Gundam has been described as being to Japan what Star Trek is to the USA.
That would make Legend of Galactic Heroes (LOGH) like the Babylon 5 among anime! Word of this series is spread by showing at anime clubs, conventions and word of mouth by fans.
The break down is it's the story of the struggle between two empires and the two heroes at the center of it all, each fighting for their own reasons. On the Empire side there is Reinhard Von Lohengram, military ace and nexus point to bring about change within the Empire and do away with the corrupt nobles. On the side of the Free Planets there's Yang Wen-Li, who joined the military just to pay his tuition to be a historian. This makes him well versed in past military tactics and a genius in his own rights. Yang to wishes an end to the corruption in the so called democracy of his government.
The differences are the two characters approach, Lohengram wants more power to effect that change and Yang wants none. If you look at these two characters they want the same thing for their people, you think they could have been friends if the situations were different.
The series is epic in scope and legendary in it's execution. Making it one of the best anime series that hardly any one has ever seen. Which is why I liken it to the Babylon 5 of anime.
The series may never be brought to the US dubbed because of it's length, although the task of it would not be impossible seeing as the Urusei Yatsura fans have gotten the last DVD box set of that series. But with so many anime series now that are like a flavor of the month, a licensed release of LOGH seems like it will never happen.
8.4.2007 I have finally watched the last episode of this OVA series, and WOW! just doesn't seem to cover it.
