One of the few truly holy grails of anime out there, Sentai Filmworks has announced that they’ve acquired the rights to Legend of Galactic Heroes. This sprawling 110 episode OVA series ran between 1988 and 1997 and had several spinoffs and other projects along the way. The acquisition of this release has been sought after by fans for many years and I’ve seen some of the crazy things that were requested of potential bidders years ago that just made it clear that this is a highly valuable property in Japan. So seeing it finally licensed is amazing. According to the panel, there are no details to be had here at the moment as everything is considered tentative at this point. It’s not clear at the moment what the acquisition entails in regards to what episodes, OVAs and side projects are included with the acquisition.
For fans of this franchise who, like me, were trading purple VHS tapes back in the day, this is simply mind numbing news.
Plot concept: For 150 years the galaxy has been locked in an interstellar war between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, fighting battles with thousands of spaceships and millions of soldiers on both sides. The crumbling Goldenbaum dynasty rules the Empire while the Alliance is an increasingly dysfunctional democratic state.
Two new commanders enter the stage: Imperial Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm and the FPA’s Yang Wen-Li. Reinhard is a talented minor aristocrat given a high station—and a powerful grudge—after the Kaiser took his older sister as a concubine. Wen-Li originally joined the military only to fund his university education, but has become a brilliant though reluctant leader. Each begins to attract a circle of similarly gifted soldiers, generals and thinkers around him, and in time the rivalry between these two very different men will shatter the existing stalemate. As they deal with superiors and subordinates, maneuver through personal and political problems, plot strategies and fight battles, both will bend the course of events to their will and, in turn, be tested and changed by the greatest war in human history!
Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a vast, sentimental and thoughtful military space opera. This 110-episode OVA is the central part of the franchise, and the other connected titles are supplements to it.