fazer guns or whatever they are can't penetrate the thick medieval armor! LOL And the houses are made in poor medieval architecture, same goes with the dressing, most of all the cars are with wheels exactly like today, no improvement whatsoever but I guess those things weren't meant to be important! Only 2 things matter here: the story of this anime which is very good and the galactic space fights which are terribly well crafted. The anime has 110 eps. and I am more than half well into them atm. Till the present I give it 8/10 rating, all in all I like what I see.

Whilst the mentions of Babylon 5 aren't far off the mark, I'd say this is more akin to what Game of Thrones would want to be once it grew up - and was set mainly in space. I recommend Failsafe to anyone with control of nuclear weapons, and this series to anyone who is in or intends to go into government-it covers timeless questions concerning power and how those in charge manipulate others, and themselves, and the justifications they use. A much more nuanced look than the 'evil vs good' plots dominating Western media - both fictional and in reality.

Introduction: Legend of the Galactic Heroes is one of the best anime ever made. An excellently written space opera, with interesting characters, and one of most original science fiction shows. And if you're getting started with anime, I recommend this as a start. The Narrative & Characters: This show has some of the best writing of any TV show. Why? Well let me tell you. The show centers around a war between The Alliance and The Empire. And the show doesn't portray either side as evil. The Alliance may be a democracy, but it's still incredibly flawed and filled with corruption. And while the other is a dictator ship. It gets things done better than the democracy. And has less corruption, however, there are more limits in freedom. Both presenting arguments, and asking the audience to choose. Like a good war story should do. I can't praise this series enough, it also had interesting characters on each side. Some in the Alliance are evil, and some are descent people. And the same goes for the Empire. This is honestly the most realistic space opera ever written. As it feels like a real war, it just happens to be in space. The series raises questions and gives us interesting characters to follow. The Animation: This is a weaker aspect of the show. The animation, it's only okay, and just kind of low quality. And I don't mind so much, because the writing makes up for that, but it's an anime. And I just expect a little more. Conclusion: Legend of the Galactic Heroes is an anime that should be watched by more people. It might be long, with 110 episodes, and there may not be a dub, but it's still worth a watch.

Attack on Titan 10/10 Legend of the Galactic heroes 10/10 Vinland Saga 10/10 Just a well thought out anime from the battle tactics to the political scheming A true hidden gem.

Yes, folks, this is it. Look no further if you are a science-fiction fan. There is no bigger space opera than this. The whole galaxy is the stage. Though, to be frank, that can sometimes be a drawback, too: the too big ensemble of characters is sometimes an overkill, and the storyline is so long you must spend some 25 episodes (10 hours) just to start appreciating it. However, the setting is thought out down to a T. There are many characters, but I can still name a dozen at the top of my head - Yang Wenli, Reinhard, Hildegard, Julian, Merkatz, Poplan, Schenkopp, Muller, Oberstein, Rubinsky, Siegfried...All of them are just cogs in the big machine called history, but since there are so many possible variations and destinies, it is impossible to predict what will happen next. The outcome can be anything. This is the main trump card of writer Yoshiki Tanaka: pure, raw inspiration. He did not have a big budget at his disposal at that time, which is why the animation in the first third of the show is dated, the camera work is slightly flawed and the marketing was so scarce that many of you probably never heard of it. You probably heard of The Fast and the Furious, but your intellectual potentials are lost on that one. I for one, though, prefer a technically modest, flawed and unknown presentation of a story - as long as the story itself is worthy to be told. And my God, is this a story to be told. You will never view democracy or autocracy with the same eyes again. You can watch perfectly filmed big budget blockbusters, with perfect editing, lighting and sound, but you know deep in your heart that it lacks soul. I am still at wonder that something like this was ever made, at all. Babylon 5 does not even hold a candle to this. My favorite part has to be the middle, around episode 50, where Kaiser Reinhard and Wenli start an epic space battle at Vermilion - believe me, you will not stay indifferent when Wenli gets Reinherd in the crossfire. If there is one thing I have to object to strongly, though, then it is the sometimes fascist tone in this. Maybe I am just imagining things, but the total authority Reinhard wants over the whole galaxy does tend to turn unbalanced at times - except without the killing of anyone different, but tolerating them. However, you have to see this and make your own mind. Your science-fiction knowledge will not be complete before watching this.

