Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These – Season 1 (2018)

If you are a person who loves sci-fi  anime series that are deep, smart and also takes place in a war setting, definitely give “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These” a try!  You won’t be disappointed.

---

TITLE: Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These – Season 1

TV SERIES: 2018

DURATION: 300 minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Funimation

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: March 26, 2018

---

Originally created by Tanaka Yoshiki

Director: Tada Shunsuke

Series Composition: Takagi Noboru

Character Design by Teraoka Iwao, Tsushima Katsura, Kikuchi Yoko

Music by Hashimoto Shin, Inoue Yasuhisa

Art Director: Takeda Yusuke

Anime Production: Production I.G.

---

Featuring the following voice talent:

Miyano Mamoru/Aaron Dismuke as Reinhard von Lohengramm

Umehara Yuichiro/Clifford Chapin as Siegfried Kircheis

Suzumura Kenichi/Ian Sinclair as Yang Wen-Li

Ohba Mahito/Aaron Roberts as Ernest Mecklinger

Sakamoto Maaya/Amber Lee Connors as Annerose von Grünewald

Fujiwara Takahiro/Andy Mullins as Fogel

Inada Tetsu/Austin Tindle as Fritz von Bittenfeld

Inaba Minoru/Bill Flynn as Friedrich IV

Nojima Hirofumi/Brandon McInnis as Cornelius Lutz

Egawa Hisao/Brandon Potter as August Samuel Wahlen

Mizuuchi Kiyomitsu/Charles Campbell as Staden

Fukumatsu Shinya/Chris Rager as Paetta

Ono Yuuki/Christopher Wehkamp as Jean Robert Lapp

Miki Shinichiro/Christopher R. Sabat as Walter von Schönkopf

Kawashima Tokuyoshi/Chuck Huber as Alex Cazerne

Takeuchi Ryota/Daman Mills as Adalbert von Fahrenheit

Kinoshita Sayaka/Dawn M. Bennett as Jessica Edwards

Suwabe Junichi/J. Michael Tatum as Paul von Oberstein

Sonozoki Mie/Janelle Lutz as Dominique Saint-Pierre

Iwasaki Masami/Jeremy Inman as Fyodor Patrichev

Ono Daisuke/Josh Grelle as Wolfgang Mittermeyer

Sonoe Osamu/Kenny Green as Edwin Fisher

Ishihara Bon/Kent Williams as Alexander Bewcock

Endo Aya/Madeleine Morris as Frederica Greenhill

Ishizuka Unsho/Mark Stoddard as Willibard Joachim von Merkatz

Kaji Yuuki/Matt Shipman as Julian Mintz

Meguro Kosuke/Matt Thurston as Pastolle

Ohtsuka Houchu/Mike McFarland as Murai

Sakurai Tooru/Phil Parsons as Moore

Aizawa Masaki/Ray Hurd as Sidney Sithole

Nakamura YuichiRicco Fajardo as Oskar von Reuenthal

Yasumoto Hiroki/Robert McCollum as Karl Gustav Kempff

Hoshino Mitsuaki/Sonny Strait as Dwight Greenhill

Hatanaka Tasuku/Stephen Fu as Lao

---

Legends collide in the enthralling reboot of this classic space drama! Caught in a 150-year-long war, interstellar nations reach the pinnacle of strategic combat at the hands of two genius leaders. Reinhard of the Galactic Empire, and Yang of the Free Planets Alliance lead the charge from opposing fronts. Fighting is their destiny, but in this vast universe torn by political intrigue, their greatest enemy may not be each other.

---

From 1982-1987, writer Tanaka Yoshiki along with illustrators Kato Naoyuki and Kamoshita Yukihisa created 10 novels of “Ginga Eiyu Densetsu” (Legend of the Galactic Heroes).

The novels would receive a few anime film and OVA adaptations but an anime series was decided by Production I.G. and it would be directed by Tada Shunsuke and written by Takagi Noboru.

The title of the TV series wold be “Ginga Eiyu Densetsu: Di Noie Teze” (Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These) and would make its debut in April 2018 with 12 episodes created.  A second season was announced but instead of being released on television, it will be released as three films of four episodes each in 2019.

