GINGA EIYUU DENSETSU: DIE NEUE THESE - SEIRAN

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionGinga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Kaikou
MANGA ActionGinga Eiyuu Densetsu
OVA DramaGinga Eiyuu Densetsu
ONA ActionGinga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Gekitotsu

REVIEWS

• 

  ChillLaChill

  75/100
  A retelling that's still trying to find its purpose

  Also considered the second season to Die Neue These, Legend of the Galactic Heroes Seiran 1 is overall a much better paced follow up to the 2018 remake. It's almost as if everything began to slow down for the better. I began to take in the plot and characters just a little more than before. As much as I enjoyed the first season's huge space battles, it was often overshadowed by heavy exposition and a hard-to-follow political plotline. For a newcomer to the series who hasn't read the books or watched the OVA (like myself), it was a bit of a bumpy ride getting to this point. After covering so much ground before, it's as if the director wanted to slow down to actually build up the story and plot.

  The first film, or second series, looks and feels much better in general. I'm getting a grasp for the world, and some of the characters involved with the politics. The narrator helps to put each scene into perspective by filling in the blanks when necessary. Die Neue These's double edge sword is that it feeds the viewer info for the sake of time. With every character card the shows up I try to recall their involvement with everything else. It can be really hard to keep track of everyone in the show outside Lohengramm or Oberstein; mostly based on appearances. I still have a hard time remembering key plot points or characters' names. A lot of the show boils down to reasons to care, and not reasons why I should care. I still am trying my best to find out why things are relevant. In most cases, the plot just holds my attention more than the characters. It's the cause-and-effect of the cast that's keeping me watching this show.

  Of course, there are still small nitpicks that carry over from the first season that are still present. I still think that the soundtrack is a hit or miss, and it all depends on how it's used within the scene. The series is supposed to pride itself on being an epic space opera, and yet I rarely hear it. Ironic because it has a killer opening and ending song by the legend Hiroyuki Sawano himself. Why is that level of musical awe missing here? Often the genericness brings down the level of connection I might have to the scene. Moments can do its damnedest to look cool, yet I get this shaking feeling that everything is just a cheaper version of what should be. The art style also takes me out of the moment (at times), though that's more something from the first season than anything. It's just hard to gauge it's seriousness as a space opera when everyone looks like they belong in Kuroko's Basket instead of this. I will admit that everyone looks attractive, but that's the last thing I want to be thinking about in a show about a galactic struggle. That being said I can see the real Production IG shining through here in certain characters, mainly the background ones. It's just a shame our main cast wasn't presented with that level of detail or finesse.

  Seiran 1 doesn't fall into anime trope territory all too much, even if the dialogue is a bit heavy-handed. Really it's the biggest fault is in its coherent presentation. I applaud an original and unique anime story, but the more I watch this show the more I think I could be watching the original OVA series instead. To enjoy this show fully, approach Die Neue These as an anime rather than high-brow entertainment. A majority of this movie is simply just planning and recovery. At this point I expect my new-found investment to have a much bigger payoff later on because I'm still salty about the first seasons dull "finale".

  Review taken from my Letterboxd

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• 

  ChillLaChill

  80/100
  Ramping up the tension, action and story

  Sieran 2 spares no expense at running forward with what's been given. The previous film (or four episodes) were all dedicated to the Empire's point of view. When I started this volume with the Alliance it began to put things into perspective, especially when it came to focusing on the conflict itself.

  I think by just putting all their effort into a 4 episode story arc worked. I realize it's a movie, but everything here worked better when it focused on one conflict at a time. I didn't get a bunch of swapping back and forth trying to understand everything on both sides. I began to get a feeling from the previous movie, despite some of my disdain for certain perspectives.

  As we swap places to the Alliance, I'm invested from the get-go. Once the coup d'etat starts I can begin to see Die Neu This shine. The previous episodes had me wondering, and now it has me waiting for the moment it all comes to fruition. The tension and setup is just leaps and bounds better. I finally get the show, and it's inner workings. The world begins to make a little more sense, and the conflict is so exciting to see on screen.

  That space battle has much more weight than the ones that happened previously. I feel like the direction and tone is overall better here. I got pretty excited as soon as the soldiers made their landing on the ship, and proceeded to have sword fights with each other. This kind of brutality and weightiness was missing from the previous season, and I enjoyed every minute of it here. Really the ship battles had me caring more about them now that there was some build-up from the previous film/episodes.

  If there was one misstep in this volume, it was a mismatched emotional scene involving Yang Wenli. In the scene prior to this, we had just witnessed a horrible massacre and the death of a familiar character. We jump back to Yang as he's seen coping, and as the camera pans up it shows him wearing sunglasses. I realize that it was representative of him not wanting to show the emotions, in fact, the narrator stated it specifically and gave reasons why. But I couldn't help but laugh at a scene that wasn't supposed to be funny. It's just something that didn't turn out well, at least for me, and I'm sure many others would feel the same way about it too. It is a novel-faithful scene apparently, though I think it could've been handled more tastefully. I just found the scene tonally inconsistent with what I should've felt.

  Seiran 2 is solid. It's not a masterpiece, but I think everything in terms of plot and characters are coming together much better. I'm really enjoying the series much more than before, and am starting to see some of the setups paid off. I'm looking forward to finishing the last movie in the trilogy.

  Review taken from my Letterboxd

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