History Anime / GingaNagareboshiGin

[[quoteright:252:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DOG-ANIME_8475.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:252: "[[ChipCheezum Dog, how do you get in space?]]"]]

An adventure/action manga and anime produced in the 1980s. 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.

Yes, this story is about ''talking dogs''. Not PettingZooPeople, actual animals.

Let's be more specific: it stars Gin, an Akita Inu 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. So Gohei needed a new hunting dog. He picked Gin.

Months 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 just to fight and finish off Akakabuto and his fellow bears. So begins an adventure involving many battles, travelling across Japan to find allies, and learning battle techniques.

Eventually, the manga was adapted into an anime by Toei Animation. 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.

There's a sequel series, ''GingaDensetsuWeed'', which follows Gin's son Weed. There's also a manga-only prequel named ''Ginga Densetsu Riki'', which follows a young Riki.

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!!Examples in the anime adaptation

* ActionGirl: Cross
* AFatherToHisMen: Riki claims to be more than just a leader to his soldiers, he is their father and they are his children.
* AlmostDeadGuy: [[spoiler: A dog named Kurobe who delivers a message to Cross and Moss that the fourth and fifth platon have been killed before dying himself.]]
* AlreadyUndoneForYou: So... just how did [[spoiler:Moss and his entire pack end up in that "Hellhole"?]]
* AlternateAnimalAffection
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Bears.
* AnArmAndALeg: 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.
* AnimalNemesis: Gohei's fixation on Akakabuto.
* AnnoyingArrows: There's a bear with three harpoons stuck in its back. I repeat, ''there's a bear with three harpoons stuck in its back''.
** Averted with the hunting bow, which is considered more powerful than some of the rifles.
* AnyoneCanDie
* ATeamFiring: Large groups of mooks firing rifles can't hit anything even at what appears to be close range.
* AttackOfTheKillerWhatever: Giant killer bears terrorizing humans.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The pack leader is always the strongest fighter in the group.
** 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 have the strength to be a leader, but Ben wants one who also have "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.
* BadassGrandpa: Gohei, who is for some reason even called grandpa by people who are in no way related to him.
** In Japan (and some other countries) it's not uncommon to refer to elderly men as grandpa even if they aren't related to you.
* BigGood: Riki
* BigGuy: Moss, for the most part. And Benizakura, for the rest of the part.
* BigSleep: How both [[spoiler:Akatora]] and [[spoiler:Riki]] dies.
* BittersweetEnding: The victory during the final battle came with a high price. Totally worth it, though...
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Pretty much. Bears are portrayed as mindless killing machines and humans poor victims. Although the first episode have the village leader call Gohei out on it being ''his'' fault that Akakabuto went crazy in the first place, said bear was still a wicked animal before his nerve system got damaged by Gohei's bullet, as even more clearly shown in the manga.
** Averted ''once'' in episode 5, when [[spoiler: Gin and Daisuke find out the bear they killed was really a [[MonsterIsAMommy mother trying to protect her cubs]]. Said cubs, even while being Akakabuto's, shows genuine grieve over their dead mother's body. Daisuke also points it out: [[WhatTheHellHero "Did we do the same thing Akakabuto has done?"]]]]
** Averted with the dogs. While most of the humans are categorized as victims, not all of the dogs are good (Kurojaki, Sniper etc).
* BlindIdiotTranslation: It's very easy to find an episode with ridiculous subtitles - some are easily GoodBadTranslation-level ridiculous.
* BringMyBrownPants: One of the dogs in the army at the final battle loses control of his bladder when seeing Akakabuto for the first time.
* BrokenAesop: The BigLippedAlligatorMoment mentioned above. To recap, at the very end of the episode, baby-killer came out of nowhere, threw a puppy off a cliff, put a member of the pack in lethal danger, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking reflected badly on Lassie]], and in the next episode, nobody cared. The scene was most likely an Aesop about how harming innocents to get back at someone is a bad thing, so... yeah. In all fairness, none of the already recruited characters [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail got much love at this point]], but it still came off as rather odd.
** This was probably more due to adaption editing. In the manga, Wilson (the collie) explains how Kurojaki killed and ate his family before, hence why he intended to kill his son for revenge.
* CannibalClan: The ninja dogs of Kouga.
* CarFu: Pulled off in the first episode with a snowmobile.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower
* {{Chickification}}: [[spoiler:What eventually happens with Cross, being the pack's only strong female she ends up leaving them when she gets pregnant with Bens' pups, and doesn't even participate in the battle against Akakabuto despite it being narrated that she had a vendetta against the bear as well.]]
* DevilInPlainSight: Sniper is a textbook example of this trope.
* DidNotDoTheResearch Multiple instances, but the most egregious example has to be in the first episode: the depiction of newborn puppies is ''completely inaccurate''.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Kurojaki and the Koga dogs]]
* DubInducedPlothole
* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Spinning attacks are the key to victory.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Kurojaki showed genuine worry for his son, and his apparent death was enough to set off his BerserkButton. Though possibly averted later as he ends up [[ParentalAbandonment leaving him]] when given the choice to escape.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Riki is simply known as "The Leader" during most of the show up until his identity is "revealed" in the final episode.
* EverythingsWorseWithBears: This series is a ''textbook'' case of this.
* EvilChancellor: Sniper, being the second in command, is constantly scheming how to take over the pack and kill off his competition in elaborate schemes.
* EvilRedhead: Akakabuto; he is a giant killer bear whose name means "Red Helmet".
* ExcitedEpisodeTitle: Every (and this ''does'' mean every) episode title has at least one exclamation point for added excitement!
* 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.
* EyeScream: Sickle through the eye, anyone?
* FakeDefector: Terry
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: No lack of decapitations or animal violence here.
* FieryRedhead: Akatora. Heck, his entire body is covered in red hair.
* FinalBattle: Akakabuto plays the role as the FinalBoss.
* FlashStep: Gin, Riki as well as the Koga and Iga dogs can do this.
* GenreShift: It starts out as an ABoyAndHisX series... and then the focus shifts to the dogs.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Akakabuto's single eye glows constantly throughout the series and even during the opening theme.
** [[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.]]
* GoForTheEye: Plenty of the attacks in the series are aimed at the opponents eyes, often with gruesome results [[spoiler:Terry, Kurotora, Akatora, Kurojaki, Akakabuto.]]
* GrandFinale
* HandicappedBadass: Akakabuto himself. Not to mention [[spoiler:Ben starts to go blind and can ''still'' make his enemies bleed.]]
* HeroicDog: Most of the characters. Translation: lots.
* HeroicSacrifice: This happens all the time.
* HeyItsThatVoice: A number of the seiyuus in this series can also be heard in ''DragonBall'' or ''FistOfTheNorthStar''.
* HongKongDub: The Finnish dub is absolutely terrible about lip-synching, with characters usually still talking after their mouths no longer move or, conversely, their mouths moving after the line is over or even ''before the line even begins''. Then again, the said dub was pretty much terrible about ''everything'', including [[TheOtherDarrin keeping character voices]] [[DubNameChange and names]] [[InconsistentDub consistent]] and, y'know, [[DullSurprise actually acting.]]
* HotBlooded: John.
* HowlOfSorrow
* 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.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja: How about two clans of ninja dogs?
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: John and the Kai brothers, especially Kurotora.
* JumpScare: Bear jumping through a wall and mauling the people on the other side.
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Kurojaki reveals his plot of turning Ben's pack and the Iga clan against each other, [[WhatAnIdiot which accomplishes nothing except making Gin and the Iga dogs ally against him, which ultimately leads to him losing the battle]].
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Riki]]
* LifeOrLimbDecision: Gohei has to choose between sacrificing a limb as a last resort or die.
* LukeYouAreMyFather: Gin pulls this on Riki, who is suffering from amnesia and doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.
* KidHero: Gin. Well, Pup Hero, but there you go.
* LastOfHisKind: Chibi/Tesshin (a ''RetCon'' in ''GingaDensetsuWeed'').
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* 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.
** Forget iron, [[InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja 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.
* ManlyTears: Happens more than once, usually after a HeroicSacrifice
* MiddleChildSyndrome: Chutora. He has a much smaller role compared to Akatora and Kurotora and is [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome mysteriously absent]] in the [[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.
* MonsterIsAMommy: Turns out that Gin and Daisuke's first kill was just a MamaBear trying to protect her cubs.
* {{Mooks}}: Every pack the heroes encounter contains foot soldier dogs that gets mowed down en masse during the fight.
