Ginga character ages

[Digsu]

Exactly what it says in the title: Ginga dogs (and a couple wolves) and their canon ages.

I'm mostly basing these on instances where the narration clearly states "x was this old" or "that happened so and so many years ago, when I was z old", because the timeline in Ginga is... not very consistent. You can try calculating the age yourself if you want, eg. "if this character is 15 in GDW, he would have been y old in GNG", but there's no way of telling if that's actually the canon answer due to the aforementioned flexible timeline - eg. GDW takes place either 12 or 15 years after GNG depending on which chapter you believe, and if you can figure out exactly how much time passes between the beginning and end of GDW then, frankly, you're waaaaayyy ahead of me.

I also chose not to list characters whose births we've seen, but who haven't had their ages confirmed, like Gin. This, too, is mostly because of the "ambiguous timeline" issue (though that's just me, feel free to add these if you disagree).

The only exceptions are Unsai and Kawasemi who were 3 and 0,5-1 years old, respectively, in the GNG era, because I couldn't find any direct reference to their ages at all.

I probably missed some so feel free to add any that are missing from the list!

edit: In hindsight just making an alphabetic list probably wasn't the best way of organizing it so I broke it down into the separate series. The characters are listed under the series they were introduced in, regardless of when their age was revealed.

GNG:
Aka: 4 years (GNG)
Akatora, Chutora, Kurotora: 4 years (GNG)
Benizakura: 10 years (GNG) or 12 years (Gaiden)
Don: 3 years (GNG)
Cross: 8 years (GNG)
Juga: Over 200 years (GNG)
Kisaragi: 16 years (GDWO)
Madara: 8 years (GNG)
Reima: Around 10,5 years (GNG)
Riki: 8 years(GNG)
Shiro: 4 years (start of GDR)
Smith: 15 years (start of GDW)

GDW:
GB: 7 years (GDW, Hybrids arc)
Hiro: 2,5 years (GDW, Hougen arc)
Hougen and Genba: Around 4 years (GDW, Hougen arc)
Jerome: At least 9 years (GDW, Kaibutsu arc)
Kaibutsu: 8 years (GDW, Kaibutsu arc)
Koga Elder: 31 years (TLW) (no, that's not a typo)
Kyoshiro: 1 year (GDW, Hougen arc)
Kyoshiro's ninja followers: Under 1 year (GDW, Hougen arc)
Lydia: 6 years (TLW)
Rocket, Jet, Missile: 5-6 years (GDW, Hougen arc)
Teru: Less than 6 months (GDW, Hougen arc)
Weed, Joe, Yukimura: 6 months (start of GDW)

GDWO:
Kawasemi: Around 13-17 years (GDWO)
Kenshin: 12 years (TLW)
Kojuurou: "Equivalent to an 80-year-old human" (GDWO)
Masamune: 7 years (GDWO)
Orion, Sirius, Rigel, Bella, Yamabiko, Bon, Jerome and Lydia's pups: Around 6 months (GDWO)*
Unsai: Around 16-19 years (GDWO)

*Jerome and Lydia's pups were retconned into being six months older than the Star Siblings in TLW

[Spirit Tree]

Hey Digsu. I’ve been thinking real hard about this. I’ve always thought that GDW takes place about 10 years after GNG. I don’t really think it’s more than that.

I know Smith was 15 years old when he died in GDW, which makes me think that he was 5-6 years old during GNG. Gin was about a year old by the end of GNG, making me think that he was about 11 at the start of GDW. And same thing that I think with other GNG characters that made their way to GDW.

So I really think that about 10 years have passed in between GNG and GDW. But that’s just my belief or my way of seeing it.

Also, not sure why Jerome and Lydia’s pups are retconned into being 6 months older than the Star Siblings when they are clearly born a few days after the Star Siblings were born at the end of GDW. It’s perplexing to me.... and just awfully unnecessary and badly illogical. I don’t know what Yoshi was thinking right there.

As for how much time passes between the start and end of GDW, I think it’s either about over a year or close to 1 1/2 years.

Any thoughts?

[Digsu]

Hey Digsu. I’ve been thinking real hard about this. I’ve always thought that GDW takes place about 10 years after GNG. I don’t really think it’s more than that.

I know Smith was 15 years old when he died in GDW, which makes me think that he was 5-6 years old during GNG. Gin was about a year old by the end of GNG, making me think that he was about 11 at the start of GDW. And same thing that I think with other GNG characters that made their way to GDW.

So I really think that about 10 years have passed in between GNG and GDW. But that’s just my belief or my way of seeing it.

Also, not sure why Jerome and Lydia’s pups are retconned into being 6 months older than the Star Siblings when they are clearly born a few days after the Star Siblings were born at the end of GDW. It’s perplexing to me.... and just awfully unnecessary and badly illogical. I don’t know what Yoshi was thinking right there.

