![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerThe official release date was marked in my calendar, but aware that books from at least some publishers sometimes show up in the bookstore ahead of those dates I did bother to take a one-week-early look at the science fiction section. Glancing past titles that do keep me aware I’m not plugged into “written science fiction discussions” to have a better idea of what new things might interest me these days, I found the translated-into-English volumes of Yoshiki Tanaka’s Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and then saw the “10” markings at the top of certain spines. It was with a certain solemnity that I pulled a copy loose from the shelf. After three and a half years, sales figures not dwindled to the point of “abandoning the project unfinished” after all, the conclusion to the story was available.
I did pretty much remember what would happen from having seen the original anime adaptation. The last survivors of the Free Planets Alliance, reorganized into the Iserlohn Republic in that formidable fortress, are trying to find a way some remnant of democracy can coexist with the Galactic Empire for the sake of future alternatives, but the remnants of the ruthless third parties in the galaxy are forcing confrontation and even though he’s now married with an heir on the way Kaiser Reinhard von Lohengramm is suffering from an inexplicable malady. It all builds up to a desperate gambit, pitting a “mere” ten thousand ships against the far larger Imperial fleets. (I can wonder how the vast fleets mentioned throughout influenced the anime showing generic ships ranked in grand formations and firing into the distance only to blow up in an instant when hit from the other direction, but I also wonder what those who paid for, built, and crewed those ships might make of that combustibility. It also happens that one-person “space fighters” manage to find something to do among this general attrition for individual characters to stand out without having to rise to high command ranks or even distinguish themselves as staff officers.)
One thing I might say stayed constant throughout was the peculiar flavour to the prose, even if I was interested enough in this story’s conclusion to push through its final volume. Being translated seems to have something to do with that, but I can wonder just a bit if the omniscient narration contributes a little too. Reading this novel I did get to wondering what someone with a “conventional” written science fiction background would make of the novels and their story without the potential prop of “whatever ideas are in here did get carried over, without too much watering down, to a visual work.” Then, I happened to look back and see that thought had crossed my mind reading the first novel of the series. In any case, this final volume does touch on Reinhard’s oft-proclaimed “genius” requiring “ordinary people” to have given up on trying to make efforts to solve problems themselves, which begins to resemble thoughts of my own reading through the whole story.
There were “side story” episodes of the original anime showing scenes from the meteoric rises of its characters before the first episode proper, and I understand they were adapted from written works. I also understand, though, the “Haika Soru” label, associated with Viz, the translated novels were published under is shutting down, and can only count what blessings do exist this didn’t happen midway through the main story becoming available itself. My thought have turned a bit towards the new anime adaptation, with the follow-up to the mere three months’ worth of original episodes having become available this season. I’d heard it had first appeared as “movies,” but have been struck by how well they’ve been reformatted into regular episodes. This adaptation is still just getting through the second novel, but it is gaining a bit more solidity in my mind.
I did pretty much remember what would happen from having seen the original anime adaptation. The last survivors of the Free Planets Alliance, reorganized into the Iserlohn Republic in that formidable fortress, are trying to find a way some remnant of democracy can coexist with the Galactic Empire for the sake of future alternatives, but the remnants of the ruthless third parties in the galaxy are forcing confrontation and even though he’s now married with an heir on the way Kaiser Reinhard von Lohengramm is suffering from an inexplicable malady. It all builds up to a desperate gambit, pitting a “mere” ten thousand ships against the far larger Imperial fleets. (I can wonder how the vast fleets mentioned throughout influenced the anime showing generic ships ranked in grand formations and firing into the distance only to blow up in an instant when hit from the other direction, but I also wonder what those who paid for, built, and crewed those ships might make of that combustibility. It also happens that one-person “space fighters” manage to find something to do among this general attrition for individual characters to stand out without having to rise to high command ranks or even distinguish themselves as staff officers.)
One thing I might say stayed constant throughout was the peculiar flavour to the prose, even if I was interested enough in this story’s conclusion to push through its final volume. Being translated seems to have something to do with that, but I can wonder just a bit if the omniscient narration contributes a little too. Reading this novel I did get to wondering what someone with a “conventional” written science fiction background would make of the novels and their story without the potential prop of “whatever ideas are in here did get carried over, without too much watering down, to a visual work.” Then, I happened to look back and see that thought had crossed my mind reading the first novel of the series. In any case, this final volume does touch on Reinhard’s oft-proclaimed “genius” requiring “ordinary people” to have given up on trying to make efforts to solve problems themselves, which begins to resemble thoughts of my own reading through the whole story.
There were “side story” episodes of the original anime showing scenes from the meteoric rises of its characters before the first episode proper, and I understand they were adapted from written works. I also understand, though, the “Haika Soru” label, associated with Viz, the translated novels were published under is shutting down, and can only count what blessings do exist this didn’t happen midway through the main story becoming available itself. My thought have turned a bit towards the new anime adaptation, with the follow-up to the mere three months’ worth of original episodes having become available this season. I’d heard it had first appeared as “movies,” but have been struck by how well they’ve been reformatted into regular episodes. This adaptation is still just getting through the second novel, but it is gaining a bit more solidity in my mind.