Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Intrigue

Episode 47

One point to consider as we come up on the end of this 'season' for LOGH DNT is how clean a break things will wrap on. After all, the previous part had something of an awkward stop, and Die Neue These hasn't been shy, especially in this section, about shuffling events around a bit for the sake of its pacing and storytelling. Either way, we will know in next week's potential finale. Still, what I can say about this episode is that as a presumptive penultimate climax, it is delivering the goods.

We're entirely away from Julian and this season's titular Intrigue, but much of that idea still powers it. Deception is still an essential through-line on this one, focusing as we do on Iserlohn Fortress and Alliance leadership's continued confidence that it's the Empire's only target and is completely uncapturable (even though they captured it not too long ago). But the actual name of the game this time is diversion. Reuenthal and his fleet are at Yang's doorstep, giving their all to draw any eyes away from Fezzan, forcing Yang to have no choice but to engage him on those same sorts of tricky terms.

This is great news for us since it results in a wonderful combination of LOGH's subterfuge storytelling with some of the more spectacular action elements we've seen in a while. Reuenthal reiterates the point to make this whole thing distractingly flashy, noting, "We need to make the most dramatic report possible," in an amusing reference to both the point of his mission and Kempff's famous communication failure back during the Fortress vs. Fortress arc. And Reuenthal may not be the lightning-fast actor that his BFF Mittermeyer is, but he's also not part of that dynamic duo for nothing. So he still shows off with maneuvers like just shooting every missile he's got at Thor's Hammer before Yang can have it fired! What follows is a procession of dynamically dropping dominos of strategies between Reuenthal and Yang, each feeling just a little bit more out there than what we're used to when opponents in LOGH are playing for keeps.

Die Neue These's now-established presentation helps dial up this style enough at the start, really committing to showing the disarray of the moving ships that Reuenthal forces into a melee. It feels like it's been a while since we saw anything like this in the series, delivering the kind of action that Julian was lamenting missing in last week's episode. But a mere battle of attrition doesn't make for effective calculated psy-op headlines, and even Reuenthal knows that since we catch him thinking the same thing we are: What will Yang do about this?

The answer is a little bit of everything. Yang's strategy winds up articulated as throwing out random, unprecedented attacks to throw off an opponent who's so used to engaging with how combat is 'supposed' to go. The culmination of this is a ship-ramming deployment of the Rosen Ritter and an honestly shocking turn even compared to the usual presentational shenanigans Die Neue These has gotten up to.

Reuenthal may be primed to think several steps ahead on Yang's possible strategies, but even he would be hard-pressed to expect Schönkopf to come busting into his bridge for a whole-ass sword fight! This is…a little different than how this showdown was presented back in the old LOGH OVA, and it may even be a bridge too far in terms of absurdity for some fans. I am not one of those fans. For one thing, this treatment tracks with the ostentatious points of all the other escalations in this battle: Both sides drawing each other into more densely dramatic moments of it. This is a scene in which Reuenthal admits he got carried away afterward. And the fight hardly even plays out 100% seriously, presented with all sorts of flying and spinning, as it becomes apparent both combatants are kind of enjoying this insane entry in what's supposed to be a tense tactical showdown. It is a dramatic diversion within a fight entirely composed of theatrical diversions, fitting with the highly particular tone of this episode apart from usual LOGH entries, immediately making for one of its most memorable. It's one of the most well-advised adjustments to handling this episode's content.

Yang's lamentation over Julian's absence is okay as far as effectiveness here, honing in on the point of his missing ward's tea-brewing abilities. But getting parts of that emotional articulation delivered via simple narration is less engaging, even if you aren't aware this version is missing out on Yang having a revelatory chat with his cat. Are those homier elements an even trade-off for the outlandish theatrics Die Neue These feels like it was made to present this week? That's going to vary by person, but for my part, I was all too happy to watch Reuenthal and those fighting him make a show of it.

Rating:

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Intrigue is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is a freewheeling Fresno-based freelancer with a love for anime and a shelf full of too many Transformers. He can be found spending way too much time on his Twitter, and irregularly updating his blog.