Ginga Nagareboshi Gin

Not many anime have canines as main characters. And perhaps this is a good thing; Most people can relate to humans much better than animals. But what makes Ginga Nagareboshi Gin (henceforth acronymed to GNG) so engaging is the characters involved in it. The main character, Gin, starts off a loveable Akita puppy who soon grows into a teenage fighter and leader.
Other dogs get their time to shine as well; from John's acceptance of the pack to Hyena's new sense of justice.

What the anime lacks in animation it more than makes up for in story-telling and enjoyment. The immense cast of characters and the way ... everything mixes together makes for an anime everyone can take something from. Truely, the plot is straightforward and simple, but out of that simplicity comes the innocence childern fans cling to and the epic-adventure story adult fans cling to. The background music is also simple, but very catchy. Usually, as variations of the opening and ending theme songs, the background music gets stuck in your head quickly and effectively. It is hard not to hum to the victory tune that plays in the last episode or the battle tune that plays during the action-oriented scenes.

And does GNG have the action scenes! I assure you, if you are looking for action, you'll definitely get your fill here! Since GNG was animated by the same guys that brought you Dragon Ball, the fighting animations are very fluid and amazing. And staying true to the original manga, the anime occasionally has many freeze-frames of colored manga scenes. (This is a common aspect to GNG, and newer anime sometimes reference this.)
But GNG is also known as one of the most violent anime ever; from decapitations to eyes popping out of a dog's head. To me this does not hinder the enjoyment of the series, rather, it adds a more realistic feel to it. (As far as dogs fighting giant, demonic bears go.)

Even if this series was before your time, I ask that you give it a chance. It has that old-school feel that is so satisfying that you might just find yourself watching it over and over again.

First, the story: I love the story, maybe more than you normally would, as i wasn't very old when I first watched it, and it has therefore grown really big on me.
Anyways, it the good against the evil. It has humor, ACTION, some horror elements, sorrow and a tiny bit of love. It's all about helping each other, standing together and do your best, as in many other animes.
The thing that it is all about dogs makes it all the more interesting.

ART: Ok, I'll admit - the art is really not very good. Same scenes are used over and over - for example when the ... dogs run. Also there are some technical flaws like the dogs' front legs when they run - they suddenly end up having both a shoulder, an elbow, the wrist and an extra joint! I.e. they've put a joint too much on them, but funny enough only when they run. It doesn't really have a great impact on the story, but it is just something that annoys me (being a dog-person).

There hasn't been paid much attention to detail. When seeing a mass of dogs, the only differences between them is often only color, and sometimes size, but of course it's hard to make every charater different.
Also, the colors of the dogs are odd, like in many other animes. Weird colors like blue and blood-red, and their color patterns are also often a bit off.

I really like the soundtrack! Lots of different music suitable for every situation. Well composed and makes you feel it deep inside you!

The chracters are... nothing special. We know how they each are and how they behave, but I don't think the focus is on the characters, other than perhaps just a few.

Despite the bad things, I have ALWAYS enjoyed this anime, wanting to be Daisuke and tried to train my old, fat Labrador like Silver/Gin, lol!
An all-time favorite for me because of the theme - dogs fighting bears with their life! A beautiful story STUFFED with action, feelings, courage - you name it!

Recommendable!!!

If you ask me for my generation Ginga: Nagaberoshi Gin was a phenomenon. If you ask anyone who is around their thirties about Gin they usually have some memories about it. Even those who do not watch anime at all
and that is because there were those five VHS-cassettes to blame. In my country (Finland) the most brutal and bloody scenes were censored (like the decapitation) and the anime was put together so that one episode lasted about hour and a half. I am not sure is this anime or manga very popular elsewhere but with the young finns this anime adaptation has a special place ... in our hearts. Even so two finnish bands: Children of Bodom and Whispered have covered the intro theme which is amazing and I never seem to get tired about it. You can find them in Youtube.

This anime is about dogs with human kinda intelligence. They do not start to "talk" until you watch few episodes. So far I've never seen an anime starring dogs and maybe that's why most of us here in Finland won't think this
is an anime at all in truth I found it out when I started to watch anime in my teens. We only think about the big round eyes don't we? I think this is a nice change and I really like the characters. There are many differend breeds and personas within the series. Gin is a young akita, John is a german shepherd, Ben is a great dane and I fell in love with each of them. And you can't never forget the Kai brothers.

I also really like the main villains which are the bears. This is a show about dogs versus bears and I think they establish it quite well. It's a faraway mountain place so the bears can roam freely. At first I thought that why do not they just take an army there and desolate the bears but I guess the government in this universe isn't interested in a small mountain town which seems plausible so it's up to Gin and his friends to overthrow the bears
and their ruler Akakabuto from the mountains. The story is mostly about gathering large enough army to challenge the bears.

The bears are huge and terrifying I remember I was scared of them when I was just a small boy. In fact I don't think they are bears they are more like a bear looking monsters or demons. The bears won't "talk" and I think that makes them even more terrifying. Sometimes less is more. And there are many unique bears as there are dogs within the series: Akakabuto is sort of a main villain and he has lost an eye and gone mad from the gunshot wound to his brains. Then I remember the bear with harpoons stuck on it's back who lived in a forsaken ship which had landed ashore.

