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(Joushou no tensai)
“An Indomitable Prodigy”
After this week I can confidently say any fears I had about LotGHs remake have been firmly squashed. This remake has its differences and some utterly aggravating nitpicks (seriously, what the hell did you do to Oberstein’s appearance?! It physically hurts), but the story thus far is paced perfectly and slimmed down just enough to retain everything which made the original so damn great. We are still in early days yet, but if LotGH can keep this up, the tasty morsels coming up soon are going to be glorious.
As teased last time the focus here once again turned to Reinhardt and answering the very important question of just what he is after. Reinhardt you see isnt some genius upstart out for fame (as the first two episodes may have suggested), hes a man with one goal in mind: rescue his sister from the Kaiser, and seize the Empire for himself while hes at it. The former is already an ambitious goal given who he’s up against, but the latter? Dreaming big at the best of times. Its part of LotGHs strength and fame, however, that such a lofty objective makes sense. As mentioned back in episode one, this show is not so much about the characters as what they seek and represent. They are, whether consciously or not, agents of upheaval bringing about changes no one in the current times ever thought possible. In this picture Reinhardt represents conscious upheaval; the Empire is decadent and stagnant, caught up in a spiral of wasteful corruption few in positions of power care to see because it doesnt negatively impact them. The common folk suffering from such pompous tyranny though? Willing to latch onto whatever saving grace will fall their way. Its a situation eerily relatable to our own earthly state of affairs (insert your MAGA meme of choice here), and one Reinhardt has at least some inkling about. To challenge the Kaiser he needs power and prestige, and to acquire both he must prove himself. In this world that means through war, the one place few of his noble status are willing to do. He proves himself like Napoleon, William the Conqueror, and Julius Caesar before him, and when the time comes for seizing power many will throw themselves at his feet for the opportunity to change their fortunes. Of course how Reinhardt sets up the ultimately betrayal is currently unknown, but as we shall see often the most shocking of moments can have the most unassuming of beginnings.
From this as well came some character and background information that will become quite important before too long. Siegfrieds role in this story for example was finally laid out, where he functions much like Reinhardts confidant and pillar of support. He may have been dragged along in a sense, but as was made very apparent, Siegfried is following Reinhardt as much for himself as for his friend: the kid after all is in love with Annerose. This is a noticeable change from the original, where Siegfrieds crush was left mostly ambiguous, but will bear a good deal of fruit later on once certain events happen. Simply put remember Anneroses remarks about Reinhardts maturity, thats going to factor in heavily when it comes to Reinhardt in the near future. Two other important name drops to consider were Oberstein (god his appearance still hurts) and Iserlohn, of which both are about to become very important in this little story. Iserlohn in particular is likely where we are heading next, as the return of Yang Wenli next week means its time for the FPA to consider its next move, and as we will soon see, its a move no one ever saw coming. Reinhardt may have the tactical brilliance, but Yang? Darling, hes a magician.
Random Tidbits
Part of what makes LotGH fun to analyze is its rich representation of kyklos, or the political cycle of governments. This concept, best represented by Polybius theory of anacyclosis, states no government system is permanent, that the slow accumulation of entrenched interests and corruption (termed repatrimonialization by Francis Fukuyama) eventually forces a societal switch as disenfranchised people rise up (either tamely at the ballot box or through bloodshed) against perceived abuse and lack of opportunity. The Galactic Federation was the first stage of this process in LotGH, with stagnation and a sense of hopelessness leading to the peoples saviour in Rudolph Goldenbaum, and from him a descent into tyranny and absolute monarchy. This in turn led some to break away to form the FPA and return back to democracy. Now, however, the past again repeats as the Empire finds itself where the Galactic Federation once stood, with the FPA (as will soon be shown) not that far behind.
Preview
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Yeah, Oberstein look is strange. He looks as somebody very tired (phisically or tired of the life, I cant say). Some things have been better explained, but other things have been worst. The two main ones were: how did Rudolf von Goldenbaum raised to power and the Law of the Inferor Genes Exclusion Act.
They explained rudolf’s rise to power better in the OVA, since this is slated only for 2 cour not sure they will touch the subject further. But the inferior genes exclusion act is just as it is though, If you’re born with some defects then you will be purged.Also in case you didn’t notice, everyone that has appeared in the galactic empire is caucasian, and have german names. They are explained in the OVA as well.
He looks like someone out of Attack of Titan…
Considering a huge amount of the history behind the Empire and its policies was only fleshed out halfway through the original—and over a span of an entire episode to boot—what we got here was pretty good IMO. It helped indicate where the Empire came from, why it’s fighting against the FPA, and why it looks like it does.More info is always welcome, but for those new to LotGH this info dump was more than sufficient.
In OVA, they literally spend a whole episode on rise of Goldenbaum Dynasty and why Federation entrusted so much power in Rudolf in the first place. That episode is also literally an infodump constructed as a historical presentation with historian talking heads, not unlike what you get from History channel. We will probably not get that, as it’s in season 2 of the OVA.
One of the best info dumps that I watched. It explained everything as Julian watching a History Lesson while traveling towards… (I forgot. ^^U)
I loved that episode as much for the presentation format as the information given, it was like crack for the history nerd lol. I doubt we will see something similar in this version though, beyond the few info dumps like the one this week the focus will almost certainly be restricted to the main story.
