Introduction #
I had what I thought was no faith in the re-adaptation after the disastrous PV and prepared myself for it being the biggest disgrace to humanity ever witnessed. Today, I discovered I did have a little bit of faith left in it. I only knew because as soon as I looked at these re-designs, I lost that faith.
Overarching Issues #
Hair is beautifully done in the original Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Each character is fitted with unique, fairly realistic hair. When a non-traditional color is used, a proper shade that’s believable is used. Never do you think that someone’s hair looks stupid or impossible to do. To the contrary, every single one of the redesigns misses this mark. Oberstein’s ( Original) white strip of hair is gone and his hairstyle is refitted to make him look more like an emo than anything. Mittermeyer ( Original) is fitted with lighting-bolt like strands of hair that look like they belong in Dragonball. Reuenthal ( Original) looks like an Italian fashion model with all that hair. Schenkopp’s ( Original) distinct sideburns are stripped away. Julian ( Original) no longer has flaxen hair, which is often mentioned in the show. Each character’s unique hair made them easily recognizable in a show with hundreds of characters. It did not play any small role. When you have lighting bolts for hair strands, it begins to take out from experience. They don’t look like a real person, in direct opposition to one of LotGH’s biggest strengths, how realistic and complex characters are. Not to mention the hair plain looks bad. Across the board, the re-adaptation is suffering from trying to make the show more appealing to everyone by stripping away it’s uniqueness.
Adding to that, many of the characters also suffer from looking much too young. Neither Mittermeyer nor Reuenthal look 30, rather like they just got out of military boot camp. Yet both are experienced and distinguished individuals in the military. Julian is supposed to be around 14 years old but looks like a little schoolboy under 10. Somehow as the youngest of the cast, he suffers the worst from the de-aging. Unless it’s an actual plot point or character trait, making characters look significantly younger than they make things awkward and weird. A result of the poorly chosen art style.
Individual Designs #
A large amount of Oberstein’s personality is lost in his redesign. Oberstein’s original design conveys that he is a serious, ruthless and straight to the point man. The new design makes him look very drab and dark, less calculating and serious more emo. I can’t see him being taken seriously the way he is.
Mittemeyer got off better than most. Excusing what’s already been discussed, his rigid nose has been turned into nostrils only which looks quite odd especially for a character with a prominent nose.
The images here really speak for themselves. Alex looks like a complete smug asshole while his character is quite the opposite. I just really don’t understand why any of these changes were made, and while that applies to all, specifically for Alex. His demeanor is utterly different and not for the better. I hope that this is not reflective of his actual character and no re-writing will be done.
Conclusion #
The PV showcased a plethora of issues and I’m disappointed the character design issues in the main characters have carried over to the rest. Definitely to be expected, but disappointed nonetheless.