This series is very different from the other anime series I have seen so far (admittedly it's not a huge number). As the other reviewers have stated it follows the struggle of two main protagonists on galactic scale, one fighting for a "good" dictatorship and the other for a flawed democracy. The main strength of the series is definitely its well developed characters. There is back story, there is character development and complexity. You sympathize with a lot of characters on both sides of the struggle (in fact there are more sides than two) and can see things from different perspectives. There are no "right" answers or right courses of actions in many situations for a lot of the characters and a lot of things are not black and white. People often face thorny ethical issues where every decision has a cost, often a big one. The show is also not afraid to kill off important characters when the story calls for it. This is not uncommon in anime but rather rare in western TV. There are a number of flaws however and there is much here that can be improved upon. I have not seen the recent remake (only just finished watching the original) but I hope it addresses some of them. First, animation is quite poor. I don't know the reason for this ( perhaps lack of money?) but the low quality of animation is quite grating, particularly when showing space battles. Next, despite a number of characters being complex and well developed there are also quite a few which are cartoonishly simplistic. I would not expect to see stereotypical cartoon villains in a series like this, yet there are quite a few. There are also a number of situations where many characters (usually secondary ones but still) act as such complete idiots it strains suspension of disbelief beyond breaking point. This also applies to many political situations which is particularly bad as it's one of the main topics the show investigates. Next, there is a bit too much pontificating at times. I prefer "show, don't tell" in movies. This series often seem to follow a different adage: "show and tell, and tell, and then tell some more". Lastly, the show is quite dated, sometimes hilariously so. I understand that one must make allowances given the show's age but still. It's SciFi so one would expect the writers to put some thought into depicting life and technology 1000 years in the future. Yet, apart from videophones and self driving cars a lot of things look pretty much as they did in the late 80s. People write letters by hand on paper using ink pens, laptops look like they did around 1990, computers use floppy drives (!), and interstellar communication is done by, I kid you not, telegraph (!!). Some of the above issues are less pronounced in seasons 3 and 4 but you have to watch a lot of episodes to get there. Overall, an interesting series, worth a watch, particularly to see a different type of anime series than most series out there.

Having become disillusioned with modern anime in recent years, I decided it was time to look to the past again and found the sprawling and magnificent, Legend of Galactic Heroes. I'm a huge sci-fi/fantasy fan with Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek and more being deeply part of my being. My all time anime list would include GITS (All of it, although ARISE didn't quite hit THE mark for me), Cowboy BeBop, Death Note, Paranoia Agent, Fullmetal Alchemist (Both iterations) and Hellsing (Again, I like both iterations). Legend of Galactic Heroes then, ticks EVERY box for me, with mature dense and complex storytelling, a huge roster of unique characters and an epic, ongoing 150 year space war! Focused, principally, on our 2 lead characters, Reinhard von Lohengramm and Yang Wen-li, two youthful geniuses, and their rise to the top of their respective military organisations, LoGH weaves a tale of life and death, love and hate, friendship, political machinations (In a FAR easier manner than Uncle George's Star Wars prequels), power, greed, corruption and war over the course of 110 exquisite episodes (and a few movies!). No, it's not perfect, with nearly 30 years having passed since the show originally aired, it can feel a little dated at times. Also, these are stories we've all seen before in some form or another but really, who cares? This show HAS IT ALL! Picked up for release in N.America by Sentai Filmworks in 2015, hopefully we will soon see a reasonably priced box-set on the shelves. I'll be importing to the UK at the first opportunity.

