The epic anime series, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, has only recently become available in the U.S. Due to the series's recent availability, the series is not as well known with western anime fans as other long-running series. This means that there are many things about the franchise of which most fans in the U.S. are not aware.
This article will seek to rectify this situation by telling fans about things that are not commonly known facts about Legend of the Galactic Heroes. This article will bring up ten not well-known bits of trivia about Legends of the Galactic Heroes.
10 There's A Prequel Series
While the 110 episodes long Legend of Galactic Heroes OAV series is very well known by fans, there is a lesser-known prequel series produced by the creators of the original OAV series. That series is Legend of Galactic Heroes Gaiden, which was released as a 52 episode series running from 1998 to 2000.
Legend of Galactic Heroes Gaiden is an adaptation of several prequel novels. These novels focus on the military careers of Reinhard and Yang before the start of the series and events that were only mentioned in passing in the original novels.
9 The Series Has Several Video Games Adaptation
As a series that focuses on massive space battles and the strategy behind it, it would make sense for Legend Galactic Heroes to have a strategy video game based on it. There have been at least seven strategy games based on the anime series with the most recent one coming out in 2008.
The Legend of Galactic Heroes video game adaptions allow players to replicate battles from the series with either turn-based or real-time combat. These games also included battles based on alternative paths the series could have taken. Legend of Galactic Heroes also had several episodes receiving a full-on visual novel adaption.
8 The Series Has Two Different Manga's Adaptations
While Legend of Galatic Heroes's most well-known adaptation would be the 1988 to 1997 OAV series, it also has several manga adaptations. The first one ran from 1986 to 2000, predating the anime adaptation by two years. This manga adaptation has some noticeable influences over character designs seen in the OAV series.
More recently in 2015, the series received a new manga adaption from the creator of Houshin Engi. This adaptation is notable for several reasons. One is that it makes the first attempt at modernizing the series's character design. The other reason is that adaptation also tries to tie the prequel novels into the plotline of the original novels.
7 Iserholen Fortress's Unique Design Is Original To The Anime
Iseholen Fortress is a remarkable location, not just for its strategic importance, but also due to its unique design. The fortress' exterior is covered by a liquid-like metal that absorbed physical attacks and reflects laser-based attacks. This liquid metal covering results in the fortress appearing like a gigantic bubble floating in space.
This unique design is, however, original to the OAV series. In the original novels, Iserholen is described as having a solid metal exterior, making it look more like the Death Star than a bubble.
6 Die Neue These Is A New Adaptation Of The Novel, Not A Remake Of The Anime
The recent Die Neue These anime series is commonly referred to by those with a passing familiarity with Legend of the Galatic Heroes as a remake of the original OAV series. In truth, the series is a new anime adaptation of the novel series.
This can be seen by some characters in Die Neue These sporting radically different designs from the ones seen in the OAV series. The series also features radically different designs for the various spaceships seen in the series. Iserholen Fortress is even given a design closer to the novels' original description than the OAV series's more unique design.
5 There Are Anime Original Storylines
Another way that the OAV series differs from the novels that it features some original plotline of its own. While most of this plotline existed to provide a framing device for some of the expository bits of the original episode, like the novels' exposition on the rise of the Galactic Empire is provided through a documentary a character is watching.
The OAV series' first season noticeably added a bunch of original storylines that fleshed out things that were occurring in the background of the original novels. Some of these anime original plotlines noticeably provided a more personal look at events that were only portrayed at a larger scale in the original novels.
4 Reuthel's Mother's Manner of Death Was Retcon
The Legend of the Galactic Heroes OAV series ran for so long that there was a switch in the studio that produced its animation during the show's fourth season. This change in the animation studio might explain why there are some inconsistencies in how some events are portrayed in the first three seasons compared to the last one.
These inconsistencies lead to as least one in retcon. That retcon being how Oskar von Reuthel's mother died. When this event was shown in a flashback during the show's second season, she is shown having killed herself by drinking poison. When her suicide is shown during a flashback in the fourth season, she is shown having killed herself by overdosing on pills.
3 The Series's Backstory Is Extremely Fleshed Out
A noticeable element of Legend of the Galactic Heroes is that it's very concerned with history and how it repeats itself. This can be seen from characters talking about history to Yang Wen-li being a trained historian. One particular way that the series shows its interest in history is that its backstory is fleshed more than it is required.
This theme can also be seen in how detailed the backstory is given for why Earth is marginal in the series's current setting. Instead of just being given through a couple of bits of exposition about the topic. The series instead provides a summation of the fall of Earth in enough detail that a watcher could feel that the provided summary was for some unmade prequel series.
2 Fezzan's Wealth Is Explicitly The Result Of Their Lack Of A Space Fleet
Another neat bit of worldbuilding in Legend of Galactic Heroes is the reason why Dominion of Fezzan is one of the richest factions in the series. While on the surface, this wealth appeared to be the result of the faction using its neutrality to profit through trading with both the Galactic Empire and the Free Planet alliance. The truth is, however, more complicated than that.
The series cites that a major reason for Fezzan's wealth is a result of its neutrality leading to not having a standing space fleet. This ends up making Fezzan's wealthy by the simple fact that the Dominion is not required to maintain and build millions of spaceships to defend itself. This ends freeing up the nation's budget to be spent in ways to peacefully improve its economy.
1 There Are Aliens In the Series's Margins
Legend of Galactic Heroes is unique in that its one of the few sci-fi series to take place on a galactic scale with no alien races of note. Despite the lack of alien races playing a central role in the series and most of the planets seen in the series are shown to be occupied by animals and plants from the earth, there are aliens in the series margins.
Most of the implication of aliens existing in the series appears through details seen on the screen. Like when a flashback shows that were already plant-like life on Heinessen during its settlement by exiles from the Galactic Empire. More memorably, the first shot of the OAV series showed alien ruins on an unnamed world.