Legend of the Galactic Heroes - The New Thesis (S1E6): “The Capture of Iserlohn Fortress, Pt. 1”

Oh well spoil the resolution right there in the fucking episode title why don't you.


The teaser is straight to the point. Wen-Li is at the space pentagon, wheeling and dealing to requisition some captured Imperial ships for use in the 13th fleet's maiden operation. He also wants uniforms to go with them. I guess he's going to try to take Iserlohn by infiltration.

Wen-Li also asks if he can get a security detail at his house while he's away capturing that death star. Not just for fear of vandalism, but also because he's going to be leaving Julian home alone. He wanted to send him to stay with someone else while he's in space, but Julian put up too much of a fight.

Heh, okay then kid.

There's a cute bit where Julian talks about how he considers himself the garrison officer in command of this position, and he doesn't plan to abandon his post. It would have been cuter if we had a proper introduction to Julian and his relationship with Wen-Li, but even absent such context it got a smile from me. Better than nothing.

Battleship mating dance. After the warships find each other adequate and fly off to build a nest together, we return to Wen-Li, who is now choosing a command crew for the 13th fleet. He picks some from among his existing underlings who he remembers performing well at Astarte, and requisitions one or two others.

There's this sort of blandly patriotic music playing in the background that doesn't really fit the scene at all. DNT isn't as bad with the elevator music as the OVA, but it's not good either.

Wen-Li is then informed by that senior officer who's been jerking him around since he got to this planet that he'll be assigned an adjutant of his superiors' choosing. And that said adjutant was a better student than him in the academy, has a less checkered political history, smells better, and isn't a stupid dumdumhead like him. Geeze, really sugarcoating it. Cut to Wen-Li meeting this supremely qualified assistant when she marches into his office a bit later.

Wen-Li gets all weird about her being a woman in a way that was probably considered just a little quaint and dorky back when the novel was written, but is absolutely painful today. He recovers from his sexist foot-in-the-mouth moment by noticing that the name Greenhill is a familiar one to him. Her father is some bigshot admiral apparently. When he tells her that this probably gives her a bit of a leg up over him, having been marinated in naval strategy for as long as she can remember, she assures him that she nonetheless looks up to him. Largely because of his accomplishments at El Facil.

He points out that what he did at El Facil was, basically, just use an obvious opportunity created by his fellow officer's incompetence. She tells him that, be that as it may, he still saved a young girl's life and gave her a military role model that she committed herself to living up to.

Oh. She was the kid who brought him coffee instead of tea. Gotcha.

The show does a flashback thing, though I doubt many audience members needed it. She recalls the gory details of his hot drink ingratitude, and he's amazed to hear about how rude he was. It's a cute scene, especially owing to her playful delivery. The music lays it on a little too thick though. Wen-Li eventually manages to steer this conversation back into a practical direction by noting that her memory for details could come in handy on campaign.

Before they can actually start talking plans and staff organization and such though, we cut to...a cafeteria somewhere, where some disgruntled-looking Alliance officers are talking about Wen-Li's new assignment. Officers including members of his handpicked command crew. I wouldn't judge them too harshly though; a mission like "capture the enemy superfortress that's stymied us for years and years using just an undersized fleet with no special trump cards" isn't going to fill anyone with confidence, regardless of how much they trust their commander. When said commander is an extremely young officer with just a pair of extremely costly "victories" to his name - even if his role was basically cleaning up and minimizing losses after other people's mistakes - well, that doesn't exactly make it better. They (rightly, tbh) wonder if whoever decided to make this move has gone senile.

The framing makes it seem like the audience is supposed to dislike these officers for their pessimism in Wen-Li, but that really doesn't strike me as fair. These guys' misgivings are much, much more rational than those of the various dingbats that Wen-Li and Reinhard both had to push against in the first couple eps. This really is an insane mission they're being sent on, and even giving Wen-Li full credit for everything he's done so far I don't see how his skill at mitigating catastrophes really lends itself to this sort of offensive operation.

