We continue across the sea of stars, where Gee and Iro watch the seminal 1988-1997 Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA a few episodes at a time. Keep an eye out for this podcast between main installments of The GLORIO Chat as we work our way through the history books.
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Opening Song: Sea of Stars
Interlude Song: Fourth Battle of Tiamat (Bolero composed by Maurice Ravel)
Ending Song: Crossing the Bridge of Light (Orchestral Version)
Show Notes
This installment covers episodes:
- 87. Premonition of a Storm
- 88. On the Outer Fringe
- 89. Roses at the End of Summer
02:45 – Episode 87
04:20 – Wars are expensive
08:03 – Mittermeyer’s Past (Torturer Man)
14:15 – Reuenthal is dealing with Neue Land and Job Truniht
20:00 – Mittermeyer and Evangeline
24:30 – Episode 88
26:00 – The Yang Bench
28:20 – Dusty and Poplan
29:40 – Julian and Karin
32:00 – Historical Contingency
40:33 – Tangent: Alexander the Great / Philip of Macedon
43:37 – Make the Empire get a constitution!
46:35 – The Yang Wenli Papers
51:00 – Frederica
54:35 – Bad News
56:15 – Episode 89
1:05:15 – Hilda scores with the Kaiser
1:08:37 – The Morning After
1:10:23 – Shoujo Reinhard
1:16:55 – Working through it
1:22:20 – What about the assassin?
1:23:30 – Getting into Season 4
1:25:25 – Housekeeping
And don’t forget that Legend of the Galactic Heroes is available for streaming on HIDIVE!
The Glorio Blog 
My net has been spotty but I’ve been dying for you guys to get to these episodes so I can finally ask these questions.
Now that you’ve witnessed MOE Reinhard at full power who is cuter Yang or Reinhard?
Which wedding proposal was “better”? Yang or Reinhard?
Reinhard is certainly “hotter”, and being the conqueror of the known galaxy makes him a Troubled Bad Boy but I gotta stick with Yang on these. Frederica’s immediate reply about pooling their pensions together was just so perfect for the characters.
Just saying, if the immediate response to a marriage proposal is unbridled panic then maybe something’s gone sideways in the relationship.
It sucks that Silberberch’s new capital plan has been suspended but it always seemed to me too goldenbaum decadent rather than the step or two down Reinhard style.
I could not help but laugh when Reinhard’s underling literally tells him to be more decadent. This will definitely make it into future stories of how Reinhard was the greatest ruler in a thousand years.
I’ve always liked how low key and in the background the Reinhard and Kircheis meets Ruenthal and Mittermeyer backstory is.
You first get that mention way back in season 2 during the occupation of Phezzan where Mittermeyer executes those soldiers while his underlings gossip about his past and they mention his whole zero tolerance for criminal soldiers extends to the nobility.
Then there’s the Ruenthal trial where we get the flashback where they meet Ruenthal because Mittermeyer gets into trouble because of him executing a noble but we don’t know that yet since the scene just emphasizes Ruenthal and that he’s willing to overthrow the goldenbaums and that he cares for his best friend.
Then you get this episode and see a more complete telling of the event. You even get Flegel give you that blast from the past feel and they wrap it up by saying that’s the last significant event before the pilot episode.
When Mittermeyer and Eva walked to their home I thought that was it and one or both of them were getting killed by a bomb or something.
I do like Julian’s galaxy brain plan to get the Empire to adopt a constitution and how shocked they were at getting news of Job being back in former FPA lands. It’s interesting that Julian loved and admired Yang to the point he became a soldier with Yang as a model and now with Yang’s death, he’s decided to try his hand at organizing his writing.
Of the three this is definitely my favorite because it feels like an empire reenactment of the events. You start with the assassin bringing up Westerland and you get everyone having that shocked look also Lutz was apparently just there but didn’t say anything. It has the air of righteousness by the common man denied justice that no one can speak out against until Oberstein just straight up says 3 mil for 10 mil that’s a bargain beep boop. I like that the show just gives me examples of Oberstein being an unfeeling robot. Neither a bombing or the cries of a grieving man will cause any emotion and then to top it all off he immediately tells Reinhard to execute him. And in proper empire fashion Kesler says he be given the chance to commit “honorable” suicide. It’s just like those season one empire episodes all over again with crazy baronesses and drinking poison in a cushion.
Looking back an outside event would be the thing that would get the Reinhard and Hilda to bone. Left to themselves they are hopeless. Shout out to Hilda’s dad continually giving those little sighs every now and then when he sees SHOUJO Kaiser. Even the sun is perfectly bathing Reinhard in a golden light with his guard looking the other way for he cannot look upon such glory.
The episode ends with Reinhard shifting his residence to I think the previous goldenbaum embassy on phezzan. It’s the only reason I can think of why there’s an empire style mansion on Phezzan. That seems to be a good compromise with his vassals wanting some decadence and Reinhard not actually wanting to build a mcmansion. It’s a shame because maybe if he kept at it this would set the standard for future Emperor’s.
I think the Empire does have a free press but before the last episode Reinhard’s actions or inactions were not known. Kircheis only knew it because Steinmetz told him there was a rumor and pointed to the satellite that made it there but not a fleet. After this I think the best pr damage control action for Reinhard would be to keep silent and just let people speculate. The thing is Oberstein by moving in and declaring he was the one behind the idea would make most rumors be about Oberstein somehow stopping Reinhard from preventing westerland and be that mustache twirling evil vizier type. Even if that was true Reinhard was the boss and had final authority. If he really felt bad he should have at minimum sacked Oberstein then and there.
Also Reinhard being plagued by indecision with every thing Westerland related is the icing on the cake which is why I prefer that anime depicting him as being undecided and having the decision taken from him. We know how much his personality hates being on the backfoot and how much the nukes haunt him. Couple that with those events having the butterfly effect of fighting with Kircheis and depriving him of his gun leading to his death. Reinhard will forever associate Westerland with Kircheis’ death.