Legend of the Galactic Heroes Remake Is Just as Great as the Original

Summary:

• When the Legend of the Galactic Heroes remake was announced, fans were concerned.
• Initially, they thought the new adaptation would be rushed, but time proved them wrong.
• It's a great remake that attracted many new fans to the series.

While casual anime fans haven't heard much about the series, Legend of the Galactic Heroes (Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu) has always been praised by critics and more experienced otaku. The anime is an epic story of a conflict between two countries at war, two ideologies, represented by a duo of rival protagonists.

The anime still has a 9.02 score on MyAnimeList — an extremely high score for a series that's both unknown to the general audience and legally unavailable for streaming. When plans for a remake were initially announced, fans were worrying the remake was going to be far worse than the original.

However, it surprised viewers — in multiple ways.

Fans Had Concerns Over the Pacing

The original anime for Legend of the Galactic Heroes is 110 episodes long — and that's not even including the side stories, which make it even longer. That said, many fans consider that to actually be the perfect length for the anime, as the original novels are also incredibly long.

Of course, when the remake was announced, the first assumption was that it would rush through everything, which no one really wanted.

Surprisingly, despite being initially announced as only 12 episodes (or 4 movies, depending on how you watch it), the remake kept roughly the same pace as the original series. The remake, called Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, then received 3 more cours worth of sequels.

By now, there are 48 episodes of the remake — and they end where Episode 44 of the original ends. This means that the remake will be even longer than 110 episodes if it also covers the entirety of the main story.

It turns out that the remake is slightly slower than the original — to be fair, that's because the original occasionally skipped the OP and ED to incorporate more content into the episodes. Fans are decidedly happy with the pacing, and the actual content of the remake also didn't turn out to be bad.

The Remake Is Overall Great

The remake is faithful to both the novels and the original. At first, it was criticized for being a slightly watered-down version of the first anime, but later, it got its own distinct flair when it comes to direction. The art style change is more controversial — as usually happens with most art style changes — but by now, most fans are fine with it.

Ultimately, Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These is a great remake that captures the spirit of the original. It's quite different in its presentation, but still faithful to the story. The modern animation style is also a plus for new viewers, and, unlike the old anime, it's actually legally available to stream on Crunchyroll.