More of my random thoughts as I watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Beware even more galactic-sized spoilers ahead.

While Norio Wakamoto is best known today for his roles as the booming voice of God (The Emperor in Code Geass and the narrator in Hayate no Gokou) he actually has a staring role in LOGH as the brooding genius Reuental. The guy is pretty messed up to put it lightly. His mother tried to kill him as soon as he was born, because he was an illegitimate child, which has left him with a misogynist attitude towards women ever since. Reuental evolves a lot through this section as he gains more power, while also hinting that if the situation warrants it he may try to sieze the throne himself. I also think you can hear Norio Wakamoto evolve through his performance with Reuental, as he goes from rather subdued in the beginning to a more familiar voice of arrogant authority right now.

Ep.61 is the culmination of a series of events that saw Yang kidnapped by his own government as a scape goat. Of course Yang can’t be done in yet so his loyal followers have to come in and rescue him. Frederica is awesome here as she arrives in the nick of time to shoot Yang’s would-be executioner. Despite being a soldier I never really thought she could kill someone, but it really shows how much she loves Yang. The Rosenritter are also once again badass here, as they basically take on an entire army and win.

LOGH has a weird sense of humor. Pirate Attenborough is an example of that. I guess he’s dressed like that cause he has to steal a few ships, but it’s never even mentioned again. But it does really fit Attenborough’s personality.

When it comes to hand to hand fighting LOGH doesn’t pull any punches in showing the pure brutality of battle. The worse fighting in the show yet comes in ep.63 as the Empire raids the Terraist Cult’s compound. It’s insane as the cult members jump armored men with knives, blow up halls to crush everyone, trap people in rooms with themselves and release poison gas, and eventually blow the whole place up. Even the hardened soldiers remark on how absolutely insane all of this is. It’s another one of those oddly prescient moments in LOGH that makes you think it was hinting at the future even though it’s all based on events in the past, but the theme of LOGH is that history repeats itself.

I like how LOGH doesn’t leave plot threads hanging. If it says a certain element is going to come back you know it’s going to come back, even if it takes thirty episodes for it to happen. When Yang last abandoned Iserlohn he left a special surprise for the Empire, along with an actual surprise of timed bombs that he knew they would discover anyways. Well, when the battle to retake Iserlohn again comes around it turns out that the real surprise was a changed password that lets Yang’s fleet take control of Iserlohn from the outside. I’m glad to see a show with such foresight.

I love old men characters. They’re usually such honorable guys, and if they’re better than the protagonist you can count on them being old badasses too. LOGH also loves old men and one of the best is Alliance Admiral Bucock, who serves his country, despite its failures, to the very end. He goes into battle with Reinhard’s fleet knowing he will lose, but it’s enough to allow Yang some time to win. His final toast is epic as he says that Yang could be Reinhard’s friend but not his subordinate, and that democracy is making good friends on equal terms, not good subordinate relationships. I think that really strikes Reinhard, cause he has been without a friend since Kicheis’s death and you can see how that loneliness sometimes drives him to extreme decisions. Dying while drinking on an exploding ship is also one of the best ways to go in my opinion.

The epic three-part Battle of the Corridor really shows Yang at his best, as his vastly inferior fleet basically owns Reinhard. My only problem with it is Fischer’s death, another old badass. Fischer isn’t as smart as Yang but is acknowledged as the best at fleet maneuvers, and his death is a strong blow to Yang’s morale. But his death isn’t even shown, just mentioned after some harsh fighting. The guy wasn’t that important, but I liked him enough to want to see how he went out. And I had to laugh at the end of the battle, as everyone basically manages to only walk a few step into Iserlohn before collapsing. It’s funny to see all these great soldiers just laying in the middle of hallways fast asleep.

LOGH has the worst previews ever. Don’t watch them as they seriously spoil everything. The preview for ep.82 tells you straight out that Yang dies. I had read some things about ep.82 being really sad and had a vague idea that they might kill Yang off, but it seemed insane for a show defined by the antagonism between two characters to kill one of them off, but they do it. Yang is killed by more of those vile Terraist bastards. Blumehart is pretty badass trying to protect Yang, though, as I think he kills over fifty guys with just a handgun.

Julian also gets a chance to go berseker over everyone’s asses, so that helps somewhat. I have no idea how the show is going to maintain its tension without Yang to act as Reinhard’s foil, but this far in I’m not going to doubt that LOGH has more surprises to pull. Only 25 episodes left to go.