During the war era, Japan that we know today was an Imperial Japan and was an authoritarian state. While it has been a full fledged democratic country since the Post war period, they have retained their constitutional monarchy. Throughout this anime, we have constantly seen the comparison between the democratic government and the absolute monarch.
Many years after the repetitive disasters on earth, a large majority of the humanity moved away from it and settled within the various parts of the galaxy. For 150 years, two mighty space powers have intermittently warred with each other: the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance. The Galactic Empire resembles the 19th century Prussia, which used to rule by the emperors, also known as Kaiser. The Free Planets Alliance represents the democratic country.
During the 1980s, the economic growth of Japan was at its peak. The standard of living grew drastically. The citizens enjoyed high real wages, low unemployment rates, excellent health care, above average consumption of goods and services. However, people became workaholic and other than their jobs, they took little interest in other things. Till date it is said that not many Japanese are interested in the politics and the voting percentage during the elections remain low. Even Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is a rare fiction from Japan, which primarily focuses on the world politics. The possible influence I could think of is that during the 80s, Japan saw 4 different Prime Ministers throughout the decades. There were variations. Even if we talk about the empire, the Showa era ended with Hirohito, starting the new Heisei era.
Huge debate was sparked around the world when the ex-nazi officer Kurt Waldheim was elected as the President of Austria from 1986 to 1992. The accusations of war crimes started flowing as soon as he started his campaign for the election. Similarly, it has been observed that Oskar Von Reuental was accused of disloyalty multiple times after his Kaiser appointed him as the Governor General. Oberstein's character too was disliked by the Kaiser's other subordinates for his methods or policies just as how Waldheim would be labelled as 'persona non grata'.
On multiple occasions, Mozart, Beethoven and other artists' themes were played in the background. The opening songs themselves give us the feeling of listening to the extended themes of the Oscar winning movie 'A sound of music'. The American movie was entirely shot in Salzburg, Austria.
In 1990, the Berlin Wall broke down and the East and the West Germany became one country 'Germany' again. The Galactic Empire setting is largely based on the pre war Prussian but even then on multiple occasions, the main characters of the Galactic Empire were pressing on the 'unification of the universe'. Also, for many decades, Germany kept using the currency Deutsche Mark, before it got replaced with the Euro. Similarly, the Galactic Empire uses the currency called 'Imperial Mark'.
USSR was on the verge to collapse, while China experienced the Tiananmen square protest. As a result, communism had a bad reputation. I am not sure if it was included in the novel version but during the last season, there was a scene in which we can see Attenborough telling Poplan that he wouldn't want the word 'Commune' to get attached with them. He didn't want them to become the graveyard for the democracy. Everything with the word 'Commune' has eventually 'collapsed'.
There is no creative liberty in this series. Despite being set in the distant future or most of the scenes taking place in the space or in the galaxy, there are no illogical weapons or supernatural elements. There is no exaggeration at all. Yoshiki had a clear intention of portraying only the human deeds(as per the historical evidences) and didn't opt to portray any cyborgs or the robots. Even though by the time, it becomes apparent that Yoshiki Tanaka prefers Yang Wenli over others when it comes to battle, his strategies were always realistic. He was not shown as someone with some sort of wizardry power(yes, he was called a magician but he wasn't a magician). So many battles take place in the series and none of them are hastily fabricated or having contrived plot twists. Moreover, even though the main characters rise through the ranks throughout the series, they were the products of their respective domestic situations.
The funny thing is whenever we see a complex character interested in poetry, the Galactic characters deride him/her for being a romantist.
In this series, we often see the main characters reacting strongly to certain things. In fact, Reinhard von Lohenngram was many a times an angry-young-man and quite a few times, we see him getting devastated and for most of the second half suffers from fever. In one scene, when Mecklinger passes a message to his opponents and pays respect to a deceased individual, Schenkopp was quick to label him and the Galactic Empire as 'sentimentalists'.
