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1[[quoteright:252:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DOG-ANIME_8475.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:252: "[[LetsPlay/ChipCheezum Dog, how do you get in space?]]"]]
3
4''Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin'' (銀牙 -流れ星 銀-, literally "Silver Fang: The Shooting Star Gin") is an adventure/action {{Shonen}} manga published in Magazine/ShonenJump between 1983 to 1987. The mangaka, Yoshihiro Takahashi, took inspiration from an article he read about pet dogs that had run away from their owners to live in the wilderness. Subsequently he created a story about... pet dogs that had run away from their owners to live in the wilderness.
5
6Yes, this story is about ''[[TalkingAnimal talking dogs]]''.
7
8Let's be more specific: it stars Gin, an Akita pup and the son of the bear-hunting dog Riki. Riki and his owner, Gohei Takeda, had been hunting a deranged bear known as Akakabuto (based on a famous historical rogue bear who terrorized a town) after the bear killed Riki's father. Circumstances led to Gohei losing his leg, and Riki seemingly falling to his death. Thus, Gohei needed a new hunting dog. He picked Gin.
9
10Months later, Gin, after having been trained by Gohei and returned to his original owner, Daisuke, leaves his friend to join a pack of wild dogs. It turns out that Riki survived, but with amnesia, and had formed a pack to fight and finish off Akakabuto and his fellow bears. So begins an adventure involving many battles, traveling across Japan to find allies, and learning battle techniques.
11
12Eventually, the manga was adapted into an anime by Creator/ToeiAnimation in 1986. This was subsequently dubbed into a number of Scandinavian languages, and it became popular enough in those countries to get uncut rereleases. Why "uncut"? Well, most notably, both the manga and the anime are ''extremely'' violent and gory - enough for one site to describe it as "said to be one of the most violent anime ever". Don't count on it being dubbed into English anytime soon, though a decent fan-made sub was put out a few years ago.
13
14The manga itself is another matter, as it remained strictly a case of NoExportForYou for years and overseas fans could only read it via [[{{Scanlation}} scanlations]]. However, eventually Finnish publishers began translating it and the rest of the series [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff due to the franchise's popularity there]]. Official English translations for the longest time were limited to the first three volumes of ''Weed'' being in published in North America, before the publisher went out of business. However, in 2020 the online manga distribution website Manga Planet obtained the license for translating the series, finally providing a legal way for English-speaking readers to access the original manga.
15
16The series has since spawned an entire media franchise with sequels, [[{{Spinoff}} spinoffs]], plenty of [[AllThereInTheManual supplimentary material]], tons of [[TheMerch merchandise]], and even a [[TheMusical musical]]. While not anywhere near as popular as the reigning titans of the anime/manga industry, over the years it has developed a dedicated following both inside Japan and out, and both the the series & celebrations of it continue to this day.
17
18Assorted works in the franchise include:
19* ''Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed'' (1999-2009) -- The first sequels series which follows Gin's son Weed.
20* ''Manga/GingaDensetsuRiki'' (2000) -- A single-volume manga prequel that follows a young Riki.
21* ''Ginga Densetsu Weed Gaiden'' (2001) -- A collection of short stories that take place during ''Weed''.
22* ''Ginga Nagareboshi Gin Shin Gaiden'' (2009) -- A collection of short stories that take place during ''Gin''.
23* ''Ginga Densetsu Weed: Orion'' (2009-2014) -- The second sequel series which follows Weed's children.
24* ''Ginga Densetsu Akame'' (2014) -- A spinoff/prequel miniseries about Akame's ancestor.
25* ''Ginga: The Last Wars'' (2015-2019) -- The third sequel series which continues from ''Orion''.
26* ''Ginga Densetsu Noah'' (2019-present) -- A spinoff/sequel that continues from ''The Last Wars''.
27
28Now has a [[Characters/GingaNagareboshiGin character sheet]].
29----
30!!Examples in the Akakabuto arc
31* TheEighties: The story is set in 1986, the same time period it was written.
32* TheAbridgedSeries:
33** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIOGcCekSoc There was one very short English one (only episode 4 is left)]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAsniTDb47I the Finnish one with 4 episodes]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbwpWsnMIaE another Finnish one.]]
34** There was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFvOGfmiw1E another trend]] of playing the clips to audio of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls.''
35* AbsurdlySharpClaws:
36** [[spoiler:Sniper]] kills a dog named Lloyd by clawing his head.
37** The bears are often shown tearing open either a person or dog with a single strike of their claws.
38* ActionPrologue: The first episode opens with Takeda Gohei and Shiro in the middle of hunting Akakabuto. In the ''Ginga Densetsu Riki'' prequel, it's revealed that Riki was actually at the scene of the time while still a puppy, witnessing his father giving his life to push himself along with Akakabuto off a cliff. Which is ironic when 8 years later, Riki falls off a cliff because of Akakabuto as well, while being witnessed by ''his'' son, Gin.
39* AdaptationDistillation:
40** Not counting the AbortedArc mentioned above, the anime naturally leaves out many things from the manga, though one of the most prominent moments is probably the sequence about Daisuke's [[spoiler:despair over Gin's disappearance, along with John's disbelief towards the Ohu army and his fight with Riki that ultimately convinces him, which is only briefly mentioned in the anime. To recap, Daisuke is frequently looking for Gin, one day being witnessed by John as he ventures out into the woods. John, remembering the promise he gave Gin about looking after Daisuke, follows him and, not surprisingly, a bear appears. While Daisuke is knocked unconscious, John does his best to fight the bear but finds himself having trouble, when Riki suddenly appears which causes the bear to flee ''by the mere sight of him.'' John proceeds to challenge Riki to a fight, but to his shock is easily defeated by him. Riki then gives John a RousingSpeech which finally convinces him of joining the Ohu army.]]
41** The dogs start talking much earlier in the manga than in the anime, to which the latter leaves out some interesting interactions. For instance, Gin and John do nothing but growl at each other in Episode 5 of the anime, while in the manga, you get to read the actual conversation they're having. If Gin had started talking as early as he did in the manga, he would have begun already in Episode 3.
42** Not to mention, the bears occasionally talk in the manga too.
43** Another part that appears to come out of nowhere in the anime is a Dachshund named Oliver arriving to help Cross, Gin and Benizakura, with Cross explaining he had saved her before. In the manga, Cross had run into two dogs who wanted to rape her, leading to Oliver saving her. This was also likely cut for time and/or the "attempted rape" scene might have been deemed too inappropriate.
