Unpopular Opinion (Ginga version)

[Wolpard]

That's so crazy o3o Maybe it's from him being sorta fun in the Shin Gaiden story.

Actually, what made me wonder it was from his sons' lack of mentioning him during their screen time xD In the links I gave, I talked a bit about that chutora look-alike and the sky in the ending (though I described it poorly, I was trying to get at why it's only Chutora who's hardly visible in the credits, while literally everyone else is clear.)

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I actually prefer the anime GDW's portrayal of the story more than the manga.
I have seen people agree with this a little more now, but before I think a lot didn't. The animation is bad, but I think it's story is good enough to get past it.

Gonna be frank her and take a guess as to Chu being more popular than Aka has more to do with his design than his character. People in the Ginga fandom like scars, Chu has a missing ear, boosting his cool points in the fandom. At least, that's my guess. Aka is definitely my fave of the trio.

And I definitely agree that the GDW anime did better at telling the first two arcs. Definitely cleaned it up a bit and made it much more streamline... still wish we got more arcs, especially since I really like the Monkey arc especially the relationship between Yukimura and Saheiji.

[Wolpard]

The beginning of GNG that follows the humans more is a lot better than the rest of GNG.

My guess is this is unpopular because I know we're all in it for the talking battle dogs, and so am I, but in terms of writing, the beginning is just so much more solid. Im assuming this is the case because Yoshi's publishers pushed him to change what he was writing and he stumbled on it a lot. The later half on GNG has way more characters than it knows what to do with, causing a lot of characters to unfortunately fall flat in personality and get pushed off to the side incredibly easily. I get that they're trying to gather a ton of dogs but the way it was executed is sloppy. NGL before I started getting active in the fandom where Im constantly reminded of characters, I forgot most of the cast a little bit after every time I rewatched the anime or read the manga. Hell, I still do have to look up characters more often than I should whenever someone mentions a name because there are just way too many shoved into your face in such a short amount of time.

And dont get me started on the wolf arc. The concept of it is interesting but theres such a huge tonal shift in the manga and again I dont feel like Yoshi felt very comfortable writing it because he stumbles a lot. I'm glad it wasn't included in the anime, and if it ever were adapted into anime form, I'd hope for revisions to make it work a bit better.

[fantachan]

Brace yourselves.

Kurotora is overrated and I'm not sure why he's alive in TLW.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I feel like the only point to Kurotora's existence is just to be a grumpy old man with nothing to add to the story. Personally I don't think he was that solid of a character in GNG either.

[Lune]

The beginning of GNG that follows the humans more is a lot better than the rest of GNG.

My guess is this is unpopular because I know we're all in it for the talking battle dogs, and so am I, but in terms of writing, the beginning is just so much more solid. Im assuming this is the case because Yoshi's publishers pushed him to change what he was writing and he stumbled on it a lot. The later half on GNG has way more characters than it knows what to do with, causing a lot of characters to unfortunately fall flat in personality and get pushed off to the side incredibly easily. I get that they're trying to gather a ton of dogs but the way it was executed is sloppy. NGL before I started getting active in the fandom where Im constantly reminded of characters, I forgot most of the cast a little bit after every time I rewatched the anime or read the manga. Hell, I still do have to look up characters more often than I should whenever someone mentions a name because there are just way too many shoved into your face in such a short amount of time.

And dont get me started on the wolf arc. The concept of it is interesting but theres such a huge tonal shift in the manga and again I dont feel like Yoshi felt very comfortable writing it because he stumbles a lot. I'm glad it wasn't included in the anime, and if it ever were adapted into anime form, I'd hope for revisions to make it work a bit better.

I have no shame in loving the talking warrior dog army focus of the majority of GNG, but I agree that the arc before Gin leaves home is a lot more solid than people maybe give it credit for. Gin and Daisuke have a great dynamic going on in the early parts of the series and it'd be interesting to see an AU where Gin doesn't leave him behind. No doubt it'd be less formulaic than the recruitment arc, as much as I enjoy seeing the Ohu army grow.

