Back to NFMaster's Profile NFMaster's Profile

This review will be spoiler free and focus mostly on the political intricacies and ideological standoffs as well as the thematic core conceit of the show.

Legend of the Galactic heroes is an unparalleled journey through time and space, competently retelling the legendary journeys of our protagonists ReinhardOn and Yang Wenli in medias res. It's an epic of large scale and deeply interwoven and complex narrative strings that slowly come together as they unfold in an emotional and intellectual climax of unseen proportions in the medium. The morphology of smugness seen in the show is in reality quite political in its fragmentation, despite not seeming so. ... While the poetry of impressionism is philisophical in its sensibility, the show leaves it ambivalent and up to the viewer to decide. The shows structure enables the mobility of conservatism to be very nearly poetic in its blindness, making for great food for thought even after several rewatches. The show also goes out of its way to make the characters not too idealized, as shown with Reinhard, whose hypocrisy of clairvoyance is undeniably revolutionary in its ecology. Another aspect the show manages to juxtapose well is the nihilism of dual-sidedness being idyllic in its reciprocity, which might sound paradoxical, but upon further pondering isn't.

''The interdependence of reinforcement is hardly dogmatic in its simplicity.'' - Hanma Yujiro

While the show might seem visually dated, the character designs, nuances in movement and facial expressions and attention to detail make it an engrossing and highly addicting watch.

Enough for superficialities though, let's continue with the actual meat of the show. The conflict between the Imperialists and the Liberals is, overall, well handled. Both parties are presented in an equ al light, no sides taken and both moving within moral ambiguity. Especially interesting was how the show highlighted that the liberalism of obfuscation is rather asinine in its bureaucracy.

What intrigued me the most were the characters though, all with their own, emotionally resonant and more or less cathartic arc and characterization. The psychology of animosity is really quite socialistic in its polymorphism, which is conveyed brilliantly when looking at characters like Oberstein or Kircheis. How the shows integrates each character and their arcs into the overarching storyline is a huge feat worthy of respect (comparable to the likes of Bleach's Soul Society or Naruto's 4th Great Ninja War). Yang's arc tying into how the trendiness of economics is open-minded in its injustice, or Reuenthal being utilized to explore how the sociology of proliferation is in fact quite excessive in its cleverness simply blow me away the more I think about it.The codependency of nobility being doctrinal in its romanticism added to the show's exploration of class systems and societal hierarchies, adding an extra layer of depth. Reinhard's fluidity of lugubriousness being almost prosaic in its pride is an example of characterization and themes being intertwined to create a beautiful symphony of storytelling. ''The pride of reinforcement is trivial in its obfuscation'' is beautifully representative of this.

To adress a negative aspect of the show, I'd say that it's not an anime that is supposed to entertain while watching. I often found myself heavily consuming marijuana or distracting myself otherwise on my initial watch ( I watched the show 1 time). Still, when the twists and turns happen, the directing and emotional core do grip you and slowly but surely immerse you in this ficitonal future, whether you want to or not ( either that or the fans do ). Upon contemplating the show after completing it, I found the its dual-sidedness of proliferation to be asinine in its complexity - it's mindnumbing just how well packaged the show is and how concisely (other than what the episode count might suggest) it tells its story.

I hope this review has been helpful and informative. Also sorry for my lackluster english :)

Recommendations:
Hunter x Hunter - both complex and deep
Tekkon Kinkreet - they share the same medium
Grappler Baki (manga) - only thing to trancend LotGH's characterization and political intricacies
TerraForMars - Reinhard makes a cameo and assumes the identity of Hitler in this space-opera of a show

The saying ‘’A picture paints a thousand words’’ is truly exemplified by this manga. While the amount of dialogue in-series isn’t exactly low, the main character speaks rarely throughout the whole manga; yet that is its biggest feat. While manga, like anime, is a visual medium, most works don't utilize their visuals to full extent, only going as far as to present scenarios in a very bare-bones and basic manner. That's where Kokou no Hito shines, as it manages to tell the story solely through its astonishingly utilized visuals - be it the visualization of psychological struggle or metaphorical imagery that adds a symbolic layer ... to the scenarios that our protagonist faces.

I think it should first be mentioned that expecting a traditional sports manga when going into it is a mistake; the series is more akin to titles like Ping Pong, where the actual sport takes a backseat to the exploration of the cast. Yet Kokou no Hito is different in a way, since the whole manga focuses on Mori Buntarou’s mentality, and his alone. Our protagonist is shy by nature, and soon after transferring schools, he gets into mountain climbing - this is a rather traditional setup, but that’s not all there is to it.

Initially, Sakamoto Shinichi was responsible for the artwork whereas Yoshiro Nabeda was responsible for the writing - a fairly common constellation for serializations; but due to, at least to me, unknown circumstances, Yoshiro Nabeda left the project after volume 3, and Sakamoto Shinichi was now not only the illustrator, but the author as well. I believe this worked to the series’ benefit - the first two volumes were rather clichéd in their structure, but once Sakamoto Shinichi took over the writing, the series evolved; turning over from a traditional sports series to an atmospheric, introspective character study.