The anime doesn't try to be something it is not. Despite the frequent humour, the characters don't act cute unnecessarily. In short, there is no guilty pleasure or fan service.
Throughout this series, mostly from the side of Free Planet Alliance, we see some contemplation over the comparison between the monarchy and the democracy. Especially, Julian has wondered multiple times if democracy is what people choose, then should the Kaiser chosen by the people be considered as a part of democratic foundation. Yang Wenli has also questioned that which one is worse. The Empire, with a few nobles ruling the masses, is bad government. The Alliance, with a government chosen by the people, is badly governed. However, despite himself being the victim of the corruption of the democratic government, Yang Wenli strongly believes in the democratic institution. He did not even let military(or himself) have control over the system even when he/they had a chance. Bucock was even more sorted. Even if the ruler is kind, he strongly emphasis on preferring a kind friend over a kind servant or a kind master. Despite having seen the shortcomings of democracy, he strongly believes that if we have democratic principles on our lips, it is our (people's) responsibility to safeguard it.
Von Reuental from the Galactic Empire feels that the Usurpation is ten thousand times better than the inheritance. At least the usurper will toil for the sake of gaining power.
I was tricked into believing that Yoshiki through Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is preaching us Pacifism. He gave some of the best anti-war messages during the first season. Not only, we get to see the horrors of war, or its psychological effects on the soldiers but we also get to see how badly it affects even the day to day lives. However, despite these anti-war messages, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is more of a comment of political realism. Not only does it acknowledge that the eternal peace is unattainable (only a few decades of peace is possible), at times, we even witness, when exactly the war not only becomes inevitable but also a necessity. It has happened in the series that even a wise character would start a battle so as to justify their existence or strengthen their geo-political power. Even though Reinhard may not have necessarily started conflicts, he would at times wouldn't hesitate to show aggression or assertiveness on the basis of his own individualistic philosophy. However, despite this political realism, this series never shows us the theory, which realists argue all the time - The theory of balance of power. In this series, you won't see any sides equally powerful, one side will always be powerful whereas the other one will always be an underdog. We can assume that the theory of balance of power is not relevant ever since the humanity has migrated from the earth.
Since the planet earth is now left with few inhabitants, it has now occupied by or reduced to a cult organization called 'Terraists'. Just like in the real world, we do see politicians in Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu using the religious terrorism for their advantage and even though the 'Terraists' have some major role to play in the primary storyline, they have very little screentime and the characters don't consider them as major threats either. Perhaps, Yoshiki believes that the religious beliefs wouldn't last much in the distant future. Through Julian, he even subtly suggests that the fanaticism could be a tool to unite rest of the humanity.
I wouldn't hesitate to say this is one of the best anime I have ever watched. The message was loud and clear. In every era, the deeds of the humans remain the same. The Galactic Empire was totally based on the political system of the 18th century Prussia. Not just the names but the fates of some Kaisers were similar to that of the famous personalities of those time periods. Yoshiki argues that the history keeps repeating itself. In fact, the very reason why Yang Wenli was such a genius tactician was because he was an expert in history. His original dream was to become a historian. In the last few episodes, there is also an 'Alexander' reference and/or the ambition of conquering the universe. While Yoshiki cleverly and accurately put forward his thoughts, it is to be noticed that he wasn't always clear in predicting the distant future. This was especially seen when Schenkopp breaks into the Reuental's fleet and in order to open the door of the Reuental's cabin cabin, all he required to do was scan his fingers and the door opened automatically. Now, Reuental was a reputed Admiral, how it is convincing that any outsider would manage to open that door so easily. It must be either password protected or a person may have to register himself to acquire permission to visit the area. It was clear that Yoshiki didn't intend to focus much on the futurism. Even in the battle, much of the tension was felt when the Admirals or the Commanders formed their respective strategies. Not much tension lies in the action.
9 out of 10 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