44* AdaptationDyeJob:
45** Cross's fur is white in the manga, but a grey-blue combo in the anime.
46** Riki's fur is changed from red to brown.
47** Hyena is white in the manga, but grey-greenish-blue in the anime.
48* AdaptationInducedPlothole: In the Scandinavian release of the show, three entire episodes were removed including the part at the end where [[spoiler:Akakabuto stands up one final time and fatally wounds Riki.]] Because of this, viewers were left confused for a good while as to where certain characters such as Benizakura went, or how [[spoiler:Riki]] were fine one moment only to lie bloody on the ground the next.
49* AdaptationSpeciesChange: The creature that attacked the Kai brothers as puppies was originally an unnamed marten, but some of the dubs turned him into a wild dog named Tin. [[CallARabbitASmeerp It was still obviously a marten,]] and the "name" came from the translators mistaking "ten", Japanese for "marten", for "Tin".
50* AffectionateParody: The series itself has one in the form of comic pages done by Website/{{Deviant|art}} artist [=IsisMasshiro=], parodying [[http://isismasshiro.deviantart.com/art/The-Horrifying-Kai-brothers-1-61664071 episode 9]], [[http://isismasshiro.deviantart.com/art/Ninja-doggies1-51279345 13]], [[http://isismasshiro.deviantart.com/art/GNG-Bill-the-robber-1-442716601 14]] and [[http://isismasshiro.deviantart.com/art/Rough-and-Tumble-1-51046871 the last.]]
51* AllDogsArePurebred: Actually justified here, as the dogs are mostly hunting dogs that either ran away or were abandoned.
52* AlmostDeadGuy: [[spoiler: A dog named Kurobe delivers a message to Cross and Moss that the fourth and fifth platoon have been killed, before dying himself.]]
53* AlreadyUndoneForYou: [[spoiler: In episode 16, we see Moss and the pack of dogs he had been leading in the absence of Ben being trapped in a giant hole in the ground, with no explanation as to how they ended up there, or even what that hole is doing there.]]
54* AlternateAnimalAffection: Between [[spoiler:Ben and Cross]].
55* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The Korean dub, where a child is singing.
56* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Bears are depicted as a universal force of evil. Not just that they're all just bad people, but actively malicious. Possibly averted with the mother bear Daisuke & Gin encounter since she may have just been protecting her cubs, [[TruthInTelevision just like in real life]].
57* AmplifiedAnimalAptitude: These are some ''smart'' dogs to be sure. They're generally presented as having mental capacity on par with humans and can do things like use tools or formulate complex battle plans. The bears are also unsettlingly intelligent despite their more monstrous nature, especially Akakabuto.
58* AnArmAndALeg:
59** Gohei chops off his foot to feed it to Riki, so he can gain enough strength to make it back to the town and fetch help. [[UndyingLoyalty Riki refuses however.]]
60* AnimalJingoism: Dogs and bears are mortal enemies. The whole plot revolves around the dogs gathering enough "soldiers" to battle the bears, and the actual battle itself. Subverted when Gin encounters a mother bear and her cubs - while he initially views the mother as just another monstrous bear to be defeated, once he learns she was just protecting her cubs he tries (but fails) to defend them from John.
61* AnimalNemesis: Gohei's fixation on Akakabuto. Ever since the bear killed his first prized hunting dog, he's been dead set on killing it.
62* AntiClimax: In the Scandinavian and Finnish edit of the anime, after all the trouble the protagonists went through to gather a massive dog army to take Akakabuto down, the bear is ultimately killed by... [[spoiler:Gohei suddenly arriving and shooting him. What actually happened that the Nordic viewers didn't get to see was Gin using the Battouga to ''decapitate'' Akakabuto.]]
63* AnyoneCanDie: While most of the deaths are minor character or {{Mooks}}, don't assume the main cast is safe. [[spoiler:By the end of the arc Akatora, Benizakura, and Riki all lose their lives.]]
64* ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare:
65** You absolutely do not train a puppy into a hunting dog by beating it senseless with chopped wood or making it jump into a freezing, raging river. In the Gingaverse however, dogs are as sentient as humans, resulting in it being counted as TrainingFromHell rather than actual animal abuse. Although, people in-universe do call Gohei out on his methods being far too cruel, to which he responds that "If a dog can't avoid an old man's kick, how will it avoid a bear's paw?" [[note]]From the ''Ginga Densetsu Riki'' prequel.[[/note]]
66** The series' portrayal of Japanese dog fighting is very heavy on the artistic licenses. Dog fighting in Japan has more in common with sumo wrestling than the awful Western bloodsport, and the dogs "fight" by attempting to push each other out of the ring. During their epic showdown, Benizakura and Tsuna-arashi would both have gotten disqualified many times over were it a real-life match. Growling, barking, and injuring the opposing dog are strictly prohibited in actual fights.
67* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Many of the dog breeds are tweaked a bit to fit their role more. Akitas are not that tall and slender, and Salukis in turn are a lot skinnier than what Cross is. Neither do English Mastiffs (Moss) or Tosa Inus (Benizakura) get ''that'' big.
68* ATeamFiring: Large groups of {{Mooks}} firing rifles can't hit anything even at what appears to be close range.
69* AttackOfTheKillerWhatever: Giant killer bears terrorizing humans.
70* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The pack leader is always the strongest fighter in the group.
71** Averted when [[spoiler: Ben goes blind and has to pick a new leader for the pack. According to both him and Akame, anyone in the pack has the strength to be a leader, but Ben wants someone who also has "determination and a strong sense of justice". The choice goes to Gin, despite him probably being (at least one of) the youngest of them. Of course he still turns out to be [[KidHero among the strongest]] on many occasions.]]
72* BaitAndSwitch: When Gohei and Riki are trapped in a crevice in the first episode, Gohei eventually takes out his machete and decides that "no matter what, I'll survive this", making it look like he intends to kill Riki to feed off his meat. Turns out he meant to chop off his own leg so Riki could instead feed off ''his'' meat, only Riki refuses out of loyalty.
73* BaitAndSwitchCredits: One clip of the opening song shows Gin epically fighting Akakabuto ''alone'' while the bear is charging after him down a steep mountain side. [[spoiler:While their battle does happen, it's in an entirely different setting, Akakabuto remains stationary throughout most of the fight and Gin is fighting alongside hundreds of other dogs. He ''is'' the one to deliver the finishing blow though.]]
