Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (Legend of the Galactic Heroes)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: LoGH, LotGH, GinEiDen

Japanese: 銀河英雄伝説

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Information

Type: Novel

Volumes: 10

Chapters: 94

Status: Finished

Published: Nov 1982 to Nov 1987

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

Themes: Adult Cast, Military, Space

Serialization: None

Authors: Tanaka, Yoshiki (Story), Katou, Naoyuki (Art), Kamoshita, Yukihisa (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.60¹ (scored by 2,070 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #104²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1979

Members: 10,005

Favorites: 306

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Wikipedia

8.60

Ranked #104Popularity #1979Members 10,005

NovelTanaka, Yoshiki (Story), Katou, Naoyuki (Art), Kamoshita, Yukihisa (Art)

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Volumes: /10

Chapters: /94

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Synopsis

In the far future, two young military leaders rise above their peers. The invincible genius Reinhard von Lohengramm is matched only by the unbeatable magician Yang Wen-li; though the two share a profound respect for each other, they meet on the battlefield not as comrades but as bitter adversaries. Commanding thousands of warships and millions of soldiers, they lead giant space fleets into battle on behalf of the two interstellar states that have wrested for control of the Milky Way for over a century and a half.

The Galactic Empire, an absolute monarchy ruled by Kaiser Friedrich von Goldenbaum IV and an entrenched nobility, seeks to suppress the rebels daring to oppose the inviolable crown. The Free Planets Alliance, a representative democracy led by a corrupt High Council, degenerates as its elected leaders⁠ use war and conflict as a way to win popular support. Reinhard is a minor noble who became a High Admiral through his strategic brilliance and his sister's position as the favored concubine of the Kaiser, while Yang is an avid historian and reluctant commodore hailed as a hero despite only using his tactical prowess to navigate around his leaders' incompetence. On opposite sides of the galaxy, the two men have wildly different visions for the future: Reinhard dreams of uniting mankind under his iron fist, while Yang wants only to carve a path to lasting peace. As the war rages on, Reinhard and Yang each strive for their ideals and secure their place among the stars as the leaders of a new era of galactic heroes.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

In 1988, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu won the Seiun Award for Best Novel of the Year.

The series was published in English as Legend of the Galactic Heroes by VIZ Media under the Haikasoru imprint from March 8, 2016 to November 19, 2019.

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Related Manga

Alternative version:	Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu
Side story:	Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden
Adaptation:	Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Kaikou, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Seiran 1, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Gekitotsu, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Seiran 3, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Sakubou, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Seiran 2, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These (Zoku-hen), Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu

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Characters

Yang, Wen-li

Main

von Lohengramm, Reinhard

Main

von Reuenthal, Oskar

Main

von Oberstein, Paul

Main

Kircheis, Siegfried

Main

von Schönkopf, Walter

Main

Mittermeyer, Wolfgang

Main

von Mariendorf, Hildegard

Main

Minci, Julian

Main

Attenborough, Dusty

Main

Reviews

Aug 31, 2023

TAMNI-GT

Recommended

LOGH is a gray work in its judgment. It questions and criticizes 2 main systems and discusses individual freedom and happiness in the face of this. Thus, it brings with it the selfish goals in a sea of stars swallowed by the void, with several adjacent meanings, be it to perish as a supernova being the legend of the universe, to become the sun to guide the next generations, or to prove itself the pathetic black hole. who swallows the ambitions of others around him. All manifestations of selfishness that govern the laws of the universe!
So, in more obvious terms, reading LOGH, it's like a ...

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Jul 11, 2021

Noahboy

Recommended

It's no easy feat to make ten novels so consistent in quality, but Legend of the Galactic Heroes never seemed to dip in quality for the three years over the course of which I read through this series.

The whole series is written in a way that feels like a recording of historical events with bits of commentary added in from a historian's perspective. This commentary also isn't shy about foreshadowing future events to build a sense of dread in the reader which really made things more interesting for me at least. This series also has a way of writing character deaths in a really cold ... and objective way that hits brutally hard. It's not shy about criticizing characters' actions and noting multiple historians' opinions on certain events which is interesting and encourages the reader to make their own opinion on the characters and their actions throughout the course of the story.

The scale of the story is also huge and covers a lot of the political aspects of the various wars that occur over the course of the story. At first I had a hard time following the political aspects of the story, but I did come around and eventually found them to be extremely interesting and thought provoking. The scale of everything definitely makes it hard to follow at first because there are so many characters to keep track of at first and some have similar enough names that I found myself confusing many characters together, especially among the admiralty in the Imperial Navy. But this problem got lessened as I got further into the story and more familiar with each character as a result, so it's more a barrier to entry than a major issue if you ask me.

