Ginga Densetsu Weed

TLDR: If you like animes which revolve around animals(especially dogs), where they fight for a just cause in a cruel world, and you can see friendship, humanity, betrayal, lots of character development, and other similar themes, then I recommend this action filled anime to you. But let's dig a bit deeper.

Story:
The storyline is continuous, each episode builds on the previous ones. And because this is a sequel it even builds a lot onto the prequel anime, Ginga Nagareboshi Gin. However, it's not a problem if you haven't seen that one first, because this anime will tell the basic things which you need to know ... in order to understand who is who in the story.
It could be said that the plot is pretty simple, there is the Big Bad, and the protagonists have to defeat him to bring peace. At first it might look this simple, but when we see the backstory of the villains, and different problems arises between the protagonists, then the story suddenly doesn't feel very simple at all. Sometimes it even presents situations where one cannot make a right moral decision, but the main character still have to do something. Apart from this we get a deep-dive in the feelings of a few of the protagonists, which results in very touching moments, and makes us understand them even better.
Now as I write all of this, the story might seem dramatic. It is, but of course as in most story even here there is a comic relief, who can always put a smile on the viewers' faces.
There are many fighting scenes in series, and they're all exciting and well made. Sometimes the characters need to use strategy and bluffing to keep their lives, and at other times they die like heroes while giving speeches which are heart-gripping.
The end of the story is unarguably beautiful and satisfying, we get a nice happy ending, even if not everything is happy. The final battle was a bit rushed, and was altered in a weird way, but it's kind of understandable, and not that bad.

Art:
This aspect is the one which is the most controversial among fans. It's undeniable, there are badly animated scenes, where the faces and shapes really look weird. But this is not that common. Many people have strong opinion about Deen's animation quality, but here they were able to achieve a decent animation, with some scenes being a bit derpier, but also some episodes were animated outstandingly good. For example in many scenes the lighting is astonishing, and they paid great attention to the details. So if you heard at some places that this anime has "crappy animation", then I would advise you to still give it a chance, it's not as bad as they say.
The backgrounds were always drawn very beautifully, and those combined with the beautiful lighting could create a very memorable and touching moment.

Sounds:
The sounds are great, and seiyuus are awesome! Everyone's voice fits well, and they could always give the feeling what they needed to give.
The music were amazing, some of them rose the given scene so high... It really enhanced the experience. Especially when suddenly in a dramatic scene a fitting music starts playing, and from that point on not only the characters talk, but it's something lot more. My personal favorite is the opening and ending, "Verge of Death", "Spirit of Succession", but all of them great.

Characters:
This is also an aspect of the anime in which it really shines. The main protagonists starts out as a puppy, who know very little, so obviously he will make mistakes. Sometimes his decisions might even seem wrong, but he is still learning, and developing. And I think this is a great thing in this anime. If we look back from the end to the beginning of the story, then we can see how much each character have developed. It's hard to tell specifics without spoilers, but many characters will change their minds entirely about specific things, and this is also very satisfying to watch.
It's a good feature in the series that at the end the team of protagonists is not a randomly assembled group of strays, but all the characters are well known, and we know what to expect from them.
The villains were also interesting in this series, especially the first one, but generally all of them had an interesting backstory, which makes the viewers understand why they became so ruthless.

Enjoyment:
If you like action animes with animals, then I'm pretty sure you'll have a good time watching this series. The drama, emotions, and epic action hooked me a lot.
In my opinion this series is one of those which cannot be forgotten easily, it has many memorable scenes and likeable characters. So I would recommend everyone to give it a try. Maybe you will enjoy it even more if you already seen the prequel, but as I said at the beginning it's not necessary.

This is overall one of my favorite anime, but this review is still my opinion. Please respect that without further ado. Please mind if there are any grammatical errors. I'll try to keep it a little brief though.

Story: (9)

I loved this original story for Ginga Densentsu Weed. Like how life goes, there are events throughout the show that draws the characters a little off corse. But there aren't so much where the characters are blinded to what their main goal is. Like many shounen anime, there will be various fight scenes. Bloodshed, bruises, and the tension of the battle field. There was never a time ... in the anime did I think "is it done yet?"

Art: (7)

Dogs and wolves, what an interesting idea. The dogs' movements sometimes look a little wonky. Especially when you see the backs of them as they run. All the other movements are actually very well done. The muscles of the dogs are a little humanized, so the art style is a little bit of an acquired taste.

Sound: (6)

The characters don't have a bad sound quality. You never hear the audio break or have wrong sound effects. Things sound right, and never dip. It never sounded stuffy when it comes to sound quality.

Characters: (10)

I became very attached to all the characters in Ginga Densentsu Weed. Whenever a character died I wanted to cry. The character development was gradual, but you could feel like you knew the characters all your life. There were no surprises when it came to character actions. Characters didn't break from their personality, and I couldn't hate any of the characters. Even the antagonists you could definitely feel sypothy for. Sometimes there were times where I didn't want the main antagonists to die.

Overall: (9)

Overall this is my favorite anime. I could rewatch every episode without getting tired of a character.

The series was good, no doubt and it does make a fair watch for all those watchers who are into animal-related anime series. The plot is a strong one, owing to the sequence followed in the manga; unlike the anime version where focus has been laid on only a part of the actual story.

The series carries a number of criticisms, a few of which are:
- The characters from the prequel have been showed to have deteriorated a lot.
- The present characters aren't of that strong framework.
- The reason why Hougen waged the war against the Ohu still remains unclear.
- The emergence ... of Genba is abrupt and absurd.
- The leader, Gin - who defeated a BEAR gets beaten down by a BUNCH OF DOGS, miserably.
- The death of Hogen has been shown in the anime while in the manga, Hogen is shot by a police officer.
- The anime features Jerome's death but in the manga Jerome has been shown to have been captured by Victor, which makes the plot a bit controversial.
- The behaviour of Ben, who was Gin's mentor in the prequel deteriorates down to that of a stupid fellow which gives him more of a clown-like appearance.
- Ben and Cross' other pups haven't been given any feature or a background story.
- The death of Chuutora hasn't been given any importance although he played a significant role in the prequel.
- The series consists of a lot of unnecessary dialogues.

and many more.

In short, the series couldn't live up to its reputation in terms of enjoyment and plot compared to it's prequel.

Moreover, the entire plot of the manga hasn't been pictured which makes it an incomplete series in a way.