Then again, I think part of it is that we're also supposed to like Wen-Li, and therefore dislike people who think little of him. Which is a problem for me, because the show has not done a very good job at making me like Wen-Li.

Eventually some old guy comes and yells at them for not having faith in Wen-Li, completely missing the main thrust of their misgivings.

Speaking of senility.

Returning to Wen-Li and Greenhill, the two of them are discussing the perfect agents to pull off whatever Trojan Horse plan Wen-Li has in mind. The Rosen Ritter are an irregular ground combat unit recruited from Galactic Empire refugees. They're one of the most effective fighting forces in the entire Free Planets Alliance, and their backgrounds should make them uniquely well suited for this operation.

There is a concern though. Of the thirteen leaders the Rosen Ritter have had since the force's creation, six ended up defecting back to the Empire. Understandably, the Rose Knights have been increasingly kept away from secret or sensitive missions because of this.

Greenhill points out that it would just be perfect for captain number thirteen to be another traitor. Wen-Li isn't superstitious though, and tells her to set up a meeting between himself and sitting Rosen Ritter leader Captain Walter von Schonkopf. He lives on or near this planet, so an in-person meeting isn't hard to set up.

They set out, and find him...well, "them" actually. They seem to have their own barracks and training facility. They also have the attitude of a bunch of really culty frat bros. When Wen-Li and Greenhill arrive at the compound and ask to speak with Von Schonkopf, they ignore the request completely, don't salute Wen-Li even when he introduces himself by rank, and start getting all creepy-flirtatious toward Greenhill. Lovely chaps all around. When one of them starts getting handsy, Greenhill demonstrates that a sharp memory isn't her only surprising skill.

For her size and build, judo-throwing a bulky gym-bro like that is pretty impressive. It certainly changes the expressions on all the others' faces.

Before things can escalate further, Von Schonkopf emerges from the throng and makes his idiots stand down. He instructs them to salute Wen-Li, and then apologizes on their behalf. His apology includes the statement that seeing a woman as beautiful as Greenhill has turned his men back into little boys, and that he himself feels the same thing happening as well, but hopes that they can be collectively forgiven.

Wince.

I will say that this isn't just a Japanese thing really, and more of an early 1980's thing. You can find similar shit written by American and European authors dating from just a few years earlier than this. Doesn't make it any less embarrassing, though.

After some more groanworthy attempts at flirtation by Von Schonkopf, Wen-Li and Greenhill manage to get him into a meeting room where they tell him about the plan. Well, it's implied that they do at least. The audience doesn't get to see that part, because if we did then that would mean it has to fail. Thing is, this is an insanely high risk mission to undertake with such limited resources, and Von Schonkopf is wondering why Wen-Li is even willing to lead such a mission. Is he just trying to get a promotion? Is it ego?

Wen-Li explains that, at least for him personally, it's nothing like that at all. In fact, he's hoping to retire from military service and finally start that goddamned history teacher job after this mission. He believes that if the Alliance manages to secure Iserlohn, the Empire will have no corridor through which it can realistically mount another invasion of Alliance space. Which means that, as long as the Alliance government doesn't go insane and try to invade the Empire back, this could actually be the beginning of the end of the war.

Turn the Iserlohn around and have it defend from the opposite direction, and the Alliance might be able to force the Empire to accept a settlement.

Von Schonkopf is skeptical about this working out even if their mission is successful. The Galactic Empire is a greedy, spiteful monster, and will not accept such terms easily. Wen-Li says that he's fine with that. Even if the resulting peace only lasts a few decades, the galaxy will be glad for such a respite.

Trying to see that the peace lasts any longer, Wen-Li says, will be the responsibility of the generation after his (he namedrops Julian here. Apparently he's just 14 years old? That makes the decision to leave him home alone considerably more questionable than I thought at the time...). He just wants to make sure they have even a slight possibility of doing so.

