Thought on Hougen and Viktor

[rebina]

I kinda think that both Hougen and Viktor have the same personality as to how they always use their subordinates as shields and where they run away whenever they feel like they are not gonna win? This is just my thought but anyone agrees?

[Phantom Riki]

I always thought Hougen was by far the best villain in ginga and therefore better than Viktor.

[MasterOfCider]

I don't think they have the same personality per se, but they are both very opportunistic. I always saw Viktor as cold, calculating, and cowardly. He didn't care for anyone aside for his goals and was very intelligent in how he went about the takeover in Hokkaido along with the undermining of Lydia and Maxim. He never wanted to fight the Ohu leaders (Gin, Weed, Akame) head on, because he knew he would lose. On the other side of it, Hougen was very charismatic and humorous but arrogant to a fault. He could get soldiers to follow him based on his way of talking. He schmoozed Rocket as well as his siblings, some of the new recruits, and eased Kamakiri into his rank before, during, and after the duel of deputies. He also wasn't a guy afraid to show some emotion. He would laugh, care about his brother, and reconsider his actions. He didn't always fight, but not because he was afraid, but because he thought he was too good to do so. The only ones who could stand against him were Gin and Weed. Hougen has more layers to him, and is far more adaptable. He's more enjoyable of a villain, but could arguably be seen as less successful as he wasn't recruiting highly trained soldiers.

[Dragon]

On the outside, I can see how they can seem similar.
Both are despicable leaders, but their minions can really show a difference. They both use hostages, run from battle if they're losing, and have no care at all for women or children or even their own soldiers' well-being. They use their soldiers as chess pieces, but while Hougen's minions were feared into the pawn role they are in, Viktor's men willingly accepts the role as pawns to be used.

I feel like Hougen does what he wants because he can since he's big and strong. He had to survive by cannibalism but enjoyed pitting dogs against each other for entertainment. He was evil and he knew it and accepted it. He recruited cowards and strong dogs, not caring if they'd be loyal or not, just as long it's another number to look powerful. When he runs from a loss, he doesn't care about looking like the loser, because he'll find a way to win some way, even if it's shameless.

Viktor survived wars and then the bare icelands in Russia. He invaded and killed not thinking of himself as evil, like Hougen did. He sees dying as losing and surviving as winning, no matter what that means. Even if that means strategically sacrificing his loyal men or killing others mercilessly. He is solely war and survival driven, to a selfish level. He wanted to abandon all the elders in Russia because who needs them to survive? They already won with this valuable land with everything they need. Why risk their life bringing them back? Awful, but that's Viktor.

I think I realized this survival trait in him more when he fought versus Weed under the water. I was like 'how did this adult war dog lose to a kid? just cause of bearhound blood again? lol' but then I realized the wording. Viktor is so obsessed with living, that he couldn't risk his life trying to take down this kid. He only cared about living, unlike Weed, who only focused on defeating him even if it costed his life. Even Hougen was willing to keep fighting while on the brink of death, meanwhile Viktor, obsessed with living, was willing to gamble swimming back to Russia just to live.

So there's my essay on that! I like observing how unique each (speaking) villain are from each other. They can all seem the same on the outside, but can actually be very different when you observe them.

[Gingaddict]

I COMPLETELY AGREE! I always thought Hougen and Victor were very much the same character, I also made me realise the writing for villains was going downhill because all of them ended up having similar motives with wanting to take over a land and kill anyone who gets in their way and all the families who live there. Also I hated them both too, but the thing that got to me the most about Victor is that even though he displayed no signs of remorse, they kept trying to reason with him and that just got incredibly boring! I know they did the same with Hougen but somehow it got more frustrating for me with Victor/

[Spirit Tree]

Thoughts on Hougen:
He was a very crazy but also clever bastard despite being a little cowardly. One major thing that I dislike is him torturing John to death. Overall, he is really tricky and powerful.

Thoughts on Viktor:
I probably shouldn't even say because everyone already knows how much I hate Viktor so much more than Hougen. But he is the most cowardly villain right next to Monsoon, in my opinion. Not only Viktor was proud and remorseless for killing women and children or forcing them to their deaths, but he also kept running away and running away when things weren't going his way. Instead, he just stood there while his men did the dirty work for him. And when they were taken down, he just continued running away, showing that he also didn't care about his own soldiers. He was arrogant and proud. Yet, the only thing that he proved over and over again was how much he was a damn coward. Especially when he needed to use dirty tricks and use his men to make himself look good. I'm so glad Aram put him in his place for good.

[Noroi]

Hougen:
I hate him he killed Genba and he's crazy as hell

Viktor:
He's cool for now I haven't gotten to the Russian dog arc yet

[Troyo7]

Both were villains who let their thirst for power go to their heads, causing misfortunes, the deaths of innocents, and abusing the lives of their subordinates.

[nakkiperuna]

IF anything Hougen is kind of a bellend. In terms of who is stronger then Viktor is the answer but Hougen was more of a menace