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Dogs, blood and manly tears
12 years ago
First of all, sorry for the massive wall of text, this got a bit longer than I expected! >.>
So, a couple months ago, I randomly heard about some old anime called "Ginga Nagareboshi Gin", which apparently was big in some European countries (but not so much in Japan itself). All I heard about it is that it was about dogs. I happen to like dogs, and I also happen to like anime, so naturally my interest was piqued. Eventually, I did a little search and found that there was also a sequel called "Ginga Densetsu Weed". Not long after that I found fansubs for both. I finished watching them a couple days ago, and here are my respective, spoiler-free impressions-slash-reviews:
Ginga Nagareboshi Gin:
(Silver Fang, Shooting Star Gin)
An 80's anime through and through. It's 21 episodes long, and it basically chronicles the adventures of a young Akita Inu dog called Gin (the G is pronounced as in the word "give") as he travels all over Japan recruiting other dogs to fight a killer bear that's terrorizing his home land. There's a lot of characters, and almost all of them are proud warrior types with a strong honor code that puts massive emphasis on undying loyalty among allies/friends. There's lots of violent deaths, heroic sacrifices, blood, dramatic yelling of characters' names, more blood, rivers of manly tears being shed, and yet more blood. Did I mention the blood yet? Yep. This is clearly an anime from that ancient era that also gave us real tearjerkers such as Kerokko Demetan, Honeybee Hutch or Sandy Belle. Except with dogs, and bucketloads of blood.
However, it wasn't without its flaws... Putting the decidedly aged 80's-style animation and character design aside, there are some issues that can get in the way of enjoying the show. First and foremost is a somewhat jarring and sudden change in focus and overall plot direction that occurs in the 7th episode. Up until that point, the focus was on the human side -mainly an old hunter and his grandson- and how they both train Gin to be a bear-hunting dog. Things were mostly on the realistic side, with the dogs behaving like dogs (as in not being capable of speech, for one). Then an important plot point occurs in episode 7, and the human characters are pretty much dropped from the story. The focus shifts entirely to Gin and the other dogs, and suddenly we can hear their thoughts, and they can even communicate with each other in perfect Japanese! (well, sure, it's a translation convention for the sake of the viewer, but still!). The arguably realistic world built on the first 6 episodes suddenly becomes that much less realistic, as it's suddenly revealed that dogs possess human-like intelligence, and are even capable of impossible feats such as leaping across ridiculously wide gorges or -eventually- moving as fast as lightning. Once a pack of ninja dogs is introduced (along with all the ninja tropes you'd expect), you know the realism of the first six episodes is simply gone for good. Now, don't get me wrong: it's not that I can't handle the fantasy elements (eventually I just accepted them); it's just that, in my opinion, they were introduced so abruptly it kind of gave me whiplash. It was almost like I suddenly started watching a completely different show!
The other issue is... the plot holes. From about the half point onwards, it starts to become painfully clear that the show runners had started to condense events and even seemingly skip entire scenes, which left a few things unexplained and other such stuff. It was at this point that I realized the show was based on a manga, and after a little research I found out that there were indeed quite a few scenes in the original manga that were simply omitted in the anime, and those omissions created the plot holes that had left me confused. My guess is that the show was originally intended to last longer, but had to be cut short for whatever reason (most likely low ratings), so the show runners began to hastily wrap things up as fast as they could. That was quite unfortunate.
So, all in all, I liked it, but I thought it could have been much, much better had they handled the transition between episodes 6 and 7 better -something that I believe was handled much more successfully in the manga, might I add- and had they not condensed the second half so much. Would I recommend it? Well, I dunno... These flaws I've just explained, combined with the aged art and animation, conspire against the enjoyment of the show. If you ask me, I'd say watch the sequel first. And speaking of which...