The human characters are also quite good. Daisuke is a young enthustiastic boy and the owner of Gin. There are his mother and father but
they reprise minor roles. Gohei is an ancient hunter and Daisuke's grandfather. He is sort of obsessed with Akakabuto which is his Moby Dick. Sometimes Gohei seems as mad as Akakabuto and he trains his dogs with brutality. He hits them and makes them eat raw bear meat.
But then there are these moments of compassion which make him a better character. I remember I feared and respected him when I watched the anime in my childhood.

I really like the music even thou the sound quality is bad. This anime is almost 30 years old and it has lasted quite well. You could call this a vintage anime? I started to cry when I heard the sad theme and I do not mean I was moved and few tears dropped to my cheek. I like weeped for real. This just makes me so sad and I am not even sure why because the animation is plausible/downright ugly/recycled/stilled at some points
but there is so much emotion in many sad scenes at least for me. Maybe it's just nostalgia? The music is so memorable and every theme fits in to the action. I really enjoy the soundtrack. Especially the sad tunes. That's one of the reasons I start to cry when I watch this. For me some of the fight scenes are just epic even more than in a Lord of the Rings or a similar movie and this just features a dog fighting a bear. I can feel my inner manchild within when a battle begins and the music starts.

Really if I take the nostalgia glasses off I think the final score is somewhere between 8 or 9. Otherwise I might give this 10 out of 10. I try to be objective but with our generation of finns Ginga: Nagaberoshi Gin will forever be remembered. In the end the story is solid and the characters are good you kinda miss them when the series are over and that's usually a good sign. You have emotionally connected with them so that means they are believable. I could recommend this to you if you dislike anime or are just starting the hobby. Without the people as main cast it might get you over your prejudices about anime and see
it as an art form which has so many ways and styles and stories to express itself.

Somethings are outright silly: the dogs have some kind of super powers. They lift giants rocks, use special attacks, use the wind to traverse big cliffs and so on.

But all in all a great classic anime for me!

okay, not gonna lie, this is got to be in my top 3 animes ever, im still sort of a noob when it comes to anime, so maybe that could change, anywho, this show was amazing, it was a little different to me at first, because i have seen a lot of supernatural powers stuff, and most of this was completely realistic, the action in it is amazing, and it is very adventurous as well, it's a little stiff when it comes to comedy (there isn't too much comedy in this at all, just some minor parts) but i was okay with that because it ... was very emotional to me, once i started watching this, i couldn't stop for any short period of time at all, once i grew to it, i didn't watch anything else, this was it, if it was a newly started anime, i would have a hard time going a week to wait for the next episode, (or however long it really was between episodes) it has a really good story to it, the art is really good (for being the 1980s at least) if the art was like what it is now adays i would've probalby given it a 5 at most, but it's old, so i will keep it at 8, the music in it, outstanding though the quality is low (once again 1980s) it was really good music though, the characters are amazing even the humans the only thing that keeps me from giving it a 10, instead of a 9, is that i really liked the relationship between the humans and dogs in this series, but i wish there was more involvement with the humans, i mean not too much involvement, but enough to the point where maybe daisuke could help Gin out a bit more in the series, maybe not much more, but a little more, the dogs however, they all have great personalities, and they are perfect, Enjoyment, well as i stated previously i couldn't stop watching it, it kept me exited for every episode, i wanted to just watch it endlessly. things that you might want to note, it can be a bit on the gory side, it's sequel Ginga Densetsu Weed, is actually even more on the gory side, but it is still worth the watch, it made me pretty emotional, you could say it moved me a bit.

Story:
The story Begins when Gohei a cold winter day is out hunting bear with he's dong Shiro. The bear has killed alot of hunters in the Futago pass in Ou. The bear ambush Gohei and rip he's left era off. But Gohei succeed to shoot the bear's right eye off. Shiro protect he's owner but the dog also loss he's life and Gohei survived. Eleven years later the pup Gin is born and Shiro was he's grandfather. Now we are going to follow or littel hero Gin on he's journey of revange.

Art:
This is an relly old anime and the dogs look abit funny in some ... angles. and they also use the same scen acuple of time.

Sound:
Ah i relly love the sound in Silver fang. This anime have the best op song ever and the ending is great to. The music sent shivers all over me.

Character:
The main character Gin is very special. He's a tiger stripe Akita inu (the best dog in the world to hunt bears with). And he's relly strong for he's age thanks to Gohei's training. Other dog's and humans keep getting imprest by he's skills and he's spirit.

Enjoyment:
WOW! i just couden't stop watching it it was a pain to go to school and wait to come home so i coud watch the ending. This anime is absolutly wonderfule as a matter of fact i cried when i watch it. Silver fang never get's slow or boring.

Overall:
This was the first anime i ever have seen and after seen this i got stuck in the anime world so Silver fang will always have a special place in my heart

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!

