Legend of the Galactic Heroes

I really liked that we got to learn a little of Reinhard and Siegfried's back story. Because they were definitely coming off as a little cold to me before. Just part of the Big Evil Empire sort of thing. Definitely see Reinhard in a better light now that I know what his motivation is. Though I think I like Sieg better. He seems much more grounded/mature as opposed to Reinhard's rather childish attitude. His own sister said as much. Sieg's victory at the rebel base was very impressive.

I also agree with some of the former poster's that Yang seems rather aloof/apathetic about some of his responsibilities. But you also get the feeling that once it comes time to get down to serious business, he is someone that can be counted on. He reminds me of Shikamaru from Naruto a little bit in that respect. Lazy genius kind of deal. Anxious to see how his Trojan horse plan works out.

I liked this anime a lot so far. The battle between Reindhart's forces and Yang's forces was interesting and it was a nice way to introduce us to all the characters in the series (I'll have a hard time remembering the name of all of them though). At the moment I'm liking Yang more than Reindhart, despite I hate the rest of the allied forces, and the governor of Yang's homeland. I think the Secretary of Defense just wants to get rid of Yang (who clearly disagrees with him, or at least is what I think) by promoting and sending him to a suicidal mission.

Quote of episode 25: "Even if the whole universe were my enemy Kircheis would still be my friend." That says everything about their relationship.

It doesn't look like they're on the best of terms now. Reinhard looks to be getting leaning more on his evil side. As expected, Oberstein is a very smart and calculating man but it seems Reinhard finds it difficult to ignore some of his harsh advice. He should've explained the full story to Siegfried instead of shouldering all the blame. His first reaction was to save the 2 million people. Although he was tempted, he reserved the option not to go with Oberstein's plan 100%. Reinhard knows damned well that Siegfried's his best friend, and yet he didn't fully explain himself for what took place. Oberstein was at the center of this in an otherwise brilliant way, taking the necessary measures to ensure his plan would work by lying to Reinhard about the time of the nuclear strikes. Anyway 25 ended with one hell of a cliffhanger.

Well episode 26 is the end of the first season. It's amazing that all of those events happened in just one year's time. This show has just been top notch so far.

Best quote from 26 "Shadows must accompany their light. But if the light dims... Don't the shadows, too?" That's probably the best quote from the show so far. It really gets to the heart of Oberstein's character.

Damn why did Siegfried have to die now? Then on top of that Reinhard's sister decided to leave also. Siegfried was always like that little angel on Reinhard's right shoulder giving him good avice. Oberstein on the other hand has played the quintessential devil on the left shoulder role. When someone like Oberstein actually stops for a second to question a bad act, you know that you've crossed the line. Reinhard went way beyond that line with killing all of the chancellor's male relatives over the age of 11. I mean the guy was defeated just strip his family of everything they own and be done with it. Sieg's death and his sister's leaving are really bringing out something ugly in Reinhard. Interesting that Annerose was in love with Sieg.

I think that with Kierchies death, Reinhard would be able to attain success much faster. The total cost of his success might even be less, since he could then adopt actions which are might be morally unacceptable but utilitarian (think Westerland). However, on another level, we all know that something will always be lacking in an Empire without Sieg. Thinking about it now I think it was necessary for Sieg and Reinhard to be split up for the progression of the show. He brought a notable balance to Reinhard's personality, and it seemed logical that there would have to be a breaking there. I wasn't really expecting him to die though, until I saw the assassination plot developing. Prior to that I thought, perhaps, following the nuking incident he might choose to leave the service and disappear for a significant portion of the anime.

Hmm I noted a major lack of Oberstein in episode 27. He was always around Reinhard. Was he replaced in favor of Hildegard? I don't mind so much since I wanted to see Hildegard again but I also want to know if Oberstein is still around. He has to be because he's my favorite Imperial.

Interesting that Reinhard is going Napoleonic with his governing of the Empire. Toss titles of nobility, introduce enlightened reforms, win the hearts of the people, and all the while tighten your grip over your empire.