Ginga Densetsu Weed:
(Silver Fang Legend, Weed)
Produced in the year 2005, 26 episodes. Being a much more modern production, this anime is much, much easier on the eyes. The plot, which adapts the first two arcs of the corresponding manga, is much more cohesive and coherent, telling a whole self-contained story without the issues I mentioned in GNG. That is, no jarring focus shifts and no plot holes. As a result, I liked this one much better than its predecessor! Yes, I know a lot of stuff was changed from the source material, but I'm judging it on its own merits. It is, after all, an adaptation, with all that means. And, at least in my opinion, it was a good adaptation, and that's why I consider this show the perfect entry point for anyone interested in checking out the Ginga world.
The story takes place about a decade after the events of GNG, and stars Gin's son, Weed. Because of certain circumstances, he never met his father. Once his mother succumbs to illness, the young Weed decides to go in search of his father Gin, having adventures and making friends along the way. Little does he know that his father's home land (that he fought so hard for in GNG) is currently being torn apart by an unspeakable horror... As in the original series, there's no shortage of blood, deaths, tearjerker moments, etc. Gotta say, some scenes really had me on the verge of tears, and I'm not kidding! I mean, man, these poor dogs just can't catch a break. I swear, it's like they can only go from bad to worse!
Now, a big part of the reason I think it's best to start with this anime first (as opposed to starting with GNG) is because the changes made to the source material were focused on making the story as self-contained and independent from its predecessor as possible, and in my opinion it actually works! You don't need to watch GNG first to understand GDW, at all. A flashback on episode one pretty much tells you everything you need to know. There are many returning characters, yes, but none needs any prior knowledge about them to understand what's going on. Now, if you DO watch GNG first, well, then one of the first things you'll notice in GDW is the complete absence of the human characters from GNG. Only the old hunter who owned Gin is briefly shown in a flashback on episode one, but that's it. The other named human characters from GNG (mainly the hunters's grandson and a different hunter who was a rival of sorts) are gone without a trace in this adaptation. This wasn't the case in the manga, where those characters continued to make relatively meaningful appearances every now and then. As a result of these changes, GDW feels different than GNG, kind of like if the two shows belonged on different continuities, sort of. Actually, I believe a few changes are an improvement over the original manga, such as Rocket's character arc, which in my opinion was handled a lot better in this animated adaptation. Purists will rage for sure, but in my opinion the changes contribute to make the story feel a lot more focused... at the cost of maybe feeling like an alternate continuity of sorts if compared to the original 80's series, but that only matters if you've seen GNG first. And that's why I believe it's better to start with this one first, and then, if -and only if- you feel like learning more about the origins of the legacy characters, watch GNG afterwards. However, if you do so, be mindful of all the things I explained in the above paragraphs.
The other part of the reason is because the story here is simply more interesting than the story in GNG, probably because of the antagonists. If you ask me, GDW's villains are much more interesting than GNG's rampaging killer bear. But that's just me.
Random comments before I finish this post:
-These dogs seem to have a chronic inability to close their mouths. 99% of the time their mouths are just hanging open, even when it's cold!
-Spinning drill bite attack thing. It's just so silly. All the dogs use it all the time, especially in GNG, and it looks so silly there's just no way I could ever take it seriously.
-GDW features what could very well be the vilest, cruelest, most heartless villain I've ever seen in media, ever: Hougen. He's... not a very nice fellow, I'll tell you that.
-Both shows only adapt the first couple of arcs from their respective manga counterparts. The manga itself is an incredibly long long runner, with a combined total of about ninety 200-page tomes released and it's still ongoing! It's crazy! And humbling.
-We established that both animated adaptations are full of blood and violent deaths. Can you believe the original manga is even more violent and graphic? Because it is. So very much.
-Weed is pretty much Jesus in dog form. His father Gin has much of that too, but Weed somehow out-Jesus' him!
-What's with Smith's voice in GNG? Dude sounds like a girl!
-Ninja dogs. No, seriously, how do they work?
-My favorite character? Weed. After that, it's kind of a three-way tie between Gin, John and Jerome.
tl;dr:
Ginga Densetsu Weed is a good dog-based anime. I enjoyed it, but it needs more love. Give it a try. You might like it too.