Ginga Nagareboshi Gin was a very well-written manga with a diverse amount of emotions. Unlike his son, Weed, Gin was the type of dog to get out and do what he had to do. Even at a young age he had a great sense of justice and peace, knowing when it was right to kill and when someone should be spared. He was also very quick to pick up on fighting moves and how to protect himself and his loved ones. He was very good at making allies, but he had his fair share of enemies. Ginga Nagareboshi Gin also had many interesting, complex characters. ... Each one with a different past. Such as John, a trained BearHound who up and left his master. Cross, the Saluki who was left to die at the paws of Akakabuto by her master. Ben and Akame share an interesting history, as does Kurojaki. Each character has a complex set emotion and history. Even Akakabuto, perhaps the most hated and feared bear of their time, had his own past with troubles.

Yoshihiro Takahashi did an excellent job describing how animals, like humans, can feel and even remember painful expierances. He was also great at describing how things happened and the way they could effect someone. The manga is a well set-up and plot-out peice that it simply amazed me. The anime, however, did have its few odd knacks while animation - but it was also very good. (Besides, how could the Anime be better then the Manga, the orginal is always best.)

This anime is about a Akita dog named Gin who is noticeably more intelligent and athletic than the other dogs from the time he is a small puppy, he is very brave and does not even flinch when a rifle is fired right next to his head. His owner is a badass bear hunter named Takeda Gohei who is still very fit and strong even in his 68th year. The bear hunter Takeda Gohei lost his previous bear-dog Shiro to the monster bear Akakabuto and was attacked by the bear as well giving him several large scars across his face. Takeda Gohei had shot the ... bear in the eye and the bullet lodged in his brain, causing the bear to become even more aggressive and grow insanely large. The bear is also intelligent and recruits other bears into his crew and threatens to conquer the whole region. Gin is given training from hell from his owner Gohei which he will use in later battles. Gin eventually goes off on his own with a pack of wild dogs and decides to recruit other dogs from all over Japan into his army to defeat the monster bear Akakabuto.

As you can probably guess this anime has alot of action and the interesting story will always keep you wanting more, I strongly recommend this anime to anyone who likes action series, I give it a 10/10 overall.

I just finished watching this old show and thought I'd do a review about it. I know that many others living in Sweden and/or Finland grew up with this series but I'm one of those who missed out on it back in the days and learned about Silver Fang (aka Hopeanuoli) later on, which means that I have no childhood ties or nostalgy connected to it.
I will abbreviate Ginga Nagareboshi Gin as simply GNG in this review.

I will keep this review as spoiler-free as possible and, hopefully, not too long, so don't worry about any major plot reveal.

Story 6/10:
The story is a very basic ... revenge-centered plot (with a touch of betrayal and inner conflicts), nothing too deep and fairly predictable. It starts off with our main dog protagonist and hero, Gin the Akita bear-dog, being born. He quickly gets separated from his mother and becomes grandfather Gohei Takeda's next hunting dog – an old man who's a hunter with a grudge for a very certain bear, Akakabuto. Gohei starts training Gin with abusive methods to make him the ultimate bear-dog and, even though his ways to teach are cruel, they do pay off later.
Shortly after being born Gin gets taken on a hunting trip and watches his father Riki, Gohei's former dog, fighting against Akakabuto and getting thrown off a cliff and, presumably, dying. This memory serves as the main driving force for Gin to go on a journey to gather dogs from all over Japan to fight and take down the monster bear Akakabuto, for the sake of revenge.
The show takes on a very episodic "new recruit of the week" formula, for most of the episodes, while Gin and his gang encounter new dogs that they have to win over to their growing bear-slaying team; often by showing who's the greater male.
But while most of the episodes are fairly predictable they are genuinely enjoyable to watch, even though the subs are horrible and the whole show is resting heavily on manhood and stereotypical ideals and perception of masculinity – mainly when recruiting the dogs and fighting. To give you an idea of how male-centered this show is the hundreds of dogs gathered by Gin are all exclusively males, with the only exception being Cross, who plays the role of the "lone girl but badass-enough-to-be-taken-into-the-guys-group-anyway" – basically Cross is the butch who, at the same time, is a mother figure. Actually, if I recall right you only see two female dogs during the duration of the whole show and that's Gin's mom Fuji and Cross. So yeah, the gender balance is really skewed on this one.
There's a lot of "gather the strongest men!" and "men are like this and like that [insert typically admired masculine quality here], everywhere; you even get the "real men don't cry" cliché and other similarly cringy standards our society has come up with. :) This might be offputting for some watchers and honestly, even though I'm a dude myself, I found it to be too much at times; I just don't like fueling and pressing on gendered stereotypes and expectations – it hurts everyone. But yeah, since GNG is a shounen show from the late 80's you kinda have to cut it some slack. (I just don't really see why female dogs couldn't be good fighters as well? Cross proved several times that she's just as capable as the rest... until she [SPOILER WARNING] got puppies and was tossed aside for the remainder of the show. [SPOILER ENDS])

Art 6/10:
First of all, this is an old show and it's really visible in the animation quality. The dogs are animated fairly well but the humans aren't as detailed. You can tell just by watching that this show hasn't aged all that well but, despite that, it has its old-school charms intact. What bothered me was that there was a lot of reused frames, sometimes flipped, which means that especially during the later episodes, you see the same dogs getting killed over and over again and the same running scenes reused until you get sick of them.