With Phezzan set to put its weight behind the Empire things don't look too good for Yang. If Truniht is still leading it'll probably get a whole lot worse. A war on two fronts won't be easy. I think Rubinsky is crazy if he thinks he can control Reinhard. He may have been able to manipulate the weak and corrupt nobility but Reinhard and his admirals are a different story. I think he is overestimating his abilities because things have been easy for him to control up until now. Rubinsky has been taking advantage of the general stagnation on both sides but Reinhard and to a lesser extent Yang have changed all of that. I don't think Phezzan is going to be as sucessful in their new plan as they would like. I also kind of like how Rubinsky is completely loyal to the Grand Clerk, the guy is so used to double dealing that he doesn't even stay loyal to the cult he's supposed to be a part of.

One odd thing: If Merkatz is now working for the alliance, why does he still wear his Imperial uniform.

It's nice to see that Jullian is really starting to grow up he had some very nice moments during the battle. Although I think more than anything the battle showed how powerful Yang's name has become. The imperials could have crushed the inexperiened fleet but they were afraid of Yang and it made them hesitate and fight defensively which turned what could have been a complete disaster into a mere border skirmish.

I still think something big is going to happen with Julian's character. There been a lot of focus put on him. I think he may end up either dying or switching sides. He's gonna end up doing something rather important, and I can think of anything bigger than him betraying the Alliance.

Also, the toilet joke was gold.

Aw man, I can't believe ]Seigfried died. Now I feel like I should have paid more attention to him. I did like the guy but I never thought he was going to die less than 1/4 of the way into the anime.

So Oberstein is still around. It looks like Hildegard is the new counterbalance to him. She doesn't have as much sway as Sieg did so it she'll probably have a harder time getting him to act responsibly. It's already apparent that Reinhard is acting much colder and more calculating than when Sieg was alive but there also seems to be a new level of cruelty that wasn't there before.

Something fishy looks like it's going on behind the scenes. When the admirals were discussing Reinhard's new adjutant their biggest shock was the fact that Oberstein is meekly accepting Commodore Streit taking the post. Even if his opinions are ignored, Oberstein has never been afraid to voice them. I'm getting a nagging suspicion that he may be plotting something. Well it is Oberstien so he is plotting something I just don't what it is yet. The real question is will the dog be an integral part of his scheme or is he really just taking care of it out of the goodness in his icy heart. It's interesting he would pick up a dog and actually bond with it. He may have buried his emotion and intentionally made himself inhumanly cold for a reason. Or maybe he just likes dogs.

Delving into Mittermeyer and Ruental's past provided an interesting look at what shaped the lives of both men. I liked watching their past a lot this episode. It looks like the second season is going to work on developing the secondary characters a little in each episode. I'd love to know more about Oberstein's past, we already know a little but there is probably more to it.

Although I wonder what all the backdoor politics that is going around will affect the future episodes. Phezzan is still doing its shady dealings and plannings. In this relatively peaceful time it looks like Phezzan is working even harder at it's plans to disrupt both the Empire and the Alliance. It looks like they have a complex multi-layered scheme going on here. It's apparent Earth doesn't trust Rubinsky at all. Not too surprising since it seems everyone is ready to stab each other in the back. I really want to know how much power Earth holds though. If all they are capable of is background manipulation I'll be a bit disappointed. Rubinsky's calculations concerning the balance of power never made any mention to them and I doubt he's including them with Phezzan in his numbers. With Phezzan backing the Empire it is imperative that Yang be dealt with in one way or the other. For now they've decided to pin him down with this military inquiry which they instigated by planting the thought of Yang setting himself up as a dictator. Interestingly enough Phezzan doesn't seem to be totally opposed to that actually happening. Phezzan can ruin the Alliance anytime they want if they actually do collect on those loans. The economic burden would collapse the economy and completely cripple the Alliance. The situation isn't so simple with the Empire Rubinsky needs to come up with different tactics there. I still think he's way underestimating both Reinhard and Yang, he's spent too long toying with corrupt officials on both sides that he doesn't see that these two are different. My guess is Rubinsky is going to end up intriguing himself into a tight corner. He might use proxies for everything but it's not that hard to trace these plots back to him. It's obvious that Phezzan is a major power though what they lack in military power they make up with their economic influence in both of the other countries. Power comes in many forms and Phezzan seems to have mastered the less obvious ones. Man can't an self-exiled Baron just have his harvest in peace without getting caught up in some Phezzan plot. It'll be interesting to see how Rubinsky plans to bring all of these different webs together.

