Legend of the Galactic Heroes - The New Thesis S1E1: “In the Eternal Night”

The review was commissioned by @Baron Ouroboros


Alongside the "Mobile Suit Gundam" franchise, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" is one of THE names when it comes to military scifi anime. When it comes to military space opera anime, with the assumptions of FTL travel and interstellar colonization, it's probably the number one biggest and most influential title in the entire medium. The story was originally written as a series of novels in the early 1980's, and adapted into the highly successful and longrunning anime series shortly afterward. Then, in 2018, it was adapted again into "The New Thesis," this time with the advantage of the novel series having been long completed before the adaptation work began, resulting in a tighter series with less filler, more focus, and more faithfulness to the original medium.

In other words, The New Thesis is basically the Brotherhood to the original anime's Fullmetal Alchemist '03.

I've been meaning to give the original LotGH anime a watch for a few years now. The only reason I didn't is because my fiance likes to watch with me, and english captions are hard for her, so we just kept picking other things to watch for want of a dub. It's a series I've been at least passingly interested in for several years before that too. Well, better late than never!

What I've absorbed through osmosis is that LotGH is set in the very far future (think along the lines of Frank Herbert or Isaac Asimov), in which a war is being fought between two galaxy-spanning hyperpowers that include the bulk - if not entirety - of the human species. One is a Prussian-flavored authoritarian monarchy. The other is an ostensibly liberal democracy that's past its prime and suffering from enough corruption and institutional decay that it might no longer really count as such. The titular galactic heroes, General Reinhard von Lohengramm and General Yang Wen-Li, are rising star commanders on opposite sides of the war who manage something along the lines of a friendship despite killing each other's dudes by the fleetload.

So, here's the first episode of the 2018 series, "In the Eternal Night."


We open on a man driving a pair of passengers on a horse cart through a wintry forest. Is it just me, or does space anime have a thing about horses? They see lights in the sky, and the driver stops the wagon, letting the two passengers stand up to gaze at the immense starship that has begun filling the sky overhead.

We zoom in on the vessel to see a two-headed eagle logo emblazoned on the hull. Well, I guess this faction isn't "Prussian flavored" so much as "literally 19th century Germany except it takes up half of the Milky Way." There's sure to be an entertaining, nuanced, and not remotely convincing history about how this is supposed to have happened. The ship flies over some scenic, forested mountains dotted with Germanic looking towns and castles that look like they're from a totally different era. Some nobles in an ostentatious ballroom look up at the ship flying overhead through their glass roof. There's a voiceover of military-sounding men exchanging docking clearances.

Then, a closeup of a blonde man who I think might be General von Lohengramm, who whispers to us that any resemblance between this story and the people and history we ourselves know is both a coincidence, and an inevitability. The world that we know includes extensive documentation of 19th century Germany, but not space battleships, so I guess I'll give him half credit. The camera pans upward to show that that spaceship is rendezvousing with many others like it, and the assembled fleet is rising out of the atmosphere and toward the stars.

Atmospheric flight for large spacecraft is a thing in this setting. Duly noted. Roll intro!

It's a pretty good opening, if extremely low key. A soft, romantic sounding (English, albeit Japanese accented) song, over serene imagery of a ghostly eagle flying through the clouds and then a pair of dagger-shaped spaceships corkscrewing around each other like birds doing a slow courtship dance. This gives way to characters posed in staterooms, in rural outdoors environments, and on spaceship bridges. When the vocals pick up their intensity, this gives way to massed fleets opening fire on each other, framed like fireworks in the background of a romance scene.

The irony is definitely intentional. I'm also getting the sense that the leads' appreciation for each other, separated and connected though they are by the war, might be more than just "appreciation." The battleship mating dance kind of speaks for itself.

After the title drop, we get a voiceover introduction to the state of the galaxy. There are three major powers in the galaxy, it turns out, not just two like I'd thought. There's the Galactic Empire, ruled by the Goldenbaum dynasty from a homeworld covered in lush green forests and small, threadlike seas. The Free Planets' Alliance, with its republic, based on a planet with a more earthlike distribution of oceans and continents. And our upset candidate, the Dominion of Fezzan, which the narrator doesn't tell us anything about, centered on a world with a darkly tinted atmosphere and surrounded by a brilliant red nebula. The Empire and the Alliance have been at war for a very long time, with the Dominion stubbornly maintaining its neutrality as best it can. The conflict is in a deadlock, with no prospects for either a victory or a truce visible on the horizon.

With that background established, we settle in on a golden haired aristocrat watching the stars from a spaceship's observation port.