Sound 8/10:
I'm bad at judging voice acting quality but I thought this show was decent, at least considering the time it was made. I watched it with the original Japanese voices and so I can't compare with the dubbed versions out there. I want to say though that the soundtrack was really catchy and memorable and, even though it's just a few distinct songs with different remixes, I really liked them all. I felt pumped up when the "victory theme" started playing and I felt sad when a dog died and the sad song was on. The opening theme also gets stuck in your head.
The sound effects are nothing extraordinary, they sound like old-school sound effects in good as well as in bad.

Characters 8/10:
What makes this series different from your average shounen show is that the main cast are dogs and they fight against evil bears. The bears are not really intriguing because they are simply evil for the sake of being evil and the main antagonist, Akakabuto, is no exception. There isn't much reason given for Akakabuto's rage against both Gohei and Gin, except that because of his blinded eye he got some nerve damage that prevents him from going into hibernation and made him especially aggressive towards any intruders in his territory. But yeah, the bears are really simple, boring, ghastly-looking bears with constant drool on their faces... but the dogs do all have different personalities. Actually, around episode 7 or so, when Gin leaves his owners, that's when the focus shifts and suddenly all the dogs talk and that's when you get to see their true personalities.
Gin is your typical shounen hero and gets the most fleshed out; most of the other cast members (at least the ones getting names) stay pretty one-dimensional. There is everything from the typical honorable ninja dog to the badass, second-in-command, traitorous Dobermann who wants nothing else than to take over the leader post feat. his cowardly servant. There's everything from silly, faithful to serious in the cast and they're all generally likable and you feel for the canines – especially if you're a dog lover like me. It's kinda hard to watch some of them getting killed off...

Enjoyment 9/10:
When I started watching this show I honestly thought I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as I did. It starts off a bit slow but changes pace as soon as the show shifts to focus on the dogs' point of view. Just be mindful that even though it's often considered a "children's show" GNG is one with a darker theme (read: revenge) and there's a lot of blood, decapitations, eyes popping out of a bear's head, mindless slaughter etc. The blood is animated really cartoony (sometimes a bright semi-transparent neon red/pink!) so it's nothing realistic but yeah, if you can't handle a lot of bloody and whimpering dogs you might want to pass on this show... or perhaps look for the censored version.

Overall 8/10:
It's a surprisingly enjoyable classic show and I found myself with watery eyes more than once. Sure that some things were annoying (bad dubs, abundance of gender clichés, reused frames etc) but the overall feeling I got after finishing GNG was pleasant and satisfied. Even though it's an old show it's still worth the watch!

(please note though that most of my grades are higher than what I would have given GNG had I rated/compared it with the current anime standards; I chose to give it mercy because it was made in the 80's and although it is mediocre in today's standards it's a solid 1980's show)

STORY 9/10

-The story looks perplexed in the start, but, slowly, the story begins to be explained, making history more understandable...

ART: 8/10

-The art is not so perfect, but we have to remember that this anime was created in 1986, so, compared to other works, this anime is beautiful.

SOUND: 7/10

... -Again we have to remember that this anime is old, the sounds are a bit strange, but sometimes, the characters voice leave the anime tedious.

CHARACTER: 8/10

-The characters are very special, unlike many I've seen. The problem is that it has parts where they are MANY serious and other parts they are totally upside down.

ENJOYMENT: 7/10

-This anime has many ups and downs in that part. Some parts I was sad to end the episode and in others I was anxious to finish, not to mention that I watched in another language.


OVERALL: 9/10

-The story is very cool, although it made me cry in the end (; -;), this is that kind of anime I will never forget!

My updated/rewritten review:
Animals as the main protagonists in Japanese anime has always been something of an oddity. Anime that do feature beastly buddies in the place of humans have tended to be a bit of a mixed bag, but thankfully, this particularly series is one that pulls it off pretty well.

The plot starts out with the focus being on human characters. As of episode 7 however, the genre suddenly shifts to focusing on the main protagonists, the dogs. The once mute canines, also gain voice actors, and their true personalities start opening up. The very sudden change in pacing may throw off some viewers, but ... ep. 7 is when this series really takes off the ground, and everything before that was simply a build-up to this point.

Now, the main plot in GNG is a fairly basic one. Silverfang/Gin, the eponymous protagonist of the show, sets out to find fellow dogs in order to defeat Akakabuto, the bear antagonist of the series. Akakabuto is a VERY standard villain, he's seemingly evil just for the sake of being evil, so if you're looking for something with a more "mature" or out-of-the-box plot line, I'm afraid you won't find it here. GNG is, for the most part, standard shounen anime, only with dogs instead of your usual teenage human heroes.

Akakabuto, and the other bears in the series, remain mute, so we never get any kind of insight into their own back stories. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason why the bears enjoy killing off the human and dog cast. Maybe it could be argued that the bears are simply defending their territory, and that the humans/dogs are the real villains.
But we're told early on in the series that Akakabuto goes out of his way to cause trouble for villagers. The only real explanation we get is that he holds a grudge against dogs and humans due to having his right eye shot, blinding him.

Whatever the reasons, I find myself caring very little for the dogs' end goal of slaying Akakabuto and his army of henchmen bears.
But despite the main premise being insanely bare-boned, the series more than makes up for it with its very semi-episodic format of Gin and the gang finding, and convincing other dogs to join his pack. It's simple enough, but it's genuinely engaging to watch what plays out in these situations. There are some very interesting canines to be met along the way, which brings me to the pooches themselves.

