The release of Legend of Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These comes in the 30th anniversary year of the original movie and OVA series, as well as just over 35 years after the publication of the first novel. This series covers roughly the first 15 episodes that the OVA covered, with some details altered presumably to be more in line with the original novel series.
One advantage of this change in form is simply that each side gets more even screentime. The OVA episodes sometimes gave the bulk of the time and development to the Imperial characters, and it's good to see more of the origin stories of the Alliance characters. Another is that CG and modern production techniques—which are well-integrated and fluid here—make the battles feel greater in scale and more frantic due to CGI effects. Some of the mechanics are largely reinterpretations of the designs from the OVA blended with some increased flair, too, which is quite nice.
The downside of a modern, 12-episode format is that, despite the time to tell the story only being reduced by 20% that the pacing is rather dodgy. These episodes really don't feel as if they breathe as well as those in the OVA, and certain details and events don't have quite the gravity that they did there. Also, the dialogue suffers from very stiff, matter-of-fact translations at points, so I don't get as much of a sense of charisma from these characters.
Also, the incidental music is pretty generic synth-orchestral stuff now, which dampens the sense of atmosphere that the old series had.
The character designs also are crisp if a bit generic but, as an aside, I think it's interesting that the more temperate Fahrenheit gets a more defined design, while each side's consummate womanizers, Reuenthal and Schoenkopf, are now bishounen, probably reflecting differences in the way male characters are portrayed in the past 30 years.
Despite these complaints, though, I liked the show, and Tanaka's story still shines through this retelling. I have a feeling that both my own aging and a more arc-based American TV landscape probably also play a hand in me not heaping the same effusive praise on this adaptation that I heaped on the OVAs years ago. With all that said, though, I'd recommend this series to new fans who want to get into the franchise; it's a good story and its presentation alone makes it that much more accessible.
Legend of Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These series 1
The release of Legend of Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These comes in the 30th anniversary year of the original movie and OVA series, as well as just over 35 years after the publication of the first novel. This series covers roughly the first 15 episodes that the OVA covered, with some details altered presumably to be more in line with the original novel series.
One advantage of this change in form is simply that each side gets more even screentime. The OVA episodes sometimes gave the bulk of the time and development to the Imperial characters, and it's good to see more of the origin stories of the Alliance characters. Another is that CG and modern production techniques—which are well-integrated and fluid here—make the battles feel greater in scale and more frantic due to CGI effects. Some of the mechanics are largely reinterpretations of the designs from the OVA blended with some increased flair, too, which is quite nice.
The downside of a modern, 12-episode format is that, despite the time to tell the story only being reduced by 20% that the pacing is rather dodgy. These episodes really don't feel as if they breathe as well as those in the OVA, and certain details and events don't have quite the gravity that they did there. Also, the dialogue suffers from very stiff, matter-of-fact translations at points, so I don't get as much of a sense of charisma from these characters. Also, the incidental music is pretty generic synth-orchestral stuff now, which dampens the sense of atmosphere that the old series had.
The character designs also are crisp if a bit generic but, as an aside, I think it's interesting that the more temperate Fahrenheit gets a more defined design, while each side's consummate womanizers, Reuenthal and Schoenkopf, are now bishounen, probably reflecting differences in the way male characters are portrayed in the past 30 years.
Despite these complaints, though, I liked the show, and Tanaka's story still shines through this retelling. I have a feeling that both my own aging and a more arc-based American TV landscape probably also play a hand in me not heaping the same effusive praise on this adaptation that I heaped on the OVAs years ago. With all that said, though, I'd recommend this series to new fans who want to get into the franchise; it's a good story and its presentation alone makes it that much more accessible.