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Definitely one of the greatest Shonen series of our time! Saint Seiya has unfortunately never been very well known or popular where I live, but it was and still is very popular in France and South America and I really understand why! Even though I already finished watching this series back in 2020, I'm still only going to review this now.

Story: 10/10
The story of Saint Seiya is fantastic, full of great characters and great twists. However, since the anime was running at the same time as the original manga, it naturally has quite lot filler episodes, which for the most part are very watchable (Episodes ... 18 and 19, however, are something so incredibly hilarious, even though they have their gems too). The plot is quite repetitive, but it never tired me because things still happened somehow differently than before. The fates of the characters were often very touching.

Art: 8/10
The art and animation are very good considering the time. Although, in some episodes you can tell that the budget has been quite low as the characters looking pretty silly... But well, it's a 80s so nothing complaining about it.

Sound: 7/10
Considering the time, the sound quality isn't the best, but you can still distinguish the voices of the characters well and the audio isn't too noisy.

Music: 10/10
Now to the best part, the music! Seiji Yokoyama's score is just so perfect, so it's no wonder that it was this series that brought him to great fame as a composer! Both openings and endings are also very awesome.

Voice acting: 10/10
Lots of the great seiyuus here! Toru Furuya, known for many other hero roles such as Yamcha in Dragon Ball, Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon and Amuro Ray in Gundam, gives a memorable role as the impulsive but sympathetic Pegasus Seiya, and Hirotaka Suzuoki as the wise and calm Dragon Shiryu, Koichi Hashimoto as the cool but tragic Cygnus Hyoga, Ryo Horikawa as the sensitive and caring "pretty boy" Andromeda Shun and Hideyuki Hori as the strong and epic Phoenix Ikki don't pale in comparison too. Han Keiko also gives an impressive performance as Saori Kido who wins others over with her words, despite being only a 13-year-old girl. Honorable mention also to the legendary Kazuyuki Sogabe, who plays the evil side of the main enemy of the first arc, Gemini Saga. That voice just chills inside you!

Characters: 9/10
Despite some of the filler characters being weird, the characters are very memorable and the heroes likeable. You can't help but worry about what will happen to your favorite character, even if you already know in advance that the character will survive. Background stories are also very exciting and touching.

Enjoyment: 10/10
This is definitely a 10/10 series. Lots of drama and suspense that will hook the viewer instantly, at least in my case!

So overall, Saint Seiya is one of the best Shonen series ever and one of the most significant works of its time! It's a shame that this didn't reach the level of popularity of Dragon Ball or Z, but it belongs in the culture of every lover of action anime. Give it a chance even in countries where it's not known!

As a Finn, I honestly feel that I have to say something about this series! It's one of the best children's anime series I've ever seen! Because it's not only for kids but also adults can enjoy this with a big heart! Tove created a really philosophical world full of great characters and this anime makes that world even better! In Finland, this series wasn't divided into seasons, so here this series has a total of 104 episodes with the same opening and ending, but this review will focus on the first 78 episodes.

Story: 10/10
Well, this series has no real plot. You can watch ... the episodes in any order, except for the story arcs which usually lasts 2-3 episodes. Otherwise, the episodes are separate, except they may still have references to previous episodes and there are also some subplots like Snork's flying ship arc. I really like how the episodes vary from adventurous to regular episodes where we just deal with the life of the Moomin family. It creates a good balance. Some episodes can be boring, but there are no really bad episodes in this series!

Art: 9/10
The art stays really consistent in this series. Although in some episodes you can notice that the drawners have changed and the characters may look a little strange, but otherwise there is quite little of variation here (compared to the second season, which is drawn almost entirely in anime style). Honorable mention definitely goes to the beautiful backgrounds that sometimes look very realistic, especially the winter landscapes!

Sound: 10/10
I have watched this series completely only in Finnish with a very successful old 90s dubbing, so I can say based on that the sound quality is very crystal clear and good.

Music: 10/10
Perfect! Just perfect! It's noticeable that Sumio Shiratori and his wife Emiko Shiratori really enjoyed making these songs! There's many varying songs, happy, funny, scary, sad.

Voice acting: 10/10
As I said, I have watched this series in Finnish and with a very awesome dub! The dubbing of the anime was here for a long time... if not bad, then at least mediocre, but Moomins was really well done! It's mostly due to the good direction and the very highly trained actors/actresses as a voice actors/actresses. I should watch the whole series in Japanese as well, but what I have seen from the clips, they sound really good too.

Characters: 9/10
All the characters are really different personalities and I like that in Moomin Valley everyone is valued for who they are and everyone's talents can be helpful. My favorite characters have always been the philosophical wanderer Snufkin, the greedy and fearful Sniff, the small but clever Little My, Snork the inventor, the old and funny plant-collector Hemulen and the Moomin's always so gentle parents, Moominpappa and Moominmamma! I don't really hate any of the characters (except Mrs. Fillyjonk, she's just so annoying!), even Stinky has his good moments despite being the only "main villain" in the series. Like everyone else, I was scared of Groke like crazy as a kid, but later I realized she's a really likable character. The Witch and her granddaughter Alicia were also very nice add to this series as they didn't appeared in the original stories.

