8.8-9.1/10 idk the specific ranking and it’s not as big of a worry for me with overall shows compared to seasons but idk that’s the range. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a splendid political epic. Despite taking place on a far vaster scope than humanity, it definitely feels grounded in its portrayal of humanity, societies, and the flaws of different political ideologies and how that (among other things) leads to large scale conflicts. I’m not enough of a historian to claim that LotGH is realistic in portraying how wars and conflicts come about or how it reflects the human condition, but it at least feels that way and feels like it’s trying to be grounded in its portrayal despite the setting being nothing like our world. It’s a dense show that tackles a lot in its politics, worldbuilding, characterization, and pretty much everything. It’s very dialogue heavy and that dialogue almost always conveys a ton of relevant information. Fortunately I do think it’s generally done pretty well. All of the characters have their own unique voices and perspectives that help make the exposition feel more natural and the dialogue is usually very interesting. There definitely are some scenes and episodes where it does get boring and feels more like homework, but the overall success rate is really strong. The show itself has a really good quality ratio. Almost every episode is good or great with barely any mid or bad episodes in the ranks, which is crazy considering it’s 100+ episodes. Granted while there are a good deal of amazing episodes amongst the bunch, there aren’t many that I would really consider an all timer unfortunately. The side characters are good in this show (especially Mittenmeyer and Reuenthal) but the main draw of the show is the fucking fantastic lead characters in Reinhard and Yang. Yang is excellent and I love him so much. I love the character archetype of someone who just wants a simple life/has pretty basic goals, yet forces themselves to take up a position of great power in order to protect their ideals. Which is also a great foil to Reinhard, who began with his motives being mainly to protect his sister and Kircheis, yet when he loses them his ambition becomes for the sake of itself and to fill an endless pit of emptiness growing inside Reinhard without his loved ones, while Yang maintains his role in the alliance and later his own forces because people are depending on him and for the sake of what he believes is right. I love his ideology and his firm and unending allegiance towards democracy as a concept and the ability for the people to determine their own lives, even when he’s willing to reflect on differing viewpoints. I love his charisma, his fantastic dialogue, and his laid back attitude, and his little quirks, interests, and mannerisms, and just his general relaxed and reflective attitude making it feel like he has one foot out of reality and is almost looking at his own life as a spectator at times due to his lack of care. It’s so interesting and I assume that’s partially so he can disassociate with the difficult and bloody role he’s playing in life (we see in his final moments that the guilt over causing deaths in combat does weigh on him). My only minor critique for him is that I feel his overall ideological debates can get a tad repetitive. But that’s an incredibly minor thing that never really hindered my enjoyment of him. Yang is a top tier character and I wanna drink some coffee with brandy with him. Reinhard is also an amazing character. A heartbreaking showcase of ambition burning across as he conquers the universe yet at the same time subjugates them to a dictatorship. Which adds to a big ethical discussion of the series: is the best possible dictator/autocrat better than the most flawed democracy? Reinhard is not a bigot or even an elitist. He does care about his subjects and wants to give everyone a chance and not cause needless harm. He only shows disdain for people like snobby elitists who look down on and abuse the poor as well as soldiers for their war. Yet at the same time he is still a dictator. He is still causing countless deaths as a way to cement and maintain his rule. He is still forcing the universe into a situation where he has control over their lives in someway no matter what. No matter how much he cares and wants to do good is that really fair? The series does a lot with that contradiction in Reinhard where he cares about his morality yet is in a situation where he’s forced to make difficult decisions and it leads to him being the most morally complex character in the show with by far the most inner turmoil (not only in his morals but through some mental deterioration after losing his loved ones). Now on the ethical debate ground