Overture to a New War functions as a direct sequel to the previous movie, taking place directly after the climax of that movie at the Fourth Battle of Tiamat. This movie opens by showing us that the contempt held by Imperial nobles towards Reinhard has not yet been dispelled, as they immediately begin thinking of ways to prevent him from rising any further in the ranks. Where the previous film gave us a glimpse of life in the Empire, this film now briefly shows us some of Yang’s life as a citizen of the Alliance. Prior to this, however, Jean Robert is introduced, clearly a long time friend of Yang’s, and immediately he announces to Yang his plans to marry Jessica. Yang seems momentarily shocked, and maybe hurt, by this confession, but assures Jean that he approves of the idea.

This leads to my favourite sequence in the movie - a long, completely wordless scene of the three going for a celebratory dinner after the proposal (also dialogue-free). As Yang dances with Jessica, in a very endearingly clumsy way, she breaks down, and begins crying into his chest. The details of this sequence, like Yang’s initial reaction to the proposal, and Jessica’s tears, are left without immediate explanation, although Yang reassures Jessica that she is making the right choice in marrying Jean. Yang then seems to drop the act, and goes to a bar to drink himself to sleep.

Reinhard and Kircheis are shown visiting Annerose, who appears to be living comfortably in a huge manor. Reinhard, however, grows increasingly angry at her situation, and announces to Kircheis his desire to “save” her by rising further in the ranks of the Empire. Annerose, on the other hand, seems purely concerned with Reinhard’s safety, revealing his youth and bringing out his more childish side, and asking that Kircheis keep him safe in battle.

The Imperial nobles’ plan to stifle Reinhard’s promotions is to send his fleet to invade the Alliance, led by a team of previously-incompetent commanders. Furthermore, the nobles pass this plan along to Adrian Rubinsky, whom they believe will leak the plans to the Alliance, putting Reinhard at further disadvantage. Rubinsky is an interesting addition; he appears to be a near-neutral party in the overall conflict, hence his immediately leaking the plans to the Alliance.

In response to some earlier comments by Yang about the strength of numbers in a fleet, the Alliance sends out Jean’s fleet along with Yang’s. This cuts short Jean and Jessica’s wedding plans, and Jean makes what most viewers will recognise as an empty promise to Jessica to come back in one piece. Reinhard’s ambition is illustrated, again, as he tells Kircheis of his desire to take the stars under his rule. At the same time, Jessica’s interaction with a group of students allows some more insight into the previous interactions. It now seems, if not obvious before, that Yang was the one to have a relationship with Jessica before joining the military. The way circumstances have changed since then is not revealed.

Finally, the movie reaches its climax in the attempted invasion by a “limbless” Reinhard. Once again the other commanders are usually two steps behind Yang and Reinhard, and Yang’s lack of influence this time leads to the destruction of the 6th Fleet, and the death of Jean Robert. Yang’s superiority to his senior officers is particularly emphasised when he has to take over for his injured Commander. Yang almost immediately shifts the tide back in his favour, despite now being at a huge disadvantage, and forces the Empire to retreat.

I do not think the climactic battle in this movie is executed as artfully as the one from the first film, but it still has something to show. It’s worth mentioning, as I ranted about the soundtrack of the final battle in the previous film, that this movie’s music does not appear as carefully curated for its events. Instead, we’ve now moved to the kind of soundtrack I expected of this series, which is a lot of Mahler during some sequences, and Wagner during others. I’m satisfied by this movie’s introduction to the Alliance, and the introduction of new character details in Jessica and Annerose. Yang’s character is expanded greatly by this development, , and by the death of Jean Robert, and I’m eager to see how this develops next.