The beginner's guide to Legend of the Galactic Heroes
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).
Episode Guides
In short, LOGH is made up of:
1) 110 episodes of main OVA series which is the very heart and the meat of the series, referred to as "Legend of the Galactic Heroes." It is based on the orignial 10 volume novels by Tanaka Yoshiki.
2) 52 episodes of Gaiden (back story that happens before 110 episodes) referred to as "Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden." This includes (in chronological order) in case you need to find them on the net:
WARNING: beware of what you're downloading whether it's the main 110 ova or Gaiden as the names can be confusing.
3) Full length films (in chronological order):
Which order to watch?
There are several ways to watch, but I agree with this following guide as well as fellow fans that this is the best order to watch (4& 5 Means Gaiden as a whole) :
Cheat sheets:
Beware that this is a mammoth of a series where you will be faced with 600+ named characters and about 200+ characters with both first and last names and military rank (that gets promoted throughout the series) you will feel like you are expected to know. On top of this you're expected to be able to identify a large number of planets, their significance, their political status, where they are, and the make up of their atmosphere as to how much oxygen or hydrogen percentage there is etc (ok, I'm kidding on this last part, but it will be brought up and you're supposed to know what will happen if you fire a nuclear missile into that mix of atmosphere.) Oh top of this you are expected to be able to identify at least the flagships and their corresponding admirals if you hope to understand what the fuck is going on when battle plans are being drawn and executed. You will also need to understand what blue and red arrows mean on screen. I will say you can ignore the politicians because while you won't remember them either, you can still guess what's going on with only a few "huh?"s SO, to make your life easier, because watching LOGH is like studying quantum physics:
Character Cheat sheets:
The incomplete list of characters you will frequent (where is the cat and Reinhard's tea boy?):
Ok, don't panic. While it's temping you only need to remember these admirals on both sides:
But dont' worry, you'll be told by the subtitle as well as to who's who when they appear, it's when they're being referred to and don't appear that is the problem.
Starship Cheat sheets:
What you will need to understand what it means when they say, "the Black Lancers are to attack from the rear while the Brunhilde retreats etc."
Full chart if you REALLY want to know.
What you only need to know (forget Alliance ships, they're all green and impossible to tell apart - you'll just have to live with that problem):
The galaxy Cheat sheets:
The badges (yes you are expected to know these)
(I'm joking)
The blue and orange arrows of doom!
Can someone explain to me how to read those blue and orange arrow thingy? Do I need to attend a class or something because I usually don't understand them *cries*
For more information:
The above is what I call LOGH for dummies which is enough to get you through 110 without being totally lost, if you need to understand LOGH on a Yang Wenli's level (in order to fully understand what he's saying at any given point in time), visit http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Portal:Main where you will be given a full history of the Galactic Empire and the Free Planet Alliance (among other things) which includes politics, foreign policy, economy, society etc. as well as which battle takes place where in which UC and in which corridor, and also a full list of Imperial and Alliance Citizens (i.e. http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Category:Imperial_citizens). As for me, I'm still struggling with LOGH 101 class and won't be graduating anytime soon. *cries*
The Dos & Don'ts of LOGH
Don't read spoilers!
Don't watch episode previews
Don't google (or you will find spoilers)
Don't quit before episode 26 (and after that, don't even think about quitting!)
Don't expect to remember all the characters/planets/flagships/battle fields (none of us do)
Don't expect to understand everything Yang Wenli said in one go, (we don't - you're not alone)
Don't feel bad about not remembering your history lessons (we don't either)
Don't contradict Paul Von Oberstein (he's never wrong)
Don't feel stupid when you don't understand battle formations (I don't think you're supposed to??)
Don't expect to finish this in one go and understand everything. People take up to one year to finish.
Don't be put off by its length. After 162 episodes you will not have enough.
Don't be put off by its old animation. It would be the studpidest mistake you ever do in your life.
Do read subtitles without blinking and take notes if you need to (you may be asked to recall something from episode 3x in 1xx ... just saying)
and last but not least....
Do understand that after this, LOGH will shit on any anime/manga/TV series you'll ever watch again (hopefully until the remake comes out)
Anything I miss? jelly_rie01delwynmarch?
Sieg Mein Kaiser Reinhard!
*prositttt*
Episode Guides
In short, LOGH is made up of:
1) 110 episodes of main OVA series which is the very heart and the meat of the series, referred to as "Legend of the Galactic Heroes." It is based on the orignial 10 volume novels by Tanaka Yoshiki.
