If you want to throw your beret in the air and have a toast to democracy, watching the anime is a great idea, but how about reading the novel as well?

As you may know, LotGH is best known for its lengthy plot that focuses on politics and war, as well as its intense focus on political philosophy, such as democratic theory, legitimacy of government, and theories involving various ideologies. The philosophy and the plot go closely hand in hand, with the latter demonstrating the importance of the former. The world-building is like an encyclopedia and the cast of characters is like a phone book. It is a big world out there, kind of like our own in many respects. Well, probably not the part with the unrealistic space battles and all that, but you get the idea. And it is not the clear-cut Good Republic vs Evil Empire situation that you often see in space operas. Instead, both sides are portrayed in a nuanced way and developed in a manner that overturns some of the Republic vs Empire clichés as the story goes on.

So you might be asking, "How is this different than the anime (or the animes)?" The main story in the OVA is almost entirely the same as in the novel, though there are some slight changes. Some scenes here and there were cut from the OVA, while a few were added from side stories or simply as anime originals. There are also lines of dialogue that were cut. For instance, some of the dialogue involving organized religion comes to mind. The newer Die Neue These is more loyal to the novel, but they still had to cut some of the narration for understandable reasons. The novel is the most comprehensive version and I feel that it conveys the intended substance in the most accurate way.

What I find impressive is that the author finished this massive space opera in 10 volumes, about 200 to 300 pages each. That was enough for the entire plot, with all its twists and developments, as well as all the introspection, philosophical debates, and infodumps. How did he do it? By focusing on the relevant parts. While the plot consists of a great number of different story threads that criss-cross the galaxy, it almost never meanders into filler territory. Practically everything is relevant to the main plot in some way. Also, while the infodumps contain all sorts of useful background info and interesting context for the events, they still go through it fairly quickly. There are a few moments of exposition that were unnecessary, but for the most part the novel focuses on the relevant facts and keeps it relatively brief. For instance, it does not dwell too long on the technobabble aspects of sci-fi technology.

The dialogue and narration flow smoothly and can be fairly eloquent sometimes. The novel tries to avoid the most obscure and archaic words, so it is entirely comprehensible. It isn't trying to be fully formal but not fully casual either. Sometimes it cracks jokes at the expense of authority figures and deeply-held philosophical beliefs, while sometimes it talks light-heartedly about the everyday lives of the characters. The latter still doesn't eat up too much of the pages though, and the plot can move on quickly. Well, sometimes the everyday events still manage to bring up philosophical points, so maybe it isn't quite so light-hearted.

By philosophy, I mean it in the sense of explicit analytical argumentation. When people talk about fiction or life in general, they sometimes throw the word "philosophy" around with various meanings that can refer to all sorts of things. Here I mean something that is closer to academic philosophy. It isn't quite the same as in academic papers, but it is surprisingly close as far as fiction goes. This makes a big difference because it allows the characters to be more precise in their arguments. I actually think that the main point that sets this novel apart the most is the philosophy. There are many political novels out there, but most of them do not try to argue so explicitly or try to take on topics as controversial as this. LotGH does not even try to restrain itself when it comes to the flaws of democracy, loyalty to the state, adherence to tradition, or organized religion. It goes in with guns blazing.

Of course, there are some problems. For instance, the space battles tactics can be unrealistic, as one might expect of a space opera. In fact, sometimes it can be a bit unclear what kinds of plans might work because we don't know all that much about some of the finer technical details. Consequently, some battle results may feel a bit arbitrary, and we end up wondering whether the winners deserve all the praise. But those are really standard problems with sci-fi space battles. In addition, some of the side characters only get limited characterization because there are only so many pages to go around. The Church of Terra gets the short end of the stick, as do some of the Imperial nobles in the first few volumes. As a result, some of them end up as somewhat generic villains. Oh, and I should probably mention that there are no illustrations aside from the front pages of the volumes, so don't expect any more of that.

The political philosophy and world-building are very legit though, and many of the characters are likeable enough to be invested in. The realism is not grounded in technology but in society and the people. Despite the space fleets and lasers, many of the political developments are eerily close to what we are experiencing today.