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This is arguably the show's strongest point. While the villains are about as interesting as porridge, the same can't be said about the dogs. There is some good character development throughout the series, especially with Gin, who grows from being a pup trained via animal abuse, to becoming a respectable leader.

The dogs' personalities, while not amazing, are interesting, and there are some very likeable tykes throughout the cast. Some of the dogs may seem like antagonists at first, but later turn into allies, making them much more interesting (pseudo) "villains" than the bears.

Although I didn't develop any kind of real, emotional attachment to any of the characters, I did find myself genuinely caring about them whenever one was mortally wounded or killed. And death comes often in GNG, don't think for a second that any dog is safe, main characters are killed off fairly frequently.

There's plenty of action and (bloody) fights throughout the series, which is to be expected of something in the shounen genre. While somewhat repetitive, they're a lot more enjoyable to watch than you might think, with some unexpected moves/scenes thrown in from time to time.

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The artwork is pretty much what you'd expect out of an 80s show. It ain't great, but it isn't completely terrible. Perhaps my biggest issue is how the dogs' mouths seem to be almost constantly open. It often makes them look dumb, especially when talking. There's also quite a lot of reused footage in some scenes (e.g. "background" characters getting killed twice in the exact same footage during bear fight scenes).

There isn't a great deal to be said about the sound either. The opening theme, while cheesy, is very catchy and enjoyable. The voice cast do a decent to good job, nothing spectacular, but nothing overly terrible either.

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In conclusion, GNG is a good shounen series with the main set of characters unusually being of the furry variety. It doesn't do too much that we haven't already seen before, but that doesn't prevent it from being a fun watch. And, despite its fairly unoriginal basic premise, it still remains a very unique series in its own right. I've truly never seen an anime quite like GNG before, even when the general formula feels very familiar.

The series has many flaws, but these are easy to overlook just by how sheer enjoyable it is to watch. It may not be for everyone, but the series is worth a shot if you're interested in any of the following: Dogs, slightly darker "children's" shows, shounen/adventure anime or Western animated shows/movies such as the Lion King.

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE ANIME/MANGA SERIES OF ALL TIME!!!!


Out of all the manly/macho series out there, including Fist of the North Star, Sakigake!! Otokojuku, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Riki-Oh, Kinnikuman, Toriko, Kongou Bancho, and God Sider (which Hokuto no Gun Needs to translate), one series always doesn't come to mind, that is...


SILVER FANG: SHOOTING STAR GIN!

This is a truly underrated Shonen Jump series, that debuted in 1983, and went on until 1987. It's realy popular in Nordic countries, and even has a few sequels, but the sequels don't matter today. It's a very violent anime and has a feel similar to JoJo Part 3, ... or even Fist of the North Star. Lets take a look at the Dog vs EVIL MACHO BEAR ACTION!!!!!




STORY:

Gin, an Akita Inu Dog is trained by Gohei Takeda, and Daisuke to be a hunting dog to fight the evil man eating Bear Akakabuto. Gin watches his father Riki get sent to the pits of the Ou mountains, and then trains and fights several minor bears until meeting up with a team up wild dogs. These were fellow domestic breeds until they found a shared hatred of Akakabuto. The anime version of this arc is very fillerish, but the Akakabuto arc is mostly fast paced with rare filler scenes, but at the cost of removing some scenes from the manga. Over he course of the Akakabuto arc, Other Dogs including Ninja Dogs, Fighting Dogs (because dogfighting is legal in this universe, though there has to be some regulation), Anti-Hero Dogs, and more. The anime may have crappy subtitles (more on that in the Presentation), but the emotion and scope of some of these scenes really help give this anime an epic feel. The series has talking dogs with Manly Friendship. This story has a sort of Fist of the North Star feel, with Gin being Kenshiro, and and Akakabuto being Raoh. It's a very manly series that you have to see for yourself, and support the official release when it comes out. There's also the Wolf Arc of the Manga, but that hasn't been animated in any form. I wish it was and make it a 6-8 episode OVA sequel to the anime to show a great story can be timeless...



CHARACTERS:

Gin goes through a lot of character development, He goes from kid to man over the span of the anime, he goes even further in the Wolf Arc and serves as a mentor in many sequels like Densetsu Weed, Densetsu Weed: Orion, and Last Wars. Other Than him there's plenty of characters to go around, like The Anti Hero Doberman, Sniper, The Wise Great Dane, Ben, and the Manly English Mastiff, Moss. The humans pretty much become extras after the first arc. but the Bears are violent macho MUTHA F**KERS, Especially Akakabuto, He's a pure blooded killer. That's only just a few of the Characters, There's a lot of them to chose to be your favorite.



PRESENTATION:

Even though the Manga is the Complete Story, The anime has it's benefits, including the music, the running scenes, the action, and the emotional scenes. The subtitles aren't really that good, filled with elementary spelling errors, inconsistencies, and sometimes out of sync. If I could go off on a tangent, Even though this does have a lot of Kid oriented merchandise, like shoes, board games, figures, puzzles, etc. This show is NOT Kid Friendly in the slightest, It's extremely violent, and really benefits from it. Even though the talking dog angle might detract some viewers, this series should not be missed.



