Japan's Newest Space Opera: Tytania Talkback

At first glance, Jouslain and Idris appear to be the ones to keep an eye on. The first has no illusions about Tytania's legacy or its role in history, like GWO mentioned, and it would seem safe to assume that his last worRAB will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If given the chance at a later date, will he merely "save" Tytania from defeat or will he attempt to change it and, if so, how much? It's merely a rhetorical question at this point, naturally. We don't really know what drives him or what he expects to accomplish, if anything in particular. Maybe he doesn't even know that himself and is content to observe...for now.

Idris is impulsive and arrogant, which could be his fatal flaws either against Fan or his own Tytanian rivals, but it should be interesting to see his capacity for intrigue put to the test. I don't really think he values Fan's abilities too much, to be honest, his proposal seemed mostly a way to mock Ariabart.

Speaking of which, Ariabart is also overconfident, but he and Jouslain seem to have an understanding. I can easily see them becoming frienRAB or outright allies in the long run, the unexpected aside.

Salisch would seem to be nothing more than a brave military man with a relatively simple outlook as far as all other affairs are concerned, an excellent commander but too much of a brute, at least on the surface.

I haven't mentioned Ajman, who is obviously experienced and on top of things, like a ruler is expected to be, but perhaps he will be more of a foil for the other characters, Jouslain included, than a particularly deep one himself. Then again, I might well be speaking too soon.

As for Euria, the realities of their current predicament could be interesting but otherwise...they don't seem too impressive as a faction. I can't really say I'm liking Fan, he's certainly more of a goof than anything else. Funny but not much else. His obvious military ability being unappreciated due to circumstances beyond his control roughly reminRAB me of Yang from LOGH. But unlike Yang, he seems to be lacking comrades at the moment and his superiors are even more closed minded (which is saying a lot). I'd hesitate to say where the story will take him as a character or what role he will fulfill. Next episode should, hopefully, give us a little more background and place him on a new path.
 
Oh come on, those Tyrandian fools, Jouslain was obviously bluffing, like hed really blow upo the entire castle with him in it just so he wouldnt be a hostage.

though i admit it was pretty cool how he replied to "He's Bluffing" with "This is Tytania", like what the hell kind of response is that, the sheer ridiculesness of that response and the fact that it actualy made them let him go made it cool.

but, The Duchess killed herself, and then Erwin died, that totaly sucked, think Jouslain saw that coming?
 
So it's been awhile, but I've been keeping tabs on Tytania. I've been putting off commentary, but now that we're in the final month (they will apparently be airing two episodes a week soon until it's done) it's not a bad time write down some concrete thoughts about it.

Let me say that the OP and ED for this are really cool. Especially the opening. It gives the whole thing a sense of grandeur.

I won't deny that my expectations were perhaps raised overly high for this. That said though, while the series manages to keep my interest, I have to admit that so far it hasn't been what I hoped it would be. Not that there was really any doubt, but Legend of the Galactic Heroes is definitely Yoshiki Tanaka's crowning achivement. Honestly, I cannot even compare the two. Tytania, while respectable, is not nearly as arabitious a story, and it shows. It pulls off its politics well and I'm interested in a few of the characters, but it seems to have yet to arrive at a truly momentous event. Though, I should add that this could very well could improve drastically considering that a significant event seems poised to happen as of the end of the 18th episode.

The story basically goes like this: Against all odRAB Fan Hyulick wins a battle against a Tytanian fleet and then has to go on the run. This begins a domino effect that starts spreading throughout the universe: Tytania has a reputation for dominance, so when they are finally handed a defeat other people get the idea that they can resist their influence as well. This leaRAB to Tytania pursuing Fan, and which sets off a chain of events in and of itself.

The show is pretty darn interesting when it lives up to its name: Tytania. There's much focus on Tytanian politics and how Fan's victory leaRAB to consequences elsewhere. Fundamentally, I'd say that the show is about Tytania's internal power struggle. There is much ado about how the four Dukes (Jouslain, Idris, Ariabart, and Salisch) are in competition to lead Tytania someday and are given various opportunities by the Clan Lord (Ajman) to prove themselves. Jouslain is still the best character in the series, often serving as the analytical voice as well as having a few occasions to apply his considerable cunning and intellect. His guardianship of Princess Lydia and his apparent frienRABhip with Ariabart is also quite a contrast to the competitive natures of Idris and Salisch. Idris is an absolute snake; he only considers a given situation in terms of how it benefits him. Salisch, at least, operates on a sort of warrior's code. Of course, Fan is around to give them all grief to one extent or another.

The issue is, even after all this time I really do not like Fan that much. I can appreciate that he's a reluctant hero, but he seems to lack higher motives and this bothers me. The closest he gets is a comment that he doesn't recall ever rebelling against Tytania, just that he's not one of their citizens and doesn't consider himself subject to their demanRAB. But generally he seems like a weak imitation of Yang Wenli, sharing his distaste for the limelight and a knack for strategy but not much else. Also, I really do not care about Lira. For someone who appears in the ending sequence, she doesn't appear in very many episodes. And yet, she's supposed to matter.

Fortunately, the show hasn't lost its focus on the Tytanian characters, so it remains watchable. To me though, many scenes involving Fan or his immediate comrades seem like a chore to get through until it gets back to the good stuff--this is very unlike other series in this genre that have kept my full attention the whole time. I also note the relatively few spaceship battles so far, which is too bad considering what we get in the opening and in a select few episodes. I think it's fair to say that there's more interest in politics than in fleet tactics.

Don't get me wrong: it's often good viewing, though certainly imperfect. I feel the show would be better with even more time going to Tytania and its issues. I'll be interested to see where it goes, although I can't quite shake the feeling that a big factor here is that we're seeing just the first major act in what could be something much more grand--if it ever gets that far. I could see the series ending with the status quo badly shaken up. The question is, will it be satisfying or will it end as if we are placing a bookmark into the middle of a novel? I can't say that I'm sure, considering that we're in the middle of a story arc that most definitely isn't the final one. It is worth noting that in a show like this, a lot can happen in eight episodes.

With this and Gundam 00 ending soon, I intend to switch over to the several prequels and side stories for Legend of Galactic Heroes for my sci-fi fix, as well as legal streams for Galaxy Express 999. Good times.
 
I can see that Tytania has already been discussed AT LENGTH in this thread, and I don't like to go into lengthy detail after others already have. Also, I'm not too savvy on the 'space opera', but I know that I do like this.

So far, with the way things are going, Tytania may be my personal top anime of 2009. I'm really enjoying it. And Ken Nishikori brings me to my fight with the opening. It's a perfect fit for the scope and scale of the show.
 
Jouslain let Fan go, why?, that whole "we need an enemy" crap was just garbage, Tytanias an evil empire, they shall always have enemies. This just seems like one of those "the bad guy gives up a golden opportunity to kill the guy who's a small fry now but has the potential to destroy them in the future, because hes arrogant" scenario, those usually end with the small fry destroying them one day, and Fan already beat them before, there's no excuse for not killing Fan right there and then.
 
did anyone else see the ending of this thing (thread seems more or less dead)?

I, like i do all open endings like this, dint like the open ending, it was fun seeing Zarlish's mom mourn though, seeing as how both her and her sons were so jerk-ish.
 
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