He's approached by a junior officer, and after exchanging some pleasantries about the starfield and their respective heights (blondy seems to think that the other guy has gotten taller in the last few months, to the latter's confusion) the newcomer shares some new intel. Their scoutships have reported that the "rebel" fleet is preparing to enclose them in a three-part pincer movement, with twelve thousand ships in the main group alone and a total fleet size of nearly twice their own. Contact in six hours. They're referring to the enemies as "rebels," but the numbers are making me think major power. Maybe the Empire considers the Alliance to be in a state of rebellion against their own rule? I'll need to know the history behind the conflict, I guess, but it seems like that.

After the title card, there's an exterior shot of a truly massive cloud of gun-shaped warships, each spaced perfectly equidistant from their neighbors in a consummate formation, with a larger and more garishly painted vessel at its heart.

In the Brunhild's command room, a group of officers salute as Blondy (now named via caption as General Reinhard von Lohengramm, as I thought) sits down in a ridiculously overdecorated throne of an admiral's chair. Much gold. So velvet. Very Prussia. His buddy from before, a Captain Siegfried Kirchies, stands at his side.

The assembled officers start by thanking Reinhard for giving them permission to come over here and freely voice their opinions. Of course, given the briefing he just received, Reinhard already knows what they're here to say: their fleet is at a massive numerical and positioning disadvantage, and they had best pull back and try hitting the Alliance somewhere else. When asked by Reinhard if they think the situation is truly hopeless, one of the officers says that it isn't (I'm getting the impression that saying any situation is hopeless might be considered treason in the Imperial navy), but that the enemy has the advantage in this situation, and that luring aggressive Imperial fleets into pincer movements is a tactic that has served the Alliance well in the past. He points to a specific instance at the "Battle of Dagon" where the Empire suffered a massive loss to exactly this sort of concentrated defensive flanking maneuver.

He also specifies that they are fighting "the rebel force that calls itself the Free Planets Alliance." That's confirmation that they don't see the Alliance as a foreign power, but as secessionists. Wonder what the history is?

Reinhard refuses, saying that the "rebels'" tactics have a glaring weakness that can be used to turn the overwhelming advantage in their own favor. He thinks that they can give the enemy the runaround and attack from the side, which will let them engage each of the three divisions one by one. The Alliance fleet is much bigger than theirs, but each part of the pincer is much smaller.

The officers are skeptical of this approach, asking Reinhard to point to an example of someone managing to pull this off in the past. Reinhard shrugs him off, saying that if his plan IS going to have any chance of working, then he'll need all of them to carry out his orders to the letter and not second guess them.

That's not very reassuring, Reinhard. Though it's implied that even giving them a chance to voice their misgivings is better than most Imperial admirals would do, so at least there's that.

As they ride a tram-type-thing back to the docking bay, the rear admirals express their lack of faith in the cocky young ponce who's ordering them all to their deaths.

Reinhard has a sister at the royal court, it seems, and his subordinates think that this might have more to do with him being in command than any actual ability.

I'm not sure how much we're supposed to be sympathizing with these guys, but I'm doing so quite a bit. If Reinhard has a plan that he thinks will allow them to execute that maneuver of his, he didn't tell it to them. On one hand, understanding what you need to do to earn the trust of your subordinates is an important skill for a commander. On the other, it may be that he suspects that one of them is a traitor or something, in which case I suppose he doesn't have a choice in the matter.

One of the men, and notably the oldest looking of the lot, says that from what he knows of Reinhard's career he thinks that the guy has a decent chance at pulling this off. It's risky, sure, but so is war. The others tell him to STFU, he's just a young twit himself. Huh...could have fooled me.

Back in the...erm...throne room, Captain Siegried asks Reinhard if he was sure granting that audience was a good idea. Reinhard says that it's the best he could do, and that he looks forward to seeing one of the loudest protesters in particular eating his words after the battle. He then invites Siegfried to share a bottle of 410 year old wine with him, and hints at a promotion once they get back to planet Odin. Also, he asks him not to call him "your excellency" when there's no one around.

Reinhard seems like a nice guy, but also sort of...lackadaisical? Even if he's taking things seriously, he gives the impression that he might not be, which doesn't inspire faith in a risky battle situation.

Cut to the Free Planets Alliance flagship Leonidas. A much more practical and boring looking vessel with the usual boxy, gunmetal gray hull that you've seen in every other milsci show, movie, and game.

