Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Waga Yuku wa Hoshi no Taikai

Four months before Count von Lohengramm of the Galactic Empire faced Yang Wen-li of the Free Planets Alliance at the Battle of Astarte, he was still just Reinhard von Müsel. The youngest admiral in the Empire's history, Reinhard was disdained and dismissed by his peers as the brother of the Kaiser's concubine.

Upon arriving at Iserlohn Fortress with his expeditionary fleet, Reinhard immediately receives an order from the ambitious and cunning Fleet Admiral Gregor von Mückenberger: to intercept an Alliance fleet in a neighboring starzone. Despite recognizing this as a veiled attempt to get him killed in combat, Reinhard nevertheless orders his tired and weary men to engage the enemy in the atmosphere of the gas giant Legnica. But unbeknownst to him, this will mark the first of his many historic encounters with the Hero of El Facil.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yang, Wen-li Main

Tomiyama, Kei Japanese

von Lohengramm, Reinhard Main

Horikawa, Ryo Japanese

Kircheis, Siegfried Main

Hironaka, Masashi Japanese

Attenborough, Dusty Main

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

von Reuenthal, Oskar Supporting

Wakamoto, Norio Japanese

von Oberstein, Paul Supporting

Shiozawa, Kaneto Japanese

Mittermeyer, Wolfgang Supporting

Mori, Katsuji Japanese

Poplan, Olivier Supporting

Furukawa, Toshio Japanese

Mecklinger, Ernest Supporting

Hashi, Takaya Japanese

Truniht, Job Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Ishiguro, Noboru Director

Aketagawa, Susumu Sound Director

Asaka, Morio Episode Director

Reviews

Sep 6, 2024

tonio64286

Recommended

While this movie is excellent in its own right, its greatest strength is how well it prepares viewers to watch the OVA. As someone who was on the fence about investing the time to watch all 110 episodes of the OVA, this movie sold me in a heartbeat. The title crawl and use of classical music skillfully sets the stage for our two protagonists, who waste no time in introducing themselves and illustrating their incomparable dynamic.

While the movie's plot points aren't strictly necessary for understanding the rest of the series, I can't tell anyone in good conscience to skip it. It's hard to put ... into words, but there's just something magical about it. Seriously, give this a watch if you haven't already. Granted, I highly recommend watching the 4K remaster, as it fixes a great deal of the movie's now-outdated animation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 20, 2023

Cayusashi

Recommended

Don't make the same mistake I did and begin Legend of the Galactic Heroes without watching this movie. This is the intended start of the franchise. It's essentially my own introduction to the series, so keep this perspective in mind as you read my review.

My Conquest is the Sea of Stars is the perfect start to Legends of the Galactic Heroes. When starting the TV show there are an overwhelming amount of characters thrown at you in a single episode. The movie helps by clarifying who some of the most important people are and the adversity they face within their respective militaries. Yang and Reinhard ... are set up as foils by being mentally on the same page and facing similar internal challenges. Both are up and coming commanders/admirals who face opposition to their promotion from the high brass; they prove themselves in the battles of this movie and learn each other's name by the end. The battles are entertaining enough but don't have the weight of other space operas like Star Wars. Both men's closest allies are given roles in this movie and demonstrate their own authority of command but the battles are what I cared about the least. The movie also prepares the social commentary obviously present in series. The corruption of the Galactic Empire and Democratic Planet's Alliance brings a level of political intrigue I can't wait to be explored. The film is mostly a prologue to the anime, so it doesn't add much depth besides introducing the characters and military powers of the universe; however, it's invaluable for a franchise of this magnitude.

The art and sound seem obviously inspired by other space operas which only adds to the joy of watching this movie. From the opening crawl to the design of certain rebel fighter pilots, Star Wars is all over it. I like the homage to the popular series, but Legend of the Galactic Heroes blazes its own path. Outside of the orange jumpsuits, the costume design is unremarkable. Both sides have similar black uniforms often making it difficult to remember who is on what side. The art style falls in line with other popular 80s anime which I personally am not a fan of. The characters look like a muddled mess without any distinct physical features besides their hair color. The designs of the ships were spectacular and the scope gave them Star Trek vibes. The soundtrack is where this movie and series really shines. Grand and classical, the music perfectly fits the epic nature. The composer chose the route of orchestral sounds primarily made up of strings. While I do prefer the large brassy sounds of Star Wars, Legend of the Galactic Heroes stands on its own as having a perfect score. The sound is subdued, not trying to be overdramatic and knock you out of your seat. The classiness of the score fits well with the European inspirations for the countries and feels like watching a high society political thriller. The art may be lacking, but the sound more than makes up for it.

I had fun with this movie. Luckily I wasn't too far into the show before learning about this, so I don't feel out of the loop and overwhelmed by the characters. The movie helps sort through the weeds and understand who and what is important for the beginning of the story. I look forward to seeing how Yang and Reinhard's stories collide. I recommend this movie for anyone attempting to start Legend of the Galactic Heroes or those who want to get into anime sci-fi epics.

Plot: 8/10
Characters: 7/10
Art: 7/10
Sound: 10/10
Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Overall: 7.9/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Aug 11, 2011

kekekeKaj

Mixed Feelings

"Legend of the Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars" is the prelude to the "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" main series. It focuses on the fateful first encounters on the battlfield between Yang Wenli and Reinhard von Lohengramm.

Lohengramm, with his vast ambitions and Yang the reluctant soldier form an interesting contrast. They're almost the polar opposite of each other, but in many ways they are similar. There's a sense that the two men are destined to become great rivals, and what makes the movie fascinating is the anticipation it creates for the future.

Yang and Lohengramm aren't the only characters seeded in this ... prelude who have future significance. If you come back to this after watching a portion of the series, you'll find plenty of other important characters lurking around, but most of them don't have much of a role to play, so it's unlikely that you'll have taken too much notice of them first time round.

As a movie from the 80's, it shows its age quite clearly. Everything about the movie less than polished. Yang's initial characterisation feels a little heavy handed. In their attempt to portray him as an easy going fellow, they went too far and ended up dehumanising him a little. His overly nonchalant demeanor means that he seems less than bothered by the loss of so many lives during one of the battles in the movie, and it feels like he barely regretted his lack of effort towards its prevention (being marked out only by a single casually delivered line).

Another gripe I have with this movie is how incompetently they abused the use of classical music. Normally, making classical music work with the scenes seem trivially easy - rarely do I come across instances where people messed it up, but this movie somehow managed it, and in a manner that's comparable to "Mars of Destruction" (I've probably just landed myself in hot water with the legions of LoGH fanboys with that line, but I stand by what I said :P). The makers' idea of good music production seem to be to start playing a long, random piece of classical music (presumably one favoured by the director) when a battle begins, then just leave it to run its course, giving themselves a self congratulative pat on the back for a job well done. This shockingly lazy approach only resulted in battle scenes that are jarringly devoid of tension and excitement, and a movie where the use of classical music comes off as awfully pretentious.

The battles themselves aren't bad. There are some strokes of genius to be found - the battle at that planet being one such example - but there are also parts that seem to be reliant on the somewhat far fetched stupidity of the opposing commanders, a fault that unfortunately extends and amplifies into the main series.

But as far as preludes go, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars" is a decent one. The movie may not be amazing, but it does promise far more interesting things are to come in the series it's preluding, which is its main purpose anyway.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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