John

John as he appeared in the GNG manga. One thing that should be noted is the fact that his face markings changes a lot in said manga.

Original character by Yoshihiro Takahashi

John is an official character appearing in Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, Ginga Densetsu Weed, and in a couple of Shin Gaiden stories.

Outline

John is one of Gin's oldest friends, as they knew each other before joining the wild dog pack. John is strong dog, but can be very stubborn and arrogant. He is loyal to his master Hidetoshi and later to the pack. After joining, he becomes nicer and has better relationships with everyone while still keeping some of that arrogance within him.

John is a German Shepherd, he is black on his back and snout while everything else is brown. He wears a dark collar and has a long tail.although John was raised in Tokyo he was actually born in Finland.

Ginga Nagareboshi Gin and Densetsu Weed

Ginga Nagareboshi Gin

John (ジョン)
Breed	German Shepherd
Affiliation	Ohu
Status	Deceased (killed by Hougen and his pack)
Family or owners	Hidetoshi (owner); Unknown brother or sister; Andy (nephew)
Mate(s)	None
Meaning of name	Graced by Yahweh
Age	Unknown, older than Gin

John is Hidetoshi's hunting dog. As he meets the young Gin, he at first, becomes his rival at who to defeat Akakabuto with their masters. One night, when Gin snuck out to find the wild dogs which he spotted on a hunt with Daisuke. John follows him, also wanting to figure out more about the wild dogs. John approaches the wild dogs in an arrogant and cocky way, quickly attacking the first platoon leader, Ben, but their fight gets called off as the bear Madara kills Hasset.

The wild dogs didn't want to risk more soldiers and flee, much to John's disgust. As the wild dogs and Gin jump over a cliff, John stays behind to fight the bear, being too stubborn and proud to flee.

The wild dogs help Gin chase Madara away, and Ben admires both their courage and let them meet their boss. The leader and the group of wild dogs gathering to defeat Akakabuto doesn't impress John saying that it's weak to gather in a group. Gin decides to travel with the wild dogs, but made John promise to stay behind and take care of Daisuke. John promised to do that.

One day Daisuke ventured out to go bear hunting, but soon got in over hanging danger. John stepped in and was about to save him, as the wild dogs' leader Riki appeared and killed the bear before John. Daisuke had passed out

John as he appeared in the GNG anime

and the two dogs fought to test each others strength. John was defeated and then joined the Ohu soldiers. As Gin struggled with defeating the Koga dogs' leader Kurojaki, John ran into Hyena, who was trying to re-join the group, and the two spied on Kurojaki. John then attempted to capture Kurojaki, but failed. He then joined Ben's platoon and traveled alongside Gin, facing dangers like meeting Benizakura.

John was present in the final battle and helped his comrades in the defeat the bears led by Akakabuto. After the battle, he and the pack howled for those who lost their lives. Some time after the final battle, a pack of wolves captured Cross and her puppies. A new conflict began.

Ginga Densetsu Weed anime

A direct lieutenant and lifetime friend of Gin. What transpires is similar to the manga in that he gets kidnapped along with Gin by following orders to surrender and save Reika from death. He was killed by Hougen and his dogs after escaping with Reika and Hiro. Instead of having his intestines jerked out, a less graphic but still defiant scene

John in the GDW anime

was inserted: Hougen picks him up and slams him into a tree, which impales him through the side on a low, stake-like branch. After being mocked John breaks free while still impaled, delivers some defiant lines and tears the branch from his body. He looks upon them with contempt and scorns them further before hurling the branch at Hougen's head and cutting his face.

This shocks Hougen and his soldiers, resulting in him being thrashed about by Hougen. He continues to beat on John until the soldiers plead for Hougen to stop and they all leave.

A similar scene then plays out when Weed arrives, with Hook already being there. However in this version he hangs on until Weed's pack arrives, including Hiro, who speaks to John of Reika being safe. They then all play the charade of the cavalry coming and Gin being rescued. GB pretends to be Akame and Hiro is the one to reassure him of things before his death, instead of Hook. Hiro carries his body with them up to the cabin they had been hiding in, where Reika wails over his corpse. They dig graves for John and the other dogs that had died in that fight against Hougen's soldiers, then they all howl on a cliff with grief. The following day Hiro tells Hook to escort Reika to Ohu, and presents him with John's fang which had snapped during the fight to bury once he gets there. His ghost shows up in the last episode, taunting Hougen and standing firm behind Weed with all the other dead grand males of Ohu.

