Funny / Legend of the Galactic Heroes

• Yang's speeches.
  • Yang's commemoration speech at the establishment of the 13th Fleet in episode 6. In which he attempted to give a rousing speech... And the soldiers assembled giving him a genuine standing ovation when he concluded with "Let's fight so we won't die". Not to mention that he also overslept and showed up late. Made even funnier by Job Trunicht pretending to be happy and applauding him...only to give Yang a Death Glare the moment the applause died down.
  • The speech that he gave when he joined the El Facil Revolutionary Government consisted of a single line:
  Yang: (Stood up) I'm Yang Wenli. Pleased to meet you all. (sits back down)
  *cue standing ovation as soon as the public gets over the shock from such a short speech*

  • Preceeded by the most strained smile when, during the speech of the government's chairman, a camera moved before him.
• In Die Neue These episode 16, when Bittenfeld and his soldiers burst into the office of Military Chief of Staff Ehrenberg with guns drawn to detain him and force him to resign. Ehrenberg's nonchalant reaction to them as well as the massive understatement he gives in response to their intrusion makes it sound as if he is lecturing some young, rowdy college kids:

Chief Ehrenberg: Who gave you permission to enter here? I haven't the faintest idea of what you want, but it's evident you have no interest in observing proper decorum.

• The nobles’ abysmal performance throughout the Imperial Civil War ends up being comical by its own right.
  • The OVA series has one of Flegel’s noble cohorts joining on his quest for glory by chasing after Mittermeyer’s fleet...only for his last scene being utterly dumbstruck on his bridge as a beam vaporizes him. Even more funny as his last image is of him leaning forward to get a good look at the beam that’s about to kill him while in utter bewilderment, not even trying to dodge it.
• Late in the series, when Reinhard starts taking an interest in the arts and his subordinates all desperately try to pawn off his requests to accompany him to ballet, poetry readings, and the like onto each other.
• Bittenfeld is the king of Funny on the Imperial side.
  • During the Battle of Amritsar Starzone, Bittenfeld saw a chance to defeat Yang and pronounced the immortal words: "Forward! The goddess of victory is waving her underwear in your faces!" Made more hilarious when Yang swatted his Black Lancers away while still engaging another Imperial fleet
  • Immediately afterwards, Bittenfeld requests Reinhard for help. His reaction?
  Soldier: A request for reinforcements from Admiral Bittenfeld.
  Reinhard: Reinforcements? Reinforcements, is it? (getting increasingly angry) Does he think I have a magic jar that gushes fleets? [Reinhard launches into tirade] You know what? Cut off all communications from Bittenfeld.

  • It was especially amusing that Reinhard, usually calm and composed, could be annoyed to such an extent.
  • This exchange also:
  Bittenfeld (to Wahlen as they are walking down the corridor, somewhere around the time of Reuenthal's rebellion): If the Kaiser ordered you to lead a punitive campaign against me, would you do it?
  Wahlen (instantly and without batting an eyelid): Yes. (And he looks like he would like to add: "With pleasure.")

  • Bittenfeld's face◊ at that moment is the CMOF by itself.
  • One time he has a conversation with Muller, gets worked up, kicks a wall, and ends up hurting himself. They then both act like it never happened.
  • Bittenfeld, being told that he's going to be under Oberstein while heading out for Heinessen, goes on a tirade against Oberstein.
  Bittenfeld Since he spends all his time behind his desk, he should die at his desk!
  • And the tirade continues when Bittenfeld, Wahlen and Oberstein arrive on Heinessen:
  Bittenfeld (loudly, walking about three paces behind Oberstein): I don't want to get embroiled in what Oberstein does! If I accompany him and end up going to Valhalla for it, I'll kick him out of the Valkyrie's carriage!
  • And then promptly sneezes twice, resulting in Oberstein's only Funny Moment in the whole show.
  • Bittenfeld eating a chocolate bar on the bridge. During a fight. While commanding his fleet.
• Walter von Schoenkopf: "In other words, in my left hand is Fleet Admiral Reuenthal's head... and underneath my right foot is Truniht's head. And in my right hand is a tomahawk!"
• Reinhard, normally a VERY serious man, showing up with a HUGE bouquet of flowers for Hilda and acting like a love-struck puppy-dog.
• Count Mariendorf, after learning that his daughter spent the night with Reinhard, expressing relief that Reinhard's inclinations do not go in the other direction.

  "Those two... I wonder if they were able to do it well..."