OVERALL:

This is one of my favorite anime/manga series of all time, you can read the manga as it updates if you google Ginga Scans. The anime can be viewed with a quick google search. This is a violent, epic anime/manga that you HAVE to see. This series gets 3.75 Tiger Striped Akita Inus out of 4.

NO spoilers:
This anime was like Berserk with canines with a little bit of the early Naruto and sprinkled with some Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin.
This is definitely not an anime for everyone! especially the uncensored version.
I know that I had too much enjoyment compared to quality of the anime but somehow I just really, really liked it ^^ You will see many deaths, some quite brutal!!, traitors, cannibals, blood and such. I understand why this kids/teenager anime had many censored versions, it is not for the faint of heart. It is without any doubt a Shounen/Seinen anime, it is about manhood, brolove, bravery, honor and ... all the good qualities of masculinity and that is what makes it good and enjoyable!

All the rainbow faeces of the Unicorn - the good things
- There are probably a lot who wouldn´t like this fact, but I like this anime for its brutality and seriousness and its old "philosophy" of manhood where bravery, strength and intelligent were the most important thing for the honor of a man, the key of knowing when to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. I love it for its classic heroic theme.
- Few canines animes out there and especially serious ones.
- The opening soundtrack was for me really perfect for this anime!
- Even though the plot of the anime was indeed TOTALLY predictable somehow its focus on the interactions between the characters made it still enjoyable and not boring.
- It is a totally old school anime! ^^

All the hurtful.... cringe! - The cons
- The anime is old, it is from 1986 and not from a "big" studio so don´t blame it for its old art, repeated frames and old music. Either you hate it or don´t mind/love it ^^
- The anime changes about episode 6-7 where people might be thrown off or they don´t like the start and don´t watch until the anime turns.
- The plot was totally 100% predictable, you know from the very beginning that Gin is going to defeat Akakabuto but it is more about the how than if. :)
- There are a few plot holes and questionable plot choices... Try not to think too much about it :P

Again this anime is not for everyone for quite understandable reasons, it is brutal but somehow it all turns out for the better ^^
I had as a kid only seen very few episodes so I had a little nostalgia but not that much which should really affect my review ^^

Along with enjoying that the main character was a little dog named Gin, I was surprised by the emotional quality of this piece of work. I also appreciated the courage, fervor, and growth of Gin.

[ GOOD POINTS ]
- Bravery of Gin, Daisuke (human), and others are attractive. And, I like that it is a comic/show centered around the adventures of dogs (or is it revenge?). They are skillful and characteristic like their human counterparts.

- I also liked the music. The OP is passionate and unforgettable, and ED is lovely!

- Futhermore on characters, the voice casting is elite. Chika Sakamoto is the strong young boy Daisuke, ... Banjo Ginga feels like the handsome and resolute father that makes Riki, Eiko Hisamura makes Gin much like an typical hot-blooded boy, Hideyuki Tanaka as Ben is lovely and a determined friend, Toshiko Fujita as Cross is precious, etc.

[ "BAD POINTS" ]
- There are scenes that may be considered TOO violent to some people. I mean it gets ugly. ;) I kinda like it because it's moving, but just to warn ya.

- Animal cruelty of Daisuke's grandfather. It doesn't make the show"bad", but it can be difficult to watch.

- The pace of the show may feel a little slow at the start, and sometimes the battle animation looks VERY ugly (weird maneuvers and ugly spinning lines for example). I can't really think of much else for bad points.

It's a bit short, but one of my top rated shows on my list.

Ginga Nagareboshi Gin is an old classic and the very first anime I saw when I was around 4 years old, which is why I have a soft spot for it no matter how much anime I watch.

The story itself is very simple and easy to follow as a kid, despite the extreme violence and bloody fights.
Sure, it doesn't have the best artstyle but that's because it's so old. And the quality of the sound isn't the best either but as I said, it's an old anime. But the music is absolutely outstanding, it gives you shivers because it's so emotional and so fitting, so ... nowadays whenever I rewatch this anime or hear the soundtracks I'll start crying big waterfalls of tears. I don't only cry because it's nostalgic to hear the music, but also because it has this very special effect on you.

The stories behind the characters, the chemistry between them, are things you don't really think about as a child, but is super obvious to an adult or teenager. When I was a kid I didn't really think about why Gin wanted to kill Akakabuto, because Akakabuto was the main "villain" so to speak, so I didn't think about it. But now that I'm older I know that it was about revenge, and you understand the backstory of each character much better.

Since it's about dogs, which a very few and almost none animes have as main characters, it might turn a lot of people away from it, thinking it's not relatable. But they are dogs with human intelligence, they think like humans and this makes you feel for the different characters much more than you normally would.
At the start of the anime the dogs won't talk and mainly just seem like normal dogs, but a few episodes in they'll start talking and you'll get more into it the more it goes.
Another thing that might turn people away is the brutal training Gohei Takeda (a human bear hunter) forces upon Gin while he's just a puppy, beating him with logs and forcing him to eat bear meat. But if you see past it, you'll find an amazing story that'll stick with you for years.

This anime was around 18-20 years old when I watched it for the first time, and now it's even older, so it might turn a lot of people away but I highly recommend this, because it's not always that newer animes are better than old ones.