Enjoyment: 10/10
Even though I must have seen all the episodes a million times, I never get tired of this series! It's part of the magic of it that these stories take you with them as much like they did as kid.

Tanoshii Moomin Ikka definitely gets 10/10 from me! It's a series that everyone should see at least once in their life so they can understand its beauty and those deep messages behind the stories!

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Well, since I did a review on GNG, now it's GDW's turn. This is possibly the hardest review I'll ever do considering the opinions of many on this series which is so dear for me, but I'll try my best to make this a good review. I got to know this series almost immediately after I had seen GNG, so I also got to know this at a young age and it also became one of my favorite series! At the time, though, I couldn't say which one is slightly better, because now I know that this doesn't completely surpass GNG, but I ... still don't think this series is as bad as other fans say!

Story: 9/10
The story is still quite addictive like its predecessor, the only difference being that there are two villain arcs here: Kaibutsu arc (not the character's real name, it just means "monster" in Japanese, but fans know him better by that name so I'll use this "name"), which includes episodes 1-5, and Hougen arc which includes rest of the series, episodes 6-26. Both were well-built antagonists whose tragic pasts gave them the motivation to be the way they are. Kaibutsu had been used as a test animal and Hougen had been kept with his brother Genba in a dark cabin throughout his childhood. However, I would say maybe the latter arc was better because, well, it was longer and had more time to focus on the relationships between the characters. Also, the substitute thing in the first arc was a bit weird, just like in the manga. "Gin" appears to Weed, but then when he dies, it's revealed that he wasn't the real Gin, but Gin's substitute Tokimune, which feels like Takahashi wanted to trick his readers/viewers. In any case, GDW's story also contains a lot of sad and touching moments, and I often find myself being a touched a little more when watching this series than in GNG (for example Sakura's death, Smith's death, John's death, Toubee's death and Jerome's death (even tho he doesn't die in the manga))!
Also I like that this have a bit more humor than in GNG in my opinion which provides a good contrast to the serious series. The fights are still great too, even the duel between Weed and Hougen at the end, although otherwise the ending feels a bit rushed when Hougen had to be killed in a really amusing way and randomly WITH A LIGHTNING STRIKE! But since the very final scene is absolutely wonderful, I forgive the creators of the series for this.

Art: 7/10
And now we get to the part that is perhaps the most criticized by fans, which is Studio Deen's animation! It's true that the quality has dropped a bit from GNG, but it's still not the worst animation I've seen. Sometimes it feels like they just didn't know how to draw or animate dogs properly, which is understandable because Deen has mostly only made series about people. However, it has never bothered me because I take these things with humor and like to make memes of these funny animation moments. I would say that in terms of animation, the best episodes are 1, 5 and 26. The others are mostly average, not that good but not that bad either. I also kind of like the style of episode 19 because it fits quite well with the rather comedy oriented episode where GB is the hero and that's why it's one of my favorite episodes!

Sound: 9/10
Since this series is much newer than GNG, naturally the sound quality is also significantly better. However, there are some strange solutions, such as the voice actors imitating the dog, which sometimes feels a bit embarrassing, instead of using a real dog's sound like in GNG which slightly lowers the scores (thankfully, at least they used it sometimes, for example at the beginning of episode 10, where the dogs howl in grief after John's death).

Music: 9/10
GDW's music don't surpass GNG's, but it's still very good! Despite Y2DOGS clearly plagiarizing/copying from other composers, that fact doesn't take away from the enjoyment. My favorite songs from the OST are: "Successor to the Spirit", "Onward, Soldiers", "GB's Theme", "Kyoshiro's Theme", "Escape From Death", "The Iron Hammer of Justice", "His Name Is Weed" and "The Breath of Ouu". Like its predecessor, GDW also has really good opening and ending themes, "Ginga Densetsu WEED" and "Tsukiakari" by Dohatsuten. Also the insert song from the episodes 4 and 20, "Way of the Soldier - Way of the Beast" is so banger!
However, unfortunately some badass tracks aren't heard in the anime, like "Akame's Theme" and some songs heard in the anime weren't released for the OST, (like the ultimate tear jerker "Tears for the fallen"), so the music also gets a 9/10 from me.

Voice acting: 10/10
Surprisingly, the voice acting is the best part of this series! The great seiyuus have been chosen for the characters, who know what they are doing. GB was even voiced by the real comedian Naru Kawamoto, who knows how to capture the character's comedic features very well! Also, Sachi Kokuryu is really good as Weed, despite the fact that she was still a new voice actress in this career. Kouji Ishii also does a very impressive job as the main villain himself, Hougen!

