Snapshot: TYTANIA - 01 October 10
OP Sequence:
 |
 |
 |
OP: “Ano Sora wo, Yuke” 「あの宇宙（そら）を、征け」 by Nishikiori Ken (錦織 健)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Streaming ▼
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
ED Sequence:
 |
 |
 |
ED: “LOST IN SPACE” by PSYCHIC LOVER (サイキックラバー)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Streaming ▼
「ケルベロスの戦い」 (Keruberosu no Tatakai)
“Battle of Kerberos”
First Glance:
Based on the novel series by Tanaka Yoshiki of Legend of the Galactic Heroes fame and produced by the same director/studio that worked on its OVA comes the new anime “space opera” TYTANIA. In addition to working on the extremely popular Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA, Ishiguro Noboru also directed the original Macross, where his ability to read musical scores undoubtedly helped make the series (and subsequently the franchise) a success. As mentioned above, Artland returns in charage of production, whose work looks good, but by no means mind blowing. In this sub-genre of science fiction, romance and melodramatic adventure should be prevalent in addition to large-scale space battles, much like the first episode has shown us. While I haven’t seen Galactic Heroes myself, the space opera genre has piqued my interest in the past thanks to the Seikai series — Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars — which I thoroughly enjoyed. Since anime adaptations such as these seem to be far and few between nowadays, there was enough incentive for me to check this series out.
Set in a universe where mankind has spread across the galaxy and established a countless number of nations, TYTANIA follows the intergalactic conflict revolving around the Tytania clan. Having withdrawn from mankind’s Interstellar Federation (星間都市連盟), Tytania helped the Empire of Vardhana — the greatest opposition to the federation — win a decisive battle. Having done so, Tytania forced the Emperor of Vardhana to acknowledge their importance to the empire, effectively taking his place as the most influential power in the galaxy. With the Empire of Vardhana now their puppet, Tytania began exercising its military power and fearsome influence by subjugating most of the interstellar federation under its rule. However, during an attack on the nation of Euria, Tytania is surprisingly repelled by a flamboyant commander, Fan Hulic (Konishi Katsuyuki), who shows the universe that Tytania isn’t as invincible as they seem. From that point on, the war between Tytania and Euria continues, getting the entire galaxy involved.
Going by the first episode alone, I find it hard to judge where this series is headed, but felt that they’ve done a good job enticing fans of this type of show — especially with the huge space battle between Tytania and Euria. In addition to providing the setting for the series (where monarchies seem to be in place), the introduction of the mighty Tytania really helped establish the premise when they displayed their authority by publicly executing the Prime Minister for supposed acts of treason. Much like how the Abh was involved in conquering worlds in the Seikai series, Tytania initially comes off as a group of dark, menacing tyrants; however, I get the feeling that we’ll see a drastically different side of things once the story shifts focus to the many many Tytania characters (see cast below), much like we did with the Abh. Because of this, I imagine the first episode only really laid out the introductory stuff, with the more interesting stuff yet to begin. They did establish Euria’s presence as a nation that opposes Tytania though, which is pretty fundamental to the story. What I’d like to see more of now is Lydia (Nadzuka Kaori) and what role she plays in the overall story, being a key character who’s not a Tytania but on their side.
Aside from Kaori (Yuasa Hiromi in true tears) playing one of few female characters in this series, we also have Minagawa Junko (Cornelia Li Britannia in CODE GEASS), Yahagi Sayuri (Sairenji Haruna in To LOVE-Ru), and Makishima Yuki (Amamiya Sayuri in Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~). Opposite of them though is an enormous male cast full of tons of talent, with Kishio Daisuke (Kaname Kuran in Vampire Knight) as the male lead Juslan Tytania (left in pic), and Konishi Katsuyuki (Kamina in Gurren Lagann) as Fan Hulic. After that, there are a few Gundam pilot seiyuus, Yoshino Hiroyuki, Hoshi Souichirou, and Kamiya Hiroshi, in addition to various others. Music-wise, the opening theme really takes “space opera” to a literal sense, whereas the ending theme is lot more upbeat thanks to PSYCHIC LOVER, whose music I like a fair bit after hearing their songs in Witchblade.
With that said, if you’ve been looking for something to fill that Legends of the Galactic Heroes or Crest/Banner of the Stars space opera void, TYTANIA is one of the few series to come along in awhile fitting the bill. Luckily though, it looks pretty promsing thus far.