That’s where the visuals get important - while in most cases, characterization is done through dialogue and actions, Kokou no Hito does it through the art; since Mori fails to talk back to people due to his shyness, and is reluctant to talk in general, his personality and mindset are brought forward solely by metaphors. Instead of just blandly showing us his inability to reply, his thought process is visualized; to provide an example, in an instance where a character stubbornly demands Mori’s keys, Mori fails to deny the request and simply stands there, awestruck - yet what is actually shown to us is Mori pointing a remote at her trying to metaphorically “turn her off”, followed by him sitting on the floor writing possible replies on notes. This impressively conveys his struggle to find the right words and him wanting to escape the situation. And yet Mori, in reality, just stands there doing nothing. This was just one of numerous examples, and the series truly makes successful use of this technique. Kokou no Hito also utilizes its art to create a fitting atmosphere - be it landscape shots from the mountain-top to create a sense of irrelevance and scale or small moments like Mori breathing in fresh air and simply feeling alive. Although it is perfectly utilized, the atmosphere creates an issue within the series - since the writer changes, the tone of the series alternates rather abruptly; this causes the transition from volume 3 to 4 to be rather jarring, and can break the built up immersion in the previous volumes, although I personally am able to overlook that since once you get used to the new direction it takes, it becomes a way more captivating series.

The change in author also caused several subplots to be scrapped, and some characters that were planned to be relevant later on were treated very poorly by the plot; this feels especially odd considering the level of insight the series gives Mori and its thematic exploration, creating a stark contrast between the very well crafted and almost amateurishly written sides of the series. That does not mean the series goes downhill though, as it manages to create several compelling subplots and exciting twists - since this series is about mountain climbing, an inherently dangerous activity, there are bound to be fatalities, and the way the series portrays the cruel apathy of nature is truly chilling; people die on several occasions throughout the series, yet those deaths are not dramatized in the slightest, rather, they are presented to be natural events, which makes those moments even more haunting and depressing. This ties really well into the series’ theme of human irrelevance to nature, how small and meaningless we are in the grand scheme of things. The manga addresses this in an intriguing way, presenting the mountain and the act of climbing as both a strenuous and demanding, yet desirable and fulfilling thing; throughout his journey Mori faces many challenges and cruelties in the mountains, yet he never backs down, always chasing one peak after another - he doesn’t have any concrete reason, the only thing he knows is that it gives him a sense of liberty, being isolated from the humans he does not get along with.

The aforementioned ties profoundly into the series’ symbolism, most notably the meaning of the mountain and the rope. Whereas the mountain’s symbolic meaning is vague, the rope’s is pretty simple and straightforward - human connection. Once you link ropes with a climbing partner, your life lies in their hands and theirs in yours. If one falls, both die; severing the rope means severing your connection to another human, and that theme is poignantly presented in Kokou no Hito. The mountain’s meaning deserves more focus than I can give in this review.

A big criticism this series often receives is the underwhelming sidecast, especially in comparison to the phenomenally characterized protagonist; while this criticism isn’t necessarily wrong, I feel like it’s missing the point of Kokou no Hito - it’s an autobiographical work through and through, detailing the life journey of Mori Buntarou, so I do not see why a sidecast with more focus is necessary. I agree though that a few characters could have been handled with more care, especially Yumi and Miyamoto. What is often forgotten is that Kokou no Hito did have a few side characters that, while only having a short appearance in the series, were handled in an absolutely brilliant way, perfectly showcasing what the series can achieve in terms of atmosphere and thematic exploration.

Another aspect I want to address is the conclusion - Kokou no Hito has probably the most impressive final act I have witnessed in media; the narrative shifts completely, switching between the last climb and the memories and thoughts of our protagonist, giving it a very unchronological and confusing feel. Indeed, many people need a reread of the last two volumes to fully grasp what's presented, but this makes for one of the most absorbing and cathartic conclusions I have seen, being simultaneously inspirational and cathartic.

Yes, this series is flawed, but I truly believe that its positives more than overweigh its shortcomings; it’s insightful on a very personal level, detailing the life of a fully fleshed out and explored protagonist, while presenting themes that are relevant to all of us. Kokou no Hito is a journey, for the protagonist and the reader alike, and it’s a journey I would love to embark on time and time again. It fully absorbs you into the mountains, making your crave for fulfillment yourself, and that is the greatest feat a work of art can achieve.

Recommendations:
-Oyasumi Punpun for capturing the same emotional beats
-Neon Genesis Evangelion for an anime that is similarly structured in narrative and has a strikingly similar protagonist
-Ping Pong for another psychological/sports series that conveys similar thematics