Legend of the Galactic
HeroesThis article is licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License .
It uses material from the
Wikipedia article "Legend of the Galactic Heroes".
Legend of the Galactic Heroes (銀河英雄伝説, Ginga Eiyū
Densetsu) is a series of science fiction novels by Yoshiki
Tanaka. An anime adaptation of the novels ran from 1988 to
1997, and a manga is also based on the novels, with art by
Katsumi Michihara.
Neither the novel, anime nor manga have been released
officially in the English language. For that reason most
English-speaking fans identify Legend of the Galactic Heroes
with the anime.
Set somewhere in distant space around the 35th century (the
9th century of the story's "Space Era"), Legend of the
Galactic Heroes is a story of the epic struggle between the
monarchic Galactic Empire and the democratic Free Planets
Alliance.
The original Japanese title is often abbreviated as
Gin'eiden (銀英伝) in Japan, while English-language fans often
abbreviate the series title as LOGH (capitalization for the
acronym varies).
The story
The story is staged in the distant future within our own
Milky Way Galaxy, approximately in the 35th century. Unlike
most other science fiction stories, there are no alien
civilizations. A portion of the galaxy is filled with
terraformed worlds inhabited by interstellar traveling human
beings. For 150 years two mighty space powers have
intermittently warred with each other: the Galactic Empire
and the Free Planets Alliance.
Within the Galactic Empire, based on 19th century Prussia,
an ambitious military genius, Reinhard von Müsel, is rising
to power. He is driven by the desire to free his sister
Annerose, who was taken by the Kaiser as a concubine. Later,
he wants not only to end the corrupt Goldenbaum dynasty but
also to defeat the Free Planets Alliance and to unify the
whole galaxy under his rule.
In the Free Planets Alliance is another genius, Yang Wen-li.
He originally aspired to become a historian, and joined the
military only because he needed money for tuition. He was
rapidly promoted to an admiral because of his demonstrated
excellence in military strategy. He becomes the archrival of
Reinhard, though they highly respect one another.
As a historian, Yang often narrates the rich "future
history" of his world and comments on it. One of his famous
quotes is: "There are few wars between good and evil; most
are between one good and another good."
Besides the two main heroes, the story is full of vivid
characters and intricate politics. All types of characters,
from high nobility, admirals and politicians, to common
soldiers and farmers, are interwoven into the story. There
is a third neutral power nominally attached to the Galactic
Empire called the Phezzan Dominion, a planet-state
(city-state on a galactic scale) which trades with both
warring powers. There is also a Terraism cult, which claims
that humans should go back to Earth, gaining popularity
throughout the galaxy. The story frequently switches away
from the main heroes to the Unknown Soldier fighting for his
life on the battlefield.
Anime adaptations
Series
The anime series is based on novels. The anime is made of
110 25-minute episodes (divided into 4 sections). The first
episode was released on home video in December 1988, and the
last in January 1997. Since Legend of the Galactic Heroes
was released directly to home video and not shown on TV
first, it is technically an OVA (quite possibly the longest
ever). However, it has since been shown on TV several times.
There is a one hour movie and two 90-minute movies and two
series of side stories (Gaiden) which are all prequels to
the 110 episode series:
* Legend of Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars
- Movie, 1988;
* Legend of Galactic Heroes: Golden Wings - OVA, 1992;
* Legend of Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War - Movie,
1993;
* Legend of Galactic Heroes Side Stories (1st season) - OVA,
24 episodes, 1998 – 1999;
* Legend of Galactic Heroes Side Stories (2nd season) - OVA,
28 episodes, 1999 – 2000;
The series, while over 10 years old, has not been released
officially with English dubbing nor subtitles, and never
will. Even so, it has been ranked highly on most
international sites about anime and/or space opera.
Production
* General Director: Noboru Ishiguro
* Original story: Yoshiki Tanaka
* Series Writer: Shimao Kawanaka
* Writer: Takeshi Shutou (1st movie etc.), Shimao Kawanaka
(All episodes since ep.15)
* Character Design: Matsuri Okuda, Kazunari Kume, Keizou
Shimizu
* Mechanical design: Naoyuki Kato (Studio Nue), Norifumi
Shimizu
* Music: Shinsuke Kazeto
* Producer: Masatoshi Tahara, Yukio Kikukawa
* Companies involved: Tokuma Japan Corporation, Animage
Video
Voice actors
Legend of The Galactic Heroes boasts the largest voice cast
for any known animated production. Contrary to the cheaper
and more convenient practice of having voice actors handle
multiple roles in the same series, this is almost
nonexistent for this production. It was not unusual for top
billing cast members to have few or no lines in a large
number of episodes. The only known double role in Legend of
the Galactic Heroes is held by Hirotaka Suzuoki, playing the
roles of the Spartanian pilot Ivan Konev of the Alliance and
the Phezzani Rupert Kesserlink. It has been said that the
cast listing is a Who's Who for almost every veteran and
current Japanese voice actor. For some voice actors in the
series, this was their "breakthrough" role. Most notably Ryo
Horikawa, as Reinhard, went on to star as the voice of
Vegeta in the long running Dragonball Z.
This series also features a large number of primarily live
action actors. As an example, Masane Tsukayama (Ernst von
Eisenach) and Morio Kazama (Bruce Ashbey) etc. are famous
live actors in Japan.
Yang Wen-li was the last role performed by veteran actor Kei
Tomiyama who died in 1995 shortly after the end of the
original series completion. His other most well known roles
include Susumu Kodai from Space Battleship Yamato and
Tochiro Oyama from Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999.
(to be revised, 07-10-24)
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Category: Introduction to LOGH
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Tanaka Yoshiki, the author
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