At the beginning of April 2018, the first season of "Encounters" of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes Die Neue these" was unveiled as a new Japanese anime. At this moment, it has been a full thirty years since the last animation of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" began to be screened. There is no doubt that as far as an "ip" is concerned, the time of one generation is enough to make it bear the mark of "nostalgia".
In fact, among the countless anime works in Japan, the appearance of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" is quite different. The sources of japanese anime are often manga adaptations. For example, "Saint Seiya", which has become the memory of China's post-80s generation, is derived from Masami Cheda's serial comic "Saint Seiya of the Goddess" in "Weekly Shonen Jump". Another highly recognized and long-standing anime, Detective Conan, is also adapted from the manga master Tsuyoshi Aoyama's serial in Shonen Sunday Manga magazine.
Although there is also a manga version of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the anime is fundamentally a long alternate historical novel of the same name directly from Yoshiki Tanaka. The book consists of 10 volumes, more than 2 million words, the story of the canon began in the "cosmic calendar" 796 (the first year of the cosmic calendar in the book is 2801 AD), before narrating the canon, Tanaka wrote a 20,000-word prologue to set the background, in the form of a chronicle, recounting the development and changes of human history in the more than 1500 years since 2129 AD, as well as the establishment and decline of the two opposing forces ——— the Galactic Empire and the Free Planet alliance. The novel spans a time frame of 1500 years, and there are more than 200 characters with a storyline before and after. At such a large length, the author controls the structure of the whole book very well, and most of the chapters can be independently composed, and can be formed into an organic whole with other chapters. The book was written for 6 years (1982-1987), but it is not easy to maintain the same level.
Stills from the first season of Die Neue these, Reinhardt
It is worth mentioning that, unlike the aura of the protagonists of some other alternate historical novels, Tanaka Yoshiki has a frightening nickname - "Tanaka who kills everyone", which refers to the fact that most of the main characters in this gong's works end in death, which is a major feature of Tanaka's works. There is always a tragic atmosphere in his works, "The Legend of the Galactic Heroes" has been serialized for 10 years, and there are many admirers, but Tanaka does not heed the reader's request and "kills" the central characters Reinhardt and Yang Willie. His later historians remind readers that "the laws of history cannot be changed" because truth is cruel, and the purpose of bringing a sense of reality into the reader's reading experience is also to bring a sense of reality into the reader's reading experience. His favorite thing is to coldly describe the earth-shattering events that are currently taking place in the tone of a later historian. The book was acclaimed and acclaimed, winning the Nebula Award for Feature-Length Works in Japan the year after its first publication in 1987; by 2005, the Japanese version of Legend of the Galactic Heroes had sold more than 15.12 million copies, equivalent to one for every eight Japanese.
Also in the second year after the publication of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the novel was adapted into an anime. On February 6, 1988, the theatrical version of "My Journey is the Sea of Stars" (60 minutes long), adapted from the novel 'The Man Who Crushed the Stars', became the earliest work in the animated series of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes".
The director of this animation, Ishiguro (1938-2012), created classic works such as "Time Fortress Macross Can Ever Remember Love" and "Astro Boy", and the portrayal of grand scenes has always been very good - this feature seems to be tailored for the grand epic of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". Beginning in December 1988, the animated version of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes, with Ishiguro as the general superintendent, was broadcast in six installments (110 episodes in the fourth episode of the main series and 52 episodes in two episodes), and continued to be broadcast until 12 years later, on July 21, 2000, making The Legend of the Galactic Heroes an unprecedented long-form animation. Among them, the plot of this biography is basically the same as that of the novel, and most of the lines are exactly the same. Some of the two episodes of the anime are based on the original or adapted original book, and some are original story and theatrical versions.
Stills from the first season of Die Neue these, Willy Young
Whether it is the novel of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", or the anime, or even the game on the personal computer, it was all the rage in China at the turn of the century, and even some of the political theories spoken by the anti-war Tanaka Yoshiki through the mouths of the novel characters have also been popular in various Chinese forums, such as "What I hate most is to hide myself in a safe place, and then praise war, emphasize patriotism, push others to the battlefield, and live a happy life in the rear" such flashing wisdom aphorisms.
But then again, it's the 21st century that's nearly a fifth of the way through. Since about ten years ago, the tide of "Legend of galactic heroes" on the Chinese network has gradually receded, whether it is the "Galactic Empire" or the "Free Planet Alliance", it is also an indisputable fact that the popularity of China's post-90s and post-00s is getting worse and worse. However, the phrase "My journey is a sea of stars" uttered by reinhardt von Rojkram, one of the protagonists of the novel, at the beginning of his conquest of the entire galaxy, may be an exception. The ambition contained in this sentence is really easy to ignite people's blood, but now people are excited, and they may not necessarily remember that the original source of this sentence comes from the "Legend of Galactic Heroes".
