To Yoshihiro Takahashi:
[Personal information removed]. I came across your mangas through the internet.
I saw a music video someone made with clips from various dog movies and some included clips from Ginga Densetsu Weed. That is when I decided to investigate the series and found that Weed was the second in a series. I found a website that had English subtitles for Ginga Nagareboshi Gin. I watched that whole series and am now working on watching Ginga Densetsu Weed.
Only a few of your mangas have been translated into English and published. It has been difficult finding them but I compromised and just decided to buy the Japanese ones.
In my collection I currently have Kacchû No Senshi Gamu, Ginga No Inutachi, and
Byakuren No Fangu. Byakuren No Fangu is my favorite of the three. I’m trying to acquire some of your less known works as well like Tosaou and Sho to Daichi. Oh and
I’m also working on getting Shiroi Senshi Yamato as well!
As you can tell from my collection, my favorite characters are the tosas. They are such an interesting and rare forgotten breed. The rules to their fighting are so interesting.
It makes American Pitbull fighting look like slaughter (which it basically is). Tosa fighting has some grace to it but still fierce. I was a little disappointed that in Byakuren
No Fangu that there was only one page showing Unryu with the ceremonial winner’s garb. I haven’t read your larger tosa manga, Shiroi Senshi Yamato, yet to see if there are more images like this in it though. I hope to some day. You portray the regal and tough fighters really well. You keep the designs to the breed standard especially with the exaggerated jowls. It makes the realism show a lot better.
Your tosa characters have an inspiring fighting spirit. So much that I created my own tosa fan character that I like to write stories about. I haven’t made the complete plotline yet but I’m working on it in my spare time while in college. I’m not sure if I will make it into a comic book yet. I have to work on my background drawing abilities first. Your landscapes are so detailed and exquisite. Japan as such great mountains and skylines to draw! Where I live is cityscape so my nature forest backgrounds are going to be tricky. I hope that my backgrounds can be as great as yours someday in the future.
The series you made with Ginga No Inutachi was different. You should make more with other breeds of dogs. It would help people who are looking at adopting these animals to know more about the breed before getting them. It was such a great little short story book. I find it easier to read manga that consist of a couple of short stories than huge arcs that encompass multiple volumes. It makes it harder to pick up the series if you don’t know what happened in the previous volume. I would love to see how your drawing style would look on small terrier dogs. Your entire dog related manga series is focused around large dogs. I’ve seen one or two terriers in the series but none of them had important roles in the story. It would be interesting to see a strong protagonist role put on a spunky terrier-type dog. They have such personality and a fiery disposition.

With Kacchû No Senshi Gamu, I found the topic and plot very unique and interesting.
Splicing Japanese history with fantasy talking samurai dogs was an interesting twist. I have a personal fascination with the old Shogun history of that time era. It’s great to see another view of it even though it is a little improbable that they had samurai dogs back then. I loved the fast paced action in Kacchû No Senshi Gamu. Some of my friends online think it moved too fast for their liking but intense fighting like that is fast! It’s very true to real life. The sense of time is more accurate in this manga in comparison to others.
The short story in the end of Kacchû No Senshi Gamu with the sports cars was nice.
Even though it was in Japanese and I couldn’t understand what the characters were saying, I could basically grasp the plot. Your style of portraying people is beautiful. It is very true to life with its realism.
From what I’ve learned of Sho to Daichi, it sounds really interesting. Boxing is an interesting topic choice for a manga. I am not that aware of any other mangas that are boxing. I know there are some wrestling ones out there but that’s different. I hope I can read this series soon. I want to read some of your mangas that have a lot of human influence in the plot.
Pertaining to the animation of your mangas, I loved how Ginga Nagareboshi Gin was very true to your art style. The plot was dragged on a little in the middle building up to the big attack, but overall it was good. Ginga Densetsu Weed has an interesting style in comparison to Ginga Nagareboshi Gin. With the advances in the animation industry, the series shows a lot more detail and a stronger color palette that the first series.
I wish that the animation companies would make movies of your other series. Kacchû
No Senshi Gamu would make a good movie by itself. It would send Naruto into the dust.
Samurai dogs are so much more interesting. Though being violent, Byakuren No Fangu and Shiroi Senshi Yamato would make an interesting adult themed animation. I think your stories would weather well over in the USA if someone decided to translate them. If the language was toned down a bit I bet it could appeal to the older teenagers as well. The constant action would make it a great series to watch. The fights are full of suspense and drama but yet teach people to fight for dignity and courage.
With Ginga Densetsu Weed: Orion coming out, I hope that the newer generation can enjoy your mangas as well as the older generation. I will be hunting down your new and old manga to read. I hope you keep making more, and maybe include more tosas in the future but that is just me. Thanks for reading my letter. This is the first time I’ve written to an artist.
Good tidings from the USA:
[Name removed]