Yang has always been great at being a battlefield commander so that side of the war has always been taken care of. How he can fare if set up with a political war on the other hand is unclear. I don't think he has the finesse of Reinhard to be able to successfully navigate both. He's still too laid back. Cazellnu's speech gives me the impression that the tables are turning and Julian is going to have to start seriously looking out for Yang. I'm not sure how much he can do other than physical protection though. He has zero political clout so he can't do anything in that arena to protect Yang. He's also just a Master Sergeant so he's got no serious military pull either.

Hildegard looks to have come to a conclusion in episode 30 that she won't sit idly by anymore. I'm hoping to see more of that headstrong resolve she exibited when she first showed up. How effective she'll be looks to be a toss up. It's good to know that Mecklinger is quite the talented individual

Things don't look too good with Yang away from Iserlohn. The warping of the fortress was rather ominous looking and I can see how shocking it would be for the Iserlohn garrison to see something like that suddenly pop up especially with Yang gone.

You know no one has mentioned anything about cloning technology but I wonder if it exists. I could see Reinhard trying to bring Sieg back that way. Oh well if this were Dune there the Bene Tleilax would already have several Sieg clones waiting in the wings. Well I'm just dreaming there but Sieg's death was just so sudden and shocking.

Before he got into the inquiry mess Yang still showcased his apparent clairvoyance by figuring out Phezzan has a hand somewhere in the hostilities, even though he has no proof of it. Is there any plot Miracle Yang can't deduce? I was a little surprised they didn't bring up Admiral Merkatz during the questioning, it seems like asking for Yang's reasoning behind accepting and trusting an Imperial Admiral would make for a good line of questioning especially considering that he also has the Rosenritters under his command as well. It's not that unusual to take in political exiles but to put them in positions of trust and power so quickly is kind of questionable. Still the inquiry is having the desired effect of getting Yang out of the way while the Empire's plan goes forward which is how Phazzan wanted it. I loved the part where Yang was saying "I'll quit" over and over and writing a letter of resignation. The overflow of frustration was obvious.

I take back what I posted before about his political skill. Yang is more than capable of handling the political side of things. He did an excellent job at maintaining his cool while getting Negroponty and the rest of the inquiry board flustered. His handling of the situation by answering their questions down to the last detail was good to see. Lt. Greenhill was no slouch either, never backing down exhausting all her options. Louis and her were very lucky getting saved from the PKC. It's obvious now that they are tied with the Earth Cult. Up until now everyone seems to think the Earthers are harmless pilgrims mostly but maybe this will get someone thinking about how deep their influence goes. If Louis mentions what he saw to Yang he should be able to put it together.

I love how Yang handled himself in that inquiry. He completely told those assholes off. It was also pretty funny when he got all worked up and ready to hand in his resignation when he got cut off and then they want to send him to fight. It's good to know that some people in that committee aren't on the same track as that fat bastard Negroponty. Yang brought up some interesting points about the nature of government in this episode especially when he was talking about political leaders exploiting war for their own personal gain while never having served in the military themselves. War has become a way of life for the alliance government and the leaders constantly find ways of justifying it. Negroponty even argues that war keeps a society from getting soft and sliding into decadence. The thing is the war has been going on for so long both sides have become complacent and are headed that way anyway. There might be some truth to what Negroponty said but it is always counterbalanced by the cost in human lives and suffering.

Yang could never retire. The people don't want him to retire. Fate doesn't want him to retire. He's stuck in the military for life. It just sucks that he's usually at a disadvantage though. Having a powerful enemy in front and politicians behind just overcomplicates things. Pulling off another miracle win this time looks like it will be his toughest challenge yet. Even if Iserlohn will be able to survive for 4 weeks until his arrival, they definitely won't be at full combat strength by then.

Even counting a couple of mistakes, the crew at Iserlohn did pretty good holding up so far. I see this is why they were saving Merkatz instead of killing him off. He proved quite useful in keeping things together. He was able to save the day with his quick thinking but I'm a little surprised he was given control of the fleet so easily, I guess this goes to show just how much Yang's subordinates trust him.

The Rosenritter get some action as well in this episode. I thought the short hover combat scene was kind of pretty in a very brutal way. I think these battle really showcased the improved animation of the second season.