Now that I've properly read the wolf arc as opposed to vaguely following along with it in my Japanese volumes, I have to agree with what you said about it. The concept is interesting and it has some of Yoshi's most striking art and some interesting yet underutilized character designs, but it's much too fast-paced in an already fast-paced series and I found the action disjointed and hard to follow. What it needed most was time to breathe, though I guess you can say that's a problem in other Ginga series as well, namely TLW. On the topic of GNG though...

I prefer the GNG anime over the manga.

Don't get me wrong, the manga is great in its own right! Yoshi's mid-80s-90s artwork is some of his best work in my opinion, and I enjoyed reading the handful of scenes that didn't make it into the anime/the manga version of the Mutsu mini-arc/the bears' dialogue, but it didn't have as much of an impact on me as the anime did. Part of it might be nostalgia talking, but also I think the atmosphere set by the color palette and the soundtrack can't be beat.

[Rals]

Hougen's death in the manga was even more stupid than his anime death
His anime death was really dumb, but my dudes, his manga one just made me go "wow, really?". Like who is this cop who for whatever reason has been tracking down this dumb dog for vengeance?? The anime one was really silly but at least it was sort of in keeping with the tone.

And tbh Ginga in implicitly hilarious because it's a bunch of dogs talking about what it means to be manly and be a real male. Kinda like the Nun'S Priest's Tale. Chickens talking about philosophy? Hilarious. Dogs talking about being real men? Hilarious. Yoshi is secretly a comedy genius and no I will taking criticism on my post at this time.

Also the GDW manga was an absolute mess and the anime was better because it condensed things and stopped at a decent point.
And the anime was just fun. Like yep this is a series about dogs tearing the shit out of each other and being manly and swearing. You get what you see on the tin. Yeah it sucked that there was no George or Jouji or whatever it's generally accepted his name is now but eh

[Shining Sirius]

I'm not proud of this, but despite being annoyed with Orion's gary stu abilities, I sadly enjoyed seeing Gin's journey to being the ultimate gary stu in GNG. Something about Gin's felt more tolerable... maybe it's due to seeing him train from the beginning and seeing him grow throughout his journey ...? He still lost battles from time to time, but everyone's lack of care of him acting like the leader will always be inexcusable from a writing standpoint... just can't help but still kinda like punk Gin.

Admittedly, I thought about this too when ranting about Orion over on the TLW spoiler thread. Haha.
I love Gin to bits in GNG too despite him being the ultimate Gary Stu, I think it's because Gin has a heart and a conscience, unlike Orion. For example; when Gin defeated Kurojaki, he recognised that despite his crimes he was still a father to Chibi/Tesshin. Whereas, Orion, I could picture him saying something along the lines of "this piece of shit doesn't deserve to be a father!" and thrashing him to a pulp in front of everybody. Gin's biggest dick move in GNG was barking at the suicide corps to obey him without question, as for Orion... do we want the short list or the long one? Also, I can't remember Gin gloating and swearing at his enemies when he won a fight. Gin was always prepared to give enemies and even the bear cubs the benefit of the doubt, even Sniper who almost got the whole platoon killed twice. In the end, it took both Ben and Hyena to take him down, Gin still didn't want to kill or maliciously punish him even in GDW.

Also the GDW manga was an absolute mess and the anime was better because it condensed things and stopped at a decent point.

THIS.

[Digsu]

Hougen's death in the manga was even more stupid than his anime death
His anime death was really dumb, but my dudes, his manga one just made me go "wow, really?". Like who is this cop who for whatever reason has been tracking down this dumb dog for vengeance?? The anime one was really silly but at least it was sort of in keeping with the tone.

I agree but I'mma add my two cents to this.

