Favorite and Least Favorite GDW Characters

[Phantom Riki]

Favorites:
Jerome
Gin
John
Kurotora
Smith
Yukimura
Moss
Musashi
GB


Least favorites:
Blue
Three generals of Hougen
Bozlev
Nero

[SoullessDog]

Mm, for me, I feel like a lot of characters are either the ones I love or like.

Favorites
Weed(Anime, he's consistent about his no-killing policy, unlike how he was in canon)
Gin
John
GB
Kyoushiro
Jerome
Rocket
Lector
Thunder
Sniper/Murder S
Hougen
Genba

Least
Nero
Kamakiri
Shouji Sudo

[Zeroooo]

Favorites:Joe,Yukimura,Maxim,Lydia,Kaibutsu,Aram,Gin,Kaibutsu and Jerome

Least favorites: Weed,Reika,Sniper and Genba

[GangstaGuru]

Favourites
Tesshin
Kagetora
Kyoushiro during the Hougen arc
Sniper
Lydia
Akame
Suzaku
Yukimura
Shouji
Toshimitsu

Least Favourites
Sasuke
Mel
Hoiler
Batto
Weed
Reika
Kamakiri

[skinklegs]

My favorites are John, Tesshin, Kyoshiro, and P4!

As far as least faves, besides the villains I'm not supposed to like anyway, I think Jerome is a little overrated. I don't really care for Rocket either.

[Gingaddict]

Mm, for me, I feel like a lot of characters are either the ones I love or like.

Favorites
Weed(Anime, he's consistent about his no-killing policy, unlike how he was in canon)

FINALLY! Someone agrees with me!

[GinFanOMG]

Favorites: John, Jerome, Tesshin

Least favorites: Hougen, P4, Kamakiri, Sniper

[thunderinghowls]

I'm currently reading GDW manga and I'm about halfway through, so my opinions may change in the future!

Favorite(s):
Yukimura: His personality, backstory and motives are interesting to me, even if I don't agree with all of his actions.
John: We'll make him count, even though he's a major character from GNG. I love his personality, I find it quite amusing and relatable! His death was very iconic as well.
Tesshin: Intriguing backstory and personality. He's just that kind of guy that is hard to /dislike/.

Least Favorite(s):
Weed: I mean, yes, I do have childhood GDW anime nostalgic love for him. But, I don't think that he is very strong leader material. The way that he leads the Ouu army at times can be frustrating, but my opinion on this may change as I continue to read.
Kamakiri: He's simply creepy and overall a very bad dude. I did not care for him as a villain.
Shogun: I don't think this needs an explanation, he's just cruel and ruthless!

[theroguez]

favorites: Jerome, Hougen, P4, Tesshin

least favorites: Musashi, Moss, Mel (wish they had more interesting character arcs really)

[PrimevalYautja]

Well I'm a Newcomer to the Series But,
My Favorites Were, Weed, Jerome, Gin and Ryo (Anime)

[Tybaxel]

yukimura was my absolute favorite gdw character and is one of my favorite ginga characters of all time. i love his personality, and i really really wish he could have lived.
as for his brothers, weed and joe are both very terrible in my eyes -- joe in particular, who is probably one of my least favorite characters in the series. i don't agree with weed's philosophies to begin with, but the fact that he is so terrible to his children only amplifies my dislike. meanwhile, joe is even worse! he's straight up horrific to koshiro and weed. his only redeeming quality is when he's a good father figure to orion and sacrificing himself for him, but that's about it in my opinion.

[juky091]

Favorite: Kyoshiro

Least Favourite: Genba

[Spirit Tree]

FAVORITES
GB
Jerome
Lydia
Rocket
Batto
Mer
Gin
Smith
Sakura
Yukimura
Pepe
Sasuke
Ben

MIXED
Weed (manga version)
Koyuki
Hougen
Kamakiri
Ken
Maxim

LEAST FAVORITES
Weed (anime version)
Viktor
Hybrid Bear

*Might need to add more to this post later*

[Ameshibainu]

My favorite has to be hands down Yukimura. I just love his ruthless personality and willingless to get what he feels need to be done even if it is wrong in the end. While I don't agree with his killing any monkey he comes across and tormenting baby monkeys I can understand the trama he suffered and thinks this is the only way forward.

My least favorite is the Koga Elder. I feel he gas-lite Tesshin into hating his former caretakers.

[CurioKryptic]

Favorites:
Kyoshiro
Jerome
Tesshin
GB

Least Favorites:
Sniper
Kamakiri

Kamakiri I just never liked. Just recently got introduced to Sniper via the manga and I don't really like that guy either. I don't feel like it was necessary for him to come back, Murder S is a silly name, and how in the world did you not notice you had prosthetic legs under there this whole time. And why did almost getting buried alive make them work. Like, I know it was "explained" but I just can't buy it.