Lastly Yang's thoughts on the merit's of dictatorship were very interesting and he pointed out the major flaw as well. Looking at Reinhard virtual dictatorship he is ruling for the people eliminating the corruption of the past and giving equality to the people. However there isn't going to be another Reinhard when he dies so his whoever takes over isn't going to be nearly as capable or even willing to maintain the changes so all of the reforms can be undone pretty quickly. If he were a different man I could see Yang trying to employ these ideals himself to get rid of the completely rotten democracy ruling the Alliance but that's just not who Yang is. I guess the main point of that is no form of government is inherently evil, it the people running them that makes them good or bad.

I think the quote pretty much gives away a bit too much when you consider the unsubtle spoiler tagging of the first sentences.

She also has a special connection with Siegfried so I wonder if him and Reinhard will end up in conflict over her. Both of them are still yet to properly mature into adults and I don't believe their friendship can be perfect forever. It promises a lot of interesting character development.

Funny how Reinhard and Yang thought the exact same plan of kamikaze fortresses to win the battle early on. Both of them really need to go toe-to-toe to see who'd come out on top. However Yang would definitely need reinforcements before that matchup could happen. Reinhard still has much more manpower at his disposal. It's good to see Merkatz has proven to be a worthy alley for the Alliance and Julian will probably be awesome later on. Yang's been kind of a lone warrior for awhile, unlike Reinhard. So it'll be nice to see Yang build up a "cabinet" of his own.

This fortress face-off has been the best battle of the show so far. Every single step taken was logical and there was no cartoonish villain hijinks, everyone was generally cooperating with their superiors in trying to win the conflict, and it was topped with great ideas and visuals. The things Yang mentioned regarding the Empire's options were on the mark and sadly for them, it was ineveitably Kempf's actions that brought on such a huge loss but really there were many variables that kept them from winning from assumptions to jumping to conclusions. Although I still love that first battle where Yang uses the Oroboros formation.

Genius seems to be contagious when it comes to Yang. Julian showed some promise with his strategy. Even Merkatz was impressed. That ought to earn him a nice promotion.

The Alliance representative to Phezzan is a complete fool. After getting tricked by Kessellink the first time, how is it he's once again swayed by the very same lies? I'd maybe understand if Kessellink tried to change his story and attack at a different angle but he went back to spewing the same 'Yang Administation' garbage. Well at the very least it will be much harder to pull Yang off the front lines again. I don't think any other politicians will want to have to grovel on their knees like Negroponty had to.

Reinhard better watch his back. He's been saying all along that even his subordinates are welcome to come at him and it looks like Reuental is seriously considering the proposition. Mittermeyer doesn't look like he'd go along so that may be a great strain on their friendship if it comes to pass.

At least Reinhard isn't so far gone that he doesn't remember the kind of advice Sieg used to give. Muller deserved to be pardoned, he really didn't do anything wrong. Oberstein was definitely disturbed by the pardon. At first he suspected Hildeguarde but she doesn't have that level of influence over Reinhard, so he must have realized Siegfried still has influence over Reinhard.

It was Kampher that made all of the fuck ups during that campaign. Reinhard knew Kampher was a moron he should have just told him to crash the fortresses into each other to begin with. I know he saw Kampher as a disposable asset but now he's out thousands of ship and a million soldier and the entire campaign was a complete waste.

Rubinsky is another one that better watch his back since the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. His son looks to be gunning for his position too. Interesting to know that Rubinsky is Kessling's father. While interesting, it sure adds to the unease in the two governments. Rubinsky should have his bases covered knowing what his son is capbable of, otherwise Phezzan will be looking at a new leader.

Perhaps Julian becoming a soldier will be a great boon for the alliance? As it stands they really need more capable officers. As long as he continually learns from the best he should be able to do fine. I get the feeling he is going to die though and then Yang is going to lose his shit and the blood is going to fly.

At least one thing remained constant. Mention any ill will towards Reinhard's sister and he goes into a blind rage. It's a good thing they're not planning on kidnapping her. Reinhard sounded like he was ready to invent new ways of torture for anybody who'd want to try.

