First Impressions / Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu

「常勝の天才」 (Joushou no tensai)
“An Indomitable Prodigy”

After this week I can confidently say any fears I had about LotGH’s remake have been firmly squashed. This remake has its differences and some utterly aggravating nitpicks (seriously, what the hell did you do to Oberstein’s appearance?! It physically hurts), but the story thus far is paced perfectly and slimmed down just enough to retain everything which made the original so damn great. We are still in early days yet, but if LotGH can keep this up, the tasty morsels coming up soon are going to be glorious.

As teased last time the focus here once again turned to Reinhardt and answering the very important question of just what he is after. Reinhardt you see isn’t some genius upstart out for fame (as the first two episodes may have suggested), he’s a man with one goal in mind: rescue his sister from the Kaiser, and seize the Empire for himself while he’s at it. The former is already an ambitious goal given who he’s up against, but the latter? Dreaming big at the best of times. It’s part of LotGH’s strength and fame, however, that such a lofty objective makes sense. As mentioned back in episode one, this show is not so much about the characters as what they seek and represent. They are, whether consciously or not, agents of upheaval bringing about changes no one in the current times ever thought possible. In this picture Reinhardt represents conscious upheaval; the Empire is decadent and stagnant, caught up in a spiral of wasteful corruption few in positions of power care to see because it doesn’t negatively impact them. The common folk suffering from such pompous tyranny though? Willing to latch onto whatever saving grace will fall their way. It’s a situation eerily relatable to our own earthly state of affairs (insert your MAGA meme of choice here), and one Reinhardt has at least some inkling about. To challenge the Kaiser he needs power and prestige, and to acquire both he must prove himself. In this world that means through war, the one place few of his noble status are willing to do. He proves himself like Napoleon, William the Conqueror, and Julius Caesar before him, and when the time comes for seizing power many will throw themselves at his feet for the opportunity to change their fortunes. Of course how Reinhardt sets up the ultimately betrayal is currently unknown, but as we shall see often the most shocking of moments can have the most unassuming of beginnings.

From this as well came some character and background information that will become quite important before too long. Siegfried’s role in this story for example was finally laid out, where he functions much like Reinhardt’s confidant and pillar of support. He may have been dragged along in a sense, but as was made very apparent, Siegfried is following Reinhardt as much for himself as for his friend: the kid after all is in love with Annerose. This is a noticeable change from the original, where Siegfried’s crush was left mostly ambiguous, but will bear a good deal of fruit later on once certain events happen. Simply put remember Annerose’s remarks about Reinhardt’s maturity, that’s going to factor in heavily when it comes to Reinhardt in the near future. Two other important name drops to consider were Oberstein (god his appearance still hurts) and Iserlohn, of which both are about to become very important in this little story. Iserlohn in particular is likely where we are heading next, as the return of Yang Wenli next week means it’s time for the FPA to consider its next move, and as we will soon see, it’s a move no one ever saw coming. Reinhardt may have the tactical brilliance, but Yang? Darling, he’s a magician.

Random Tidbits

Part of what makes LotGH fun to analyze is its rich representation of kyklos, or the political cycle of governments. This concept, best represented by Polybius’ theory of anacyclosis, states no government system is permanent, that the slow accumulation of entrenched interests and corruption (termed repatrimonialization by Francis Fukuyama) eventually forces a societal “switch” as disenfranchised people rise up (either tamely at the ballot box or through bloodshed) against perceived abuse and lack of opportunity. The Galactic Federation was the first stage of this process in LotGH, with stagnation and a sense of hopelessness leading to the peoples’ saviour in Rudolph Goldenbaum, and from him a descent into tyranny and absolute monarchy. This in turn led some to break away to form the FPA and return back to democracy. Now, however, the past again repeats as the Empire finds itself where the Galactic Federation once stood, with the FPA (as will soon be shown) not that far behind.