So, a couple months ago, I randomly heard about some old anime called "Ginga Nagareboshi Gin", which apparently was big in some European countries (but not so much in Japan itself). All I heard about it is that it was about dogs. I happen to like dogs, and I also happen to like anime, so naturally my interest was piqued. Eventually, I did a little search and found that there was also a sequel called "Ginga Densetsu Weed". Not long after that I found fansubs for both. I finished watching them a couple days ago, and here are my respective, spoiler-free impressions-slash-reviews:
Ginga Nagareboshi Gin:
(Silver Fang, Shooting Star Gin)
An 80's anime through and through. It's 21 episodes long, and it basically chronicles the adventures of a young Akita Inu dog called Gin (the G is pronounced as in the word "give") as he travels all over Japan recruiting other dogs to fight a killer bear that's terrorizing his home land. There's a lot of characters, and almost all of them are proud warrior types with a strong honor code that puts massive emphasis on undying loyalty among allies/friends. There's lots of violent deaths, heroic sacrifices, blood, dramatic yelling of characters' names, more blood, rivers of manly tears being shed, and yet more blood. Did I mention the blood yet? Yep. This is clearly an anime from that ancient era that also gave us real tearjerkers such as Kerokko Demetan, Honeybee Hutch or Sandy Belle. Except with dogs, and bucketloads of blood.
However, it wasn't without its flaws... Putting the decidedly aged 80's-style animation and character design aside, there are some issues that can get in the way of enjoying the show. First and foremost is a somewhat jarring and sudden change in focus and overall plot direction that occurs in the 7th episode. Up until that point, the focus was on the human side -mainly an old hunter and his grandson- and how they both train Gin to be a bear-hunting dog. Things were mostly on the realistic side, with the dogs behaving like dogs (as in not being capable of speech, for one). Then an important plot point occurs in episode 7, and the human characters are pretty much dropped from the story. The focus shifts entirely to Gin and the other dogs, and suddenly we can hear their thoughts, and they can even communicate with each other in perfect Japanese! (well, sure, it's a translation convention for the sake of the viewer, but still!). The arguably realistic world built on the first 6 episodes suddenly becomes that much less realistic, as it's suddenly revealed that dogs possess human-like intelligence, and are even capable of impossible feats such as leaping across ridiculously wide gorges or -eventually- moving as fast as lightning. Once a pack of ninja dogs is introduced (along with all the ninja tropes you'd expect), you know the realism of the first six episodes is simply gone for good. Now, don't get me wrong: it's not that I can't handle the fantasy elements (eventually I just accepted them); it's just that, in my opinion, they were introduced so abruptly it kind of gave me whiplash. It was almost like I suddenly started watching a completely different show!
The other issue is... the plot holes. From about the half point onwards, it starts to become painfully clear that the show runners had started to condense events and even seemingly skip entire scenes, which left a few things unexplained and other such stuff. It was at this point that I realized the show was based on a manga, and after a little research I found out that there were indeed quite a few scenes in the original manga that were simply omitted in the anime, and those omissions created the plot holes that had left me confused. My guess is that the show was originally intended to last longer, but had to be cut short for whatever reason (most likely low ratings), so the show runners began to hastily wrap things up as fast as they could. That was quite unfortunate.
So, all in all, I liked it, but I thought it could have been much, much better had they handled the transition between episodes 6 and 7 better -something that I believe was handled much more successfully in the manga, might I add- and had they not condensed the second half so much. Would I recommend it? Well, I dunno... These flaws I've just explained, combined with the aged art and animation, conspire against the enjoyment of the show. If you ask me, I'd say watch the sequel first. And speaking of which...
Ginga Densetsu Weed:
(Silver Fang Legend, Weed)
Produced in the year 2005, 26 episodes. Being a much more modern production, this anime is much, much easier on the eyes. The plot, which adapts the first two arcs of the corresponding manga, is much more cohesive and coherent, telling a whole self-contained story without the issues I mentioned in GNG. That is, no jarring focus shifts and no plot holes. As a result, I liked this one much better than its predecessor! Yes, I know a lot of stuff was changed from the source material, but I'm judging it on its own merits. It is, after all, an adaptation, with all that means. And, at least in my opinion, it was a good adaptation, and that's why I consider this show the perfect entry point for anyone interested in checking out the Ginga world.