74* BearsAreBadNews: This series is a ''textbook'' case of this. Almost every single bear to ever be shown is a horrifying monstrosity, and in most cases they need to be killed before they can slaughter whatever crosses their path. The only possible exceptions are the mother and her cubs that Daisuke & Gin find, since the cubs are too young to be a threat and the mother is just trying to protect them.
75* BigDamnHeroes: In the Kai Brothers' past, Ben saves them from Tin (a pine marten in the manga or a rogue dog in the anime).
76* BigGood: [[spoiler:Riki, as the leader of the dogs of Ohu and the one commanding them against Akakabuto.]]
77* BigGuy: Moss and Benizakura, two huge Tosa dogs who know how to throw their weight around.
78* BigSleep: How both [[spoiler:Akatora]] and [[spoiler:Riki]] die.
79* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Akakubuto is successfully defeated in the end, but not without Akatora, Benizakura, and Riki all giving their lives in the process. Gin barely gets to spend any proper time with his father before he dies, but by the end has more than earned his place as Riki's successor.]]
80* BlindIdiotTranslation: The subtitled episodes provided by Anime Suuxe Den are littered with mistranslations and grammar mistakes.
81** Some examples are:
82--> "Im going to become an male."
83--> "He is only lies."
84--> "You two will go rape them." (Original: "You two will go ''spy'' on them.")
85** The subtitles from anime_fin are generally higher in quality, but even they have their problems. Young dogs are consistently referred to as "cubs", capitalization is all over the place, and words are sometimes compounded when they shouldn't be (eg. "Monsterbear"). The word choices are also occasionally rather unusual, such as when Jaguar exclaims [[DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch "Bloody hell!"]] when confronted by Sniper. The subs are also very similar to the official Finnish ones, to the point where it's possible that the Finnish script was run through a translation program and added to the episodes unedited.
86* {{Bowdlerization}}: Though the anime is still pretty violent and doesn't shy away from mature themes, there were still some things from the manga that were left out likely for this purpose, such as:
87** Daisuke's CatapultNightmare about Gohei shooting Riki in the head so he can eat him rather than starve out in the wilderness.
88** Akakabuto's killing of various human characters is largely off-screen, whereas in the manga it was usually shown in [[{{Gorn}} gruesome detail]].
89** As mentioned above, Oliver's introductory scene from the manga is skipped over, likely since it involved a couple of male dogs who wanted to rape Cross until Oliver helped her deal with them.
90** Gin simply saves Smith from drowning in the river in the anime rather than saving him from falling down a waterfall, which humorously also cuts out an exchange where Smith begs Gin to let him fall since [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday he thinks that Gin choosing to die with him would be "gay"]].
91* ABoyAndHisX: Gin and Daisuke in the first third of the story. While Gin is forced to spend time with Gohei as part of his training, he still stays with Daisuke for much of the stories' beginning otherwise, and they work to forge a bond similar to Hidetoshi's bond with John. Unfortunately, not long after Gin goes to join the dogs of Ohu, leaving Daisuke behind.
92* BreakTheHaughty: John's arrogant attitude is toned down a whole lot after being defeated by [[spoiler:Riki.]]
93* BringMyBrownPants:
94** Early on, a female skier wets herself before passing out when confronted by a bear.
95** One of the dogs in the army at the final battle loses control of his bladder when seeing Akakabuto for the first time.
96* ButNowIMustGo: Gin leaves Daisuke and his family in episode 8 to join Ben's pack and travel across Japan.
97* CallingYourAttacks: "Zetsu! TENRŌ! ''BATTŌGA!!''"
98* CannibalClan: The ninja dogs of Kouga eat other dogs, which other characters find utterly reprehensible.
99* CarFu: Daisuke plows into Akakabuto in mid air with a snowmobile at one point.
100* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Many of the dogs perform feats of incredible strength & stamina despite there being minimal mystical elements in most of the story to justify this.
101* CheerfulFuneral: [[spoiler: Riki]] tells Gin not to feel sad at the end of the final battle where so many died, but to howl in victory for the honor of the dead.
102* CombatByChampion: Gin vs. Sniper.
103* CutlassBetweenTheTeeth: Kurojaki can hold a sickle in his mouth, allowing him to perform devastating attacks. [[spoiler: After an intervention from Gin, one such attack backfires and Kurojaki [[EyeScream loses an eye]] to his own weapon.]]
104* DavidVersusGoliath: Dogs vs. giant killer bears. Lampshaded in the theme song: "Something so huge, which stands so much taller than us..."
105* DecoyProtagonist: Daisuke starts out as the main character in your typical [[ABoyAndHisX A Boy And His Dog]] story, then the GenreShift comes along after 8 episodes and the attention switches to Gin, while Daisuke only appears intermittently (in the manga) or not at all until the ending (in the anime).
106* DefeatMeansFriendship: A recurring theme, and a common method by which more dogs are recruited to help in the fight against Akakabuto.
107* DevilInPlainSight: Sniper is a textbook example of this trope, and the audience is clued in almost immediately that he's evil.
108* DramaticNecklaceRemoval: [[spoiler:Gin loses his collar in a fight with Sniper.]]
109* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Kurojaki and the Koga dogs all kill themselves via immolation. Though the sequel reveals at least one of them survived, albeit it horribly burned from the ordeal.]]
110* DubNameChange: The Hungarian dub is a very good example of this, while in the Scandinavian dubs only some of the names are translated, usually literally.
111* EarAche: A flashback at the start of the story shows that Gohei gained his signature scars and missing ear when Akakabuto swiped the left side of his face with its claws. The manga even devotes a panel to show the torn ear.
112** Benizakura is missing both of his ears.
113* EleventhHourSuperpower: Riki [[spoiler: recovers from his EasyAmnesia]] shortly before the final battle, allowing him to teach Gin the ultimate bear-slaying technique: [[SpinAttack Zetsu Tenrou Battouga.]] It's strong enough to [[spoiler:chop Akakabuto's head clean off]], though it gets nerfed pretty heavily in the Wolf Arc. [[spoiler: Mostly because it turns out there are other Battougas out there.]]
114* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Kurojaki towards his pup.
115* EpisodeTitleCard: After the intro, the anime shows a brief PreviouslyOn segment and then shows a title card.
116* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: [[spoiler:Riki]] is simply known as "The Leader" during most of the show up until his identity is "revealed" in the final episode.
117* EvilChancellor: Sniper, being the second in command, is constantly scheming how to take over the pack and kill off his competition in elaborate schemes.
