Ginga Densetsu Weed

Edit: After I re-watched this series, I have decided to re-review Ginga Densetsu Weed. I realize that I wasn't in the best of moods while writing my previous entry and now I'll write this review with a more... Level head.

Ginga Densetsu Weed is the sequel to Ginga Nagareboshi Gin. Both share a few of the same characters and the like. Ginga Densetsu Weed, however, is much newer (having been made in 2005 while Ginga Nagreboshi Gin being made in 1986). However, being relatively new does not automatically make it great, but GDW might be worth looking into since there is an extreme lack in dog ... anime out there (that aren't cute anyway).

Yes, Ginga Densetsu Weed has comedy scenes, but this is no Massugu ni Ikou (A rather overly-cute dog anime). GDW is an action anime, with cannibal dogs, assassinations, and even Ninja dogs. Humans play almost no role in the anime.

The main character is Weed, an Akita / Kishu mixed dog that is the son of Gin (the main character in Ginga Nagareboshi Gin) and Sakura. Weed has an extreme sense of justice and is also a good fighter despite being less than a year old. He is perhaps the most annoying main character you'll ever find.

The voice acting was good to an extent. But voice actors were changed and some character even shared the same voice so it was clear that Studio DEEN wasn't trying very hard.

Probably the lowest point of Ginga Densetsu Weed is the animation quality. Studio DEEN had on and off days with this. For instance, the last episode had great animation, but there were scenes in other parts of the series that makes eyes bleed. Sometimes the animators would animate every limb separately to make a nice flowing animation; other times the most animation in a scene was moving the character designs up and down. Studio DEEN should learn proper canine anatomy before making an anime that involves dogs as main characters.
The background scenery was pretty though.

And speaking of character designs, Studio DEEN made some weird changes. They changed Gin's eye color from brown to blue (probably to match Weed) and made both Gin and Weed a pretty good shade of blue; almost to the point of being unnatural. Ben's collar seems to have changed color and other little tidbits are there.

The anime and manga differences are to be expected. The manga (running 50+ volumes currently) is longer and therefore is definitely different from the anime. The anime, being a measly 26 episodes, ends with only two arcs completed [Kaibutsu and Fight for Gajou arcs]. Some characters were never introduced in the anime and other times some scenes were changed from their original format.

The anime ending was also completely different.

Maybe the GDW anime is trying to be more positive than its manga counterpart. Considering that Gajou blows up, Sniper tries to get revenge on Gin, George is there, etc, etc, happened in the manga and not in the anime... Studio DEEN is still being hypocritical about characters and sub-plots by killing off some characters when they didn't die in the manga and adding characters that weren't even in the original story.

The Ginga Densetsu Weed anime overall was a let down.

This version just can't live up to the manga: It doesn't follow the original storyline at all, characters are left out that are vital to the story, Weed is whiner than usual, everyone was made into hypnotized robots in the anime and mutually accepted Weed as leader, they made the old dogs weak to make the younger dogs look cooler, and there are so many plot holes it's not even funny.


Ginga Densetsu Weed anime in a nutshell:

~ Pros:
+ OP and EN themes songs are great
+ Can be enjoyable to watch at some points

~ Cons:
- Inconstant animation
- Change from old voice actors/lazy hiring
- Too short compared to the manga
- Weed
- PLOTHOLES

End Note: Many people, despite there being obvious flaws in the anime, still enjoy watching this series (I admit that I did during my first run-through since I read the manga afterwords) so you really shouldn't skip out on GDW. It's just that... The manga's better. And Studio DEEN sucks at drawing dogs.

This anime was probably one of the best 26 episode series I have ever seen. The story line, characters, they were all made carefully and actually had me crying during things like deaths, and betrayals. If you are looking for a new anime to watch this would defiantly be the anime to watch.
The art was good but I think the way they moved their mouths and some of the actions done could have been a bit better. But that shouldn't affect the overall Storyline and the overall of this action packed anime. Throughout the whole series it had me starring at the computer screen, ... I couldn't take my eyes off of it.
So if you enjoy action, a bit of blood, a deep storyline, as well as even just dogs. This is an anime you should watch.

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.