Favorites: Smith, Kai bros, Hakuro, Mutsu generals, Jinnai and Kirikaze, Gin, Riki, Wilson, Moss (he's so sweet though!), John, Ben, Cross (the only female!), Kurojaki, and Shinji (that annoying kid in the beginning with the buck teeth). So pretty much them all.
Least Favorites: I don't really dislike any characters, but I feel like Benizakura, Bemu, Terry, Oliver, Gin's wimpy siblings, Bill, and Jaguar could have had WAY more involvement.
Riki (Top fave, best boy)
Akame (Best boy, ninja edition)
Ben (Used to be way higher when I first saw the GNG anime but in reading the mangas, theres so many more characters I see more of and love)
Oliver (So cute!)
And my least favorite:
Smith (Hes hilarious And all but would be the kind of guy Id hate being around irl)
Sniper (His total lack of honor and constant bootlicking just for an ounce of power disgusts me)
I am including unprompted explanations, as I have nothing better to do with my time. I’ve also only watched the anime, so my explanations might make zero sense from the manga perspective!
favorites:
Smith, for really no reason other than I enjoy periphery characters like him. Even though he wasn’t incredibly complex, he was mostly a tone adjuster and tool with which Gin was characterized, there’s something oddly ‘realistic’ with his inclusion in the story. I think I admire the fact that he isn’t a leader, he isn’t particularly strong or brave, but he’s a loyal friend. Maybe a little bit of a joker too.
John, he’s got a cool character design and I love gsheps. I also enjoy a good foil. His introduction as the first dog Gin meets in the anime was intelligent, it highlighted traits in Gin that were hard to define without giving him another dog to talk to. I suppose that’s the point of foils…
least favorites:
Sniper, he could’ve been a more interesting character if his motivations were more realistic… and he was more intelligent. While a hunger for power is certainly something real people experience, I cannot understand Sniper’s impatience. He was second-in-line, from my understanding. Why couldn’t he have waited for Riki to die and ascend without incident? I suppose Gin was a potential threat, but Riki had initially denied relation and clearly Sniper was still the preferred choice (Riki chose him for a reason). Really, Sniper’s lashing out made his situation far worse than it had been initially, as it gave Gin an opportunity to prove himself. Additionally, his consistent failures made him never really feel like a threat to Gin & Co. I know he was more just a baddy meant to complicate the journey to defeat Akakabuto, but the space he occupied in the story could’ve been used more interestingly if given just a little bit more time to marinate. Then again, if Sniper’s motivations had been too “three dimensional,” a lot of time would need to be spent exploring themes that GNG simply did not have time to. I want to like Sniper, classic evil-man-and-henchman duos scratch an itch for me, but I was just frustrated with him. Maybe the manga is better.