118* EvilRedhead: Akakabuto; he is a giant killer bear whose name means "Red Helmet".
119* EyeAwaken: Hidetoshi shoots a bear, thinks he's killed it and slowly approaches, the bear slightly opens it's eyes in what can only be described as playing dead to lure the hunter close and ''smiles'', before hurling itself towards Hidetoshi.
120* EyesAlwaysShut: Daisuke's father.
121* EyeScream: The series was.....fond of this.
122** Kurotora got his right eye bitten out by Tin the marten when he was just a puppy.
123** Kurojaki's sickle through the eye, anyone?
124** Terry gets his only eye clawed out, leaving him blind.
125** And finally [[spoiler: Akatora]] gets his left eye destroyed just before he takes out Akakabuto's remaining eye.
126* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:In a bid to convince Bem to lend his forces to Ohu, Great agrees to let himself be killed by laying on a railroad and getting run over by a train. The fact that he actually manages to resist his survival instinct and ''let'' it happen is so awe-inpsiring that Bem saves him.]]
127* FakeDefector: Terry, the leader of the fifth squad, joins the Mutsu Generals so that he can betray them at the right moment.
128* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: No lack of decapitations or animal violence here. Even as early as the first part of the manga a skier is swiftly decapitated by Akakabuto, and things don't let up from there.
129* AFatherToHisMen: The commander of Ohu views all the dogs under his command as his children, as he states as much when Gin tries to [[spoiler:identify him as Riki, his ''actual'' father]].
130* FieryRedhead: Akakabuto. Heck, his entire body is covered in red fur, and he's as evil & intense as a wild bear can possibly be.
131* FinalBattle: The whole arc is essentially building up to the final confrontation between Akakabuto and the dogs of Ohu.
132* FlashStep: Gin, Riki as well as the Koga and Iga dogs can do this.
133* GeckoEnding: Because the anime skips over the last arc of the manga, it leaves out some plot-relevant details that were expanded on in that arc, including [[spoiler:Gohei's death & funeral, and Daisuke's proper reinuiting with Gin]].
134* GenreShift: It starts out as an ABoyAndHisX series... and then the focus shifts to the dogs looking for enough manpower to defeat Akakabuto and its cohorts.
135* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Akakabuto's single eye glows constantly throughout the series and even during the opening theme.
136** [[spoiler:Even with both eyes gone, his sockets begin to glow, either being a stylistic choice or implying he's supernaturally powerful to some extent.]]
137* GoForTheEye: Plenty of the attacks in the series are aimed at the opponents eyes, often with gruesome results [[spoiler:Terry, Kurotora, Akatora, Kurojaki, Akakabuto.]]
138* GratuitousNinja: How about two clans of ninja dogs?
139* HandicappedBadass: Akakabuto himself. Not to mention [[spoiler:Ben starts to go blind and can ''still'' make his enemies bleed.]]
140* HeroicLineage: Shiro's bloodline has natural strength and intelligence in it.
141* HeroicDog: Most of the characters. Translation: lots.
142* HeroicSacrifice: This happens all the time.
143* HeroicWillpower: When Daisuke falls deep into a crevice and faints, Gin is sent down to rescue him and does so by circling his body, wrapping him with his rope leash to pull him back up. In doing so however, he has to hold on to the rope himself, carrying all of Daisuke's weight on his small puppy body. It gets to the point his collar tears into his throat and the manga describes that he eventually couldn't breathe. Despite that, he keeps holding onto the rope, even ''after'' having pulled him to safety.
144** Great demonstrates a ''tremendous'' amount of HeroicWillpower when trying to persuade Bem to lend his forces to the assault against Akakabuto. How does he persuade him? [[spoiler:By sitting on a railroad track and letting himself be run over by an oncoming train on the promise that Bem help their cause. Bem is so moved by this that he saves Great at the last second.]]
145* TheHerosJourney: The story is about Gin's journey from a small, defenseless pup into a formidable canine warrior who can help lead an attack against a monstrous bear to protect those he loves.
146* HighlyVisibleNinja: While the Igas ''are'' pretty spry ninjas, not shying away from underhanded tactics and preferring to stay out of sight, that doesn't change the fact that their pure white coats should make for pretty awful camouflage. As the series goes on,however, Akame starts playing this more and more straight, besting his opponents with his speed and skill in direct combat instead of going with more "practical" methods.
147* HonorBeforeReason: Kurojaki and his clan of ninja dogs, [[spoiler:who all decides to commit suicide when Akame burns down their "Master's" home, by jumping into the burning building itself.]]
148* HongKongDub: The Finnish dub struggles with lip-synching, with characters sometimes still briefly talking after their mouths no longer move or, conversely, their mouths moving after the line is over or even before the line even begins. Still the dialogue mostly manages to start and end exactly where it should. The dialogue issues are due two things: One, being translated through the Swedish script to Finnish either makes some of the dialogue too short or too long to match the lip synching due to Swedish not being easily turned into Finnish and grammatical cords that don't exist in Finnish Grammar. Two, the dub was rushed, with 4 actors (2 male 2 female) having to do every scene in 1 single take, which slightly hampers their vocal performances. This is due to the company named Golden Voice Oy being a minor dubbing company that had recently started it's business, and therefore not did not have enough resources to do retakes. The dub managed to become popular after over the years, and some fans are attached to it.
149* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:During the final battle against Akakabuto, Gohei appears at one point and shoots the bear in the chest, resulting in it finally falling to the ground, dead. While several lives were lost, both Gin and Riki lives, and a teary Gohei goes over to hug them both... only for Akakabuto to magically resurrect out of nowhere, striking Gohei down before he can make another shot, and then mortally wounding Riki. Enraged, Gin performs a Battouga that tear's Akakabuto's head off.]]
150* HowlOfSorrow: [[spoiler:Riki's]] last words implore his subjects to celebrate victory and howl for the fallen.
151* IAteWhat: Hyena and Smith are understandably disgusted to learn that the meat given by the Kouga clan that they almost swallowed was dog meat. Hyena goes a step further by vomiting everything up.
152* ImprobableWeaponUser: ''Some dogs wield weapons'' - that itself is improbable. Kurojaki wields a kama, [[spoiler:eventually getting HoistByHisOwnPetard ''[[EyeScream in his eye]]'']], and Gin later uses a similar trick with a branch to kill one of Akakabuto's followers.
153* InASingleBound: How Gin convinces the Ohu army to recruit him, by jumping an 80 feet gorge. Albeit he uses an updraft to compensate for his lack of raw strength but the other dogs are impressed nonetheless.