This is one of the animes I can watch over and over again without getting bored to it. This is the first anime I've ever seen and the anime that got me into world of anime so it has little bit emotional meaning to it too.
I really love the story and characters have unique personalities on each.
The art is amazing when you think about how old that anime really is.
In this anime nature and animals are just the way it really would be. Okay maybe there wouldn't be ninja dogs jumping in trees in real life but the fight for life and death is more ... realistic than most of the animes...and in disney animations it would be placed with actionhumor so I really like the fact that the fights are shown as they are.
I just simply love this anime, I think it's totally a masterpiece and I highly recommend it !!

I'm writing this review from the perspective that i'm 21 years old and just watched this for the first time ever. So pardon me for not having the childhood nostalgia factor most people seem to have with this series.

At first I wasn't too impressed. I actually started watching this a few years ago with a friend but we stopped at episode 7, and later on I've come to realize that it was the absolute worst episode to stop watching the series, for you've just only watched the compulsory introduction for the whole situation.

Story:

Basically the series starts with a young dog, called Gin being raised as ... a bear-hunting dog by this harsh grandfather in an equally harsh mountain-area hich seems to have an eternal snowstorm. Of course there's also this ultra-dense young boy character, Daisuke, who really reminds me of Ash Ketchum from Pokemon and Pazu from Miyazaki's Laputa - Castle in the Sky. After the introductionary episodes the series really changes, as the human characters fade into the background and all of the dogs start suddenly speaking. After this, the series is all about dogs trying to gather a large army to defeat the most infamous bear of the mountains, Akakabuto. And from this on, the series starts to get interesting. Bottom line: Watch the whole series. If you plan on dropping it, please watch more than seven episodes before you quit. You wont regret.

Art:

80's. That's all I can say. This is one of those old animes where the style's quite aged, but it really fits the series. In terms of production, I had some complaints about certain small scenes repeating, like bears falling to the ground after being defeated or the exact same dogs getting squashed under a bear's giant foot over and over again. Also, theres lots of blood. Blood and gore!! If Elfen Lied wasn't enough for you, watch this! It's actually fun how this series was released in four VHS-tapes in Finland ages ago as a children's series. I can't possibly imagine the amount of cutting needed: It's like trying to change the Saw-series to a kid's movie by only cutting certain scenes.

Sound:

Well.. really sounds like this music we call by the name "Iskelmä" in Finland. The opening and other tunes with vocals are quite cliche and embarrassing. In addition, there is this generic epic soundtrack going on with an added commentator. Not actually poor, but nothing special. However the OP sure is memorable, if nothing else. Ha!

Character:

Interesting. This starts as an anime with obvious main characters, such as Gin, the Grandfather Takeda and Daisuke. But later on as the series really starts rolling, the characters are all mainly different leaders of dog armies. All of the dog characters which actually have personality are very likeable. Especially Moss, Ben and the Kai brothers are all very great characters. They all posess a different kind of leadership and it's nice to watch how they act in different situations. Gin is your typical young and strong dog with lot's of passion and a pure heart. And Riki is this super-epic mysterious father-figure. The bears are all quite so-and-so. All they really do is growl and act very aggressively.

Enjoyment:

I certainly enjoyed the series and I think it's definately worth watching. However there are some annoying things and flaws in this anime. I don't know how to say this clearly but sometimes the series is just so overly epic and remiscent of this Japanese soldier's morale that it gets annoying: Everyone is always ready to die for their comrades and most of these heroic suicides could be avoided easily. Also a bit annoying is the fact that there always seems to be this new dog who is the strongest of all and when there's hundreds of dog's in the army, it gets hard to tell, who exactly is the best of them all. It's kinda like Pokemon: Every movie introduces this new best-of-the-best-of-the-best Pokemon-god. Also, why do Ben and his dog's always have to fight the new dog-leaders to near-death before they get them to join the army? And why can't they just kill the god damn bear? Why don't they just blast him to oblivion with a grenade launcher instead of this traditional rifle-hunting with a dog-accompanion? And do you really need like hundreds and hundreds of dogs to kill one f*****g bear, and where do all of these dogs suddenly disappear in the ending scene? Huh?

Overall:

I'd recommend watching this. It has it's flaws but overall Ginga Nagareboshi Gin is a good series and I think it deserves it's place as a classic. If you like dogs, epic moments, bad music, blood & gore, and watching hordes of dog's get crushed under an oversized bear, this is definately the series for you!

Non-Spoiler Review: 7/10
Ginga Nagareboshi Gin is arguably one of the most out-there animes there is. Don't let the cute puppy protagonist fool you; this show is full of violence and testosterone, and it's certainly not for everyone. However, if you can push past the rampant sexism and justified animal abuse, then this show might just provide you with a wild and fun experience. It's certainly worthwhile for anyone looking for a fresh and different anime.

The Story: 7/10
Ginga Nagareboshi Gin follows an Akita puppy on his journey to "become a man". It is in a way a classic shounen anime, but from the perspective of animals. ... The first third of the anime focuses more on the human characters' perspective, and then switches to the perspective of the dogs. The dog characters do not start talking until the perspective switches and this sort of causes a weird shift in the anime's tone. (It should be noted that in the manga, the author did not intend for the dogs to ever talk, but the publishers pushed him to change this, making it a bit of an awkward transition.)

