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Oh the days of Funimation trailers of strange and interesting anime, Glass Fleet was one of those shows that I stumbled upon before the age of streaming. It was pitched to me as this kind of French Revolution anime in space, in reality, it wasn't even close to what I got. Glass Fleet uses an array of confusing plot elements and hamfisted commentary about class differences that gets buried beneath boring characters and a pretentious plot.

Meet our main protagonist Michel. She is a woman, which I thought at first. Nope, he is a she. Wait no she is a he. Confused? It jumps around a lot to throw anyone off the trail. Glass Fleet's main problem is distinctly telling us what and why. I can't even recall why she needed to do that, and the only conclusion that I could come up with is that it was a requirement since people wouldn't take her seriously as a woman. In all honesty, they should have made it a female protagonist from the start, without all this "pretending to be" stuff - it would've made it less confusing and more importantly much of the story elements would've held up better. Why couldn't we just get a strong female lead instead of a girl pretending to be a guy? But I kind of get the angle they were going for, I guess because of the whole sexism thing in a futuristic 1700s setting, even if it failed to establish anything progressive. Now the actual story is quite interesting because Michel and her people's army are trying to overthrow Vetti's Empire; again harking back to a sort of French Revolution with a Legend of the Galactic Heroes vibe. Sounds cool, only we don't exactly get that. Instead, I got a rag-tag adventure with the background of a space revolution. The potential dissipated after the first episode, and the mediocrity begins to show itself in the remainder of the series.

There are so many things in the story that I have problems with. The focus on Vetti's weird incestual, borderline pedophilic romance was so awkward to watch, and it just didn't fit with the setting of the show. Like in medieval times maybe it would've worked like in Game of Thrones, but in a narrative like this, why? What was the point of it? Well besides establishing how screwed up of a human Vetti is, it screamed abusive shipping material. The story focused on the relationships and struggles of their personal lives, and not the struggles of overthrowing the Empire through revolution. The final battle is kind of cool, but it feels way to expected because you know they're going to win, and the casualties are minimal for our heroes. Michel is a white knight character, doing what has to be done, even if she has to constantly reiterate that she was of-noble blood fighting for the common folk. Which in this type of story, Michel should be a good set up to do some great things with. Except that Michel has to rely on Cleo (a man) to help her in the entire effort of, doing anything. It would've been nice if she could've done all of this on her own as an independent female, but no, not at all, thanks for nothing Japan.

Cleo's crew is strange, to say the least, there's a girl who dresses like a prostitute, there's a really nerdy guy, a Russian guy that loves heavy weapons, who for some reason gets together with Michel's maid at the end; which just felt like they needed to pair him up with someone, and a French-looking man with a mustache. I like crews with personality, but for this, it seems like way too much trope pandering in a show that desperately wants to be taken seriously. I didn't like the crew, and the only reason why I liked Cleo was because of his quick resolve to get shit done. Now Vetti, good GOD Vetti. Here's where the show shines as the most shoujo thing ever. They could've gone for the cool suave villain, like Izaya Orhihara from Durarara!! or Makishima from Psycho-Pass, who you hate to love or vice versa, but instead, he gives off the most homo-erotic vibes in the show. Seriously, I'm not kidding, his whole character reeks of yaoi writing. Ralph is his assistant who wants to ensure Vetti doesn't fail and goes out of his way to help him. But holy crap Vetti's relationship just set off so many red flags, and the same goes for his weird sexual relation with his mother. There's so much content for shipping grounds that it leaves no room for developing a good revolution story. For a show that was supposed to be focused on the revolution aspect, I seriously didn't know what the ACTUAL HELL the writer's intent was for including this. It somewhat makes sense, considering Vetti uses Ralph as his pet boy toy, but why? To this day I don't understand the inclusion of their dynamic in story, and it irks me every time because the scene is so awkwardly included in a show that wants to be classy. Ralph is also an annoyance as well, and thank god Vetti killed him. Trust me it's not that big deal that I spoiled that, you would've wanted him dead from the start anyway.

This is a very trashy first-timers anime, and I'd urge people to check out Legend of the Galactic Heroes instead, even the weaker remake is better than this. I will admit there are elements here that could allow for some good moments, though they never truly reach their full potential. The plot was overshadowed by the character's romance, and their unnecessary relationships as they journey towards self-discovery. This is F-tier Legend of the Galactic Heroes mixed in with some Code Geass, both of which are better options that do the exact same kinds of things this does.