Military space opera updates

What sparked this post were the news of Legend of Galactic Heroes (Japan's most famous military space opera) "please publish novels" petition (go and sign it!). I though I might as well throw in some other updates.

Central Anime is releasing LoGH DVD version. You have to praise those guys for dedication, I believe the group is responsible for the first English subtitled, old-millennium VHS releases of the series, and this DVD sub is their fourth (I think) LOGH release. For those not in the know, LoGH has never been released in an English speaking country, as it is reputed to be "too long and with a plot too complex" for the Western audience. It has also been called Babylon 5 of anime... nuff said.

Check out LoGH youtube treats: season 1 opening, season 2 opening, season 3 opening, season 4 opening, season 1 ending, season 2 ending, season 3 ending, season 4 ending, , Gaiden season 1 opening, Gaiden season 2 (aka Spiral Labyrinth) opening, Gaiden ending 1, Gaiden ending 2, Gaiden ending 3, Gaiden ending 4

In the meantime, Japanese, happy in their own little world (and who can blame them? :), are releasing a new LoGH game. It looks pretty good. Mind you, the first minute of the three is made by scenes from anime, not the game itself (makes for a decent trailer for both, though).

For those of us who don't speak Japanese, there is a LoGH mod-in-works for Sins of a Solar Empire. Take a look at the mod, I think it looks impressive - I am just hoping it will avoid the fate of most projects out there and will actually get finished. Sins... is a good game, give demo a try.

Moving on. Honor Harrington series is finally, after a hiatus of several (4!) years, getting the long awaited and delays sequels. "The Shadow of Saganami 2", now under its new official name Storm from the Shadows, is available as an ARC ebook (printed release coming out in the next few months). As always, you can read a good part of the book as a "snippeted" preview at Dahak's site. And don't forget you can get the first few books in the series free (as ebooks) from Baen's Free Library! A sequel to Crown of the Slaves is planned for release after March 2009... let's hope.

On the subject of Honorverse, one of the nice discoveries I've made early this year, while looking for Honorverse addiction substitute, was the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell. Every book begins with few pages of a fleet report... need I say more? Large scale fleet actions abound.

Well, back to the news. Few weeks ago a new military space opera anime premiered: Tytania (trailer, opening, ending), based on books by the Yoshiki Tanaka, the same writer who created LoGH. There was a nice space battle in episode 5, although the next few episodes seem to concentrate more on space opera then on the military aspects. Still, a good series (I have seen 5 episodes so far and episode 6 promises a battle...).

Another new release from earlier this year was Macross Frontier (trailer, opening 2, ending 2, the series has so much music... go here for more). An interesting story of a well-armed convoy looking for a new planet to settle. Superb animation and music, and a decent story, if mecha heavy... in other words, all we have come to expect from Macross.

Finally, those are a bit old but deserve a honorable mention, because I was rewatching them recently: Starship Operators (English trailer, opening, ending), packed full of interesting tactical 1:1 spaceship battles. And never forget Crest/Banner of the Stars (Crest English trailer, Crest opening, Crest ending 1, Crest ending 2, Banner trailer, Banner opening, Banner II opening).

As a wise men once said, a perfect life consists of several things. Good music, beautiful women, and space battles in the background.

Singing off,