The story never strays from the objective set at the beginning of the anime; defeat the man-eating bear Akakabuto. This to me is ideal, because many stories (anime and otherwise) often lose sight of the original objective and throw in distractions. This is never an issue in the anime, and is perhaps an improvement from the manga that awkwardly tacks on a second arc that contains major tonal shifts.

The Art: 7/10
Anyone who knows me knows I love the art style of Yoshihiro Takahashi, the author of Ginga Nagareboshi Gin and it's expansive universe. The anime does his manga style justice, adding that classic 80's anime flare to it. Despite this, it does not get a perfect score. With a low budget anime comes awkward animation and strange off model shots. Perhaps with a better budget, this section could have managed a 10.

Sound: 10/10
The soundtrack is perhaps one of the strongest parts of Ginga Nagareboshi Gin. Having originally watched this anime as a child, I still remembered the soundtrack many years later, even after forgetting integral parts of the story (Before rewatching it of course).

Character: 6/10
Characters are perhaps the weakest part of Ginga Nagareboshi Gin. This is not to say there aren't likable, memorable, and well written characters (and the interesting dog designs are certainly a plus!), but the series throws in more characters than it knows what to do with. This leads to a plethora of flat and forgettable cast along side the few that truly stand out. Not to mention, many of the protagonists (especially the less memorable ones) act and behave very similar, making only their designs and names the things that set them apart.

Enjoyment: 9/10
As I've mentioned before, this anime is probably one of the most unique anime you'll come across. Despite it's clear flaws, not many people can deny the entertainment the absurdity of this anime brings along with it, and the best part is you get immersed in it and you manage to take things seriously. Ninja dogs? Giant monster bears? Dogs spinning in the air? It's all there.

The story starts in Northern Japan, Akita prefecture, where the main character, Gin, is born. A terrible bear, Akakabuto, is keeping the area in fear, whose biggest rival is Gohee Takeda, whose ears got teared off by the animal. However, he also successfully injured him by shooting out his right eye. At the beginning two parts of the story runs in parallel, the birth of the new hero, and Gohee' attempt to search for 2 lost skiers. These two threads are getting merged pretty quickly, when Daisuke gets the bad news about Riki and Gohee getting killed by the monstrous bear Akakabuto. The introductions of ... the characters and the world is very strong, the viewer instantly gets the feeling, that in this series anyone can die. At the beginning of the story, the focus is entirely on the humans and the bear hunting, but gradually we can also see how Daisuke's and Gin's friendship is getting stronger and stronger. The series gets a very sharp turn in episode 7, where the focus shifts to the dogs as they start to talk. In this episode Gin joins a wild dog pack, and embarks on a new journey, to gather strong dogs from all over the country. Through the story Gin and the others meet with lots of interesting dogs, some who join forces with Ouu, and some who sees them as enemies. Lots of Shonen elements are appearing at these encounters, for example Gin constantly proving himself, solving situations, and with this saving the day. At the end, they gather in Ouu to finally take down Akakabuto, and restore peace. Around the end humans start to appear again, but their role is not nearly as significant as it was at the beginning.

The characters are very well written, we can see lots of personality developments, for example the most obvious being Gin, who starts out as a puppy, who barely knows anything about the working of the world, and at the end he becomes a strong leader. Even minor characters got lots of personality development, like John, who starts out as an egoist, cold blooded hunter, who can't imagine to accept orders from anyone, but at the end he ends up as a loyal Ouu soldier, who deeply cares about his comrades. Or Gohee, who started out as a cruel old man, who beats puppies, but at the end it's like if he would have completely changed. Lots of characters have references to the Japanese culture, like the Iga and Koga ninja dogs, Benizakura, whose name means "Crimson Cherry Blossom", or the Four Heavenly Kings of Mutsu. All of these characters have strong personalities, which makes all of them interesting, and helpful in different situations. However, I must note that most characters has big potential, but the series wasn't able to give enough screen time for all of them to shine. This is why Bemu, or the Four Heavenly Kings only appear a few times. But all in all, the characters are very likable, and interesting.

The music of this series can only be described as "wonderful". All scenes was able to implement a very fitting music to its feeling. Just by listening to it, it can be heard how terrible and cruel those bears are, or how exciting the fight scene is. The composer was Goro Ohmi, who is not very popular, but he is a great artist, and heavily underrated.

The series includes many well known voice actors, for example Hideyuki Tanaka, Banjou Ginga, Daisuke Gouri, who are all in Saint Seiya, Hokuto no Ken, and a lot more. So it can be said, that Ginga Nagareboshi Gin got a legendary cast.

The series was also dubbed in many languages, with good results. It became popular mostly in the Nordic countries, especially in Finland, where this series have a very big and dedicated fanbase. There are also many official merchandise available, especially from Japan and from Finland. And the Ginga series is still being continued by the creator, Yoshihiro Takahashi, so mangas are constantly available from the newer series, but even about this older masterpiece they can be found on auction sites.

To sum it up, this is an extraordinary series, and well worth watching it, it has very deep messages, and a few comical scenes as well. Strong 10/10 from me.