In this case, the emergence of die neue these is really long-awaited! As early as 2015, the Japanese animation company "Production i.g" announced that it would remake the animation of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". Three years after the fall, the legend of the Galactic Heroes die neue these, which is now available, is actually produced by "production i.g" and Shochiku Co., Ltd., one of Japan's five major film companies (the animation part is actually produced by "production i.g"). According to the current plan, the first season of "The Legend of the Galactic Heroes die neue these encounters" has a total of 12 episodes and will be broadcast in April 2018, while the second season of "The Legend of the Galactic Heroes die neue these Star Chaos" is ready to be released in theaters nationwide in 2019. A total of 12 episodes, divided into 3 episodes (3 chapters) released. With a total of 24 episodes, the Japanese anime market, which is fully market-oriented today, is already a bit risky. It should be known that the famous old "ip" heavy (continued) shooting after many years of intervals, the 2002-2003 "Saint Seiya Ova Pluto Zodiac" is only 13 episodes.
Thirty years later, what is the new Galaxy Heroes Die Neue these like? Although the production is not related to the animated version directed by Ishiguro in the 1980s, the new animation can still be compared with the old version.
The first episode of "Encounter" is also titled "In the Eternal Night" as the first episode of the old anime, which is undoubtedly a tribute to director Ishiguro's classic work. Needless to say, the progress of the past three decades is first reflected in the improvement of picture quality: wonderful cg special effects, cool battle screens with a sense of gundam and visual sense are eye-catching, and they can better reflect the grandeur of interstellar warfare and the technological sense of future space battleships. At the same time, the new version abandons the old version of the operatic beginning, and its pros and cons are that of the benevolent and the wise.
In addition to the audiovisual effects, the two versions of the animation also have some subtle changes in the plot setting. The new version of the animation opens with a timeline set back to about ten years ago, when the young Reinhardt was watching the scenery by the lake, just in time to see the scene of the fleet taking off, and little Reinhardt had a longing look... Then, as in the old version, the story goes straight to the point, starting with the first battle between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planetary Alliance (the "Battle of asti Star Domain"),, written in the Tale of the Galactic Heroes novel. As for the background of the story, the "Galactic Empire", "Free Planet Alliance" and "Fraser Free City" three forces can only be passed by with a few words of narration, the reason is naturally because Tanaka Yoshiki wrote the novel in a tone similar to that of later historians, with more narrative than character dialogue, interspersed with a large amount of background introduction, which is a great test for animation. So despite the thirty-year interval, the animators probably haven't come up with any better way, and they can only try to explain the story as clearly as possible through the form of narration - although it is not actually very clear, such as the origin of the "Galactic Empire", which still makes the audience who is not familiar with the original "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" feel confused.
Stills from the first season of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes die neue these
Overall, the new version of the animation is obviously more concise than the old version, although the duration of one episode is about 25 minutes, but the plot at the end of the first episode of "Encounters", "In the Eternal Night", has actually developed to nearly one-third of the second episode of the old "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" animation, "The Battle of Astate"- which means that there must be a choice in plot choices.
Some interesting but irrelevant details in the old animation naturally lost the opportunity to appear due to time constraints. For example, Yoshiki Tanaka's interesting imagination of future interstellar warfare in the novel is that "the dense cabin bed is about thirty centimeters full of thick brine in a closed tank made of light plastic, and the water temperature is maintained at 32 ° C." Lying inside, completely isolated from the outside world's colors, light and heat, and sound, it is quiet and comfortable. It is said that soaking in it for an hour can restore physical and mental fatigue, and the effect is equivalent to eight hours of deep sleep." This detail reflecting the future "black technology" is reflected in the old version of the animation through the picture and dialogue, but it is not impressive, so it is completely missing in the new version. Similarly, the old version mentions that the novel "with the development of electronic robot technology, until now, all the lives sent to the hands of military doctors have a 90% chance of survival" in the new version of "Encounters" is also lost.
More importantly, although "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" can be called a work of the dual main line of "Galactic Empire" and "Free Planet alliance", from the first episode of "Encounter", the producers obviously only chose the plot from the perspective of "Galactic Empire" or "Galactic Empire" level general Reinhard von Royankram, as for Brigadier General Yang Weili, the soul of the "Free Planetary Alliance" in the first episode of the old version of the animation, he only gave a full image of his back at the end of the new version of the cartoon. Although the classic action of Yang Willy wearing a hat in the old version of the animation is still retained, after all, it is not even on the wheel of "holding the pipa and half covering his face" in the new version... The advantage of this is nothing more than to make the rhythm of the plot more refined. At the same time, of course, the shortcomings are also obvious, for how Yang Weili, the first wise general of the "Free Planetary Alliance", came to the fore and implemented the command of reversing the situation, there is almost no explanation in the new version of the animation, and the first half of the "Battle of Asti Star Domain", which is comparable to the historical Battle of Salhu in the novel description, the wonderful example of concentrating forces to crack the enemy's "divide and attack" tactics also gives people a strong sense of "meeting and fighting, turning around, and then meeting and then making a U-turn". It shows that the limitation of the broadcast time still brings some regrets.
In any case, it's still too early to put a final conclusion on the legend of the Galactic Heroes die neue these encounters. Perhaps the most critically acclaimed in the first episode that has aired is the opening line: "Even if the story told here is similar to what you know, and the characters are familiar, it is all a historical accident or inevitability." This sentence is a pun (referring to both the "overhead history" of the original book and the old version of the animation from many years ago): thirty years later, the rare "encounter" with "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" on the screen is enough to make the nostalgic and dreamy feeling come out...