Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Epic
When I use the word epic, I don’t cheapen it like everyone else on the internet:
Epic wasn’t meant to be some watered-down internet catch phrase. First of all, epic can only describe stories/accounts/tales/legends/recollections/etc…. The following things aren’t stories and therefore cannot be epic:
- Maddox
- Soundtracks by Yuki Kajiura
- ShizNat fanart
Epic was meant to describe the rare confluence of quantity and quality, not just anything that doesn’t suck. To be Epic, a show must at least contain:
- Significant spatial scope
- Significant temporal scope
- Separable plots
- Consistently high quality (absolutely no bullshit filler)
- High stakes
Here are a few examples of shows that fall short of epic status:
- DBZ: Too much bullshit filler
- Naruto: Too much bullshit filler
- Bleach: Too much bullshit filler
- Kenshin: Too much bullshit filler
- Inu Yasha: Too much bullshit filler
- Death Note: Too short
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Too short
- Strawberry Panic: Too short (needs another season or two)
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Too short, no separable plots (only a few simultaneous subplots)
- Touch: Low stakes
- Monster: More of a saga than an epic
- Berserk: See Monster
- Tsubasa Chronicle: Not bad, but far from elite
Legend of the Galacted Heroes has it all:
| Well developed minor characters |  |
| Simultaneous subplots | |
| Simultaneous plots | |
| Unforeseeable plot twists | |
| Comical victimization | |
| Recurring random character(s) |  |
| Badass mid-episode transitions | |
| Soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura | |
| Catchy dance sequence | |
| Comically awkward dance sequence | |
| Themes of Hatred/Suffering/Revenge | |
| Lesbians | |
| Hilarious ambiguously gay dude | |
| A bad poet | |
| Stylish visual effects | |
| Dinosaurs | |
| Rivalry | |
| Graphic violence | |
| Character vaguely resembling myself | |
| Failed confessions | |
| Misunderstandings | |
| Mangled German | |
| Pimp in a White Suit | |
| Time Travel | |
| Woman who can’t cook | |
| Catch phrases | |
| Largest voice cast in anime history | |
| Guy who never says anything | |
| Self-parody | |
This show has over 100 named characters, all of whom kick ass. I’ve already profiled my hero, Yang Wenli. Then there’s this guy named Eisenach. He gets about three total minutes of screen time and never says anything. He snaps once for coffee and twice for alcohol. You don’t get quality characters like him anymore.
There’s a real man. Sideburns. Hair slicked back. No bullshit. Unlike modern anime characters, LoGH characters realized that bangs drooping over your eyes are a liability in battle. Even pretty boy Reinhard didn’t have bangs.
I could go on, but you get the message. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is probably the best anime I’ve ever seen. It’s unlicensed and fansubbed by Central-Fansubs, one of my favorite groups. Everything about this anime rules (except the graphics, but that’s because it’s old). Watch it.
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baka-raptor@baka-raptor.com
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
“Originally the staff wanted this to be a TV series. However the novel was not well known at the time, the novel was long, and there were almost no TV anime series based on novels at the time so the TV planning division did not give LoGH the green light for TV broadcast. Thus, the staff made it into an OVA format. Only later, was it adapted into a TV format.” – Anime News Network
[Reply]
March 4th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Hmmm, I wonder if I should take the time to see this. And yay for being first?
[Reply]
March 15th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
[...] her appreciation? By walking out on me! That’s it – I’m taking a nap. (Add the “epic banana peel slip” and broken glass for cliché [...]
March 29th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Two people who get it:
http://animanachronism.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/epic-scope-forensic-detail-the-legend-begins/
http://searchofno9.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/parsing-the-epic-%E2%80%93-an-analysis/
[Reply]
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:48 pm
[...] story, it’ll basically run out of steam. Honestly, I think this is one of the reasons for the dreaded filler episode in most shounen anime. The scale simply isn’t large enough at the beginning of the story to [...]
April 6th, 2008 at 8:18 am
[...] done what I could to protect the integrity of the word epic. Today I pass that baton to The Animanachronism and In Search of Number Nine, who substantiate [...]
April 9th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
[...] I support any show that supports LoGH [...]
April 27th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
[...] yeah. But I’m still influential, at least enough for other bloggers to rip me off. (Epic, Categorical Comparisons, Sponsored by Pizza [...]
August 31st, 2008 at 11:40 pm
[...] 3/2: I make my first official sellout-era post. [...]
October 27th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Eisenach had a line of “check mate…” and several scene time.
In contrast, commander of Free Planet Alliance 3rd fleet Lefebvre. Only show up for about 15 second during a battle scene, and had *grasp* for line.
Overall, a good anime that broaden the views of the viewers.
[Reply]
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:26 am
[...] the character designs in Tytania are moéified with respect to their Legend of the Galactic Heroes counterparts. I praised LotGH for not having any male characters with hair drooping over their eyes [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
[...] sums it all up in his inimitable style: this anime is nothing if not an epic in the heroic [...]
November 24th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Hey Baka-Raptor, who is the character vaguely ressembling yourself?
I just started to watch the show because Tytania takes too much time to air (one Episode a Week, thats not enought)
[Reply]
January 29th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
[...] Turn A Gundam). This isn’t a knock on Gundam. I’m just attempting to illustrate that as epics go, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is efficient, and [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 6:16 am
[...] Legend of the Galactic Heroes [...]
May 3rd, 2009 at 5:14 am
The best quote so far: “If it were a third-rate TV anime… But the world we live in is not such a convenient place. Lost lives will never return. Because of it, we live in a world where life is an irreplaceable existence”
[Reply]
May 3rd, 2009 at 5:19 am
ow ok… the complete quote: “If it were a third-rate TV anime a dead protagonist can come back fo life at the producers convenience.[Dragonball anyone?] But the world we live in is not such a convenient place. Lost lives will never return. Because of it, we live in a world where life is an irreplaceable existence”
[Reply]
August 20th, 2009 at 3:05 am
[...] “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Epic” (To me, EPIC is just a four letter word, but so is LOGH and both are [...]