This whole franchise is a full head above the overrated Ginga, there are dozens of reasons for it scattered all around.
Main characters are better (Sorry, Yang).
Interstellar politics, casus belli and military operations are much more reasonable.
Space battles are fought with different types of weapons and ships and actual tactics, not only in 2D but also in 3D battlefields.
Admirals assess the situation with advisors and relay their orders trough officers like in an IRL chain-of-command, instead of shouting "advance", "retreat" and "fire".
Much deeper lore behind everything, including original FTL travel idea.
Way more powerful and interesting neo-Empire concept with an authentic space-born culture based on a genetic adaptation instead of repeating 19th century Europe in space.
Everything here is better than Ginga and should be rated as such.
This one is on par with hard sci-fi literature from Asimov, Clark, Heinlein and Herbert.
Explanation by spownsk on Sunday, 14.03.2010 19:35