Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden

*Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden* adapts side stories from the *Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu* novels, looking back at Reinhard von Müsel and Siegfried Kircheis during their early years in the Galactic Empire—before the pivotal Battle of Astarte. The OVA traces their first assignments and the experiences that shape their rise through the Imperial military.

Fresh from the academy, the two are dispatched to the frozen frontier world Kapche-Lanka, where a superior officer’s plot targets Reinhard for political reasons tied to his sister, Annerose von Grünewald. Later, service in the Imperial Military Police exposes them to the Empire’s corruption and brutality, culminating in an investigation into a student’s murder at their former school. As Reinhard prepares to receive the title of Count von Lohengramm, Kircheis is sent to the resort satellite Kreuznach III, only to be drawn into a drug trafficking case connected to an attack on a disgraced ex–vice admiral. The final arc follows Reinhard as a commodore commanding a single squadron, frustrated by inept leadership in clashes with the Free Planets Alliance, earning victories under Vice Admiral Richard von Grimmelshausen while repeatedly butting heads with Hermann von Lüneburg, a commodore once associated with the Alliance’s feared Rosen Ritter.