Reinhard must know that dealing with the lower ranked Phezzan diplomat won't get him any binding concessions. He didn't seem to be completely opposed to the idea of the Kaiser being kidnapped though. It will be a dangerous path to travel if he can't guarantee the situation won't put him a compromising position.

Then again, if he could tie Phezzan to an attempted abduction plan that would be of great advantage to him. Phezzan has been meddling since the first episode. One serious misstep could give Reinhard all the reason he needs to just invade. The alliance is on dire straits so it wouldn't be in their best interest to seize the opportunity to strike at the Empire. Adding to that, after Kessellink's talk of debts owed to Phezzan it might actually not be all that bad if they aren't around to harass everyone. The only problem would be if Truniht would try to drum up support to interfere.

Seems to me like Phezzan's time is limited in having all this influence. Reinhard has taken notice and openly confronted the Phezzan diplomat about it. If Rubinsky makes a wrong move it will be the end for him. Although I wonder what Reinhard will do in this situation. On one had if he lets the abduction go according to plan and the exiled government is in the Alliance then he wins but if not then he loses. Phezzan is in a bit of a bind since Reinhard will only agree to the plan if they allow him to move threw their territory.

It was nice to see Annerose again. Sieg's death hit her hard and she feels directly responsible. It's a sad situation but I think it was a mistake on her part to leave Reinhard alone at this time. Maybe Hildeguard can gain some insight by staying with her for a while.

I'm surprised Hilda didn't raise much of a fuss and easily went along with Reinhard's plans. Was she even serious about her inner monologue about helping him in episdoe 35?

Oberstein may have said too much this time. Reinhard basically got him to agree that he wouldn't mind playing the pawn and having his blood spilled if necessary. I wonder if a situation like that will come up, and if he'll be willing to follow through on his promise. It looked like Reinhard was disgusted with Oberstein this episode so that raises the chances of that type of situation happening. Nice spit of disgust by Reinhard. Kind of shows the very different paths the two main protagonists of this tale have to take depending on their environments. Whereas one guy so far has managed to hold onto his morals, the other is wading in deep waters threatening to sink.

One potentially huge mistake by Reinhard: Ordering Oberstein to take out the money for the new Karser's father's debts before the abduction of the 7 year old Kaiser. If someone traces that money it could be trouble. Although I think that Reinhard could just put the blame on Oberstein for taking that money out as a way of showing that Oberstein was a conspiritor. It's too bad Kierchies is dead things would have been so different had he been alive.

Wow the Kaiser is a major brat. He acts like a wild animal. I take it they let him reign free and didn't bother teaching him at least some modicrum of decency?

It looks like Reinhard is going along with Phezzan's scheme to start a new war with the alliance but I can't imagine he hasn't planned further ahead. He already knows first hand the extent that their scheming will go. If he's successful against the alliance he'd need to find a way to deal with Phezzan before they turn on him. Reinhard has the Alliance in a bind now that he's got enough reason within the Empire to secure support from the people to fight. Well played, although he did get an Admiral involved and part of this would be credited to Oberstein.

The Alliance government is being so foolish here not even considering the possibility that Reinhard could use the Phezzan Corridor. They just assume he'll go to Isherlon and Yang will protect them. Although I guess the show wouldn't be any fun without the corrupt fools that make all of this possible. The Alliance government seemed all too eager to take in the "exiled" Kaiser, and took benefit in that they've gotten the support of the people. This exile government made by Count Remscheidt has dragged Merkatz into his agenda without his knowing. Hopefully, Merkatz will refuse such a position with no real power.

I'm starting to get a bad feeling. Yang's history lesson to Julian doesn't instill a lot of confidence in their cause. It sounded like he wasn't sure if they had merit in what they were fighting for. In a way he's right though. The fact remains that the alliance has allied itself with remnants of the dynasty that it has been fighting for over 150 years. He was y pointing out the facts to Julian by telling him that nation's are tools for people. I forget exactly what he said a couple episodes back, but it was something along the lines of, "leaders can be of two types, those that oppress for power, and those that allow personal freedoms. So, basically what I think he is saying is that Julian should not put blind faith in the righteousness of a nation but instead remember what is important to him and fight for that. Yang is just so objective he can place himself outside of the box, but at the end of the day like he says, he just wants society to last long enough to give him a pension.