2) 52 episodes of Gaiden (back story that happens before 110 episodes) referred to as "Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden." This includes (in chronological order) in case you need to find them on the net:
- Spiral Labyrinth (Side Stories / Gaiden 2, episodes 1-14)
- Valley of White Silver (Side Stories / Gaiden 1, episodes 1-4)
- Those Who Revolt / Mutineer (SS / G2, ep. 15-18)
- Those Who Duel / Duelist (SS / G2, ep. 19-22)
- Those Who Recapture / Survivors (SS / G2, ep. 23-26)
- Morning's Dream, Night's Song (SS / G1, ep. 5-8)
- A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights (SS / G1, ep. 13-24)
- The Third Tiamat Battle (SS / G2, ep. 27-28)
- Disgrace (SS / G1, ep. 9-12)
WARNING: beware of what you're downloading whether it's the main 110 ova or Gaiden as the names can be confusing.
3) Full length films (in chronological order):
- Golden Wings (be warned that this is drawn differently and is extremely poor - feel free to skip)
- My Conquest is the Sea of Stars
- Overture to a New War (an expanded retelling of the first two episodes of the main OVA series)
Which order to watch?
There are several ways to watch, but I agree with this following guide as well as fellow fans that this is the best order to watch (4& 5 Means Gaiden as a whole) :
Cheat sheets:
Beware that this is a mammoth of a series where you will be faced with 600+ named characters and about 200+ characters with both first and last names and military rank (that gets promoted throughout the series) you will feel like you are expected to know. On top of this you're expected to be able to identify a large number of planets, their significance, their political status, where they are, and the make up of their atmosphere as to how much oxygen or hydrogen percentage there is etc (ok, I'm kidding on this last part, but it will be brought up and you're supposed to know what will happen if you fire a nuclear missile into that mix of atmosphere.) Oh top of this you are expected to be able to identify at least the flagships and their corresponding admirals if you hope to understand what the fuck is going on when battle plans are being drawn and executed. You will also need to understand what blue and red arrows mean on screen. I will say you can ignore the politicians because while you won't remember them either, you can still guess what's going on with only a few "huh?"s SO, to make your life easier, because watching LOGH is like studying quantum physics:
Character Cheat sheets:
The incomplete list of characters you will frequent (where is the cat and Reinhard's tea boy?):
Ok, don't panic. While it's temping you only need to remember these admirals on both sides:
But dont' worry, you'll be told by the subtitle as well as to who's who when they appear, it's when they're being referred to and don't appear that is the problem.
Starship Cheat sheets:
What you will need to understand what it means when they say, "the Black Lancers are to attack from the rear while the Brunhilde retreats etc."
Full chart if you REALLY want to know.
What you only need to know (forget Alliance ships, they're all green and impossible to tell apart - you'll just have to live with that problem):
The galaxy Cheat sheets:
The badges (yes you are expected to know these)
(I'm joking)
The blue and orange arrows of doom!
Can someone explain to me how to read those blue and orange arrow thingy? Do I need to attend a class or something because I usually don't understand them *cries*
For more information:
The above is what I call LOGH for dummies which is enough to get you through 110 without being totally lost, if you need to understand LOGH on a Yang Wenli's level (in order to fully understand what he's saying at any given point in time), visit http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Portal:Main where you will be given a full history of the Galactic Empire and the Free Planet Alliance (among other things) which includes politics, foreign policy, economy, society etc. as well as which battle takes place where in which UC and in which corridor, and also a full list of Imperial and Alliance Citizens (i.e. http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Category:Imperial_citizens). As for me, I'm still struggling with LOGH 101 class and won't be graduating anytime soon. *cries*
The Dos & Don'ts of LOGH
Don't read spoilers!
Don't watch episode previews
Don't google (or you will find spoilers)
Don't quit before episode 26 (and after that, don't even think about quitting!)
Don't expect to remember all the characters/planets/flagships/battle fields (none of us do)
Don't expect to understand everything Yang Wenli said in one go, (we don't - you're not alone)
Don't feel bad about not remembering your history lessons (we don't either)
Don't contradict Paul Von Oberstein (he's never wrong)
Don't feel stupid when you don't understand battle formations (I don't think you're supposed to??)
Don't expect to finish this in one go and understand everything. People take up to one year to finish.
Don't be put off by its length. After 162 episodes you will not have enough.
Don't be put off by its old animation. It would be the studpidest mistake you ever do in your life.
Do read subtitles without blinking and take notes if you need to (you may be asked to recall something from episode 3x in 1xx ... just saying)
and last but not least....
Do understand that after this, LOGH will shit on any anime/manga/TV series you'll ever watch again (hopefully until the remake comes out)
Anything I miss? jelly_rie01delwynmarch?
Sieg Mein Kaiser Reinhard!
*prositttt*