When I use the word epic, I don’t cheapen it like everyone else on the internet:
Epic wasn’t meant to be some watered-down internet catch phrase. First of all, epic can only describe stories/accounts/tales/legends/recollections/etc…. The following things aren’t stories and therefore cannot be epic:
- Maddox
- Soundtracks by Yuki Kajiura
- ShizNat fanart
Epic was meant to describe the rare confluence of quantity and quality, not just anything that doesn’t suck. To be Epic, a show must at least contain:
- Significant spatial scope
- Significant temporal scope
- Separable plots
- Consistently high quality (absolutely no bullshit filler)
- High stakes
Here are a few examples of shows that fall short of epic status:
- DBZ: Too much bullshit filler
- Naruto: Too much bullshit filler
- Bleach: Too much bullshit filler
- Kenshin: Too much bullshit filler
- Inu Yasha: Too much bullshit filler
- Death Note: Too short
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Too short
- Strawberry Panic: Too short (needs another season or two)
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Too short, no separable plots (only a few simultaneous subplots)
- Touch: Low stakes
- Monster: More of a saga than an epic
- Berserk: See Monster
- Tsubasa Chronicle: Not bad, but far from elite
Legend of the Galacted Heroes has it all:
| Well developed minor characters |  |
| Simultaneous subplots | |
| Simultaneous plots | |
| Unforeseeable plot twists | |
| Comical victimization | |
| Recurring random character(s) |  |
| Badass mid-episode transitions | |
| Soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura | |
| Catchy dance sequence | |
| Comically awkward dance sequence | |
| Themes of Hatred/Suffering/Revenge | |
| Lesbians | |
| Hilarious ambiguously gay dude | |
| A bad poet | |
| Stylish visual effects | |
| Dinosaurs | |
| Rivalry | |
| Graphic violence | |
| Character vaguely resembling myself | |
| Failed confessions | |
| Misunderstandings | |
| Mangled German | |
| Pimp in a White Suit | |
| Time Travel | |
| Woman who can’t cook | |
| Catch phrases | |
| Largest voice cast in anime history | |
| Guy who never says anything | |
| Self-parody | |
This show has over 100 named characters, all of whom kick ass. I’ve already profiled my hero, Yang Wenli. Then there’s this guy named Eisenach. He gets about three total minutes of screen time and never says anything. He snaps once for coffee and twice for alcohol. You don’t get quality characters like him anymore.
There’s a real man. Sideburns. Hair slicked back. No bullshit. Unlike modern anime characters, LoGH characters realized that bangs drooping over your eyes are a liability in battle. Even pretty boy Reinhard didn’t have bangs.
I could go on, but you get the message. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is probably the best anime I’ve ever seen. It’s unlicensed and fansubbed by Central-Fansubs, one of my favorite groups. Everything about this anime rules (except the graphics, but that’s because it’s old). Watch it.
“Originally the staff wanted this to be a TV series. However the novel was not well known at the time, the novel was long, and there were almost no TV anime series based on novels at the time so the TV planning division did not give LoGH the green light for TV broadcast. Thus, the staff made it into an OVA format. Only later, was it adapted into a TV format.” – Anime News Network
Hmmm, I wonder if I should take the time to see this. And yay for being first?
[…] her appreciation? By walking out on me! That’s it – I’m taking a nap. (Add the “epic banana peel slip” and broken glass for cliché […]
Two people who get it:
http://animanachronism.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/epic-scope-forensic-detail-the-legend-begins/
http://searchofno9.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/parsing-the-epic-%E2%80%93-an-analysis/
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Eisenach had a line of “check mate…” and several scene time.
In contrast, commander of Free Planet Alliance 3rd fleet Lefebvre. Only show up for about 15 second during a battle scene, and had *grasp* for line.
Overall, a good anime that broaden the views of the viewers.
[…] the character designs in Tytania are moéified with respect to their Legend of the Galactic Heroes counterparts. I praised LotGH for not having any male characters with hair drooping over their eyes […]
[…] sums it all up in his inimitable style: this anime is nothing if not an epic in the heroic […]
Hey Baka-Raptor, who is the character vaguely ressembling yourself?
I just started to watch the show because Tytania takes too much time to air (one Episode a Week, thats not enought)
[…] Turn A Gundam). This isn’t a knock on Gundam. I’m just attempting to illustrate that as epics go, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is efficient, and […]
[…] Legend of the Galactic Heroes […]
The best quote so far: “If it were a third-rate TV anime… But the world we live in is not such a convenient place. Lost lives will never return. Because of it, we live in a world where life is an irreplaceable existence”
ow ok… the complete quote: “If it were a third-rate TV anime a dead protagonist can come back fo life at the producers convenience.[Dragonball anyone?] But the world we live in is not such a convenient place. Lost lives will never return. Because of it, we live in a world where life is an irreplaceable existence”
[…] “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Epic” (To me, EPIC is just a four letter word, but so is LOGH and both are […]
has anyone found the books translated yet. Almost done with the main series. love it. want to own it.
[…] Related reading: Baka-Raptor’s “Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Epic” […]
[…] all the complaints about Shana II being too slow, Shana III had little choice but to try to be epic. Shana’s lack of “urusai urusai urusai” set the tone perhaps more than anything […]
I see where you are coming from but I greatly disagree that TTGL should not be considered an epic. IMO it is the perfect example of an epic, even if it is short. It details the lives of these characters who grow up, have children, fall in love, fight for survival…It details the rise of simon, who starts out as a puny boy who does nothing but dig tunnels underground all day to expand his underground village because humans are so oppressed they have to live underground… to a warrior savior so powerful if he had kept using his power he would destroy the whole universe.
IMO just because an anime is only 26 eps doesn’t mean you can’t consider it an epic. You can’t reserve the word epic only for sprawling, long stories such as LoGH. This is modern times, we aren’t only talking about novels anymore, so we have to think about how to apply the word epic to modern media such as anime, TV etc, and I think gurren lagann is a foremost example of a modern anime epic… We don’t get too many long over 100 episode series anymore now a days except for the ones like naruto etc which I agree are not epic because of the filler. So does this mean we will never have another epic again because we don’t get anymore 100+ episode shows? I don’t think so,