Crunchyroll revealed their pickup of the new Legend of Galactic Heroes anime adaptation and that show kicked off earlier today on the streaming service. The finalized details hit overnight last night and the show is set with episodes going live on Tuesday’s at 9:00 am ET for their members. Availability for it is pretty good as it’s open to viewers in the USA, Canada, South Africa, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Central America, and South America.
The show is set to be directed by Shunsuke Tada based on the series composition by Noboru Takagi. Character designs are being handled by Youko Kikuchi, Iwao Teraoka, and Kei Tsushima with Takayuki Goto serving as the chief animation director for it at Production I.G.
The Japanese cast includes Mamoru Miyano as Reinhard von Lohengramm, Kenichi Suzumura as Wen-li Yang, Yuuichirou Umehara as Siegfried Kircheis, Junichi Suwabe as Paul von Oberstein, Daisuke Ono as Wolfgang Mittermeyer, Yuichi Nakamura as Oskar von Reuenthal, Yuki Kaji as Julian Mintz, Tokuyoshi Kawashima as Alex Cazellnu, Shinichiro Miki as Walter von Schenkopp, Aya Endo as Frederica Greenhill, and Yoshimitsu Shimoyama as the narrator,
Though there’s a lot of history with the original work, the potential for retelling the story in a more streamlined form with fresh animation holds a lot of appeal in exposing the property to new fans that may not care for the older designs or the sheer volume of animated material.
Hiroyuki Sawano is composing the opening theme song with “Binary Star” with Uru providing the vocals which you can sample here. The ending theme song is “Wish” as performed by ELISA.
Property Concept: Thousands of years later, humanity has advanced into space. Here it has divided into two countries with two different forms of government: the autocracy of the Galactic Empire, and the democracy of the Free Planets Alliance. These two countries have been at war for 150 years, which turned the galaxy into a stage for a never-ending series of conflicts.
As the long war continues, both countries fall into decline. The Galactic Empire suffers corruption among the noble classes, while the Free Planets Alliance falls victim to the mob rule of democracy. Then, near the end of the 8th age of the space calendar, the appearance of two geniuses will change history forever. The unstoppable genius, Reinhard von Lohengramm, and the unbeatable magician, Yang Wen-li. As heads of the Imperial and Alliance armies respectively, the two will face each other in battle over and over again.