I am so in love with this adoption. I don’t think I can be happier with how much they stuffed into this episode. I love that they kept the line about how Sieg feels like he is getting dragged up with Reinhardt. So much depth to that line, so much conflict, but still he knows he will follow Reinhardt till the end because they have the best bromance in the universe.
Agreed completely, the way they’re treating Reinhardt’s and Siegfried’s relationship is fantastic, especially the small changes made to the way they interact. Siegfried in this one for example comes across as more mature, which will help make Reinhardt’s maturity and romanticism all the more noticeable once “certain events” transpire.
http://images.randomc.net/Ginga%20Eiyuu%20Densetsu/Ginga%20Eiyuu%20Densetsu%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2007.jpg- Alone this Screenshot reminds me of Xenogears PS1 the beginning of all on their Planet. As you see it in the Intro, and Gigantic Ship crashed onto the planet.. and this Screenshot trigger this memory.. Even if they made an controlled descendPerhaps i am to old
alsohttp://images.randomc.net/Ginga%20Eiyuu%20Densetsu/Ginga%20Eiyuu%20Densetsu%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2016.jpgThis Picture would be the wet dream of some german “herrenrasse”.. Please, i do not know this anime or manga, i just hope some “specific” Logo is not there
@WorldwidedeppWhat do you mean by a ‘specific LOGO’?In any case, Xenogears would have copy LOGH because the books started being published in the eighties.
From what I have seen in these past few episodes, they are sticking more to the novels than actually remaking the older OVA, so basically, i have nothing against it so far.As for Oberstein’s appearance, i believe it’s closer to the novel description of him.
Where could I read the novels?
You can get the novels through amazon, Vol 6 of 9 was just released
@kazerfoziDid they publish them in English? O_O
Yes. In English.
Thanks! I didn’t know. ^^U
it’s 10 novels though
I know. I bought the whole old anime, but I didnt read the books because they werent translated.
the novels are amazing and i’m sure you would love them 🙂
@amephemeralredAre there many differences with the OVAs?
i noticed few things are left out from the novels and added in the ONA adaptations. Not a bad thing, considering ONA had longer runtime. But there were changes that are noticeable ofc. I would provide an example but it is a spoiler so I’m not sure I should do it because this part may be actually be animated properly this time, but I doubt it. Not even 110 ONA was completely faithful to novels.
lol i mean OVA and i keep typing ONA.
@amephemeralredPlease, tell me. You can use the spoiler tag.
one of the examples (which should happen in next episode, but i somehow doubt it based on the title for it: After the battle of Astarte, there was a ceremony that was held for the fallen by Trunicht. In the novels, Yang went to the ceremony and then commented on why 1.500.000 people had to die – loud enough for people to hear him – “Cause the leaders’ operational command sucked” and people were shocked around him and someone even glared at him which he glared back too. And finally when it was over, everyone stood up but Yang remained seated and then:A jowly middle-aged officer shouted at Yang, Officer, why arent you standing?! He was wearing commodores insignia, same as Yang.Shifting his gaze, Yang quietly answered. This is a free country. I ought to be free to not stand up when I dont want to. Im just exercising that freedom.Well then, why dont you want to stand up?Exercising my freedom not to answer.Yang knew that was a smart-aleck response, even for him. Caselnes would have probably laughed and said, That was rather awkward, even as a show of resistance. Yang, however, had no enthusiasm for behaving like a grown-up here. He didnt want to stand up, he didnt want to clap his hands, and he didnt want to shout Hail the alliance! either. If not being moved by Trnichts speech was enough to merit criticism of his patriotism, what response could there be except, Whatever you say? The adults were never the ones to cry out that the emperor had no clothes; it was always a child.***This was really interesting part and they adapted it in OVA by making Yang sit out the ceremony at home and saying most of these things.(Except his sassy remarks were the reason for him (and Julian) being attacked at home later on by Patriotic Knight Corps.)Anyway, at the end of the meeting, Jessica did the same thing in OVA, except Yang was already there and took her away before anything could happen (in which in the OVA, he had to actually get there from home and still be there on time which was… a bit not so well done and instead security kicked her out.)
Thanks.
I think the intention of this one was to adopt the novels as is once again, just this time without a lot of the fat which the original had in places. As for appearances I think they’re using the manga as the basis, particularly for the likes of Reinhardt and Yang. Oberstein’s could very well be from the novel though, I’m too familiar with his shoulder-length hair to really remember/consider anything else 😛
So far they are following the novels all in all. Not sure about episode 4 because it’s titled Magician which would beskipping entire part before Iserlohn fortress battle “An officer who looked to be in is early thirties was standing in Kircheiss line of sight. He wore a captains insignia. He was a tall man, though not so tall as Kircheis, with pale-brown eyes, a sickly white complexion, and lots of early gray in his dark head of hair.”
What a great anime, three episodes and Im profound in love with it, you can already tell the epicness is yet to come, aside from reading the comments of course. Thank you for covering this amazing anime.
The best futuristic space battle political sociological and psicological anime.You have to check the old series too (At least the 110 episodes of the main part.)
ep 04:I think i stay with this Anime, the pacing is “calm” and what our MC said about Rudolf.. more his father.. Yes i agree, tooI join the “fan club” of this Anime