154* InstantExpert: [[spoiler:Gin defeates Akakabuto with a Battouga a few minutes after he's learned it.]]
155* IronicEcho: In the bonus story ''Kai no San Kyōdai'', Ben says that he can finally sleep peacefully at night after seeing the three brothers beat up the marten that he had originally saved them from. [[spoiler: [[TearJerker Akatora says that now he can sleep peacefully, too,]] as he dies knowing that he effectively secured his friends' victory by blinding Akakabuto.]]
156* ItCanThink: While the bears are generally depicted as monstrous, instinct-driven juggernauts, as the story goes on it's made clear that they ''can'' think on a level comparable to that of the dogs. Akakabuto in particular is savvy enough that, knowing the dogs are out to get him, he makes Ohu into a stronghold fortified by other bears to protect himself [[spoiler:and even has another bear serve as a BodyDouble for himself in order to fool the dogs]].
157* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: John and the Kai brothers, especially Kurotora.
158* JumpScare: Bear jumping through a wall and mauling the people on the other side.
159* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Kurojaki reveals his plot of turning Ben's pack and the Iga clan against each other, which accomplishes nothing except making Gin and the Iga dogs ally against him, which ultimately leads to him losing the battle.
160* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Riki lost his memories when he was thrown into a ravine by Akakabuto. The only thing what he remembers is his hatred for the bear]].
161* LifeOrLimbDecision: Gohei has to choose between sacrificing a limb as a last resort or die. He chooses to cut off the limb, both for survival and also to attempt to force-feed Riki his flesh.
162* LukeYouAreMyFather: Gin pulls this on [[spoiler:Riki]], who is suffering from amnesia and doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. [[spoiler:He does remember in time for the arc's climax, though.]]
163* KidHero: Gin is still a pup when he starts to get in involved with the Ohu army, and by the story's end he's only around a year old.
164* LastOfHisKind: Kurojaki's son Chibi is the last dog left alive from the Koga clan [[spoiler:after Kurojaki and his followers are all DrivenToSuicide. The clan bounces back by the [[Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed sequel series]], however.]]
165* MadeOfIron: A couple of the characters manage to hang on, even if they get shot in the eye, clawed, fell off a cliff, bitten, or in one case, all of the above.
166** Forget iron, Akame is most likely made of pure adamantium. He gets ''scythed in the neck'' by Kurojaki soon after his introduction and he has all but shrugged it off an hour or so later. That's just the beginning, though: later in the series he gets Shuga's spear-like front leg shoved into his stomach and the battle with White Tiger ends with the latter's (regular) leg paw-deep in Akame's neck. He ''barely minds'' these two injuries, by the way.
167** Ben survives quite a lot as well, most prominently being ''crushed by a boulder'' and somehow walking away from it with only some bleeding and a brief bout of unconsciousness. It's practically weaponized in the wolf arc when he uses his physical toughness to tank Mukonga's attacks over and over again, which very likely should have turned his insides into jelly but he once again comes away hardly injured from it.
168* ManlyTears: Happens more than once, usually after a HeroicSacrifice.
169* MeaningfulName: Plenty of them:
170** Gin: "Silver"
171** Akakabuto: "Red Helmet"
172** Akatora: "Red Tiger"
173** Kurotora: "Black Tiger"
174** Chutora: "Middle Tiger"
175** Sniper (self proclaimed): "never misses his target"
176** Akame: "Red Eyes"
177** Kurojaki: "Black Demon"
178* MiddleChildSyndrome: Chutora. He has a much smaller role compared to Akatora and Kurotora and is [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome mysteriously absent]] in the [[Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed sequel]]. His role is so small that ''not even the series' creator'' [[ShrugOfGod could remember what actually happened to him]] between the series when this was asked. As some consolation, though, Chutora is something of an EnsembleDarkhorse among the fandom.
179** Gin's brothers also suffer from this. They only appear in the first few chapters in the manga and get only maybe about five collective minutes of screen time over the course of eight episodes in the anime. Despite being Riki's sons as well, they're instantly deemed of no use as bearhounds and Daisuke they'd make better family pets or showdogs instead. They never say a single word, nor do they even get properly named, but are known as "Hiya-n" (brown) and "Giyan" (white) by the fandom.
180* MonsterIsAMommy: Turns out that Gin and Daisuke's first kill was just a MamaBear trying to protect her cubs.
181* {{Mooks}}: Every pack the heroes encounter contains foot soldier dogs that gets mowed down en masse during the fight.
182* MookChivalry: Averted. The enemies tend to attack en masse. This doesn't seem to be a problem for the heroes though.
183* MundaneMadeAwesome: Brindle fur equals natural strength.
184* TheMusical: [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Yes, really.]] The series about talking dogs that fight bears has recieved both [[http://hopeanuolimusikaali.com/info_eng.html fan-made]] ''and'' [[https://www.ginga-stage.com/ official]] musical productions.
185* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Daisuke has a moment of this when he realizes [[spoiler:the bear he killed was just trying to protect her cubs, and questions himself to have done the same thing Akakabuto did.]]
186* MyNameIsInigoMontoya: Some of the characters are quite fond of introducing themselves before a battle, even to the bears, who wouldn't be able to understand them.
187* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Cannibal ninja dogs with ''mohawks''!
188* NotQuiteDead: Akakabuto, [[spoiler:who took an onslaught of attacking dogs, bullet wounds, and ''three'' [[SpinAttack Zetsu Tenrou Battougas]]]] to finally die.
189* NowThatsUsingYourTeeth: The ''[[SpinAttack Zetsu Tenrou Battouga]]'' is an attack revolved on this. [[RuleOfCool By spinning, it creates a massive force in the attacker's bite]], [[spoiler:enough to rip a bear's head clean off]].
190* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:How Akakabuto is ultimately defeated.]]
191* OhCrap: If you guessed that this happens a lot, you'd be right.
192* OneManArmy: The supreme commander of Ohu [[spoiler:Riki]]. He might have been the only dog in Ohu at the time, but he was still fighting bears ''all by himself'' as if it's easy hunting.
193* PapaWolf:
194** Moss is most definitely [[UnstoppableRage not happy]] after he is led to believe that his son is dead.
195** Same with Kurojaki. In fact, he got so pissed off when he sees his son fall off a cliff that he starts beating up other dogs around him.
196* PeacefulInDeath: [[spoiler:Akatora and Riki.]]