As for the 12-episode anime series, the series was released on Blu-ray courtesy of Funimation.

The anime series is tale of two men, who are strategic geniuses from two different opposing sides of the Alliance-Imperial War between the Imperial Fleet vs. the Free Planets Star Fleet.

The series takes place during a time when Reinhard von Musel, an Imperial military and political leader who rose to prominence during the Alliance-Imperial War had overthrown the ruling Goldenbaum Dynasty and became the new Kaiser.

Because of being a genius in strategic war and in politics at a young age, he became the de facto dictator of the Empire.

On the other side is Yang Wen-Li, an office of the Free Planets Star Fleet and is a strategic genius.  He has no ambitions in rising into military prominence, he just is a man who believes in democracy.

While others look down upon him because of his lack of acting and behaving like a man proud of being in the military, he is well-regarded because of his tactical mind that is as great as Reinhard von Musel of the Imperial Fleet.

The series shows us how these two men uses their genius throughout the war.  But also the challenges that each men face.

For von Musel, his drive through his younger life was when his older sister Annerose was sold for sexual servitude for a large sum of money and become the imperial consort to the emperor, Kaiser Friedrich IV.

Staying by his side is his best friend, a non-noble named Siegfried Kircheis.  And swore an oath when he was younger to help Reinhard in anyway possible to free his sister.

And we see how these two friends would rise in ranks within the Empire.

As for Yang Wen-li, his problem is that he wants to be a guy who stays under the radar, because his original goal was to become a historian.  And when he attended the Free Planets Alliance Officer Academy, he was given the choice that his tuition fees would be waived if he entered into military service upon graduation.

Unfortunately for Yang, each time he wants to be under the radar, because of his strategic genius, the military realize how important it is to have Yang involved with the strategic planning, as he managed to save the Free Planets Alliance from obliteration.

And as the war continues to escalate, the role and strategic warfare between both von Musel and Yang will ultimately come into a full-scale collission.

---

VIDEO:

“Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These” is presented in 1080p High Definition and the anime series is is vibrant and characters are well-drawn and shaded, art backgrounds are also well-done. I have high expectations for Production I.G. anime series and this series does not disappoint at all.  Picture quality is fantastic in HD!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These” is presented in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Both soundtracks are fantastic (but with the English soundtrack having an edge due to the 5.1 treatment) and are well-acted. Dialogue and music are both crystal clear through the center, front and surround channels.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These” comes with the textless opening and closing songs and promo videos.

EXTRAS:

Both the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These” are included on this Blu-ray release. Plus a Funimation Digital Code is included.

---

There have been numerous anime series that depict war, strategic battles but what makes “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These” so fascinating and entertaining is how it focuses on the two strategists on opposing sides.

No, it doesn’t focus on a soldier, no pilot, but the strategy employed by both men in war and the life they live during the war.  The people who are close to them and how each, try to use strategy to outwit the other.

While I have watched the original film and OVA’s long ago, I found myself captivated by “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These”.  For one, you have the quality of anime production of Production I.G., but you also have a lot more going in terms of character development and seeing how these individuals are.

Reinhard von Musel is a man who believes in his convictions and to get what he wants, he is a dictator that wants know questions asked.  He’s brilliant as a strategist but the Imperial Fleet is corrupt and his government tries to find ways of having him go down.

Yang Wen-Li believes in democracy and the only reason why he is in the military is to pay off his college tuition.  He could careless about the military and believes in doing right.  Unfortunately, this puts him at odds with the military and for Yang, he just wants to leave the military and live a normal life.  But because he’s a brilliant strategist and he is seen as injecting new blood into the leadership of the Free Planets Alliance.

While there are action space battles that one is accustomed to seeing via “Mobile Suit Gundam”, “Stars Blazers” and others, “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These” has a deep, captivating storyline thanks to it’s primary two characters.

As mentioned, the animation looks wonderful in HD, lossless audio is also fantastic but surprisingly, special features are only opening and closing themes and nothing else.

But you do get the Blu-ray and DVD plus a Funimation digital code for the series.

Overall, if you are a person who loves sci-fi  anime series that are deep, smart and also takes place in a war setting, definitely give “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These” a try!  You won’t be disappointed.

---