The Legend of the Galactic Heroes discusion thread

[MithrandirOlorin]

With 5 episodes of the Smiuldub of the new Reboot up I figured now is as good a time as any to start a thread for this franchise. Feel free to talk about the new show or the old one.

I've been following the Simuldub. And I love the subversion of expectation introduced here, the Alliance are not necessarily more morally righteous then the Empire.

I wonder if you could call it a Deconstruction of the original Star Wars trilogy?

[GloatingSwine]

I wonder if you could call it a Deconstruction of the original Star Wars trilogy?

No.

Because that doesn't make sense at a conceptual level. One work of art cannot be a "deconstruction" of another work of art.

"Deconstruction" is a process where close reading is used to demonstrate that multiple contradictory meanings can be extracted from the same piece of art in order to dispel the myth that a piece of art has a single "true" meaning imparted by the author.

At the outside, a work of art within a genre or medium can contain elements of that process for the genre or medium as a whole, showing that genre conventions can be used in other ways to produce a new meaning from a genre set in its ways.

But even then 99.5% of works called "deconstructions"* are nothing of the sort because the people calling them that simply didn't realise how varied in meaning and theme the genre already was, and they're usually only saying it because "this is like something I recognise but more grimdark".



So no. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is not a deconstruction of anything. Especially not a single work because that's not a thing makes sense, and especially not a work that wasn't even complete when it first entered publication (The first book came out in 1982).

What Legend of the Galactic Heroes is is the Great European Powers iiin spaaaace. It's probably the best version of that as well, encompassing the appropriate cast of thousands and layers of politics and motivations on both sides of the conflict.





* Basically the only one that is is Watchmen, and really that's more about its commentary on the possibilities of the medium when used to tell stories structured like actual novels with a definitive beginning, middle, and especially end (Geoff Johns are you listening you hack).

[MithrandirOlorin]

I like all three planets look basically like Earth. Much more realistic then whole planets with only one environment.

[Karha of Honor]

I wish it was just a continuation.

[GloatingSwine]

I wish it was just a continuation.

The old OVA series basically adapted the book series completely, so there's no more to continue into.

If Yoshiki Tanaka decides he wants to write some more, then the books might continue.

[Karha of Honor]

I wish it was just a continuation.

The old OVA series basically adapted the book series completely, so there's no more to continue into.

If Yoshiki Tanaka decides he wants to write some more, then the books might continue.

I assume there are writers who could manage.

[MithrandirOlorin]

Some people may hate me bringing this up, but it's interesting watching this get Rebooted in a post Trump world.

Following the Simuldub, episode 4 last week had me thinking of Trump with the speculative analysis of why people gave power to the first Emperor. But in Episode 5 all of the suddenly it's the current head of the Republic who seems like Trump with a blatant KKK allegory doing his dirty work.

I suppose the original idea was to be evocative of Hitler and Mussolini or maybe Napoleon III. I always found interesting how in Lucas audio commentaries for the Prequels he preferred to talk about Napoleon III. Recently I listened to the Revolutions podcast's episode of Napoleon III's election and it was quite interesting.

[MithrandirOlorin]

Episode 6 introduced us to a female solider finally. It's based on books form the 80s, so I guess I just have to forgive the fact that the show acts a little like the very idea is still surprising.

[MixedDrops]

I've watched the entirety of the original OVA and absolutely loved it, might just be my favorite anime of all time.

I was actually planning on re-watching it at some point, do you think it's suitable for me to watch the new show instead?

[MithrandirOlorin]

I've watched the entirety of the original OVA and absolutely loved it, might just be my favorite anime of all time.

I was actually planning on re-watching it at some point, do you think it's suitable for me to watch the new show instead?

I don't know how to compare it to the old. I'm the perspective of someone who needed a Dubbed Reboot to get into it.