An inordinate amount of time was spent on sending Julian off. From all the nostalgic past scenes to the many words of wisdom, it makes it seem his departure marks a major development. Since Yang believes the Empire may try invading via the Phezzan corridor, Julian's position there may prove the most vital.

Also Yang's speech on alcohol was great. It might have been the best moment of the episode.

Yang views mirror my own when it comes to the concept of 'nations' and the futility of feeling indebted to them through patriotism and nationalism. Or as Joseph Heller says in Catch-22: "What is a country? A country is a piece of land sourrounded on all sides by boundaries, usually unnatural."

I liked this set of episodes. I think it was necessary to give us a bit of backstory of Reindhart and Siegfried to make us know how they met, and learn more about their past. Also it looks like Siegfried has fallen in love with Annerose, but I think he'll keep it as a secret, or just try that this won't ruin his friendship with Reindhart.

And Yang's plan to take over the Fortress looks like it's going to work. Not only he forced the enemy to deploy all his troops, so they can't use the Thor's Hammer, he also has infiltrated the Rosenritters into the fortress. On top of that, the commanders of the fortress are arguing between each other, making that look like Yang is going to succed with his task.

Episode seven wasn't one of my favorites. I'm still loving Yang's attitude towards... everything, really. He seems like someone I would feel secure working with if I were in the show. I also like the final decision he made at the end of the episode, and it was pretty fun to watch his plan unfold. I think the main reason I didn't like this episode too much was, again, because I really didn't want to watch anime at the time.

I liked episode eight better. The quick History lesson does echo truths in our current lives and history. Again, I love seeing how close Siegfried and Reinhard are. I also really like Oberstein so far. Overall, I think I'm starting to like Reinhard's side of the story more than Yang's; not that I don't like his, too. This is going to get exciting~

Episode nine was my favorite of the three. I couldn't help but giggle at Reinhard's little tantrum at the beginning of the episode. It reminded me of my little brother last week when my mom took him to get a haircut. Sure, things didn't exactly turn out well for him when he went, but they could have been worst if he hadn't been there to move the crutch. I like how Siegfried was the one who figured out the plan, proving once again his worth despite being a secondary character.

So this must be one of those history lesson episodes. I actually found it quite informative being able to learn a few things like what it was like when each nation started and where the Alliance capital and Empire castle get their names from. More importantly it shows how history has begun to repeat itself. I do have to admit that I had a WTF moment when they showed the fat strippers though. By 2801AD all the hot women had died.

The one thing that bugged me is it said Rudolf the Great killed 4 billion people or 1.7% of the population in a purge. So the population at the time was around 250 billion people. When the population is added up in the present day it comes to less than 100 billion people. So that would mean the empire managed to execute half of humanity. That really creeped me out. Even though it wasn't said explicitly it does seem like there would have been a lot of ethnic cleansing going on as well. Rudolf did specifically promote all Germanic whites to positions of power and I don't think it would be out of character for him to promote Hitler like ideas of racial purity during his purges. It would help to explain why there is exactly one black guy in the entire cast. Let's just say it Rudolf was just a more successful version of Hitler. Hitler ultimate goal was to create an empire based on Germanic purity he even wanted it to have an anachronistic design much like the Galactic Empire ended up with. Oh fuck it Rudolf was future Hitler.

I also found it hilarious that Rudolf's only son was a 'congenital idiot'. A cheap but humorous form of revenge to placate us viewers, almost a 'what if' when thinking of Hitler too. The documentary's content was so full of depth, imagination and epic scope its practically an anime in its own right. Not only is it one of the best episodes of the OVA for its rich depiction of a future history, but because of how it changes the dynamic of the entire show, bombarding us with new facts and revelations of how these two systems of living came to be. As such, it is placed at episode 40 and not episode 1 with very good reason.

It's interesting to see that the Empire and Alliance have all but switched places as far as the Galactic opinion of "right" is concerned. And,as much as I hate that Reinhard has to sacrifice his allies and commit some rather underhanded tactics at times, maybe it's for the better?

