Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999) (1999) — Story, Release Date, Rating

Synopsis:

This OVA series expands upon the narrative of *Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu*, offering glimpses into pivotal moments preceding the major galactic conflict. The stories follow key figures from both the Free Planets Alliance and the Galactic Empire, exploring their personal journeys amidst the backdrop of impending war. We see Yang Wen-li navigating political intrigue and uncovering hidden truths within the Alliance military. Meanwhile, Reinhard von Müsel and Siegfried Kircheis face challenges to their leadership and moral compass while serving the Empire. The series delves into themes of loyalty, duty, and the complexities of power dynamics in a rapidly escalating political climate. Each episode presents self-contained scenarios that illuminate the characters' development and foreshadow the larger war to come, providing a nuanced perspective on the forces shaping the galaxy.

Streaming Platforms:

HIDIVE

Episodes:

Episode 1: Spiral Labyrinth 1: Hero of El Facile (Aired: 12/24/1999)
Episode 2: Spiral Labyrinth 2: A New Hero (Aired: 12/24/1999)
Episode 3: Spiral Labyrinth 3: Profile of a Hero (Aired: 12/24/1999)
Episode 4: Spiral Labyrinth 4: Journeys Past (Aired: 12/24/1999)
Episode 5: Spiral Labyrinth 5: A Goddess' Favorite (The Second Tiamat Battle 1) (Aired: 01/28/2000)
... and 23 more episodes

Characters:

Kircheis, Siegfried (Main) - Voice Actors: Hironaka, Masashi
von Lohengramm, Reinhard (Main) - Voice Actors: Horikawa, Ryo
Yang, Wen-li (Main) - Voice Actors: Gouda, Hozumi
Ashbey, Bruce (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kazama, Morio
Attenborough, Dusty (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Inoue, Kazuhiko
Bertram, Hartmann (Supporting)
Bucock, Alexander (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Madono, Mitsuaki
Cazellnu, Alex (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yamada, Keaton
Cope, John Drinker (Supporting)
Costea, Barnaby (Supporting)
di Bertini, Vittorio (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Nomura, Kenji
Edwards, Jessica (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Koyama, Mami
Fang, Tchewling (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Sugou, Takayuki
Greenhill, Frederica (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kuwashima, Houko
Jasper, Frederick (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Fujiwara, Keiji
Kartenborn (Supporting)
Keit (Supporting)
Lap, Jean Robert (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Tanaka, Hideyuki
Lennenkampf, Helmut (Supporting)
Lutz, Cornelius (Supporting)
Murai (Supporting)
Narrator (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yara, Yuusaku
Patrichev, Fyodor (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Shioya, Kouzou
Presberg (Supporting)
Rosas, Miriam (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kakazu, Yumi
Rosas, Alfred (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Sagawa, Tetsurou
Sitolet, Sidney (Supporting)
von Bendling (Supporting)
von Grünewald, Annerose (Supporting)
von Herxheimer, Margareta (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Ootani, Ikue
von Keffenhiller, Christoph (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yajima, Masaaki
von Littenheim, Sabine (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Enomoto, Atsuko
von Westpfahle, Magdalena (Supporting)
Wahlen, August Samuel (Supporting)
Warwick, Wallace (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Koyama, Rikiya
Yang, Tai-long (Supporting)

Staff:

Kikukawa, Yukio (Producer)
Shimizu, Keizou (Director)
Aketagawa, Susumu (Sound Director)
Abe, Masashi (Episode Director, Storyboard)
Miyata, Ryou (Episode Director)
Noshitani, Mitsutaka (Episode Director)
Okajima, Kunitoshi (Episode Director)
Ueno, Fumihiro (Episode Director, Storyboard)
Takahashi, Natsuko (Script)
Ogura, Kei (Theme Song Composition, Theme Song Lyrics, Theme Song Performance)
Bruckner, Anton (Music)
Dezaki, Tetsu (Production Manager)
Dvořák, Antonín (Music)
Hinata, Masaki (Layout, Animation Director)
Ishida, Keiichi (Animation Director)
Kawata, Toshihiro (Director of Photography)
Kume, Kazunari (Original Character Design)
Mahler, Gustav (Music)
Masui, Ippei (Animation Director)
Miyake, Yuuichirou (Animation Director)
Ogiso, Shingo (In-Between Animation)
Schumann, Robert (Music)
Suzuki, Shinichi (Animation Director)
Tahara, Masatoshi (Series Composition, Planning)
Tanaka, Yoshiki (Original Creator)
Yamamoto, Keiko (Animation Director)
van Beethoven, Ludwig (Music)

Reviews:

User eyerok (Score: 8/10):
Spiral Labyrinth is the last release related to Legend of the Galactic heroes, and, like the first prequel gaiden series ('A hundred Billion Lights; Hundred Billion stars'), is made up of various story arcs that flesh out the background of the main characters and some supporting characters of the main series as well. These ‘side stories’ were conceived in both written and anime form after the main series, and they contain a significant amount of foreshadowing and allusions to future events and important characters from the main series that are only named or shown in passing. These references would likely not be appreciated by thosewho haven’t seen or don’t like the main series. Hence the two prequel series’ should be treated as exactly what they intend to be: A ‘side story’ collection, not unlike some of the ‘specials’ that get bundled with anime DVD’s these days. Except that there’s no filler here, and we get to witness stuff direct from the source material. For that reason, it is strongly recommended that these two prequel Series should be watched after the main series, and this review is aimed at those who have already seen the main series.nnJust like the first gaiden, Spiral labyrinth takes up a relaxed pace with a tone that is quite different from the main series’ tension filled drama. It doesn’t have the epic space fights or the massive story or character exposition of the main series. Instead, it presents the highlights of the past lives (mainly the military career) of the series’ main characters i.e Reinhard, Kircheies and Yang wenli. It is quite interesting to see what kind of (shitty) assignments (and misadventures) these future legends had to put up with when they were on the lower end of the military ladder. The lack of an overarching story would normally be worrisome; but the writer(s) takes good advantage of the story arc format, and the result is a commendable variety of stories which differ from each other in nature and theme, and helps keep things fresh.nnnSince the two prequel Gaidens were released from 1998-2000, the quality of animation is much better than in the main series. The colors are much stronger, the drawing more firm and overall the animation is more vivid. Like the main OVA, the series uses classical music and it fits perfectly well with the scenes. The infamous narrator is back again, except he doesn’t seem too keen on spoiling the story this time around (there’s not much to spoil anyway, as suspense level is much lower for the most part). The Seiyuu cast is the same, except for Kei Tomiyama, who did a perfect job as Yang wenli in the original 110 ep OVA. Due to his death by Pancreatic cancer in 1995, his role in the LOTGH franchise as Yang Wenli was taken over by Hozumi Gouda (hunter x hunter, D-gray man), who doesn’t sound as natural as Kei did in the role, but he makes for a perfect replacement. nnThe first…
User Galletita (Score: 8/10):
The fascinating Legend of the Galactic Heroes lore gets expanded upon in this first Gaiden, with five new arcs narrating events not only preceding the events of the main series but also showcasing the history of the conflict between the Free Planets Alliance and the Empire with an in universe historical war chronicle. This Gaiden is divided into five arcs: a long arc centered on Yang Wenli conducting historical research and giving insight on his early career and four shorter arcs dedicated to Reinhard and Kircheis and their meteroic rise upon ranks of the Galactic Empire. The Yang focused arc, named Spiral Labyrinth, is a creative narrativemaking use of Yang's deep interest in history in order to showcase an intricate murder conspiracy of a brilliant FPA admiral dating decades prior to the events of this series. The arc follows Yang's personal investigation while attending his military duties, interviewing veterans from both the FPA and Empire alike while slowly unraveling the life stories of admiral Bruce Ashbey and his talented peers. We get to know Yang better during this journey, while also encountering the familiar faces of his old friend and future allies. While Yang's character does not undergo much development during this series, his strong opinions and frequent introspections are as frequent as in the main series. Only giving a glimpse of Yang's talent as an strategist (a recollection of the events of the El Facil evacuation is in the series), Spiral Labyrinth manages to introduce him as a character, giving more basis to his ideals as seen on the main series.nnThe four arcs centered on Reinhard narrate some of his earliest assignments (The Mutineer and The Retrieval), a personal quarry (The Duelist) and one of his first missions as a Vice Admiral (The Third Tiamat Battle). Being on the shorter side, these fairly interesting stories show Reinhard's unmatched leadership skills even as a prodigious teen. While his talents are acknowledged, Reinhard's somehow volatile and prideful personality also comes to light, causing clashes with his older and incompetent superiors while gaining the trust and respect of talented younger personnel. Though no major events occur during these stories, some important developments prior to the main series also take place such as the first usage of directional Seffle particles and the first clash with a dangerous foe of Annerose. nnOn a technical aspect, due to this being the last animated work related to the OVA adaptation, the animation was almost completely made with early digital technology, making some of the character designs look slightly different from the traditional animated OVA. While the characters are expressive and retain their unique feature, the animation is definitely far more unpolished than the OVA and the other Gaiden series. With all of the wonderful original voice cast returning, Yang Wenli's second VA does a great job at emulating his paused speech and vocal quirks, a big improvement from his cameo in the other Gaiden series. On the sound and music aspect, the opening Story of Time…
User L01MK (Score: 5/10):
Both of these Gaiden series are basically just the author wanking himself off by having his ultra smart MCs repeatedly go up against and humiliate braindead troglodytes who are also evil and beat their wives and all want to kill him. It would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic. The only one that’s somewhat interesting is the Yang one and the “Retriever” story because there are parts of it that don’t follow this formula. All of the other ones are basically the exact same story told in different ways. This series also exemplifies that explaining everything in a story is not always a good idea. Whilewatching the regular series, one could imagine for himself what Yangs evacuation of El Facil looked like. Instead, this series explains how it happens and it makes Yang seem extremely irresponsible and unfit to be a commander by his escape plan relying on the enemy being total idiots and putting all the civilians in danger.nnThese series somewhat soured my opinion on the original OVA by repeating and thus highlighting the issues which were sometimes noticeable in it many, many times and for that reason alone I don’t recommend watching them.
... and 1 more reviews

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Related Anime/Manga:

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Waga Yuku wa Hoshi no Taikai (anime - Sequel)
Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (manga - Adaptation)
Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden: Ougon no Tsubasa (anime - Alternative Setting)
Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (anime - Alternative Setting)
Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (anime - Parent Story)

Genres: Action, Adult Cast, Drama, Military, Sci-Fi, Space
Themes: Adult Cast, Military, Space
Studios: K-Factory
Producers: Tokuma Japan, Tokuma Shoten, Wright Staff
Licensors: Sentai Filmworks
Rating: 8.06 / 10
Rank: #596
Popularity: #5078
Users Listed: 22,064
Users Scored: 8,083
NSFW: No
Last Updated: 03/18/2022
Aired: December 24, 1999 – July 21, 2000 (Fall)
Type: ova
Source: novel
Age Rating: R
Episodes: 28

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999)