197* PlotHole: The number of dogs in the pack, while large to begin with, grows ever larger as time goes on, even getting into the hundreds. How all these dogs find enough food for the whole pack is never explained. At the very least, they must be consuming all the prey in the surrounding area everywhere they go.
198** It's shown in an early episode, where the pack only numbers about 70 or so, that they eat an entire bear carcass down to the bones ''overnight.''
199* PowerCopying: Gin only needs to watch a technique once before becoming an InstantExpert. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] once by Moss.
200* PutOnABus: In the anime, all the human characters are dropped from the plot until the end once the story shifts to Gin joining up with the warriors of Ohu. Not so in the manga, where there are occasional scenes showing what they're up to while the main plot unfolds.
201* TheQuest: Find the strongest dogs in Japan to take down the BigBad Akakabuto.
202* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler:Akakabuto, after taking tons of attacks from dogs, rendered blind, endured two Zetsu Tenrou Battougas, and a gunshot, finally goes down after one final Zetsu Tenrou Battouga... [[OffWithHisHead that cut off his head]].]]
203* RecycledAnimation:
204** It's an 80's anime which doesn't leave it much of a surprise that many shots and animations are re-used at certain times. The worst offender is probably in Episode 18 and 19, when the same shots of dogs being clawed at and stepped on by a bear are used over and over again to the point it becomes comical.
205** Another frequently used shot is an animation of Gin landing after striking an attack on an enemy, which shows up several times over the show. It gets especially noticeable towards the end when it's even used in the final episode, despite that Gin has grown a lot by that point, said animation momentarily reverts him back to his mid-series age again.
206* RedRightHand: Akakabuto's missing right eye. [[spoiler:It exploits this by making a lookalike to trick the attackers]].
207* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Hyena, having been inspired to finally try to prove his worth as a soldier of Ohu, jumps into a ravine to save Ben after Ben attempts to sacrifice himself to kill Sniper. In the anime it unfortunately turns into a NegatedMomentOfAwesome as Hyena trips while charging down the cliff, screaming as he falls to his death and is never seen again. In the manga however, Hyena succeeds in saving Ben from drowning but is seemingly killed by Sniper. It wasn't until years later when the spinoff story ''Ginga Densetsu Noah'' would reveal that [[RedemptionEqualsLife Hyena actually survived]].]]
208* RetiredBadass: Gohei becomes this early on, his old age along with [[TheAlcoholic drinking problems]] making him too ill to keep training Gin, and bear hounds in general.
209* TheRival: John is this to Gin early on.
210* RousingSpeech: The dogs are about to square off with Akakabuto, but he has intimidated most of the soldiers in the pack; cue Riki with one of the most memorable entrances ever, delivering a rousing speech which makes everybody fit for fight again.
211* RuleOfCool: The story is filled with plenty of improbable stuff that exists for this purpose.
212* RuleOfDrama: It'd be a pretty short and boring series if every dog they wanted to recruit complied right away.
213** In the last episode, [[spoiler:Daisuke tries to approach Gin only to be stopped by the other dogs (even ''John'') snarling at him, resulting in a bittersweet scene of Daisuke having to say goodbye to Gin from a distance, refused the right to touch him. This would make sense with the dogs not allowing an unknown human approaching their leader, even though Takeda Gohei was allowed to pet and hug ''both'' Gin and Riki just moments before. In the manga, they explain how it's the first days of his reign that determine what direction his leadership will take, and because of this, they can't let him get close to his old owner within that time frame, at the risk that he'll be swayed to going back. Upon the completion of the wolf arc however, Gin realizes he can finally see Daisuke and eventually reunites with him, arriving just in time to also see Gohei on his death bed.]]
214** Somehow a huge dog pack running through the mountains causes a rumble so loud it can be heard miles away.
215* SamusIsAGirl: In-universe example. The Kai brothers are unaware that the dog Chutora was fighting, Cross, was female until explicitly being told so by Gin.
216* ScareChord: [[spoiler:Akakabuto is dead, all is well, Gohei hugs Riki and Gin, cue sentimental music... PSYCH!]]
217* SceneryPorn: There are lots of gorgeously animated shots of snowy mountains, nature during summer and later autumn, and many stunning locations where Gin and his pack pass or arrive at during their journey. Especially during the first 2 minutes in episode 8 after the credits, there are many lovely shots of mountains or roads and lakes as we see them running from many different angles.
218** The manga is no slouch either, with Takahashi doing a wonderful job depicting the wilderness of Northern Japan.
219* ShesAManInJapan: Smith became female in one of the dubs, and Madara also suffered this.
220** It doesn't help that even in Japanese, it's incredibly easy to mistake Smith for a girl. See ViewerGenderConfusion below.
221* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Cross is the only female in the huge pack and her biggest accomplishment is [[spoiler:giving birth to Ben's puppies]]. Still, the show is less sexist than its sequels Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed, where there are ''no'' lead female dogs, or ''Ginga Densetsu Weed: Orion'', where the only female character is portrayed as whiny and submissive.
222* SnowMeansDeath: The battle against Akakabuto takes place in a snowstorm [[spoiler:and it's where many major characters die by the end of things]].
223* SparedByTheAdaptation: Or rather, Spared by the {{Bowdlerization}}. In Scandinavia, the anime received some haphazard cuts attempting to remove the worst instances of gratuitous gore, which led to some important scenes (as well as ''three entire episodes'') getting the shaft. This cut version omits the deaths of [[spoiler: Terry, Kirikaze, Jinnai, Benizakura, Sniper, Hyena and Akatora]], causing quite a bit of WhatHappenedToTheMouse for keen-eyed viewers. [[spoiler: Though in a bit of irony, Sniper really ended up being NotQuiteDead in the sequel.]]
224* SpinAttack: Spinning attacks are often the key to victory, most of all the Battouga which is essentially turning one's body into a spinning saw blade.
225* SpinningPiledriver: As if Gin piledriving Kurojaki wasn't cool or damaging ''enough''.
226* SpoilerOpening: As awesome as the opening theme credits are, it spoils or strongly hints quite a few major plots in the series, such as [[spoiler:Gin leaving humans to join a pack of dogs, Akakabuto getting "henchmen" bears, and Riki being alive]].
227* SpoilerTitle: Quite a few. [[spoiler:"Benizakura's Blood-Red Last Moment!"]], anyone?
228* StormingTheCastle: The final assault against Akakabuto is framed like this, and even more so since Akakabuto has essentially made Ohu into an actual stronghold while the dogs were away.