By contrast, that documentary made it damn near impossible to ever consider sympathizing with Rudolf the Great. Killing people because they were sick, homeless, etc. Unfortunately I think they were suggesting this is where Reinhard is heading. Rudolf started out with the same kind of positive reforms that Reinhard has made but overtime he became increasing autocratic and began making more and more radical changes. Now what I'm not sure about is did Rudolf just go power mad or did he always have these ideals in his mind and just made the positive reforms to gain popular support. I don't see Reinhard following this path exactly but he is already showing signs of becoming increasing autocratic and I don't see it going anywhere good. A lot of this is to be blamed on Sieg's death and Oberstein's increased influence.

I like that the show doesn't endorse any one form of government. There is nothing inherently evil about any form of government it is the people that are corrupt. Now no doubt some forms of governments are more prone to corruption that others but that doesn't make them automatically evil. In fact if looking at history has taught me anything all forms of government are prone to decay over time and in fact there is a cyclical pattern to how the forms of government shift over time.

I was thinking that the alliance attack after Iserlohn was huge but Reinhard's plan is even more ambitious. 100 million personnel and 1 million ships. Does the alliance even have close to that many soldiers remaining?

Even if they have sufficient numbers the politicians are already shooting themselves in the foot. They may think they're preventing Yang from possibly trying a coup afterwards but by attempting to remove his best subordinates from the front line they're only making things worse. It's really depressing to watch because this always puts Yang at the disadvantage. You know this is where the government needs to show some balls if they are that afraid of Yang they need to recall him and do something with him. Rather than weakening a key strategic point and waffling on what to do about Yang. They're just fucking themselves with the way they operate. Of course I don't actually want them to do anything with Yang. I'm just saying they aren't dealing with what they see as a huge problem.

Reinhard's thoughts had a point. Yang has never been able to realize the true recognition of his services to the alliance. He's been lauded as a national hero on the surface but time and time again he's been used simply as a tool of the politicians. Thinking of making him a Governor in the new empire seems a bit of a stretch though. Yang has never shown such lofty ambitions as gaining high political power and he's even threatened to quit several times already.

Looking at Reuenthal these last couple of episodes have me thinking that his timer has started, and once that runs out, he'll end up doing something unprecedented. That's something I'll look forward to aside from Operation Ragnarok.

Merkatz is an interesting guy. When Fahrenheit asked him why he's fighting a losing battle, Merkatz says something to the effect that he sees no reason to go on without the nation (Gauldenbaum dynasty) that he has fought to defend for over 40 years of his life, and with its end he thinks his life as a soldier and his reason to live on is over. He advises Fahrenheit to not throw away his life because he is much younger.

Towards the end of the episode, when Merkatz's subordinate stops him from committing suicide, he says that he is too proud to submit to Reinhard, and he knows only shame from his defeat. It makes sense in a way, he still considers himself soldier of the empire, and Reinhard is an usurper he fought against to defend the Gauldenbaum dynasty. His subordinate persuades him to live so he can fight for another day. 'Defecting' to the Alliance is the only way to do that (technically its not defection to him since his allegiance is to the Kaiser, not Reinhard). It's kind of a complicated way of thinking on his part but I guess it makes sense in the end.

Sadly it looks like Julian's efforts to stir up dissent for an empire invasion of the Phezzan corridor won't work. He'll need to make contingency plans since it's already too late. I'm still looking to find out more about the Earth cult's structure and ability. Degsby gave the impression that the Grand Bishop isn't as easy a target as Kessellink may think. I enjoy that since making it onto Phezzan, Julian already stole the hearts of four girls. If anything, that should be considered a challenge to Oliver and Schenkopp.

Seeing Reinhard covering all his bases for this operation will certainly leave Yang in a bind, essentially trapping him at Isserlohn and now we have Reuenthal ready to get this party started. I'm going to enjoy seeing how this battle will play out.

Basically. If someone's wondering why the Empire's pretty exclusively white - not to mention Germanic - there you have it. The only Asian characters in the show - Murai, Yang, etc. - are also Alliance sided.

Rudolf the Great is someone who it's very hard to not consider despicable, so it's no mistake I think that Reinhard is somewhat distanced from him and the Goldenbaum dynasty. Reinhard did not create the Galactic Empire with all its anachronisms that were very costly in human lives, but he's only a product of it.

I do think that's a great episode, not just for trying to explain how we got Prussia in space with about as good an explanation as you could reasonably get, but it does give a sense of LOGH's scope, that the events we're watching now are only the latest events in the long saga of humanity's history among the stars.