For such a phenomenal series, this movie is a rather disappointing story albeit not terrible. Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Golden Wings is shallow and missing what I love most about the series: political commentary with substance. Chronologically the first event in the timeline, Golden Wings remastered the backstory of Reinhard and Kircheis along side adding context to how they proved their genius on the galactic battlefield. The first act is essentially a reanimated version of an episode with the other two acts continuing where the show did not without the same level of detail. We see Reinhard and Kircheis earning the respect of the troopsthey command, but this is the most depth to the story. The main antagonist is a guy hired by a completely irrelevant single episode antagonist from the first season, in the process missing an opportunity to flesh out anybody relevant to Reinhard's story. The storytelling is lazy and cheap. It feels like something made to tide over fans until season three of the show was released. The end is trying to use impactful dramatic irony since we know what happens at the end of season one, and I didn't appreciate it being so on the nose. I wanted the movie to tread new ground in terms of character development for both Reinhard and Kircheis, but we get nothing. The movie also forgets the most important part of the original series (to me): political commentary. Golden Wings chooses the familiar in a backstory you've seen if you're watching in release order instead of exploring different avenues of the two men's relationship.

If you couldn't tell, Reinhard and Kircheis are the only two people who matter. Reinhard is significantly more affectionate to Kircheis than usual, taking many chances to play with his hair unprompted. The romantic undertones are present between the two in the original series, but Golden Wings makes a point to signal the homosexual tension between the two in the most obvious way. Yang is almost completely absent, appearing only three insignificant scenes with a jarring new voice actor. No other familiar characters made an appearance. Reuenthal, Mittermeyer, and Oberstein are all absent without even a mention despite their importance to the overall story. It makes sense to cut out characters for new viewers, but I think Golden Wings makes too many cuts and doesn't have the original characters to make up for it.

The animation is clearly an improvement over the original series, but has a sort of uncanny valley feel to it. These are clearly familiar characters and places to anybody who's watching in release order, but there's something off about it. Reinhard and Kircheis don't look like younger versions of themselves, but are clearly children and being portrayed as such visually. Yang looks almost completely different to the point where I didn't recognize him at first. It's easy to tell the movie is leaning into the developing 90s animation style, but it wasn't quite adapted right for Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

The music is exactly what I expected out of the franchise. Classical symphonies perfectly executed for the space epic. I would have liked some more memorable tunes, however. The only song to stand out was the one during the credits. It was a melancholic representation of how Reinhard likely thinks back on these memories.

This movie was essentially three mediocre episodes of the anime. Starting this franchise with Golden Wings is like easing yourself in through the kiddie pool. It's nothing more than an introduction to the two (admittedly most interesting) characters without any real substance in terms of new content. Does this make it a bad movie or even a bad place to start the franchise? No, but the pool gets a lot deeper from here.

Plot: 6.5/10
Characters: 6/10
Art: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
Enjoyment: 5.5/10
Overall: 6.6/10