 

Preview

32 Comments

  1. Yeah, Oberstein look is strange. He looks as somebody very tired (phisically or tired of the life, I cant say).

    Some things have been better explained, but other things have been worst. The two main ones were: how did Rudolf von Goldenbaum raised to power and the Law of the Inferor Genes Exclusion Act.

    Kinai
    Reply

    1. They explained rudolf’s rise to power better in the OVA, since this is slated only for 2 cour not sure they will touch the subject further.

      But the inferior genes exclusion act is just as it is though, If you’re born with some defects then you will be purged.

      Also in case you didn’t notice, everyone that has appeared in the galactic empire is caucasian, and have german names. They are explained in the OVA as well.

      danes256
      Reply

    3. Considering a huge amount of the history behind the Empire and its policies was only fleshed out halfway through the original—and over a span of an entire episode to boot—what we got here was pretty good IMO. It helped indicate where the Empire came from, why it’s fighting against the FPA, and why it looks like it does.

      More info is always welcome, but for those new to LotGH this info dump was more than sufficient.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  2. In OVA, they literally spend a whole episode on rise of Goldenbaum Dynasty and why Federation entrusted so much power in Rudolf in the first place. That episode is also literally an infodump constructed as a historical presentation with historian talking heads, not unlike what you get from History channel. We will probably not get that, as it’s in season 2 of the OVA.

    BigFire
    Reply

    2. I loved that episode as much for the presentation format as the information given, it was like crack for the history nerd lol. I doubt we will see something similar in this version though, beyond the few info dumps like the one this week the focus will almost certainly be restricted to the main story.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  3. I am so in love with this adoption. I don’t think I can be happier with how much they stuffed into this episode.

    I love that they kept the line about how Sieg feels like he is getting dragged up with Reinhardt. So much depth to that line, so much conflict, but still he knows he will follow Reinhardt till the end because they have the best bromance in the universe.

    Ori
    Reply

    1. Agreed completely, the way they’re treating Reinhardt’s and Siegfried’s relationship is fantastic, especially the small changes made to the way they interact. Siegfried in this one for example comes across as more mature, which will help make Reinhardt’s maturity and romanticism all the more noticeable once “certain events” transpire.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  5. From what I have seen in these past few episodes, they are sticking more to the novels than actually remaking the older OVA, so basically, i have nothing against it so far.

    As for Oberstein’s appearance, i believe it’s closer to the novel description of him.

    ephemeralred
    Reply

      9. i noticed few things are left out from the novels and added in the ONA adaptations. Not a bad thing, considering ONA had longer runtime. But there were changes that are noticeable ofc. I would provide an example but it is a spoiler so I’m not sure I should do it because this part may be actually be animated properly this time, but I doubt it.
        Not even 110 ONA was completely faithful to novels.

        ephemeralred
        Reply

      12. one of the examples (which should happen in next episode, but i somehow doubt it based on the title for it
        :
        Show Spoiler ▼

        ephemeralred
        Reply

    2. I think the intention of this one was to adopt the novels as is once again, just this time without a lot of the fat which the original had in places. As for appearances I think they’re using the manga as the basis, particularly for the likes of Reinhardt and Yang. Oberstein’s could very well be from the novel though, I’m too familiar with his shoulder-length hair to really remember/consider anything else 😛

      Pancakes
      Reply

      1. So far they are following the novels all in all. Not sure about episode 4 because it’s titled Magician which would be
        Show Spoiler ▼

        “An officer who looked to be in is early thirties was standing in Kircheis’s line of sight. He wore a captain’s insignia. He was a tall man, though not so tall as Kircheis, with pale-brown eyes, a sickly white complexion, and lots of early gray in his dark head of hair.”

        ephemeralred
        Reply

  6. What a great anime, three episodes and I´m profound in love with it, you can already tell the epicness is yet to come, aside from reading the comments of course. Thank you for covering this amazing anime.

    Kingdragun
    Reply

  7. ep 04:

    I think i stay with this Anime, the pacing is “calm” and what our MC said about Rudolf.. more his father.. Yes i agree, too

    I join the “fan club” of this Anime

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

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