I don’t think it’s even a worthwhile thing to humor. Democracy no matter how flawed is always better than an autocracy, and even if Reinhard and the empire didn’t imply countless Nazi iconography I still wouldn’t think he’s a good person. I don’t think this debate being pretty clear to me is a flaw of the show, as the characters debates are still incredibly interesting and they don’t have to be on my ideological wavelength to make for phenomenal drama. But I do think the series is way too generous to Reinhard and the empire from a moral standpoint. No they aren’t all super evil monsters and in fact many of them are good people, but they’re on the clear wrong side of the conflict for me and it seems weird how many of their choices are framed by the story as honorable. In fact while Reinhard’s still fantastic, I would still consider him below Yang as a character and not a top 10 tv protagonist due to some of the ways they handled his character. I wouldn’t say this is a big all timer criticism at all but I do wish that they took Reinhard in a more villainous fall from grace light. Like I said I think they’re a bit more generous to him but I also figured after Kirechisis’ death his ambition would only grow while his morality wains, and that is still mostly true. But by the end of the show he basically has everything. A loving wife and son who he gets to meet before dying. His sister has returned and has a good relationship with him and his wife. He’s conquered pretty much all of known space and pretty much got his way with everything. And he never does anything worse than his actions in S1. Sure he dies young but that’s not necessarily a consequence of his own actions and more due to a disease. Which I actually do really like. I love how Reinhard seems like this infallible larger than life figure who controls the universe and always wins battles, yet it brought down by his own body failing. His own inability to preserve his own mortality. That is great, and I do interpret it as just an unfortunate case of him getting an incurable disease and not some thing of him growing sick cause he ran out of ambition or any “candle that burns twice as bright lasts half as long” nonsense. I see that as the characters trying to rationalize as sad untimely death of a beloved leader which is more interesting in the story to me. I just feel like he’s still given too much of a happy ending when I think narratively it would be better to have him be at a more tragic unfulfilled end like Yang. The only real benefit I think it serves is him supporting Hilda even if she does things that he’d ideologically disagree with is pretty powerful when he’s still on top of the universe. But I don’t think it’s an essential thing since Reinhard never seemed to care too much about what happens after he dies or about legacy given he never needed potential kids to be heirs nor did he want any statues. Overall he’s still an amazing character but I feel he’d be higher on my protagonist lost if his final arc challenged him more. He never even gets called out on his morality much after 4x3, which is too bad because that episode was probably the most compelling and complex he’d been in the season (and funny look at that lil guy proposing to Hilda like a teen asking his crush to prom it was so cute). Plus it felt like he was underused in S2. Still a phenomenal character this is just some direction changes that might’ve made him an all timer for me. Overall really great-amazing show. It’s definitely for people with more of a palette towards history and large political dramas with a lot of dialogue as opposed to an all age crowd. Fortunately I enjoy those things and if you do too I’d absolutely recommend this show. Seasons ranked: 4: Season 1 (8.1) 3: Season 2 (8.2) 2: Season 4 (9.0) 1: Season 3 (9.3) Top 10 characters: 10: Paul von Oberstein 9: Adrian Rubinsky 8: Siegfried Kircheis 7: Hildegard von Mariendorf 6: Walter von Schönkopf 5: Oskar von Reuenthal 4: Julian Mintz 3: Wolfgang Mittermeyer 2: Reinhard von Lohengramm (14th best protagonist as of now) 1: Yang Wen-li (8th best deuteragonist as of now) Top 5 dynamics: 5: Reinhard and Hilda 4: Reinhard and Yang (they only interact once yes it was absolutely peak and one of the best scenes in the series but a peak dynamics in a show as long as this needs more than just one interaction) 3: Reinhard and Seigfried (they definitely had something going on I swear) 2: Mittermeyer and Reuenthal 1: Yang and Julian Some of my favorite moments (not in order cause idk and I’m definitely forgetting some): Reinhard and Yang meet, Yangs death and final thoughts, Julian reacts to Yang’s death, Julian reachs Reinhard, Reinhard gets called out for the Westerlands in 4x3, ending scene with the Mittermeyer’s.