The beginner's guide to Legend of the Galactic Heroes

[kajornwan]

This post is in order because until my entire f-list starts watching this best anime ever made I find it my responsibility to keep the world informed. So if you have been brainwashed by my marketing attempt and are interested to watch now or some time later, here is the guide which you will need (that I wished I had when I started).

Comments

[kajornwan]

Anything I can do to fix this much underappreciated series! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

[thegreymoon]

Jesus.

And this is supposed to serve as an incentive to watch this thing? O.o

[kajornwan]

Well, no. That's in another post. This just tells you how to survive because first you need to survive before you get this:

Additional rules

[delwynmarch]

DO be 110% ready to focus exclusively on what's going on the second the episode starts. They won't give you a recap of the previous episodes, but they totally expect you to remember everything that happened and to be able to just jump into the action right away. I've only watched the first 26 episodes (plus a couple movies), but I've had to restart an episode several times because I wasn't actually ready-ready.

DON'T expect to be doing anything else on top of watching an episode. As I said, all your attention is going to be swallowed into just following what's going on.

DON'T PANIC :D !

DO rewind as often as necessary.

DO pause the episode and go check one of the above posters if you feel too lost. Getting momentarily lost (again and again and again) while following LoGH is the norm, not the exception.

And for the soft-hearted like me: DO be ready to cry at the end of an episode for characters you'd never met at the beginning, and will never see again. Human lives of ordinary people MATTER in this anime, both individual human

Re: Additional rules

[kajornwan]

True. I often wonder how it was possible that they produce a show 110 episodes long and yet every one is packed so tight with info. It never feels stretching. You almost feel you wish they'd stretched a few scenes a bit longer because.. Wait I didn't get what you mean. Can you just give me some time? Damn it!

And no shit you can't do anything else. I had to pause just to answer my kids simple questions because you get distracted from reading subs one second you could miss whyyy they are going to war!

Have you seen that part when the soldier was showing off picture of his new born baby and wife and seconds later *boom* the kid never gets to meet daddy. You have to love how they insist on throwing things like that at you every chance they get. It's marvelously bold.

Re: Additional rules

[delwynmarch]

You almost feel you wish they'd stretched a few scenes a bit longer

"Almost"? Fuck "almost"! This is the first anime where I actively WANT recaps at the beginning of each episode, freeze frames every time they introduce a new character, visual flashbacks anytime they mention an important past event, and yes, strrrrrrretched scenes! I'm sorry, but there's no way I can read the subtitle giving the name of the new character, the OTHER subtitle translating whatever is being said (because they are ALWAYS talking whenever introducing someone, OF COURSE!), AND look at the face of said new character long enough to memorise it and attach to the new name, ALL AT ONCE! *cries hysterically*

Seriously, you know you've been overworking when you get ONE episode with a few flashbacks (ep 26, not to name it), and you feel like the episode is nothing but flashbacks even though tons of things are still happening :P

Wait I didn't get what you mean. Can you just give me some time? Damn it!*sighs

Re: Additional rules

[kajornwan]

This is the first anime where I actively WANT recaps at the beginning of each episode, freeze frames every time they introduce a new character, visual flashbacks anytime they mention an important past event, and yes, strrrrrrretched scenes!

No shit. And that's just for the sake of remembering who the fuck we are talking about. Then in the middle of it, while I'm still trying to figure out who Negroponty was, if I had seen him before, and which side of the multiple corrupted government entities he's on, they throw this conversation (that I have been dissecting for about a week and still can't figure out what it means) at you and expect you to understand it in precisely 21 seconds, then yes, we are going to move on to the next difficult topic, thank you very much:

Yang: A nation doesn’t create individuals by cellular division. Instead, it is individuals with autonomous intent who gather to establish a nation. In a democratic society, it is axiomatic as to which one is the master and which the servant

The blue and orange arrows of doom

[delwynmarch]

They are not arrows, silly :P They are groups of ships, sometimes going up to entire fleets, depending on the size of the battlefield. If I'm not mistaken, orange groups are one's own ships, and blue groups are the enemy's.

Re: The blue and orange arrows of doom

[kajornwan]

LOL I know they are ships but I was really confused with the color codes T_T i thought blues were imperials and orange were alliance. If it changes according to who's viewing it then no wonder I'm confused!! *cries*

I think jelly_rie01 took time to study this. Jelly, share some LOGH eisdom please?

Re: The blue and orange arrows of doom

[delwynmarch]

Uh-huh. This is an anime which starts with, "Here are the dozen Imperial admirals and their ships on one side, and their dozen counterparts on the Alliance side. No, we're not giving you time to remember them all. Just deal on your own to keep up somehow," and then in like 20 episodes or so jumps to, "Here are the dozen Imperial admirals and their ships on one side, and the OTHER dozen Imperial admirals and their ships on the other side, and lather-rinse-repeat with the Alliance AT THE SAME TIME, and no, we don't give any fuck as to how you're supposed to keep up with who is on whose side in which civil war," and you're crying because the Empire and the Alliance use the same convention to designate who is "Us" and who is "Them"?? ROFL!!!

Plus, it makes sense anyway. The Alliance broke away from the Empire, so their technology is originally Imperial technology. So it's logical that they use the same conventions, since it was the same operating systems originally.

[dragonchiclet]

Oh mein Gott *kicher* *hackenknall* *prosit* *hicks*

Those phallic missiles! What is the MATTER with those guys?! Seems like some really temperamental group date.

Also, like something my son (13 yo) might love. What's the FSK?

need a beer now (jeeeeesus lol)

[kajornwan]

Omg Ze Germans! I am being attacked from all directions! You guys *cries*

1) I have absolutely no idea what you're saying LOL
2) The missiles, you mean flagships? .... Note to self:this is what you get when you try to market a space opera to yaoi audience *cries* No, you're not the first, damn you people. At least leave the Brunhilde and Barbarossa alone *cries some more*
3) As for your son, the only reason you want him to watch this is as punishment. May I suggest episode 40 in particular *runs* Good God, I've just found a new way to threaten my 11 year old, thanks to you - make her sit through LOGH fpr two hours XD
4) What does FSK mean?

Prosit!!! XD

It's good to see you though. *hugs*

[delwynmarch]

Omg Ze Germans! I am being attacked from all directions! You guys *cries*

Stop crying or I'll remind you that I'm French, and that as such I have an inherent privilege not to watch ANYTHING with a fucking KAISER in it!! Because History :P !