Ginga Densetsu Weed manga

John is Gin’s best friend. John has been a hunting dog and owned by the man Hidetoshi, but he joined Gin a long time ago. After a mission to the Northern Alps, he, Gin and Akame get trapped by the Great Dane Hougen. John fights the best he can, but is ordered to surrender (with Gin and Hiro) when Hougen takes the female Reika as a hostage. John manages to escape with Hiro and Reika on Gin’s order, but is quickly found again by Hougen’s

John as he appeared in the GDW manga

soldiers. He convinces Hiro to take Reika to safety by promising not to die, then waits to face the soldiers alone. A few dogs choose to join him, yet get killed in the fight. Hougen himself appears and John fights him. Unfortunately, John is already badly hurt and cannot win this battle. His will remains strong despite his ruined body and he continues to defy Hougen by refusing to beg for his life or to stay down. Hougen gets his soldiers overwhelm John and torture him. This is all being witnessed by Hook and Sasuke, who are hidden in the forest and are too afraid to help John. As they try to will themselves to go down and fight John senses their presence and calls out that his comrades must stay where they are and live for tomorrow. Hougen decides to deal a finishing blow but wants to see him beg.

John continues to mock him and refuse, so Hougen bites at a bad wound on his side yanks out his intestine. John reacts in great pain and yet retaliates by biting through his intestine and freeing himself from Hougen's grip. The soldiers are in awe and are terrified of John by this point, who looks like blood covered demon while he stands and states that even if his body falls, his soul will live on in his comrades. His strength has finally left him once Hougen, who is enraged, knocks him over. He begins to see memories of Hidetoshi, Gin and his old comrades, unaware of his body or his true surroundings. He then sees Smith and Riki across a river who tell him not to give in. Hougen continues to taunt John and becomes furious at being ignored and he continues to abuse John's body until his horrified soldiers convince him that he must be dead, at which John is finally left to die alone in the snow. As they leave, Hougen finds himself experiencing fear in his heart for the first time after his experience with John's unbeatable spirit.

Before John takes his last breath, he meets Weed who arrived too late after hearing his voice in the wind. Hook and Sasuke come down from hiding at this point and tell Weed who John was and what had happened with Hougen. John regains consciousness and speaks to Weed, telling him about Gin's condition and apologizing for his failure at being unable to save his father. He begins hallucinating and thinks Akame is there along with reinforcements. GB surprises them by pretending to be Akame. John tells him to look after Weed to which Hook responds that they already have an army of 1,000 soldiers and that Gin will be rescued easily.

Weed and company play along to keep him conscious and pretend the reinforcements are arriving, acting out signal howls that signify how Gin has been rescued. They beg for him to just wait 5 minutes to have Hougen brought before him for mercy to which John scoffs and says he's always hated waiting. He thinks to himself how it cannot be helped, and that he is going on ahead to fight Akakabuto again. He then closes his eyes, never to open them again.

Weed is enraged and wants to immediately avenge John, but is held back. His pack catches up with him and after they catch up on events, they mourn John, rage at Hook and Sasuke for their cowardice and cause them to regret their choice. They hear someone coming and decide to flee as they are within Hougen's territory.

Weed is able to leave him alone in the snow after Jerome states that the snow will preserve his body until spring, so they will be able to return and bury him.

All is silent and snowing when it is Ben who is revealed to be the source of the voice. He is blind and has been gradually increasing in dementia with his old age. He comes across John and speaks sadly to the body, believing this to be the reason he came that way and asks how he died. It had been 8 years since he last saw John, he believes it to be the body of a stranger and is mentally unable to recognize him. He picks up the body and takes John with him as he continues on his lost wanderings towards Ohu. Ben then takes John back to Ben's old owner Iguchi, who gives John a proper burial. His spirit was seen, along side Smith's spirit to encourage Gin to escape when he was captured by Hougen the first time. John appears to Weed in the final battle, encouraging him to carry on fighting as well as mocking Hougen. John makes his last appearance as a spirit to a dying Moss, he welcomes him into heaven with the rest of the deceased soldiers.

Ginga Ocean James/Nagareboshi Yukina (by Digimonfrontier77 and Bart12345)

John
Breed	German Shepherd
Affiliation	Ohu
Status	Alive
Family or owners	Hidetoshi (owner); John Jr., Gin Jr., Belle, Tin Tin, Mike, Weed (biological children); Mozart, Mora, James, Wedelle, Joe, Yukimura, Jin, [Matawaka] (adopted children)
Mate(s)	Gin
Age	Unknown, older than Gin

John is one of the major characters in Ginga Ocean James and Ginga Nagareboshi Yukina. Whereas he was implied to have been mateless in the canon timeline, John is now mated to Gin and is the father of their (eventual) six pups.