  • His entire befuddled reaction to Reinhard showing up at his estate with a bouquet. He can only try to carefully, gently assure Reinhard that Hilda needs more time than the day after sleeping with each other to decide upon marriage. You can almost see him realize in real time how emotionally stunted the Emperor of the known universe is.
• The official who fumbles reading the declaration during Reinhard and Hildegarde's wedding being told by Reinhard "You are not the one getting married". Also noted as the only time when Reinhard actually displayed any semblance to humor.
• The other admirals (except Mittermeyer) being taken aback by Eisenach finally speaking.
  • Toppled by the narrator, in his usual deadpan voice, reading the time and date like with any other historical moment.
• Him defusing an argument between Bittenfeld and Wahlen by throwing water at them.
• Marika, upon seeing the Imperial residence on fire: "This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gone out to get ice cream!" An incredulous Kesler: "That's not how it works, is it?"
• Poplin and Lücke knocking each other out simultaneously.
• There are also a lot of presumably unintentional ones, for whatever reason (sometimes it can be attributed to the fansubs). An example is the flagship "Tlahuixcalpantecuhtli", or Fredericia's utterance "You might have killed millions of people, but at the very least, you made me happy." And then there are Yang's seemingly racist remarks towards Louis Mashengo...
  • Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, the flagship of Vittorio di Bertini of 730 Mafia fame, is actually the name of the Aztec god of the morning star and this is in line with the ship-naming habits of both the Alliance and the Empire based on mythological figures. (It is also, incidentally, the perfect example of a name chosen by committee, without any regard to practical concerns in the heat of battle.)
• Dusty's story about Poplin and Schönkopf catching each other coming out of certain female officers' quarters... then doing it again a few weeks later in opposite positions.
  • Also the subsequent argument with Poplin about why the women in question got to remain anonymous. According to Dusty, it's because women have human rights.
• Yang sneaking a drink during a high level strategic meeting in episode 38.
  • Made funnier when Julian's attempt to move the liquor bottle away from Yang was foiled by Yang's subordinates attending the meeting, who then proceeded to help themselves with the liquor, much to Julian's annoyance.
• Yang waxing philosophical about alcohol.
• Yang lazing about during his retirement, stretching out on the floor and dangling a pink toy mouse in front of his cat. The cat is so bored of him that it yawns and turns away.
• Combining this with Moment of Awesome, in the Gaiden OVA The Silver-White Valley, when Reinhard heard Kircheis was trying to save a woman from getting raped by their comrades, he decides to help. And he makes his Dynamic Entry from 14:20-14:30 of here, face covered in black and blond hair glowing. What makes this funny is that Reinhard may have went Super Saiyan on the rapists, and it gets funnier because Reinhard is Vegeta.
• In "My Conquest Is the Sea of Stars", we see some Alliance soldiers bet on who'll win the next battle. Most bet on the Empire, planning to be the only survivor and get all the pool. Then they flustered when an officer catches them... And that officer being Yang, he joins the betting with more cash than the entire pool. Without saying who he's betting on.
  • From the same movie, Yang's reaction to his fan mail: complain because of the waste of paper (presumably rationed, but still...).
  • Also from the movie: During a battle in the atmosphere of a gas giant, the Imperial fleet led by Reinhard suddenly leaves the atmosphere. Yang tries and fails to get his commander to do the same, then explains why to Dusty: if he was the enemy, he'd just take the chance to ignite the planet's flammable (helium and hydrogen) atmosphere and wipe the FPA fleet out.
    Yang: You'd just need a match to set it off. Although I doubt the enemy has anyone who would think of playing with fire so dangerously.
    (Gilligan Cut to Reinhard on the bridge of the Brunhild.)
    Reinhard: Fire a nuclear fusion missile.
• In "Overture to a New War", Reinhard randomly do a handstand while waiting for his sister, then run to hug her only to embarrassedly realize he now has dirty hands and can't do it without dirtying her clothes.
  • From the same movie, vice-admiral "Succumbed to Theory" Staden's comment on Reinhard's plan for the Battle of Astarte: "He's going to use that kind of weak academic argument in actual battle?!". Lampshaded by Fahrenheit.
• The flashback of Mittermeyer proposing to Eva, thanks to the sheer Adorkable factor and his father (who was seeing the scene from afar) giving a double fist-pumping when she accepted.
  Mittermeyer *barging in the flower shop after barely avoiding getting ran over by three cars*: "Flowers! Flowers! Give me flowers! Any kind will do! No, it's not! I want the most beautiful! The ones to make a girl happy!"