229* SurprisePregnancy: Only in the middle of the series before the Final Battle we find out that [[spoiler:Cross]] is pregnant with [[spoiler:Ben.]] She even blushes whenever it's mentioned.
230* TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler:Riki gives his position as "The Leader" to Gin before he dies.]]
231* TakingYouWithMe: The Koga and Iga dogs are fond of this method.
232* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Gin jumps down from a tree to attack Sniper. During the jump, there's enough time for Smith to yell at Gin ''and'' for Sniper to give a little [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYy_Ox8D9oY&t=598 speech]] on the reasoning behind his name.
233* TearsOfBlood: Great cries blood [[spoiler:while in the process of letting himself be run over by a train so Bem will help fight Akakabuto]].
234* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: Cross is seen blushing in both instances where [[spoiler: her pregnancy]] is revealed.
235* TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain: Akakabuto gets shot in his right eye and the bullet lodged in his brain stimulates his growth making him even bigger than he already is.
236* TrainingFromHell: Gohei puts Gin - and other dogs he trained - through this to make him a good bear-dog.
237** The manga epitomizes this by pointing out how only 1 out of 10 of Gohei's dogs survives his training.
238* TrainingMontage: Near the beginning of episode 4 with Gin and Daisuke played to the opening song.
239* TruthInTelevision: Dogs do get trained to hunt or fight bears in real life as well (though the latter is considered animal cruelty as it's used for entertainment with the bear in a rope). The story itself is apparently based off a mix between real life incidents of dogs running away from their owners to become wild dogs, and bears terrorizing a village in the mountains.
240* TryNotToDie: Gin and Akatora's parting words when they split up to [[StormingTheCastle storm their respective castles]]. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Akatora [[TearJerker does die]] later, while pulling a HeroicSacrifice]].
241* TheUnfavorite: Gin's brothers, for some reason immediately deemed useless as future bear hounds despite them being Riki's puppies as well. The manga explains this somewhat by narrating how Gin had inherited Riki's genes more than them, and Daisuke comments that they'd make better show dogs than hunting dogs due to their fur colors.
242* WelcomeBackTraitor: Hyena is forgiven his past transgressions, and is let back into the pack where he continues to remain more or less useless.
243* WellDoneSonGuy: [[spoiler:Riki to Gin after witnessing his deliverance of a death blow towards Akakabuto.]]
244* WhamLine: ''"Young male, do you plan on sending a '''pregnant''' bitch onto the battleground?"'' Said in regards to [[spoiler:Cross, revealing her to be pregnant with Ben's pups]].
245* WouldntHitAGirl: Chutora, after being informed by Gin that Cross is a female, refuses to fight her anymore. Even when she sinks her teeth into his neck he does little besides standing there and make a bored-sounding threat. In the manga, discovering that he has been fighting a female triggers a BerserkButton, and he proceeds to beat up the rest of the pack by himself.
246* WritersCannotDoMath: Gin is only a few months old in Episode 3 but suddenly looks a lot older from Episode 4 and onwards, giving the impression there was a TimeSkip of several months, and Episode 5 even refers to him as being one year old. Still, the story narrates that Episode 3 is set in March while Episode 4 and 5 is in May, meaning there wasn't more than a two month skip, effectively resulting in this trope.
247* YouHaveFailedMe:
248** Harpoon Bear, we hardly knew ye.
249** [[spoiler:In the manga, after Hyena proclaims his HeelFaceTurn and falls down the gorge, he ends up in a river along with Ben and Sniper, and proceeds to save Ben from drowning. Not surprisingly, Sniper kills him shortly after for this. Per future installments of the series, Hyena survives.]]
250* YouWontLikeHowITaste: Smith, mistaking the Iga dogs for the cannibalistic Kogas, says that they wouldn't like his taste because he is black and white. This refers to an earlier event where some Kogas actually did say that they find red dogs the tastiest ones.
251* XMarksTheHero:
252** Riki's body is covered in X-shaped scars due to his many battles with the bears.
253** Benizakura has an X-shaped scar over his left eye.
254
255!!Tropes used in the manga-only wolf arc
256* ActuallyFourMooks: Raiga presents a rare non-RPG example. His two brothers, Sakon and Ukon, [[SharingABody live in his body]] and come out to fight when Raiga uses Zan Hishou Bunshin Battouga.
257* AwesomeButImpractical: Thousand Dragon makes his 999 servants form a giant wolf to attack. The series manual [[LampshadeHanging points out how impractical the whole thing is]] and wonders how are the wolves supposed to attack anything that doesn't [[TooDumbToLive jump directly into the wolf formation's mouth.]]
258* BigOlEyebrows: Gaia and Hyouma.
259* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Gaia is defeated and the evil wolves thwarted, but most of the wolf tribe is wiped out in the conflict. Hyouma, Retsuga, and two unnamed wolves are the LastOfTheirKind, but they're allowed to join the dogs of Ohu at the very least.]]
260* BlowYouAway: Retsuga can create a cyclone at will.
261* CanisMajor: Every single one of the wolves qualifies. Bonus points for Big Horn, Mukonga and [[BigBad Gaia]] for being extra big.
262* CannibalismSuperpower: According to legend, the wolves gained special powers after eating the flesh of the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent demon dragon Jaryuki]]. However, even the [[AllThereInTheManual series manual]] doubts the veracity of the story.
263* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The entire arc and its events are never mentioned again in the series' sequels or spin-off stories. Hyouma, Retsuga and two unnamed wolves joined the Ohu pack at the end of ''Nagareboshi Gin'' and they haven't been heard of since.
264* CollectorOfTheStrange: Shuga has a collection of ''rotting dog carcasses'' skewered on bamboo shoots. [[spoiler: In the end, he [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled voluntarily joins his collection]] to avoid losing to Akame.]]
265* ConvectionSchmonvection: When one of Gaia's ChildSoldiers tries to take Akame with him to the volcano crater, Akame uses his ninja skills to kick his assailant into the lava below and makes his way out unharmed. He was about a ''meter'' away from the lava's surface and his fur didn't even get singed. Then again, [[MadeOfIron this is Akame we're talking about.]]
266* CurbStompBattle: Gin and company aka The Eight Dog Warriors against Mugen's ten fighters of the Underworld.
267* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler: Noroi.]]
268* DiedInYourArmsTonight: An inversion. [[spoiler: Gohei dies while he hugs Gin.]]