Prequel to GOJ/GNY

In the very first chapter of the prequel, Gin, Akame, and John barely manages to escape from an assassination attempt by Lucy. When the trio returns to Gajou, Gin and John mate for the very first time. John and Gin later found that Minazuki was pregnant with the late Akatora's pups. Bill later showed them Chutora with the bow on his head, to which both John and Gin found really funny. They also learn that Great and Uzuki also became a couple.

Rishiritou no Inu no Densetsu (by Eve54)

Since the story isn't really about Gin or the Ohu army in general, John is counted as a minor character, appearing only in The Three Dog Packs' stories, Part I. Also worth noting is that since RnInD and GOJGNY are supposed to be in the same universe, John therefore shares the exact same role as he did GOJGNY during the Sniper arc. Thus, John is the mate of Gin and the father of the latter's eventual five pups, as the sixth one wasn't part of the first litter.

The Three Dog Packs' stories, Part I

John makes his very first appearance in RnInD sometime before the big battle, when James and the others manages to spot Fallon briefly being separated from the rest of her pack and simply walking around. While John personally don't seem to be bothered about her presence and chooses to do nothing, before anyone could've approached her they're greeted by the appearance of a white Labrador, who try to ignore their presence as he tries to get Fallon to come with him.

Later on, the Ohu army finally discovers that the two dogs they just saw were two of the notorious Rishiri Island dogs, as Hakuro easily loses his composure when they came across the two with some more dogs, one of them a Rottweiler. Seeing the other losing his composure at just the mere sight of these dogs made John very suspicious about their reasons for leaving Rishiri Island, but before either side would sit down and chat the day for the big battle finally arrives.

After the defeat of Sniper and the death of Lucy, and after Gin and James have regained enough strength to manage to sit down with Badaq and Geli to talk about their sudden appearance in Ohu, John is among one of the dogs who joined in on the interrogation (along with Hakuro, who while being grateful to the others for saving Haka, is still suspicious). Even after the interrogation had not only proven that there was no ulterior motive for leaving Rishiri Island other than to regain the Amazonians and put a stop to Lucy, but also that not all of the stray dogs from Rishiri Island could be considered evil, John is still suspicious about their presence, and refuses to spend any time with them. Instead, the German Shepherd chose to spend some quality time with his pups and mate. When the dogs do leave, John is secretly thrilled.

Ginga Densetsu Weed: Alternative World (by Digimonfrontier77)

John
Breed	German Shepherd
Affiliation	Ohu
Status	Alive
Family or owners	Hidetoshi (owner);
Mate(s)	Akame; Gin
Age	Unknown, older than Gin

John is one of the minor characters in Ginga Densetsu Weed: Alternative World. In this story, John is now the mate of the late Akame and the step-father to Tegan.

GDW:AU (by Bart12345)

John
Breed	German Shepherd
Affiliation	Ohu
Status	Alive
Family or owners	Hidetoshi (owner); Yukimura, Joe, Weed, John Jr., Gin Jr., Belle, Tin Tin, Mike (biological children)
Mate(s)	Gin
Age	Unknown, older than Gin

Since the story just started, it's currently unknown if John is either a major or minor character. What is known, however, is that John is once again the mate of Gin and now the father to Yukimura, Joe and Weed (and later on also the father of five other pups with the Akita).

Pre-GDW:AU

Some time after the defeat of Akakabuto, many of the dogs who fought in said war left to return home. Some, however, chose to not really return home to the prefectures they'd resided in before, and instead gone with those they'd fallen in love with (Akame, Kurotora, and Chutora being one of these dogs), while others chose to stay. John and Gin were one of the latter.

At some point, both John and Gin fell in love with one another, and became mates. Just some time before P5 attacked Ohu, Gin eventually gave birth to Weed, Joe, and Yukimura - each of the three boys sharing some resemblance to their parents one way or another.

GDW:AU

When P5 attacked, Joe, Weed, and Yukimura were separated from their parents and taken to live with Smith and Sakura, who then subsequently escaped from the horrors.

In the meantime, both John and Gin kept fighting. Somewhere in-between the timeskip, the two had mated and conceived five pups. While the two still misses their first litter, they're unable to go look for them due to the battle with P5 currently still ongoing.

Unfortunately for the pair, more trouble started to brew as Sniper made his unannounced reappearance.