The Alliance officers are just kind of blinking at the sensor readings as their own scouts spot the Imperial Fleet. They'd been expecting them to turn back and retreat without a battle when they saw the defenders' overwhelming advantage, but they're just moving straight on ahead into the pincer. They're not sure if they should think that the Imperial admiral is crazy, be ready for some insane trick, or if the enemy is somehow spoofing their sensors.

Just as the Alliance forces are about to encircle them, Reinhard releases a communications jamming pulse that gets them panicking, as the three subfleets are suddenly unable to coordinate. Um. Is this a brand new jamming technology that the Empire just rolled out? If not, it seems like a very obvious countermeasure to flanking tactics, so...why would the Alliance forces have not been expecting it? And, if this is a new weapon, why didn't Reinhard tell his skeptical officers "you see, we're going to use our new comm jammer to throw them into disarray when our fleet is between their three groups?" I guess him suspecting treachery would answer that last question, but...I dunno. Reinhard's ships turn and shoot toward one of the encircling fleets, opening fire en masse. The Alliance officer tries to order his captains to put all power to forward shields, but he's unable to get the signal out.

Okay, so Reinhard didn't just jam the comms between the three fleets by parking himself between them. He somehow jammed the communications even between individual ships within the same fleet. Okay, yeah, this has to be a new superweapon he's surprising them with.

The missiles land, and Alliance ships start blowing up. The commander of the stricken fleet uses visual signals to instruct his ships to break formation and approach around the massed fire column, shooting back at the Imperials' sides. Once they come closer though, the Imperial carriers release their payloads of fighters, which lets them hit from the sides themselves while the Alliance ships have their forward shields taking up most of their power.

...erm. Why did the Alliance ships have to get closer to attack? Do the Imperials have longer range?

So. One flanking group shattered, with surviving ships either too damaged to pursue or retreating themselves. One of Reinhard's rear admirals, the old looking young guy who believed in him, congratulates his commander on pulling off the first third of this multi-part boss fight. He also says that "the victor is always right," though, which is a sentiment that seems to disturb Reinhard just a little. Another of them asks if they should finish wiping them out, and Reinhard says no you idiot there are still two fleets incoming with a total number of ships slightly greater than our own and we can't let them group up and overwhelm us what the fuck is even wrong with you. Okay, he doesn't put it exactly like that, but you can tell that that's how he was thinking it.

With the conference call ended, Reinhard asks Siegfried if he thinks they should go for the left or right fleet next. Siegfried tells him that he's pretty sure Reinhard already knows which is the better option, and Reinhard says "well yes, but I could still use a second opinion lol." They confirm the choice of targets and vectors, and close in, coming around behind the nearest of the two to hopefully wipe them out before they can catch the Imperials in a pincer with the other one.

There's a chance that the enemy might realize what's going on and have both of their remaining fleets pull back before grouping up, but based on their less than impressive showing so far Reinhard doesn't think so.

In order to get around the closing fleets in time to beat them to their rendezvous, wouldn't Reinhard's ships have to be faster than theirs? IDK. We still haven't gotten any word on that mysterious communications-jamming superpower of his yet either. This is coming across less like he's some kind of tactical supergenius, and more like his ships are just more advanced.

Cut to the officer dining hall of the next Alliance fleet's flagship. When told that the Imperials are bearing down on them, the commander says that that's impossible, they're still fighting that other third of their force.

Um.

Wasn't the whole point of this encircling maneuver to catch the Imperials from all sides simultaneously? If they've managed to isolate one of the subfleets, then doesn't that mean that they have a crippling numerical advantage over it and that you'd better do something to react? The way he says that makes it sound like them fighting the 4th fleet on its own is just nothing to worry about, and that the plan is still proceeding as intended. And he's disbelieving that the vastly outnumbered 4th fleet could have fallen so quickly.

I'm confused.

One of his junior officers says they should pull back, signal the other unengaged 2nd fleet to do the same, and regroup before advancing back toward the enemy head on. Before Commander Dumbass can even respond, the Imperials start hammering them.

Commander Dumbass runs to the control room. He has the choice of either having his ships turn around to face the Imperials and start shooting, or trying to circle around behind them and hoping he doesn't take too many losses in the meantime. I guess "run the fuck away and try to regroup with the 2nd fleet ASAP" isn't an option, then. He opts for the former, even though he's told that turning in place will cause too much chaos for his ships to coordinate effectively. Um...it will? Are his ships arranged in a formation that makes it impossible to turn in place and fire without getting in each other's way? That's a pretty shite formation for a 3d battlefield where you can place them however the hell you want.