269* * DroppedABridgeOnHim:[[spoiler:Bill and Bemu]] are killed off out of nowhere at the arc's beginning, by a "mysterious force" that turns out to be wolves.
270* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy: Gold Eye will ''not'' shut up about his SupernaturalGoldEyes and their power to see through his fog.
271* IHaveYourWife: And kids, too. Retsuga lures the Ohu dogs to the Palace by kidnapping Ben's wife, Cross, and their puppies.
272* InformedSpecies: [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101031234711/ginga/images/e/e7/Wolf001.jpg This is a wolf?]]
273* LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler:Hyouma, Retsuga, and two other nameless wolves are the only wolves still alive by the end of the arc.]]
274* LukeIAmYourFather: Fuga to Retsuga. Retsuga [[ThatLiarLies isn't too keen on believing him]], however, until Suiga interrupts their battle and throws TheReveal about Retsuga's parentage at him.
275* MissingMom: Retsuga was told by Noroi that [[BlatantLies he has no mother.]] [[spoiler: The truth is that Noroi killed her because of his philosophy that [[EvilTeacher a warrior needs no mother, only him.]] ]]
276* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Gin has a moment of this after killing [[spoiler: Juga]], complete with TearsOfRemorse. The other dogs quickly sympathize with Gin and admire his [[EasilyForgiven willingness to forgive]] even his enemies.
277* NonindicativeName: The series manual points out that Mountain Bison the wolf doesn't particularly look like his namesake.
278* PrehensileHair: Juga's mane. [[AllThereInTheManual The series manual]] states that Noroi's is also this.
279* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Juga claims that he has served the Empire for two hundred years.
280* ShoutOut: The wolves' Hakkenshi (Eight Canine Warriors) to the protagonists of ''Literature/NansouSatomiHakkenden''.
281* SpecialAttack: Yes, turns out that the Zetsu Tenrou Battouga isn't the only Battouga there is. There are seven others.
282* SpikesOfVillainy: Hyakkiga wears a [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent snakelike armor]] with [[PoisonedWeapons poison spikes.]] [[AllThereInTheManual Apparently,]] it was forged by Noroi using his PrehensileHair.
283* TheEmpire: The evil wolves led by Gaia. It is even ''called'' the Empire.
284* UnstoppableRage: Gin after [[spoiler: Juga kills Fuga.]]
285* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: According to the wolves' legend of the Eight Warriors, each Battouga can only have one wielder in any given generation, though it appears to be {{subverted}} when Gin and Fuuga, who both know the Zetsu Tenrou Battouga, join forces. [[spoiler: It's then [[DoubleSubversion double-subverted]] when Fuuga's death at the hands of Juga both gives Gin HeroicSecondWind and makes his Battouga even stronger than it was before.]]
286* VillainExitStageLeft: Mugen's reaction to his fighters being defeated.
287* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After the aforementioned VillainExitStageLeft, Mugen is never seen nor heard from again.
288* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Noroi skewers [[spoiler: Hyakkiga]] with a bamboo spear after the latter's loss to Kurotora.
289
290!! Tropes used in the Riki prequel
291* AllLovingHero: To begin with, Riki doesn't understand why there has to be fighting and he tells Shiro that he wants to remain kind and just. Shiro informs him how "Justice without power is useless", prompting Riki to eat and train from then on to become strong enough to defend his justice.
292* BigDamnHeroes: Riki saves a three year old Daisuke from four rogue dogs that intends to kill him.
293* BigGood: Shiro.
294* DirtyCoward: A truck driver ends up running into a toddler Daisuke racing down a road on his bike, but instead of checking on him gets scared and drives away.
295* DramaticIrony: Pointed out in the story; Riki is the runt of his litter, causing no one to buy him and nicknaming him "the mistake", and Gohei himself doesn't even notice him when arriving to choose a puppy. ''"No one knew this runt would one day defeat the monster-bear and become the leader of all of Ohu."''
296* HeroicSecondWind: The four rogue dogs Riki encounters his first time venturing out alone starts violently beating him up out of spite alone, to which he cries and pleads for them to stop. Eventually he's driven into a corner causing his "bear-hound blood to awaken", and he then [[TookALevelInBadass Takes A Level In Badass.]]
297* HeroicSacrifice: Shiro deliberately pushes himself and Akakabuto off a cliff in order to save Riki and Gohei.
298* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The rogue dogs are explained to attack humans as payback for having been abused by humans themselves.
299* LukeYouAreMyFather: When Riki first meets Shiro and realizes he's his father, he stays quiet, but admits it by the next time they meet due to Shiro having figured it out anyway.
300* MeaningfulName:
301** Riki means "strength", and receives the name so he'll have something to live up to.
302** Shiro means "white".
303* MommasBoy: Riki as the runt is very attached to his mother, has a hard time separating from her and every day travels 60 miles by foot to see her. It's the persistent traveling every day through rough terrain and weather that makes him strong.
304* NotQuiteDead: Early on, Akakabuto is believed to be dead after hunters had managed to shoot him and he hadn't been seen afterwards. Turns out it wasn't the case.
305* OhCrap: The rogue dogs when they realize the puppy they had been fighting is Shiro's son.
306* {{Rewrite}}: While the first episode of ''Nagareboshi Gin'' showed Gohei and Shiro fighting Akakabuto alone and Shiro falling with Akakabuto by accident, the end of this prequel shows that Gohei had several men and other dogs with him on the hunt, whom all got killed by Akakabuto. Riki shows up and attacks Akakabuto before Shiro can even get to it, and also runs to hand Gohei his rifle when he loses it. It ends with Shiro delibaretely kicking a tree to push himself with the bear off a cliff to save both his master and his son.
307* StartsWithTheirFuneral: The story begins with showing us Riki's dead body at the battleground of Gajou, before diving into the story of his past.
308* YoungestChildWins: Riki's the runt, yet ends up being the one who had inherited Shiro's genes the most.
309* WhamLine: Riki always cries easily until he's about to cry again because of the dogs who attacked him, when Shiro interrupts him by saying "Don't cry. That's why they bullied you!" Riki is shocked and for the first time manages to swallow his tears. Also, when Shiro reveals his name, making Riki realize it's his father.
310* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
311** The leader of the group of dogs Riki fights and injures swears he'll make him pay someday, but he's never seen again.
312** The sibling of Riki's that Gohei initially chooses is never mentioned again.
313** Gin's brothers are only present on-screen for about five total minutes in the first eight episodes, are never seen or mentioned again afterwards, and completely lack dialogue.

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