Notable Cast:
- Jousselin Tytania (ジュスラン・タイタニア) : Kishio Daisuke (岸尾 だいすけ)
- Fan Hulic (ファン・ヒューリック) : Konishi Katsuyuki (小西 克幸)
- Ariabart Tytania (アリアバート・タイタニア) : Koudou Takashi (近藤 隆)
- Idris Tytania (イドリス・タイタニア) : Yoshino Hiroyuki (吉野 裕行)
- Zalisch Tytania (ザーリッシュ・タイタニア) : Take Tora (武 虎)
- Lydia (リディア) : Nadzuka Kaori (名塚 佳織)
- Ajuman Tytania (アジュマーン・タイタニア) : Miyake Kenta (三宅 健太)
- Valamy Tytania (バルアミー・タイタニア) : Hoshi Souichirou (保志 総一朗)
- Lila Florence (リラ・フローレンツ) : Yahagi Sayuri (矢作 紗友里)
- Miranda Kazimir (ミランダ・カジミール) : Minagawa Junko (皆川 純子)
- Lee Zhang-chen (Doctor Lee) (リー・ツァンチェン (ドクター・リー))) : Horiuchi Kenyuu (堀内 賢雄)
- Alan Mahdi (アラン・マフディー) : Oohara Takashi (大原 崇)
- Mikhail Warenkoff (ミハエル・ワレンコフ) : Ano Atsushi (斧 アツシ)
- Louie Edmon Pages (ルイ・エドモン・パジェス) : Kamiya Hiroshi (神谷 浩史)
- Arses Tytania (アルセス・タイタニア) : Kusao Takeshi (草尾 毅)
- Francia (フランシア) : Makishima Yuki (牧島 有希)
- Narration (ナレーション) : Han Keiko (潘 恵子)
K-Family Compo at 8:38 pm on October 10th, 2008
@Eveyone!
Hello everyone!
falconx0101 at 8:40 pm on October 10th, 2008
Looking good. I’m tempted to watch Legend of Galactic Heroes now but I’m worried that I’d mix these two shows up.
K-Family Compo at 8:40 pm on October 10th, 2008
@Everyone
Don’t listen to K-Family Compo he just wants everyone to talk to him, then he will ask Omni to hurry up with the anime shows and stuff. Thank you!
Box Head at 8:42 pm on October 10th, 2008
@Everyone
By the way he took my name. From now on my name will be Box Head if anybody wants to talk to me?
The man at 9:02 pm on October 10th, 2008
WDF
Katya at 9:05 pm on October 10th, 2008
I haven’t watched any anime shows at all since 05′, but I have been reading loads of different manga.
I’ve been waiting for a season of anime that would get me “back into the flow”, and I’m happy to say that season is finally here.^_^
There are a couple of shows I’ll be watching, and Tytania will now be added to the list.
Chimasternmay at 9:27 pm on October 10th, 2008
Just wondering… is this a all male cast, but few girls appear or probably just 1? idk this doesn’t feel to right for me to start watching. Opera.?. i never been to a opera show in my life.
Panther at 10:24 pm on October 10th, 2008
Well this space opera anime does look somewhat a little old-school, bringing back memories of space battles in anime, and the like. The overwhelming male cast may serve to put off the male watchers for a while, but it might turn out good. For now I am sticking with this series, because it does seem promising, especially the space battles. Hardly mind a little romance so long as they provide a good background plot, especially if, as Divine says, Tytania might turn out differently to be something other than a power-hungry empire.
divine at 10:26 pm on October 10th, 2008
Chimasternmay:
A few girls will show up, as seen in the ED shots above. As for the genre “space opera”, don’t be confused thinking it’s an actual “opera”. It’s just a coined term, which you can read about here. (I linked to this in the first line of my post too.)
Andy98 at 10:27 pm on October 10th, 2008
From the characters to the setting to the ship designs, this is truly the spiritual successor to Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Everything is just so reminiscent of LoGH, if Reinhard or Yang suddenly came up in a spaceship into the Tytania universe, they’d fit right in. That said, the fact this is so strikingly similar to LoGH may actually work against its favor, but I’m not going to jump into conclusions. 2nd best fall series I’ve seen thus far.
Tori at 10:34 pm on October 10th, 2008
i like the opening
anon234 at 10:44 pm on October 10th, 2008
Looking forward to this. I’ve completely watched over 150 different anime (not sure if that’s good or bad) and Legend of Galactic Heroes was easily the best I’ve ever seen and is the standard to which I hold everything else. That’s saying something since I’ve seen what are commonly highly rated shows such as Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, Code Geass, Banner/Cres of the Stars, etc. Hopefully this series is able to repeat what LoGH did.
kami at 10:48 pm on October 10th, 2008
Definitely a must watch and the LOGH influence looks promising.
Mukizu at 11:04 pm on October 10th, 2008
I see Hyperion here.
Exia at 11:08 pm on October 10th, 2008
i always think titanic when i see tytania. the fact that there wearin old school clothing further encourages it.
olivia at 11:29 pm on October 10th, 2008
what’s with all of these “new space operas from the old” these days? I’m so sick of spaceships and mechas… golly
Silent Minstrel at 12:12 am on October 11th, 2008
Legend of Galactic Hero-ish anime? Space Opera? I am GONNA follow this.
koi at 12:14 am on October 11th, 2008
like the nice touch of LOGH’s op ed like op for one section and ed for the other, so there is no obvious who is the protagonist or antagonist. hopefully Fan not end up like Yang.
Usami Haru at 12:30 am on October 11th, 2008
Best anime this season, hands down. IMHO.
Chimasternmay at 12:36 am on October 11th, 2008
Alright Divine, ill watch/check it out and see for myself. thx