Also, Commander Dumbass is also being called "your excellency." That didn't surprise me on the Imperial flagship, with the obvious nobleman admiral, but in this much more modern looking navy it feels out of place. I'm wondering if that's a quirk of the setting, or just a bizarre mistranslation of "sir."

So, the ships turn around and shoot back. They manage to get off more shots of their own than the last bunch did, but they still get overwhelmed. As their numbers dwindle, they get a communique from Reinhard.

Commander Dumbass responds thusly:

Um...o...okay, then.

Reinhard gets a full salvo from the enemy flagship in response, and regretfully orders his ships to just keep shooting until there's nothing shooting back then. They destroy Commander Dumbass' ship just in time for the third and final enemy battlegroup, the 2nd fleet, to close. Reinhard has his ships ignore what's left of the broken 6th and turn to face the new attackers in advance of them reaching engagement range. Oh, sure, HIS ships can turn in place without falling into chaos. :/

So, they start exchanging fire. This battle is closer, since they still have what's left of the 6th fleet nibbling on their flank while the 2nd comes in with guns blazing, but Reinhard has more ships than them at this point. As the battle begins, Siegfried worries about what might happen if the next fleet they run into has someone like Reinhard in command.

Reinhard answers that that would be refreshing after this sea of ineptitude, and that he imagines he'd enjoy meeting such a person, even if it could only last for the duration of a single battle.

Speak of the anime drama devil! At that very moment, they intercept a battle-wide enemy transmission. Someone calling themselves Commodore Yang Wen-Li is now assuming command of the combined fleet due to the Alliance admiral being incapacitated. All officers are to obey his orders to the letter, and they will survive and win this battle, but ONLY if they do so. There's a brief shot of the Acting Admiral in question putting on his new hat as he delivers this rather weirdly egotistical speech that puts more emphasis on himself than on the battle at hand.

For now, all Alliance ships are to concentrate their fire on single Imperial vessels and attempt to inflict as much attrition as possible. He will be contacting specific officers to give more complex orders momentarily.

Reinhard is rather bemused at this guy's arrogance. And, well...it is kind of ironic, that the commander of the authoritarian, king-worshipping royal navy is this laid back smalltalker, while his opponent from the humble, utilitarian republican navy is a ranting braggart with a messiah complex. He orders his ships to come together in a spindle formation, massing their fire in the center of the incoming 2nd fleet with the plan to punch through it and get the remains of the 6th off their backs. That seems a little unwise, given the Alliance's fondness for flanking maneuvers, but I guess if their ships aren't allowed to turn in place but his is then this is a safe bet.

As they're doing so, though, he senses something wrong. In the last five seconds of the episode, he sees that the Alliance ships have anticipated this move, and are all moving out of the way to form an empty corridor for his ships to pass through without their forward weapon batteries being able to target anything. And, they're forming up again on multiple sides of the corridor, so that they can hammer the advancing Imperials from all sides.

Yes, Wen-Li has the same magical turn-ships-around-in-place-without-losing-coordination power that Reinhard does! Next I'll bet he's going to snap his fingers and shut off their communications! End episode.


That was...not great? The production values were good, aside from the battle music being a bit overdramatic for a fight in which the stakes are very much unclear. Reinhard is a fairly likable protagonist. But most of this episode was devoted to the discussion and execution of space battle tactics, and those tactics just didn't make sense. It seemed like the ships' abilities changed from moment to moment, enabling tactics that should have been extremely obvious and predictable for the enemy in one scene and then disabling them again the next.

It actually would have been better if the Imperials did have some new technology that they were fielding for the first time here, and Reinhard could show his alleged genius by knowing how to leverage his technological advantage over the enemy's greater numbers and defender's positioning. As it is, it feels like the writers either don't have a good grasp of what their spaceships can and can't do and keep mixing things up, or they just don't know how to write a tactical genius and have to cheat by changing the rules in his favor as they go.

So...maybe it gets better once we start having more interpersonal stuff and less focus on tactics? Maybe the tactics stuff also gets better. Granted, a lot of the interpersonal stuff so far has basically been some version of "everyone is stupid except super special big brain smart leader man," which I've seen enough of in military scifi (and military fiction in general) by now to be thoroughly disenchanted with, but not ALL of it was like that. So, there's potential.


Overall? Good production values, and not really bad for its genre. But there's nothing particularly good about it either. Again though, this is just the pilot episode, and the show's real premise (two genius admirals having a love/hate relationship from opposite sides of a war) hasn't really happened yet, so it could get much better. It's not a good pilot, though.