LOTGH seems cool, but I'd prefer to read the books. Has anybody read them? Do they hold up?
It seems to be a retelling of certain aspects of European history from a Japanese point of view which might be, say, interesting.
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I have the novels.
The translation is fine. Having seen all the versions of the material I can confirm the translator didn't take any perceptible liberties.
I will say that it IS translated Japanese. If you're expecting Rand or Heinlein, don't. It's 8th grade reading level, not college reading level.
Watching the anime IS reading a book, lol. Only anime I've ever had to pause on occasion to keep up with the dialogue.
Only have the first book so far, and it's worth it. I like that the book actually explains the timeline and technology better, where the show spreads that information out piecemeal through episode intros. The translation is decent, and I've seen reports that the quality goes in later books as the translator gets better at maintaining the authors style.
It is good, the space battles are based on actual European conflicts, and so they play out a lot differently than other shows, and that's the draw of the show. It's a genuine long form war as predictable and unpredictable as a real one. Neither side are really the good guys either, both governments are corrupt and failing in their own ways, both have heroes and villains and internal strife.
As an aside, the show makes excellent use of classical music for it's score and battles. It's worth watching the anime for that alone.
"Men in rooms talking" is what a family member of mine called the anime, LOL. They're not wrong, either.
The first five seconds of the opening title theme were enough to tell me, "ok, this is going to be a big story."
I like the books alot! Those novels came first afterall and we are blessed to have great animes adapt from them.
If anything at least try the first two audio books. Those two volumes imo are still some of the best parts of this excellent and grand epic.
I've read the first 3. They are decent-good. Grab them all on sale. The pacing gets a little annoying in places, not that things aren't moving along, but there are some misdirections to create anticipation that I didn't like. I wanted the battle to pop off, not necessarily the backstory of an officer right before the broadsides start. Of course, you DO get the battle. Just, impatience :)
I only watched some of the anime and felt like there was tons of information being condensed down, I'm sure that the novels do plenty of work elaborating on things. It's definitely worth a shot to check out. If you can find a download of them I'd say it's worth checking out, you should be able to find them on nyaa.
I heard that a few of the books are not very well translated and there's some additional things in the anime OVA that make some people think its better than the books. It's the anime OVA that is considered a cult classic after all . But a lot of fans of LOTGH, like to consume all versions of LOTGH so you can always try following both the anime OVA and the books.
The worst version for story telling i think is DNT anime remake and i think its only good for seeing space battles with better animation
I've heard the same about the books, and that even a poor translation is hard to find. I've also heard that the new series follows the books more closely, but can't confirm.
The new series is more politically correct .For example it doesn't go in to the fact that the empire came about because of the degeneracy of the republic. So no, don't bother with the new series, it sucks. Like i said its only good for seeing space battles with better animations
There is an official translation now which finished the last book just a couple years ago, now is the best time to read it in English.