  *The shop owner points at the roses in the shop, both red and yellow. Mittermeyer buys half of them. The yellow half*^note For those who still don't see what's funny, in the Victorian language of flowers, yellow roses are a symbol of friendship. Thankfully for Mittermeyer, Eva takes the gift in the spirit with which it's given.
• Ernst von Eisenach is an Imperial Admiral that rarely talks at all, not even when giving out commands in battle. As a result, everyone that serves under him has to learn and memorize what he means when he gives out order by hand gestures. For his personal steward, if he wants a cup of coffee if he snaps his fingers once, and a glass of brandy if he snaps twice, and it has to be delivered to him within four minutes. His steward ended up being so intimidated by him that upon seeing the admiral snapping his fingers twice, ended up serving him two cups of coffee with literally seconds to spare before the time limit. Since Eisenach stubbornly refuses to speak up and tell the steward of the mistake, as the narrator puts it "The admiral spends the rest of the campaign enjoying either one or two cups of coffee".
• After the Eight Battle of Iserlohn and having listened Reuenthal musing about self-incriminating things again, Mittermeyer wonders what Yang is doing in that moment, and guesses he's dancing with a beautiful girl at a victory party. Cue the Sneeze Cut showing Yang in bed with a cold.
• Mittermeyer's reputation as "The Gale Wolf" is so well-earned that in one battle against the Alliance, his fleet reaches the enemy lines so quickly that he double takes and orders his forces to back up just so they could actually fire properly.
• During the initial capture of Iserlohn by the Alliance, Yang orders his fleet to do a series of seemingly diversionary maneuvers just outside the range of the Thor Hammer. When asked about it, he explains that there's no reason whatsoever behind it. In other words, he was trolling the Imperials.
• Two former members of the Lippstadt League try their hand at 'freeing' emperor Erwin Joseph II from Reinhard's hands... And discover that their emperor is a Spoiled Brat who has been woken up in the middle of the night, forcing them to kidnap him. As one of them points out, it's a farce.
  • Reinhard announce to his admirals about this: "There was a minor incident tonight in Neue Sanssouci. Somebody abducted a seven year old boy."
  • Erwin's spoiledness is so hard that the crew of their escape ship refuses to bring him food because they've grown annoyed with getting pelted with it and haven't been told who he is.
• In episode 42, the crew of the Alliance battleship Ulysses speculating on the reason for their captain's bad mood. What makes this funnier in that when they speculate he's in love with Julian and thus is in a bad mood because Julian had been transferred to Fezzan, the captain is shown blushing.
  • Immediately after, the Ulysses detects the incoming Reuenthal Fleet, and someone suggests they fight them with a single ship. The captain's reply?
  "Idiot! Our Iserlohn Station Fleet is undefeated! It's undefeated because we don't fight with an enemy we stand no chance of beating! What are you waiting for?! Can't you run away any faster?!"
  • Some time after, Yang suggests that, in the future, it'd be more efficient to automatically increase Iserlohn's alert level every time they send the Ulysses on patrol, as the commanders note that every time the ship goes out, it brings an enemy fleet back with it.
• While escaping from the occupied Fezzan, Julian was intercepted by an Imperial destroyer, and, being Yang's ward, captured it. To not get harassed by Imperial patrols he had to destroy the previous escape ship Berezka feigning it had tried to run. The reaction of Berezka's commander? Claim the destroyer as replacement.
• Whenever Yang is promoted, he's happy because his pension when he retires will be higher.
  • Upon finding out that Julian captured an Imperial destroyer by applying his tactic when he captured Iserlohn, Yang muses he should copyright his tactics and add the royalties to his pension. Julian isn't sure he's joking.
• Yang proposing to Frederica is as amusing as cute.
  • Frederica's answer shows she's the right woman for Yang: "If we pool our pensions, living expenses shouldn't be a problem".
• Why did Yang didn't marry until after retiring? So that he wouldn't have to invite the bigwigs of the government and listen their interminable speeches. Then he found out he had to dress up and started regretting it...
• The Undutiness suffers her first inspection from an Imperial patrol. The Imperial commander's first question? "Are any young girls on board?". And when he's told no, he's disappointed.
• One from sheer absurdity: Oberstein prompting Reinhard to find a wife. He has a good reason for it, but still...
• A woman tries to kill Reuenthal for forcing her great-uncle to kill himself and taking away her family's privileges. What does Reuenthal do? He seduces her and knocks her up.
• After the Long War, Yang retires, and has a calm life with his wife Frederica... And drives Lennenkampf mad with paranoia, as he doesn't believe this is actually the kind of life Yang wanted all the time and believes the retired Alliance admiral is up to something. Gets funnier when you remember that Lennenkampf is right... But only because Yang had planned to launch an insurrection if the Empire tried to annex the Alliance or replaced Lennenkampf with a corrupt consul.
