The story is staged in the distant future within our own Milky Way Galaxy, approximately in the 36th century. A portion of the galaxy is filled with terraformed worlds inhabited by interstellar traveling human beings. For 150 years two mighty space powers have intermittently warred with each other: the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance.

Within the Galactic Empire, based on mid 19th century Prussia, an ambitious military genius, Reinhard von Müsel, is rising to power. He is driven by the desire to free his sister Annerose, who was taken by the Kaiser as a concubine. Later, he wants not only to end the corrupt Goldenbaum dynasty but also to defeat the Free Planets Alliance and to unify the whole galaxy under his rule.

In the Free Planets Alliance Star Fleet is another genius, Yang Wen-li. He originally aspired to become a historian through a military academy, and joined the tactical division only out of need for tuition money. He was rapidly promoted to an admiral because of his demonstrated excellence in military strategy in a number decisive battles and conflicts. He becomes the archrival of Reinhard, though they highly respect one another. Unlike Reinhard he is better known for his underdog victories and accomplishments in overcoming seemingly impossible odds and mitigating casualties and damages due to military operations.

As a historian, Yang often predicts the motives behind his enemies and narrates the rich history of his world and comments on it. One of his famous quotes is: "There are few wars between good and evil; most are between one good and another good."

Besides the two main heroes, the story is full of vivid characters and intricate politics. All types of characters, from high nobility, admirals and politicians, to common soldiers and farmers, are interwoven into the story. The story frequently switches away from the main heroes to the Unknown Soldier fighting for his life on the battlefield.

There is a third neutral power nominally attached to the Galactic Empire called the Phezzan Dominion, a planet-state (city-state on a galactic scale) which trades with both warring powers. There is also a Terraism cult, which claims that humans should go back to Earth, gaining popularity throughout the galaxy. Throughout the story executive political figures of Phezzan in concert with the upper-hierarchy of the Terraism cult orchestrate a number of conspiracies to shift the tide of the galactic war so that it may favor their objectives.

Legend of Galactic Heroes (Japanese: 銀河英雄伝説, Ginga Eiyū Densetsu), sometimes referred to as 'Heldensagen von Kosmosinsel' (lit. "heroic tale/saga of the space islands". Original German language has no word for galaxy, or planet. The use is more contextual; "kosmos" and "insel", the words for "space" and "island" put together can be nominally considered an apt description of a Planet, an island in space. So the title can be contextually translated as Heroic Saga of the Planets, or in the sense that a galaxy is a vast collection of worlds (also an apt description of interstellar empires), a Heroic Saga of the Galaxy), is a series of ten science-fiction novels written by Tanaka Yoshiki, as well as a number of other, shorter stories set in the same universe. It won the Seiun Award for "Best Novel of the Year" in 1989.

My Conquest is the Sea of Stars

Legend of Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars (銀河英雄伝説　わが征くは星の大海, Ginga Eiyū Densetsu: Waga Yuku wa Hoshi no Taikai) is the first animated adaptation of Yoshiki Tanaka's Legend of Galactic Heroes series of novels. It was originally released in Japan on 6 February 1988. The film serves as a prequel to the main OVA series that followed only months later, and chronicles the first encounter — in combat — between Reinhard von Müsel (who later adopted the Lohengramm name) and Yang Wen-li, the two primary protagonists of the LOGH series.

Original Video Animation

Legend of Galactic Heroes (Japanese: 銀河英雄伝説, Ginga Eiyū Densetsu), or LOGH, is the second and longest-running animated adaptation of Tanaka Yoshiki's Legend of Galactic Heroes series of novels. The series was released in direct home-video installments during four separate periods between December 1988 and March 1997. The OVA comprises 110 episodes, which together total more than 2800 minutes of animation. It was later shown on television and has seen multiple releases on both DVD and Blu-ray formats.

Golden Wings

Legend of Galactic Heroes: Golden Wings (銀河英雄伝説外伝　黄金の翼, Ginga Eiyū Densetsu: Ōgon no Tsubasa) is the third animated adaptation of Yoshiki Tanaka's Legend of Galactic Heroes series of novels. It was originally released in Japan in October 1992 (released in cinemas in December). Its art style is notable in that it follows the art style of the manga rather than the other animated works. Its ending theme song is "Futari Mita Yume ~Two of Us~", performed and composed by Hiroyuki Matsuda, written by Gorou Matsui and arranged by David Campbell.

Overture to a New War

Legend of Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War (銀河英雄伝説外伝　新たなる戦いの序曲(オーヴァチュア), Ginga Eiyū Densetsu: Arata Naru Tatakai no Ōvachua) is the fourth animated adaptation of Yoshiki Tanaka's Legend of Galactic Heroes series of novels. It was originally released in Japan on 18 December 1993. It expands upon the events covered in the first two episodes of the 1988 OVA series.

Legend of Galactic Heroes Gaiden

is the fifth animated adaptation (counting films) of Yoshiki Tanaka's Legend of Galactic Heroes series of novels. The series was originally released in Japan between February 1998 and July 2000. It served as a prequel to the main series.

The Gaiden Series 1 (Japanese: 銀河英雄伝説 外伝1), released in February 1998, is the first animated adaptation of the Legend of Galactic Heroes Gaiden, or side stories, series of novels, consisting of adaptations of the short stories Silver-White Valley, Dreams of the Morning, Songs of the Night, Dishonour and the novel A Hundred Billion Stars, a Hundred Billion Lights.

The Gaiden Series 2 (Japanese: 銀河英雄伝説 外伝2), released between December 1999 and July 2000, is the second animated adaptation of the side stories from the Legend of Galactic Heroes series of novels, consisting of the adaptations of the novels Spiral Labyrinth and part of Star Crusher (adapted as The Third Battle of Tiamat), as well as the original stories The Mutineer, The Duellist and The Retriever.

Manga

The manga edition is authored by Katsumi Michihara, and is derived from the first two volumes of the original-novel. This manga story is faithful to the original, possibly more faithful than the anime. However, there are some changes that could be considered major, e.g. the gender of several characters is changed. Akira Kasahara cooperated in drawing mechanics.

Musical

The series has been adapted as a musical by the all female performance troupe Takarazuka Revue.