Hougen's death in the anime was weird, yeah, but it did tie in to Weed's "vengeance only begets more vengeance" sermon: it sort of implied that evil will get its dues one way or another thanks to nature or spirits of the dead or Zeus or whatever you want to interpret it as, whereas in the manga, Hougen's reign of terror is ended by a man who's basically vengeance incarnate. The manga essentially throws the moral of the story straight out the window in less than one chapter and nobody bats an eye.

In general I'm one of those people who greatly prefer the anime version of GDW to the manga, at least storywise. But I'll add one more specific thing:

I like how the Koga dogs were handled in the GDW anime
I really like the darker designs of the generic Koga dogs and the non-damaged version of the Elder, as well as the general marshland shrine look of their home in the anime. They obviously had to take a lot of shortcuts because they didn't have the running time to tackle things like their secret underwater hideout or their past war with the Igas, and I think their handled it all beautifully. Even the bizarre offhand remark about Tesshin and his father living in Ohu in the past is a cool bit of fanfic fuel.

[Gingastar]

- Sirius and Orion are the best two Characters in Ginga and Monsoon is one of the best villains. And while the TLW absolutely had writing flaws, pacing flaws, etc, it's easily one of my favorite arcs in Ginga and it's plot and goal (between Sirius and Orion) are interesting.

- Sirius is one of Ginga's most, if not the most, tragic characters. I can't imagine how painful (emotionally and physically) his end must have been. I think Sirius has an incredibly sad death and end to his character arc.

[Wolpard]

- Sirius and Orion are the best two Characters in Ginga and Monsoon is one of the best villains. And while the TLW absolutely had writing flaws, pacing flaws, etc, it's easily one of my favorite arcs in Ginga and it's plot and goal (between Sirius and Orion) are interesting.

- Sirius is one of Ginga's most, if not the most, tragic characters. I can't imagine how painful (emotionally and physically) his end must have been. I think Sirius has an incredibly sad death and end to his character arc.

Big agree on the writing of Orion and Sirius, especially since Ginga tends to be a series where more of the characters are very same-y when it comes to their personality. Especially Gin, who is unfortunately a pretty stereotypical and generic protagonist, but he can sort of get away with it since he is the OG. You can't just rely on making Gin carbon copies with each new generation... and honestly TLW helps a lot when it comes to giving Orion and Sirius more character too, even if its silly.

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Speaking of silly... here's another one:
I actually really like the comic relief Sasuke and Kyoushiro provide.
I know people get kind of annoyed with it, especially with Kyoushiro because a lot of people think his character is "ruined" but I think the brief silliness of the two provides nice relief between the drawn out drama. Plus the two can still be serious at times. Kyou is still a caring hothead and Sasuke is still loyal to the cause and still tries his hardest even though he is a tiny man. They're a married couple please let them have fun.

[Troll Berserker]

Hougen's death in the manga was even more stupid than his anime death
His anime death was really dumb, but my dudes, his manga one just made me go "wow, really?". Like who is this cop who for whatever reason has been tracking down this dumb dog for vengeance?? The anime one was really silly but at least it was sort of in keeping with the tone.

the GDW manga was an absolute mess and the anime was better because it condensed things and stopped at a decent point.

Agreed 100%

Also...

Akame is overrated
He's a Gary Stu and his predecesor (Hakutaka) is the biggest Gary Stu Ginga has ever seen.
I also hate that in later mangas, especially TLW, Akame gets more screentime and recognition than actual leaders. Screw Weed, dear Akame, tell us what we're supposed to do.

[Shining Sirius]

- Sirius and Orion are the best two Characters in Ginga and Monsoon is one of the best villains. And while the TLW absolutely had writing flaws, pacing flaws, etc, it's easily one of my favorite arcs in Ginga and it's plot and goal (between Sirius and Orion) are interesting.

- Sirius is one of Ginga's most, if not the most, tragic characters. I can't imagine how painful (emotionally and physically) his end must have been. I think Sirius has an incredibly sad death and end to his character arc.

