New ‘Legends of the Galactic Heroes’ Anime Reveals Key Visual

The Legend of the Galactic Heroes was one of the major science fiction anime series of the late 1980s and 1990s, and an even longer running novel series, and now the series is set to come back as a new anime project.

The series is set to continue as The Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The New Thesis, and is soon set to premiere in Japan as part of the Spring 2018 season. The series has released a new key visual to celebrate the situation.

The official website for the series describes the first episode, premiering April 3 in Japan, as such:

“In the Eternal Night”
“In the beginning of U.C. (Universal Calendar) 796 or R.C. (Reichs Calendar) 487, Admiral Reinhard leads an Imperial fleet of 20,000 ships through the Iserlohn Corridor to launch an offensive against the Free Planets Alliance. In response, the Alliance is in the process of assembling a fleet that, when combined, will have about double the numbers of the Imperial fleet. The 40,000 ships would be able to surround and outflank the Imperial fleet on three sides. Merkatz and other admirals under Reinhard’s direct command advise a withdrawal, but…”

The Legend of the Galactic Heroes The New Thesis: Star-Crossed serves as a revival of the series and will air for 12 episodes starting April 3 in Japan. The second season, The Legend of the Galactic Heroes The New Thesis: Stellar War, is set to release as a trilogy of films (with four episode comprising each) in 2019.

Directing The Legend of the Galactic Heroes The New Thesis: Star-Crossed for Production I.G. is Shunsuke Tada (Kuroko’s Basketball) with Noboru Takagi (Durarara!!) handling the scripts for the series. Yoko Kikuchi (Kuroko’s Basketball), Iwao Teraoka (Kuroko’s Basketball), and Katsura Tsushima (Kuroko’s Basketball) are handling character design and Takayuki Goto (Blood-C) is serving as chief animation director.

Atsushi Takeuchi (Napping Princess) will direct the special effects for the series, and is drafting the mecha designs for the series with Shinji Usui (Cyborg:009), Shinobu Tsuneki (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex), and Naoyuki Kato (who provided illustrations for the original novel series) will provide original mecha designs.

Composer Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Re:CREATORS) is composing the opening theme song “Binary Star” as part of his SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] project with Uru (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) providing the vocals. ELISA (The World God Only Knows) is performing the series’ ending theme, “Wish.”

For those unfamiliar with The Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the series was first created by Yoshiki Tanaka in 1982. Starting life as a series of science-fiction novels that follow Reinhard von Lohengramm and Yang Wen-li, two rivals rising in power on the opposite sides of an interstellar conflict far in the future. Most fans of the series will recognize it for its first anime series, which ran from 1988 to 1997, and for its many video game, manga, and OVA adaptations.

The novel series was licensed for an English language release by VIZ Media in 2015, and Sentai Filmworks released the anime series in the West in 2017. A new anime series, The Legend of the Galactic Heroes The New Thesis: Star-Crossed, will release in April 2018, followed by a trilogy of films titled The Legend of the Galactic Heroes The New Thesis: Stellar War in 2019.