[Almond]

FAVORITES
Weed - Seems like this isn't so much the case nowadays, but I remember that it used to be super popular to hate on Weed. People frequently called Weed a terrible character and said that Yukimura or Joe should have been the protagonist instead of him; at the time, I think a lot of western fans who weren't able to read the manga and thus weren't as familiar with Weed's brothers saw them as being more stoic and having cooler designs and assumed that they were stronger and thus more fit to fill the leader role. I suspect that Weed's propensity to spare the lives of his enemies unless absolutely necessary also made him appear soft and immature. But, I mean... yeah, he's going to be soft and immature. He was a literal puppy whose mother had just died in front of him when he is forcibly thrust into the hardships of army life. He didn't have much, if any, say in that matter. I think that his hesitance to kill other dogs also makes sense when considering the impact of losing his mother so early in life. Then, of course, he also witnessed the deaths of Tokimune, Smith, Jerome's partners, Kaibutsu (which Weed himself inflicted), and John in rapid succession very early on in the series. That is a lot of death and destruction for anyone to experience, let alone someone as young as Weed was at the time. It's completely reasonable for him to have some level of trauma given his background. It also makes him compelling as a character, and it's really cool to see him grow throughout the series---not just in the literal sense from puppy to adult dog, but also in demeanor from his initial timid, shy self into the eventual leader of Ohu. He may not be as strong as Gin, but he is unwavering in his convictions. His background lends him a reverence for life and mercy even for those who have done him wrong in the past, but that doesn't necessarily make him wrong or incapable of rendering justice when the situation truly calls for it. He still dispatches a few characters throughout the series when there's little to no chance for redemption; he is simply more willing to forgive and allow others an opportunity to change themselves for the better as both he and his closest companions (especially GB, but also Rocket, Jerome, and Kyoshiro) did.

GB - I agree wholeheartedly with a comment made earlier in the thread: GB is arguably the best developed character in GDW. I'll admit that I have a bit of a thing for cowardly characters in Ginga; in a world where nearly everyone is a boring, stock standard manly man who comes into the story already fully prepared and willing to lay down their life to protect their friends or defeat the big bad, it's refreshing to have a character who doesn't immediately fit that mold and has to work their way up to it. I feel similarly about Hyena in GNG, for example. Unlike Hyena, though, because GB is in the main cast, we as readers are full witness to his change in character as he grows from a grumpy, disillusioned dog who only took Weed under his wing out of a sense of obligation to respecting him as a capable budding leader to viewing and treating him as if he were his own son, and eventually even dying for him. His fears surrounding death and his feelings of incompetence make sense within the context of his past as someone who had previously lost multiple people due to what he perceives as his own faults, but he overcomes those and manages to prove himself to be an integral part of Weed's army.

Tesshin - I'll just be honest and state upfront that most of my enjoyment of this character stems from his design, haha. That said, it's cool that he grew to transcend his biological father's legacy and become a far better person as a result. I do sort of wish that he got to actually struggle a bit more in coming to terms with Weed becoming the leader rather than him, though, since he was the one who was originally fully expected to succeed Gin. Also, the panels depicting his reaction to Moss's death were heartwrenching.

Lydia - An actual strong, well-rounded female character in GDW? Say it isn't so!


LEAST FAVORITE
Pretty much all of the Ohu veterans except Smith, John, Gin, and Moss - They're just boring. Most of them do nothing. I get that they're all older and they've had their time in the limelight already, but it would have been neat if they'd played a more active role in the narrative or if each of them had at least gotten one final hurrah. Poor Cross and Ben probably got this the worst out of everybody.

Sniper - I may be misremembering things as it has been a while since I last read the series, but I don't think his presence in GDW ultimately had much of an impact on the story. His character could have excised entirely and I don't believe it would have changed anything. The only notable thing I recall him doing was badly wounding Tesshin, but Dr. Akame, DVM fixed him right up. There were no permanent effects (I don't even think it left a scar, somehow?) as a result of the injury and it was never brought up again so his entire presence felt pointless.

The hybrid bears - Boring, awful antagonists. Maybe they'd have been more interesting if they were capable of speech and had been shown actively coordinating and communicating with each other like the bears in GNG sometimes did.

Koyuki - She would have been utterly irrelevant if she hadn't had Weed's puppies. I literally couldn't describe her character if I tried because there is simply nothing there. She is the prototypical female Ginga character in its most egregious form. The other major female characters had something else that at least made them a little interesting or unique beyond just becoming eventual incubators.

[Tesshin-san]

Favourite: Tesshin

Least favourite: Genba

If I only have to choose one of each

[Noroi]

Favorites:
-Tesshin
-Genba
-P4
-Jerome
-John
-Hiro
-Mel
-Ben
-Kaito/kite
-Noss/North
-Rocca/Rocker
Batto/Bat
-Moss
-Missile
-Jet
-Hiro

Mixed:
-Sniper
-Kurotora
-Kagetora
-GB
-Kyoushiro(when he was cool)

Least Favorites:
-Hougen
-Kamakiri
-Reika and Teru's father(loud screaming)

[TheHowlingWolf94]

Favorites:
1.John
2.Weed
3.Gin
4.GB
5.Tesshin

Least Favorites:
1.Hougen
2.Genba
3.Murder S
4.Viktor
5.Shogun

[Kenny]

So far i've only watched the anime but my favorite is:

Kyoshiro

I like: Weed (kinda), jerome, reika

dislike: Smith (his design is weird in this anime), Hougen