I've always been of the opinion that great works of fiction almost exclusively belong to literature. This is even more true in the realm of Science Fiction. There are some SciFi shows or movies I've seen with shades of brilliance, but none really compare to the works of the my favorite writers of the genre(Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, Frank Herbert, etc.). Not that something has to be truly great for me to enjoy, I watch several shows and animes over and over for pure enjoyment, even if there are obvious faults. There are just so many things that seem to go wrong in shows and animes. Too short, too long, poor character depth or development, weak pacing, unnecessary fan service, the list goes on and on, and I very rarely find shows that don't fail in some way, even if they are otherwise wonderful. This show not only succeeded in every aspect I look for but it excelled. I'm writing this review purely, because I want to talk about it and have no one to discuss it with. The style had me intrigued from the word go. A space opera written in the style of a 19th century epic!? Star Wars meets War and Peace?! It didn't take me long to get a sense of the show, and I was hooked within the first few episodes. Animation was the only thing that could have limited this show, as it's a product of the time it was made. Yet, the creators made it work, focusing on the things they could do well and finding ways to work with the things beyond their capabilities. The narrative was never limited by the limited animation, and that was a feat in itself for something so grand in scope. For a show with so many major characters, they were all remarkably well thought out and portrayed. Every single character, from the two main protagonists, to characters who only showed up for an episode or two were fleshed out. Character development for the major characters was so well done and thorough, that it almost made it hard to remember what they were once like at the beginning of the show. The pacing was flawless. Even the slower episodes had a purpose and drove the story forward. The universe of this anime was so large and intricate, with such a long backstory, that it seems like it'd have been impossible to build our understanding naturally over the course of the show. Yet, this was accomplished without ever making me feel bored or confused. The fleet battles were my favorite aspect of the show, and I feel like the limited animation actually increased my enjoyment. Instead of focusing on the vivid explosions and ship design, strategy and maneuvering were the central focus. Every battle was intricate, and I was extremely happy with the frequency they occurred. That's not to say that every other aspect of the show wasn't absolutely magnificent as well. The political intrigue, conspiracies, moral and political philosophies, dialogue, friendships, and even the handful of romances were all woven into the show masterfully. I attempted to tell one of my clients about it(A huge Star Wars and Star Trek) buff, and when I told him that I enjoyed it more than either The Next Generation or The Empire Strikes Back(my two favorite installations of these franchises) he scoffed at me. As though an anime could hardly compare to Western Film and TV which is a shame. This is without a doubt the best show I've seen, and one of the best pieces of fiction I've had the opportunity to enjoy.

Legend of the galactic heroes (LOGH) is a massive space drama that is being set in a small section of space. This anime is almost unmatched in any media, there is not many shows that have these many locations, characters, topics, side plots and intricately strategic battles and have all of them written not only well, but exceptionally. It is a sprawling epic with many dynamic and interesting characters that have their own philosophy and thoughts on extremely complex topics, and they represent the many facets of these topics without presenting one inherently above the other and instead showing the natural progression of certain philosophies and belief and what they would lead to. I won't mince words here, forget star ratings and all the 9.3213/10 or whatever ratings you see here. It isn't possible to convey thoughts on a topic/show/movie with a simple rating, what I can tell you is that you should do yourself a favor, if you have any interest in politically dense, philosophical, and detailed world then give this anime a shot, there is almost nothing like it.

One of best series I've seen in a long long time. This space opera is without equal. Words fall short of praising this creation. Great character development in this anime. Its evident that a tremendous amount of effort was put into the production of this anime, with detailed background info on most characters as well as locations, history, art, culture and the scenery. Each episode will leave you wanting for more. Stories have been carefully designed not to show any bias to any particular political view. Impartiality is the motto of this anime. The animation is good, considering the anime is from the late eighties. But, animation is not at all the defining aspect of this anime. Its the story and the characters. The soundtrack is exemplary. The tracks clearly voice the thoughts of some of the characters in the sage. Beautiful to listen to. Overall, this anime is a true masterpiece. Comparing this with other creations from this genre would be a disservice to this anime.