The series Legend Of The Galactic Heroes is one of the best-known soap operas in anime. It has some of the most interesting world-building and character designs, so to have it rebooted is no surprise. It is a timeless story about the fight for freedom and democracy and about the horrors of war, and how war seeps into more than just the military, but to the lives of civilians.
It has philosophical waxing and thought-provoking questions that are fit for even the casual viewer. The reboot takes this timeless story and helps reintroduce it to a new audience. But what does it do better and build upon? (And what does it do worse?)
10 Improves: Tight, Well Defined Plot
Due to the nature of the anime being only 24 episodes, there is a lot of fluff that it removes. The writers of this anime had decided to look for the most important parts of the novels and using them for the plot. This leaves us with a much more interesting plot. It doesn't need to dwell on moments of characters bickering between each other for humor. There is a lot less time wasted on explanations between the different admirals of each fleet and lets the animation tells the story for itself versus focusing on dialogue.
9 Worsens: The Strength Of The World And Characters
Because of the original's attention to the character design and relationships between the characters, the world feels a lot more lived in. A good example of this would be how the history of the Alliance and Empire is explained in the original verses in the reboot. The original dedicates two full episodes to the history of the galaxy, while the reboot summarises the entire history in two minutes. While this might seem like a small detail, it really does change the organic and natural exposition that the original has unfolds naturally.
8 Improves: More Interesting Fighting Scenes
The fights are just a lot more fun. In the original anime, the fight scenes are very limited, as well as being very slow-paced and often long-winded. While the opening fight of the Reboot lasted two episodes, it was split over 40 minutes. In the original, the fights would last a little bit longer and spliced into scenes of how all the characters (other than Yang and Reinhard) feel.
The fights are just also more visually gripping! They have a lot more color and motion, and the more fluid animation really does help give a visually appealing scene.
7 Worsens: Character Designs Are Boring
This is mostly seen in our main characters. Yang and Reinhard have very similar faces in the reboot. They look as if there's not too much variation in their features. The original had Yang with beautiful large eyes and a round face to show how kind and open-hearted he is, while Reinhard had sharper eyes and a sharper jaw to show how troubled and dark he was. This also extends to the supporting cast like Kircheis and Julian. They all have distinct faces and even uniforms which gives the characters more life.
6 Improves: Clear Morality
There was a lot more grey morality in the original anime. This is because of a different political climate these days. It is very clear that in this version of the anime, the people who are definitely evil are the Galactic Empire, and those who are good are the Free Planets Alliance. It allows for a lot less freedom of interpretation. While both series play with themes of fascism and democracy, there's a clear bias in the series for democracy. This is not great for many people who prefer a less involved story.
5 Worsens: Lacks Insight Into Interpersonal Relationships
Because of the streamlining of the reboot, a lot of the small character moments are cut out. There are a lot of tender moments between Reinhard and Kircheis or Julian and Yang which are just not there in the reboot. This is obviously to save on time, but it removes an element of depth to the reboot.
While on a surface level, we are able to understand how these characters interact with each other, it definitely removes some of the softer moments. There are also familial moments that are cut out to save on time.
4 Improves: Politics Are Explained Clearly
Following the previous point, what the reboot does better is explaining the politics. Because of the short length of the series, everything had to be concise. Often every few episodes they remind viewers of the battle strategies or the ranks of each of the characters. The original anime had a lot more guesswork, a viewer would have to be constantly on alert because characters often get named dropped only once or twice. It also goes over what each team or fleet is supposed to be doing a lot more often, and therefore it's easier to remember.
3 Worsens: It Does Not Balance The Alliance and The Empire
While it might be subtle, there is notable favoritism for The Empire in the reboot. There are many scenes that build the background for the Empire rather than the Alliance, and the Alliance seems to get second-hand treatments in the reboot. For example Yang, as an admiral, is not shown in the first episode of the reboot, he is not even hinted at, and many of his relationships are not actually built up properly, leaving them very shallow.
2 Improves: It Has The Better Opening
Compared to the old opening, the new opening 'Binary Star' is much more memorable. Hiroyuki Sawano knocks it out of the park with her performance, giving the theme song much-needed rawness and emotion. It is more dramatic and sets the tone for the anime.
This isn't to say that the original opening is bad in any way, but the original open is a little bit forgettable for a show that is as memorable as Legend Of The Galactic Heroes. It is a song that's perfect for a soap opera.
1 Worsens: It Deviates From The Novels
Both of the shows make some changes to the novels, but what the original does well is that it tries its hardest to not deviate from the novels. It is hard adapting almost seven novels to fit in the anime, but because of the choices that the original makes between the explanation of the politics and battleship strategies to embracing the relationships that different characters have it keep in line more with the novels, and allows itself to expand on the limiting novel format and grows the story naturally.