...

That speech was probably the most likeable that the show has portrayed Yang Wen-Li as being so far. I wonder how much of that is down to stuff being cut in the adaptation.

On a similar note, I'm also still curious about book!Reinhard. His personality is almost completely opposite in the two anime adaptations, so I really wonder what the heck the original is like.

...

Von Schonkopf seems impressed enough with that answer, but he also wants to know how Wen-Li feels about his own motivations in return. Isn't he afraid that he'll turn traitor like so many of his predecessors? Wen-Li says that yes, he is, but he doesn't exactly have many alternatives. Then Von Schonkopf asks what recourse Wen-Li would have if he did betray them in the middle of the operation, and Wen-Li says he's be forced to turn tail and run with as many of his ships as he could still save.

...um.

Okay.

That WAS supposed to be a little joke that the two of them were sharing, right?

If Wen-Li has a contingency in mind for that scenario, he's not going to fucking tell him about it.

They both know that, right? This is supposed to be them joking with each other?

I'm going to generously assume that this is in fact the case and move on.

Jump ahead to Wen-Li's officers, now including Von Schonkopf - I think I'll just call him Shlumpy from now on - having a pre-departure conference with the elderly admiral who talked Wen-Li up earlier. This mission is insane, and the top brass was insane to throw it at them, but they're all in.

Shlumpy makes a crack about how hey, worst case scenario the enemy will capture him and he'll get to go home again.

Yeah, not the right audience for that one Shlumps.

The thirteenth fleet gets moving, and we go to a voiceover narrator telling us about Iserlohn fortress. It's mostly the same information that we already got in the OVA episodes I reviewed, but with one important addition.

Iserlohn has a permanent command of two admirals, one in charge of the station itself and one who commands the fleet stationed there. They're the exact same rank, they have no protocol for whose decisions take precedence in matters involving both station and fleet, and they hate each other.

...

I was starting to feel like this story was buying into the "make the trains run on time" myth, with authoritarian regimes being assumed to be more efficient or competent than democratic ones by virtue of their brutality. I'm glad to see that no, that's really not the case, the Imperial military command is every bit as much of a circus clown shitshow as the Alliance's.

...

The voiceover gives way to Admirals Tweedledee and Tweedledum being informed that they've picked up a distress call. A top secret spy mission in Alliance space has gone pear shaped, and their spy ship is being chased up the Astarte Corridor by Alliance patrols. They're going to need the station's garrison to come in and save them, or else there's no way in hell that they're surviving long enough to reach Iserlohn themselves.

The admirals disagree about what to do of course. Dee thinks they should keep their ships near the station in case the Alliance fleet is bigger than it's being made to sound. Dum thinks they should spread out and search the system to see if there are additional Alliance battlegroups trying to use this opportunity to sneak past while they're distracted.

The only one who seems to consider it likely that this whole thing is a trap is Oberstein, the guy with the robotic eyes who was stasi-ing Siegfried a few episodes ago. Right, he was just assigned here recently. Oberstein seems like he's being built up as the story's one competent bad guy.

He advises them to do as Dee proposed. Mobilize their forces, but keep them clustered around the station for now until they can get a confirmation that this isn't just bait. Dum isn't happy about this, but is forced to see the wisdom of it.

They extend their range enough to see the Alliance ships chasing a small group of Imperial ones in, and start having their own fleet close until the enemy sees them and beats a retreat. They then begin escorting the ships they just "rescued" back to Iserlohn in force.

The face of the "spy mission's" commander seems like it really should be known to them, because, um...

But apparently it isn't. Visual shorthand maybe, with Shlumpy's face here just being used to stand in for a less notorious Ritter Rose soldier's? Maybe, I don't know. End episode.


If this review reads like a dry summary without much analysis, it's because the episode just didn't give me much to talk about. Wen-Li is more likable than he's been in the past, but otherwise? Just old school "meh" milsci all around.