* MookChivalry: Averted. The enemies tend to attack en masse. [[BadAss This doesn't seem to be a problem for the heroes though]].
* 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.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Cannibal ninja dogs with ''mohawks''!
* NoExportForYou: An English dub is yet to be produced, and considering this show is very old, it seems unlikely.
* NotQuiteDead: Akakabuto, [[spoiler:who took an onslaught of attacking dogs, bullet wounds, and THREE [[SpinAttack Zetsu Tenrou Battougas]]]] to finally die.
** And [[spoiler:Ben]], who lived after [[spoiler:a giant rock fell on him.]] Not to mention that throughout the serie, he also [[spoiler:got poisoned, fell down a deep gorge, and suffered lots of straight blows from Akakabuto's claws that would most likely have killed any of the random dogs.]] The guy surely deserves a place in the {{Badass}} section for this.
* OhCrap: If you guessed that this happens a lot, you'd be right.
* Otokotachi Nakamatachi[[note]]You know what that means:Men are TrueCompanions[[/note]]
* PapaWolf: Moss is most definitely [[UnstoppableRage not happy]] after he is led to believe that his son is dead.
* ParentalAbandonment: Riki "dies", inspiring Gin to become an avenger, only to have him dicking around with LaserGuidedAmnesia to kill the BigBad later in the series.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Gin
* PluckyComicRelief: Smith
* PowerCopying: Gin only needs to watch a technique once before becoming an InstantExpert. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] once by Moss.
* PreviouslyOn
* 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]].]]
* RedRightHand: Akakabuto's missing eye.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Hyena]], does one final act of trying to prove his worth as a soldier of Ohu, jumping off a cliff with the intent of saving Ben after giving a little speech about how he used to be evil but wants to redeem himself, only to trip while charging down the cliff, screaming as he falls to his death. He is never seen again.
** In the anime, no. In the manga, [[spoiler:we see Ben, Sniper and Hyena as they all fell into a river. Hyena saves Ben from drowning, but is then [[YouHaveFailedMe killed by Sniper]]]].
* 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.
* RuleOfCool
* TakingYouWithMe: The Koga and Iga dogs are fond of this method
* ScareChord: Akakabuto is dead, all is well, Gohei hugs Riki and Gin, cue sentimental music... PSYCH!
* ShesAManInJapan: Smith became female in one of the dubs, and Madara also suffered this.
** It doesn't help that even in Japanese, it's incredibly easy to mistake Smith for a girl. See ViewerGenderConfusion below.
* SpinningPiledriver: As if Gin piledriving Kurojaki wasn't cool or damaging ''enough''.
* SplitScreenReaction
* SpoilerTitle: Quite a few. [[spoiler:"Benizakura's Blood-Red Last Moment!"]], anyone?
* StormingTheCastle
* TalkingAnimal: All the dogs qualify.
* TearsOfBlood: Great (a DemotedToExtra character) cries blood at one point
* TheHunter: Gohei
* TheMenFirst: When the pack is poisoned in the Iga village, Ben refuses to eat the antidote until everyone else has.
* TheMessiah: Gin already has some shades of this in the main story, but starts playing it more straight in the wolf arc.
* TheMusical: A bunch of fans got together and actually made a musical about a series centered around a bunch of dogs killing bears. [[http://hopeanuolimusikaali.com/info_eng.html Here's a link to their English homepage.]]
* TheObiWan: Akame
* TheQuest: Find the strongest dogs in Japan to take down the BigBad.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Slighty justified, as male dogs are larger and stronger than their female counterparts, and if the females had joined the war against Akakabuto, dogs in Japan would be well on the way to extinction...
* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: Cross manages to blush in both instances where [[spoiler: her pregnancy]] is revealed.
* 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.
* TrainingFromHell: Gohei puts Gin - and other dogs he trained - through this to make him a good bear-dog.
* TrainingMontage: Near the beginning of episode 4 with Gin and Daisuke played to the opening song.
* 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]].
* TypicalCartoonAnimalColors: Many of the dogs have colors that seem a tad bit off.
** Hakuro is a bit notorious for this among the fandom. Not only is his nose inexplicably turquoise, but there are scenes where his usually tan and white fur is colored completely tan or dark brown, or even ''[[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife blue or green]]''.
* WelcomeBackTraitor: Hyena is forgiven his past transgressions, and is let back into the pack where he continues to remain more or less useless.
* 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 [[BadAss beat up the rest of the pack by himself]].
* YouHaveFailedMe: Harpoon Bear, we hardly knew ye.
** [[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.]]
* 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.