I really like how the characters all feel human and all have their own flaws to go with their strengths, this makes them all more interesting than most other stories could hope to have. Some characters make massive mistakes and some characters die without realizing their goals and ambitions, and things like these make the plot fascinating to follow and kept me guessing what was going to happen next on top of hurting my feelings at certain parts.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes has very little to fault, I'm shocked to look back on the series and realize that once I got behind the politics of the story, there was never a boring part of the series. It feels super unique and definitely earns its ten novels of length to the grand epic that is its story. The only warning I have for people interested in it is that it may take some time for them to get into it like it did for me due to my initial confusion following the politics and the massive roster of characters. It's also worth noting that the ending is one of the most satisfying endings to any story I have ever experienced, and I would like many others to get that same feeling I did when I finally finished reading the last page.

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Nov 25, 2023

typewritermonkey

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

LOGH is a space sci-fi set over 1500 years into the future, but is noticeably inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms, set 1800 years in the past. The author Tanaka is apparently very into Chinese history and has translated a couple of classical chinese texts himself, and apropos, LOGH reads like a projection of Chinese history onto the cosmos, despite the obvious borrowing of German aesthetics.

I dug into the novels with high expectations, as I was tired of reading unambitious and gimmicky light novels, and on that front, LOGH paradoxically both delivered and disappointed. Starting with the good: the scope of active players, their ... motivations and intrigues, their interactions with each other, were indeed complex and believable. With such a large cast, Tanaka did a fine job of choreographing the actors on and off the stage. Particularly impressive were the contrasting parallels of Yang and Reinhard, whose trajectories and struggles were so unique to themselves that they did not seem to belong in the same book, much less as rivaling protagonists. Tanaka demonstrated the typical Japanese aptitude of retro-futurizing, unraveling the ROTK storyline and reweaving it with European and sci-fi elements into something aesthetically pleasing and almost completely original. I doubt most readers or watchers of the anime realize how much the plot rhymes with TK's, but even if you are aware of it, it won't negatively affect your experience. There are no issues with forced Japanese elements, which is common to characters in Japanese stories in a non-Japanese setting, in fact the cosmopolitanism completely excluded Japan, minus, I believe, one quote or historical reference. Tanaka did a good job of writing a post-national, post-racial story. It was certainly the level of maturity I was looking for.

Before moving onto the bad, I want to mention the translation, or its inconsistency. The English translation features three different translators. Huddleston, who is credited on the volumes 1, 2, 3, and 7, was passable. I would occasionally lose focus reading longer paragraphs and have no idea what I just read, but this was not frequent, until the next translator, Grillo. With Grillo, who worked on volumes 4, 5, and 6, this became a constant struggle, which is quite unfortunate because 4-6 was in the thick of it. The last translator, Treyvaud, who did the remaining 8-10, brought a noticeable improvement to legibility, but by then, the plot was already winding down.

LOGH has several weaknesses. It doesn't offer anything new, whether to sci-fi, to its inspiration ROTK, or to the political ideologies that it so heavily depends on for the plot. Democracy, the raison d'etre of Yang's faction, felt like a cheap pastiche Tanaka was using to move the plot, and in the end, only quibbles were made about its importance and weaknesses relative to its alternatives. The sci-fi elements were also unimaginative. Besides FTL travel, the only other progress humanity has made is in the discovery of "Seffle particles," a highly volatile gas(?) that explodes when disturbed. Aside from a few tactical uses in battles, the sci-fi setting was utterly barren, and actually frustrating how primitive technology had remained.

Additionally, the narration became increasingly grating over time. It had a habit of repeating character descriptions and backstories with slight rewordings every time they appeared. By the 9th volume, I was so irate at minor character bantering with each other as if to confirm their personalities, at the expense of timely closure, I considered reading the spoilers just to be done with it. The omniscient narration itself would also semi-spoil you with what was to happen, and often slipped into documentary mode by inserting passages from the characters' future memoirs into what was currently unfolding. It was frustrating for how self-indulgent it was, while giving readers dread of what was inevitably going to happen. Once the fates decided a character was done, they were stripped of their previous agency and forced to drink the hemlock. Too many of the prominent players were conveniently killed off in a short span to force the conclusion that suspension of disbelief failed.

Ultimately, LOGH took the easy way out. It was a jack of all trades, master of none, and didn't finish any of its essays. The tactical battles were very exciting, but without a convincing thesis to all the ups and downs, it shot its own legacy in the foot. It was a chore to read and not interesting enough to warrant revisiting.

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