Characters: 8/10
Otherwise, I would give the same scores as in the GNG review, but since the anime has left out a lot of characters, I will give a little less. For example Daisuke, who was a familiar character already from GNG and was a really important character in the manga after all, and Ben and Cross's son Jouji (or George, in the Finnish translated manga he was Jouji) have been completely left out of the anime. Also, some characters were much more tolerable in the manga, like Mer, while in the anime, I don't think he did anything important except in the episode 12 where he protected the Gajou alone. Many fans find Weed particularly annoying in the anime, but I find his morals rather just a little odd. He keeps saying that he doesn't approve of killing, but he still killed some characters like Kaibutsu and Sancho the wild boar (although it might have been just defense, but then again, he didn't agree to kill Hougen at the end...). Otherwise, GDW is also full of great characters and it's always really nostalgic to see old characters from GNG again.

Enjoyment: 10/10
After all, despite its problems, GDW is still a really enjoyable anime. It has a lot of drama, epicness and emotions that will make me touching again and again!

Overall, GDW gets 9/10 from me! It's a very controversial sequel among fans, but for me it's almost as good as GNG even tho GNG is a bit better! I recommend this to all Ginga and other anime fans if you want to see drama and action!

The anime which raised a large otaku generation in my home country of Finland. Many people, especially those which were born in late 80's and beginning of 90's remember this series warmly and nostalgically. This series also hit me when I was 7-8 years old, even though I'm from a younger generation.

The story begins when a small tora-ge ("tiger-striped") colored Akita puppy is born in the northern mountains of Japan and is named Gin, "Silver" (or "Hopeanuoli" ("Silver Arrow"), as he is known in Finland). His destiny is already known when he is a puppy: he must become the best bear hunting dog and protect ... humans from the terrible killer bear named Akakabuto, who terrorizes this area.
Meanwhile, the village's old bear hunter, Gohee Takeda, is hunting Akakabuto with his dog Riki, Gin's father. Daisuke, a 12-year-old boy wants very much to show the puppy to Riki, but unfortunately, Riki gets into a fierce battle with Akakabuto and falls into a ravine. This is where Gin's training to become a good bearhound begins!

In the beginning, the story mainly revolves around Gin and Daisuke and focuses on the development of their friendship and Gin's training, which may confuse first-time watchers if they expected the dogs to talk right from the start. When it finally happens, it happens suddenly, but once you get used to it, it doesn't interfere watching.

Story: 10/10
The story as a whole is very well written. It starts out pretty realistic, which can seem boring, but when things really start to happen with the dogs taking on more of a big role, you won't be able to stop watching! The story will completely take you like a balloon in the wind!

Art: 8/10
The art is really good for the most part. Considering that this series was made in the 80's and the schedules were tight, some characters are drawned not so well sometimes. In one episode, you even clearly notice that the style has changed a lot from the previous episode. It's also typical for anime of this time to repeat scenes so they didn't have to draw a same scene again. This is especially noticeable when dogs are shown running. In these scenes this actually works well and isn't distracting, but in some fights you can clearly see the bear killing the same dogs multiple times, which gives a bit of unintentional comedy for these scenes.
What I enjoy the most in this animation are the landscapes! They are painted with such beauty and detail that they almost look real.

Sound: 7/10
Since this series was already made in 1986, the sound quality is naturally not the best, but you can still apart the characters by their voices.

Music: 10/10
What else should be said to this? Perfect!
Goro Ohmi's compositions literally rub your ears. They are so memorable that they will be stuck in your head for a long time, especially the opening "Nagareboshi Gin", the ending "Tomorrow" and of course that sad Riki theme!

Voice acting: 10/10
There are a lot of popular seiyuus from the 80s (best known from Hokuto no Ken, Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya)! Eiko Yamada makes a suitable puppyish, sometimes really aggressive voice for Gin, Banjou Ginga really shines in the role of Riki, giving him a strong and charismatic voice, Hideyuki Tanaka's Ben sounds like a samurai in the dog form and Takeshi Watabe's Gohee Takeda sounds like an experienced and vengeful hunter!

Characters: 9/10
Even though there are some annoying characters (the minor human characters at the beginning for the most part), the characters are interesting and you want to keep following them until the end of the series. However, in the end, many cool side characters remain mostly in the background, and in addition to the main character, Ben, John, Cross and Smith get more screen time which is a bit pity. The main enemy, Akakabuto, is really impressively created. You can only imagine how much this bear scared me as a child!
Also a minor villain, Sniper is a good addition to the story and you absolutely love to hate him and hope he fails in his plans!

Enjoyment: 10/10
The first mostly humans part of the story may seem boring, but the second mainly dogs part of the story literally kicks you into high speed. However, I enjoy both parts equally.

Overall, GNG gets 10/10 from me! It's a story you can enjoy year after year, no matter how many times you've seen it! It will be my all-time favorite anime series ever!