As for how much time passes between the start and end of GDW, I think it’s either about over a year or close to 1 1/2 years.

Any thoughts?

I agree it makes sense for GDW to happen around ten years after GNG. The problem is that we don't know what the actual, canon timeline is - like I said in the first post, in GDW volume 1 it's said it's been 12 years since Akakabuto's defeat, while in volume 2 it's said it's been 15 years. So while it makes sense to assume that, say, Gin is 11 at the start of GDW, since we have no idea how old he's actually supposed to be it's impossible to say what his canonical age is.

Same goes for how much time passes between the start and end of GDW, I agree it's about 1,5 years, but again the actual timeline given in the manga is all over the place so it's impossible to say how much time passed in canon. I'm just gonna copy-paste this old list I made of all the various issues with the timeline given in GDW:

SPOILER

-in volume 2, the narration states that it was late September when Weed and GB first arrived in Ohu.
-in volume 21 Hidetoshi tells Sudou that they exterminated the wild dogs of Futago Pass in December of the previous year.
-the monkey arc is implied to take place very shortly after the Hougen arc, which ended when winter was nearly over. The monkey arc thus presumably takes place in spring.
-volume 36, Chako says it'd been about three months since she first met Sasuke.
-also in volume 40, Weed claims it's been a year since Sakura's death. Going by the first two points, this would mean that it's September or December which doesn't even make any sense.
-in volume 52, Joe claims he'd heard about Yukimura's death the previous year. Even though by all logic Yukimura had died in the spring of that year.
-in volume 60, it's said that Weed and Koyuki's pups were born two months after the end of the hybrids arc... even though Koyuki was already pregnant by then.This would mean that either canine pregnancy in Ginga is longer than in real life or Weed somehow managed to knock Koyuki up while the whole thing with the hybrids was still going on.

Bonus: GDWO manages to make the GDW timeline even more confusing.

SPOILER

Early GDWO takes place in February. This can be figured out from the fact that Kuranosuke and Izou's other children were ten months old when they were killed, and it's said that they would have been a year old in April.

In GDWO vol 7, Mateus says that he kicked the Koga dogs out of their home one year ago. Even if we assume enough time has passed between here and Kuranosuke's death for it to be March or even April, which is unlikely, this would mean that Mateus invaded Koga around the time the monkey arc took place... which makes absolutely no sense since the Elder and Kyoshiro's pup followers were still training there.

So, in short: saying "GDW takes place ten years after GNG" or "GDW takes place over 1,5 years" is a perfectly fine and sensible headcanon, but unfortunately the official timeline is such a mess that it's impossible to say what the actual canon is.

[methpring]

-also in volume 40, Weed claims it's been a year since Sakura's death. Going by the first two points, this would mean that it's September or December which doesn't even make any sense.

In volume 4, when Sasuke meets Gin, John and Akame, he tells them that Sakura died before summer, and that Weed was six months old when that hapened.

[Digsu]

-also in volume 40, Weed claims it's been a year since Sakura's death. Going by the first two points, this would mean that it's September or December which doesn't even make any sense.

In volume 4, when Sasuke meets Gin, John and Akame, he tells them that Sakura died before summer, and that Weed was six months old when that hapened.

Okay, that would explain how it can be "a year after Sakura's death" when it's spring/summer, but it also kind of raises other questions. Namely, the fact that if Sakura died "before summer" (I'm guessing that'd be around April or May), it somehow took Weed and GB four to seven months to get to Ohu.

[Atha]

Hmm wonder if there's a list of the current ages too.

[methpring]

-also in volume 40, Weed claims it's been a year since Sakura's death. Going by the first two points, this would mean that it's September or December which doesn't even make any sense.

In volume 4, when Sasuke meets Gin, John and Akame, he tells them that Sakura died before summer, and that Weed was six months old when that hapened.

Okay, that would explain how it can be "a year after Sakura's death" when it's spring/summer, but it also kind of raises other questions. Namely, the fact that if Sakura died "before summer" (I'm guessing that'd be around April or May), it somehow took Weed and GB four to seven months to get to Ohu.

I always assumed that they traveled very slowly, like walked most of the time instead of running.

The time it takes to run around Japan has decreased much as the story progressed. In GNG, it took 3 months to gather dogs, and in TLW the army is ready about in few days.

[Spirit Tree]

Hey Digsu. I’ve been thinking real hard about this. I’ve always thought that GDW takes place about 10 years after GNG. I don’t really think it’s more than that.

I know Smith was 15 years old when he died in GDW, which makes me think that he was 5-6 years old during GNG. Gin was about a year old by the end of GNG, making me think that he was about 11 at the start of GDW. And same thing that I think with other GNG characters that made their way to GDW.

So I really think that about 10 years have passed in between GNG and GDW. But that’s just my belief or my way of seeing it.