THESE, 100%.
- For as much as I practically worship adore Sirius and despise Orion, I love the whole dynamic that they've brought to the series. We saw a little bit of internal conflict during GDW, but it's pretty much Plot A all throughout TLW and I really like that Yoshi has been bold enough to include it in this instalment.

- I'd even go so far as to say that Sirius has the saddest death in the entire Ginga universe. I'm not much of a crier when it comes to fiction, but Sirius' entire situation is just terribly tragic. He is treated like an idiotic burden by his family and friends just because he doesn't want to fight and makes it his personal goal to make peace, essentially ending the 20+ year-long war between the dogs and the bears. He does everything he possibly can to stop the fighting and still dies a heartbroken young man when his self-appointed charge, and friend, is murdered by his kin and supposedly close friends who just completely ignore him as he's lying on the ground dying, screaming for them to stop. It's as weighted as a Shakespearean tragedy.

[Moth-chan]

Weed did nothing wrong to Jerome in the Hougen arc.(manga version)

[Wolpard]

Weed did nothing wrong to Jerome in the Hougen arc.(manga version)

Heck, I'd even argue its the same in the anime. Its not like Weed continuously chases him off, Jerome just never comes back and dies off before he can be let back into the pack formally.

[Dragon]

Weed did nothing wrong to Jerome in the Hougen arc.(manga version)

Y'know since Jerome is a pro assassin, he could've broken their jaws or ripped out their tongues instead of their throats. Then they couldn't blab the info they found out once they went back.

[Digsu]

Weed did nothing wrong to Jerome in the Hougen arc.(manga version)

Y'know since Jerome is a pro assassin, he could've broken their jaws or ripped out their tongues instead of their throats. Then they couldn't blab the info they found out once they went back.

I realize this is probably a matter of opinion, but I think that would have been far crueler and more painful than a quick death.

[Atha]

Weed did nothing wrong to Jerome in the Hougen arc.(manga version)

Y'know since Jerome is a pro assassin, he could've broken their jaws or ripped out their tongues instead of their throats. Then they couldn't blab the info they found out once they went back.

I realize this is probably a matter of opinion, but I think that would have been far crueler and more painful than a quick death.

Yeah like... how would they drink or eat?

[Dragon]

Weed did nothing wrong to Jerome in the Hougen arc.(manga version)

Y'know since Jerome is a pro assassin, he could've broken their jaws or ripped out their tongues instead of their throats. Then they couldn't blab the info they found out once they went back.

I realize this is probably a matter of opinion, but I think that would have been far crueler and more painful than a quick death.

Yeah like... how would they drink or eat?

You're both 100% correct and I think so too, but according to Weed, as long as they're alive, it's okay! Genba can have severe head trauma, not even being himself anymore forever, but because he's alive it's okay to do and the Ohu army is good for doing so.
All in the laws of supreme commander Weed

[Kasi]

I wonder if it's because Weed developed his values so young he just doesn't understand yet there are things worse than death.

[Dragon]

I wonder if it's because Weed developed his values so young he just doesn't understand yet there are things worse than death.

I'd like to hope Yoshi just has some strange liking for youthful thinking, that these things that clearly aren't okay are suddenly okay cause they're not death and a child said so.
I mean Genba isn't even the only victim. Masamune, Kamakiri, those bullies who messed with Kotetsu (he broke one of their jaws), Lector (who I think was left pretty toothless in the end of the fight)... am I missing more victims who were 'spared' to be seen as good guys (under Ohu's supervision I mean)?

[Shining Sirius]

I prefer how Chutora was portrayed in Journey of Condolences/Chomon no Tabi and the fan-made Finnish musical.

I like that he's given a personality beyond 'I'm the third Kai brother. I'm different because I'm a Chutora Kai Ken and I'm missing an ear.'. I really liked seeing him having fun with Smith and cracking jokes. I personally enjoy the idea that he's the fun-loving brother.