• When Yang gets arrested without evidence, what Frederica, Dusty and Schönkopf do? They call upon the Rosenritter and demand Yang's release in the most brazen and offensive way Schönkopf can come up with (it starts with hacking the server of the military headquarters to deliver the demands to commander-in-chief Rockwell, and Schönkopf declares his group as lawless rebels). The whole exchange is quite fun, but the crowner is when Schönkopf adds one hundred cases of wine to the demands, with Dusty first being surprised and then nodding in approval.
  • A few hours later, Rockwell has ordered Yang's execution, and the soldier assigned to that asks Yang if he has any last requests. He has: a taste of white wine from the future.
• Attenborough commandeering the Alliance cruiser Leda II dressed as a pirate captain, complete with eyepatch and fake hook on his left hand. This is neither explained nor brought up ever again.
• Attenborough and Yang speaking of Kateroze:
  • As soon as he learns who is her father, Yang gives Attenborough a Death Glare. Wasted, too: Attenborough had already decided to not tell around about Schönkopf's daughter and cause that much confusion...;
  • Attenborough admitting he did find Kateroze attractive, but decided not to court her because if they married he'd have to call Schönkopf "dad";
  • Yang musing on the show Kateroze and Charlotte would offer if they fought for Julian's heart.
• In episode 67, Bittenfeld's answer to the Alliance emissary who had come to try and negotiate his withdrawal:
  "I have no authority with which to open negotiations. Recommend you contact Fleet Admiral Mittermeyer in the next fleet. We will guarantee you safe passage."
  • Also, Mittermeyer's annoyance when the emissary arrived to him.
• In episode 68, Julian, Mashengo, Boris Konev and Poplin have had their data on the Terraists stolen while on Odin. After they recover it, Julian, Mashengo and Konev wonder where Poplin had disappeared to. The answer? He's getting shot at by the Imperial officer he just cuckolded. He only regret the officer came home early and caught him in the act...
• In episode 69, Poplan's claiming he plans to get in the bed with five billion women. Why that number? Because the total population of mankind is forty billions, half of them are women, half of the women are the wrong age, and half of the remaining aren't beautiful enough. So, five billions. And when Dusty asks him about their character, he offers to share, leaving him with the half with good character.
  Dusty: "What are you saying can't be interpreted as anything but fraud even if I speak diplomatically."
  • When questioned about why they cut ties with the Alliance government, Dusty has only one thing to say:
  "Look, commander Poplan, don't you misunderstand this. We're doing this revolutionary war out of foppery and whim. Got that?"
  • Julian's amused reaction when he learns that Kateroze is Schönkopf's daughter, and the not-so amused face he has when Dusty points out Schönkopf could have a squadron worth of illegitimate children.
  • Finally deciding to screw up with Schönkopf's mind (or just to warn him about her given the current situation), Dusty starts telling him of Kateroze, and says her name and that she's among the volunteers for the upcoming attack on Iserlohn.
  Schönkopf: "Is she a beauty?"
  Dusty *puzzled*: "Why do you ask?"
  Schönkopf: "If she's beautiful, she must be my daughter. If not, she's someone else with the same name."
• Episode 70:
  • Poplan's advice to Karin on how to deal with her father:
    "Go meet him and demand fifteen years worth of pocket money."
  • Bagdash' epic trolling of Cornelius Lutz, consisting of fake conflicting orders to sortie or stay inside Iserlohn, making sure he believes the one to stay inside is the real one, continuing to order a sortie, and adding a threat of court martial when Reinhard actually orders a sortie and repeats the order after getting ignored. Schönkopf has only one thing to say about this:
    "If there's someone who can see through Bagdash' disorderly array of orders, he must be... Insane."
• Reuenthal and Mittermeier musing over their order to capture the infamously violent and barbaric Ovlesser.
  Reuenthal: "What would you do if you met face to face with Ovlesser?"
  Mittermeier: "Run like hell."
  Reuenthal: "Me too."
• In the second to last episode, a series of bombs are going off and several imperial officers, including Bittenfield, bring the ill Kaiser to safety. It's a fairly dramatic scene, made funny by the fact that they move the Kaiser by carrying the couch that he had happened to be resting on at the time.
• A darker example, but in episode 89 when Oberstein explains to a would-be-assassin that he was responsible for the Westerland not being saved, his calm and relaxed (but horrifying) explanation has everybody around him giving a look that just screams "what in the actual fuck, dude?"
• A bit of dark humor but there was one time when Reinhard and co got a sudden report that Mittermeyer died shortly before he called in, pretty much saying "Lol don't worry guys I'm okay." Everyone's reaction were priceless, with Reinhard's frozen shocked face and Reuental about to break down but after, sighs in relief that their friend is fine.