!!Tropes used in the manga-only wolf arc
* 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.
* 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.]]
* BigBadassWolf: Every single one of the wolves qualifies. Bonus points for Big Horn, Mukonga and [[BigBad Gaia]] for being extra big and (at least in the case of the latter two) extra badass.
* BigOlEyebrows: Gaia and Hyouma.
* BlowYouAway: Retsuga can create a hurricane at will.
* CannibalismSuperpower: According to legend, the wolves gained special powers after eating the flesh of the [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons demon dragon Jaryuki]]. However, even the [[AllThereInTheManual series manual]] doubts the veracity of the story.
* 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.
* 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.]]
* ConvectionSchmonvection: When one of Gaia's ChildSoldiers tries to take Akame with him to the volcano crater, Akame uses his [[InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja 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.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Gin and company aka The Eight Dog Warriors against Mugen's ten fighters of the Underworld.
* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler: Noroi.]]
* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy: Gold Eye will ''not'' shut up about his EyesOfGold and their power to see through his fog.
* IHaveYourWife: And kids, too. Retsuga lures the Ohu dogs to the Palace by kidnapping Ben's wife, Cross, and their puppies.
* 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.
* 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.]] ]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Gin has a moment of this after killing [[spoiler: Juga]], complete with TearsOfRemorse. Despite the fact that [[spoiler: Juga]] was pretty much a CompleteMonster, the other dogs quickly sympathize with Gin and admire his [[EasilyForgiven willingness to forgive]] even his enemies.]]
* NonindicativeName: The series manual points out that Mountain Bison the wolf [[CaptainObvious doesn't particularly look like his namesake.]]
* PrehensileHair: Juga's mane. [[AllThereInTheManual The series manual]] states that Noroi's is also this.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Juga claims that he has served the Empire for two hundred years.
* SpecialAttack: Yes, turns out that the Zetsu Tenrou Battouga isn't the only Battouga there is. There are seven others.
* SpikesOfVillainy: Hyakkiga wears a [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent snakelike armor]] with [[PoisonedWeapons poison spikes.]] [[AllThereInTheManual Apparently,]] it was forged by Noroi using his PrehensileHair.
* TheEmpire: The evil wolves led by Gaia. It is even ''called'' the Empire.
* UnstoppableRage: Gin after [[spoiler: Juga kills Fuga.]]
* VillainExitStageLeft: Mugen's reaction to his fighters being defeated. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse He is never seen nor heard from again.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Noroi skewers [[spoiler: Hyakkiga]] with a bamboo spear after the latter's loss to Kurotora.
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* AlreadyUndoneForYou: So... just how did [[spoiler:spoiler: Moss and his entire pack end up in that "Hellhole"?]]

* BigSleep: How both [[spoiler:Akatora]] and [[spoiler:Riki dies.]]

* ATeamFiring: Large groups of mooks firing rifles can't hit anything even at what appears to be close range.
* ActionGirl: Cross

* Otokotachi Nakamatachi[[hottip:You know what that means.:Men are TrueCompanions]]

* MegaManning: Gin only needs to watch a technique once before becoming an InstantExpert. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] once by Moss.

* MiddleChildSyndrome: Chutora. He has a much smaller role compared to Akatora and Kurotora and is [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome mysteriously absent]] in the [[GingaDensetsuWeed sequel]]. His role is so small that ''[[BeyondTheImpossible 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.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Gin has a moment of this after killing [[spoiler: Juga]], complete with TearsOfRemorse. Despite the fact that [[spoiler: Juga]] was pretty much a CompleteMonster, the other dogs quickly sympathize with Gin and admire his [[EasilyForgiven willingness to forgive]] even his enemies. Members of the audience, however, [[YourMileageMayVary may be a little bit less impressed.]]

* AnnoyingArrows: There's a bear with three harpoons stuck in its back. I repeat, ''there's a bear with three harpoons stuck in its back''.
* AnyoneCanDie