The story takes place about a decade after the events of GNG, and stars Gin's son, Weed. Because of certain circumstances, he never met his father. Once his mother succumbs to illness, the young Weed decides to go in search of his father Gin, having adventures and making friends along the way. Little does he know that his father's home land (that he fought so hard for in GNG) is currently being torn apart by an unspeakable horror... As in the original series, there's no shortage of blood, deaths, tearjerker moments, etc. Gotta say, some scenes really had me on the verge of tears, and I'm not kidding! I mean, man, these poor dogs just can't catch a break. I swear, it's like they can only go from bad to worse!
Now, a big part of the reason I think it's best to start with this anime first (as opposed to starting with GNG) is because the changes made to the source material were focused on making the story as self-contained and independent from its predecessor as possible, and in my opinion it actually works! You don't need to watch GNG first to understand GDW, at all. A flashback on episode one pretty much tells you everything you need to know. There are many returning characters, yes, but none needs any prior knowledge about them to understand what's going on. Now, if you DO watch GNG first, well, then one of the first things you'll notice in GDW is the complete absence of the human characters from GNG. Only the old hunter who owned Gin is briefly shown in a flashback on episode one, but that's it. The other named human characters from GNG (mainly the hunters's grandson and a different hunter who was a rival of sorts) are gone without a trace in this adaptation. This wasn't the case in the manga, where those characters continued to make relatively meaningful appearances every now and then. As a result of these changes, GDW feels different than GNG, kind of like if the two shows belonged on different continuities, sort of. Actually, I believe a few changes are an improvement over the original manga, such as Rocket's character arc, which in my opinion was handled a lot better in this animated adaptation. Purists will rage for sure, but in my opinion the changes contribute to make the story feel a lot more focused... at the cost of maybe feeling like an alternate continuity of sorts if compared to the original 80's series, but that only matters if you've seen GNG first. And that's why I believe it's better to start with this one first, and then, if -and only if- you feel like learning more about the origins of the legacy characters, watch GNG afterwards. However, if you do so, be mindful of all the things I explained in the above paragraphs.
The other part of the reason is because the story here is simply more interesting than the story in GNG, probably because of the antagonists. If you ask me, GDW's villains are much more interesting than GNG's rampaging killer bear. But that's just me.
Random comments before I finish this post:
-These dogs seem to have a chronic inability to close their mouths. 99% of the time their mouths are just hanging open, even when it's cold!
-Spinning drill bite attack thing. It's just so silly. All the dogs use it all the time, especially in GNG, and it looks so silly there's just no way I could ever take it seriously.
-GDW features what could very well be the vilest, cruelest, most heartless villain I've ever seen in media, ever: Hougen. He's... not a very nice fellow, I'll tell you that.
-Both shows only adapt the first couple of arcs from their respective manga counterparts. The manga itself is an incredibly long long runner, with a combined total of about ninety 200-page tomes released and it's still ongoing! It's crazy! And humbling.
-We established that both animated adaptations are full of blood and violent deaths. Can you believe the original manga is even more violent and graphic? Because it is. So very much.
-Weed is pretty much Jesus in dog form. His father Gin has much of that too, but Weed somehow out-Jesus' him!
-What's with Smith's voice in GNG? Dude sounds like a girl!
-Ninja dogs. No, seriously, how do they work?
-My favorite character? Weed. After that, it's kind of a three-way tie between Gin, John and Jerome.
tl;dr:
Ginga Densetsu Weed is a good dog-based anime. I enjoyed it, but it needs more love. Give it a try. You might like it too.
dlpeattie
~dlpeattie
I have heard of these anime shows but never got around to watching it. So much stuff to watch. Heh
estudiocomik
~estudiocomik
http://youtu.be/VI3i0Ub8_Xg