Also, not sure why Jerome and Lydia’s pups are retconned into being 6 months older than the Star Siblings when they are clearly born a few days after the Star Siblings were born at the end of GDW. It’s perplexing to me.... and just awfully unnecessary and badly illogical. I don’t know what Yoshi was thinking right there.

As for how much time passes between the start and end of GDW, I think it’s either about over a year or close to 1 1/2 years.

Any thoughts?

I agree it makes sense for GDW to happen around ten years after GNG. The problem is that we don't know what the actual, canon timeline is - like I said in the first post, in GDW volume 1 it's said it's been 12 years since Akakabuto's defeat, while in volume 2 it's said it's been 15 years. So while it makes sense to assume that, say, Gin is 11 at the start of GDW, since we have no idea how old he's actually supposed to be it's impossible to say what his canonical age is.

Same goes for how much time passes between the start and end of GDW, I agree it's about 1,5 years, but again the actual timeline given in the manga is all over the place so it's impossible to say how much time passed in canon. I'm just gonna copy-paste this old list I made of all the various issues with the timeline given in GDW:

SPOILER

-in volume 2, the narration states that it was late September when Weed and GB first arrived in Ohu.
-in volume 21 Hidetoshi tells Sudou that they exterminated the wild dogs of Futago Pass in December of the previous year.
-the monkey arc is implied to take place very shortly after the Hougen arc, which ended when winter was nearly over. The monkey arc thus presumably takes place in spring.
-volume 36, Chako says it'd been about three months since she first met Sasuke.
-also in volume 40, Weed claims it's been a year since Sakura's death. Going by the first two points, this would mean that it's September or December which doesn't even make any sense.
-in volume 52, Joe claims he'd heard about Yukimura's death the previous year. Even though by all logic Yukimura had died in the spring of that year.
-in volume 60, it's said that Weed and Koyuki's pups were born two months after the end of the hybrids arc... even though Koyuki was already pregnant by then.This would mean that either canine pregnancy in Ginga is longer than in real life or Weed somehow managed to knock Koyuki up while the whole thing with the hybrids was still going on.

Bonus: GDWO manages to make the GDW timeline even more confusing.

SPOILER

Early GDWO takes place in February. This can be figured out from the fact that Kuranosuke and Izou's other children were ten months old when they were killed, and it's said that they would have been a year old in April.

In GDWO vol 7, Mateus says that he kicked the Koga dogs out of their home one year ago. Even if we assume enough time has passed between here and Kuranosuke's death for it to be March or even April, which is unlikely, this would mean that Mateus invaded Koga around the time the monkey arc took place... which makes absolutely no sense since the Elder and Kyoshiro's pup followers were still training there.

So, in short: saying "GDW takes place ten years after GNG" or "GDW takes place over 1,5 years" is a perfectly fine and sensible headcanon, but unfortunately the official timeline is such a mess that it's impossible to say what the actual canon is.

I also think about when Weed was 6 months old and when exactly he was born. I thought he was 6 months old at around autumn or close to it. And when Weed and GB arrived in Ou, wasn't it close to winter? Because when they were fighting Kaibutsu with Jerome and other dogs, there was snow when they defeated him. So I would think that Weed and GB probably did arrive in Ou in late September or a little bit more past that.

I think there's no doubt that the monkey arc takes place in late winter or somewhere around that time. Weed should have been close to a year old at that time.

If it was 3 months since Chako first met Sasuke, then that would work fine. It probably has been that long.

I'm not sure quite sure how long it would have been since Sakura died at that point, though. I've been guessing that she died at around fall or late summer. But I have no idea whatsoever.

However, I am absolutely perplexed about how could Joe say that Yukimura died a year ago when he clearly did not die that long ago. That's just a messed up part on Yoshi's behalf.

But I can say that Koyuki giving birth to Weed's children two months after the Hybrid Bear's defeat can make sense to me because I thought Weed and Koyuki did you-know-what during the Hybrid arc after Weed reunited with Koyuki in the Northern Alps after the Russian army arc. Same thing with Jerome and Lydia. Only difference is that I thought they did you-know-what during their "honeymoon" when they were traveling to the Alps to find Weed. Their children were born around the same time as the birth of Weed's children. And like I said, they are supposed to be born after Weed's children.

Overall, it sucks terribly that Yoshi was making the Ginga timeline go all topsy-turvy. And it sucks so badly that we can only imagine or figure out correctly on how the Ginga timeline is built in order for the characters' ages to make sense. But like you said, it's almost impossible to know the actual canon of the timeline is because it is such a large mess.

[Gingaddict]

I think it's best not to think about the age of the characters as I'm sure they're inconsistent no matter what way we look at it. Personally I think they are just like the Simpsons and Family Guy where only certain characters age but others just don't! lol