Trigun Anime Review

Written by: Raye on 7/1/2001

Introduction

In the distant future on a distant planet lives the $$60,000,000,000 Man known as Vash the Stampede. Also known as the Humanoid Typhoon, Vash is a feared man charged with the crime of destroying an entire city. His name is well known throughout the entire land, but the question is - who is Vash, really?

Trigun is a sci-fi western anime that came out in 1998, the year of the 'space cowboy' animes in Japan. While rivaling Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star, Trigun is completely different from both series. With Trigun, it stays true to the western theme. From gunslinging to barroom brawls, Trigun contains it all. You'll sometimes forget that there's a bit of sci-fi involved in this action/comedy series. You read right. Comedy. Don't let any of the pictures deceive you; Trigun is a very silly show in the beginning. Vash acts like a crazy man, screaming like a girl as he dodges bullets. Now what hero can you find nowadays that is so cool, yet so goofy? Himura Kenshin? Glad you brought that up, but I'll get back to the Rurouni Kenshin-Trigun relationship in a bit.

Review

The story is plain and simple. Vash the Stampede is the most wanted man on the planet. There are people after the bounty on his head, but the problem is no one is really sure what Vash the Stampede looks like. Meanwhile, two girls from the Bernardelli Insurance Company named Meryl Strife and Milly Thompson track down Vash in hopes of preventing him from causing any more property damage. It starts off on a simple path, but later, this slapstick comedy turns into a serious drama. Vash is forced into situations where he must become serious in order to save the day. With the introduction of the Gung-Ho Guns in the middle of the series, Trigun really heats up story wise.

Trigun's beginning starts slow. The first handful of episodes are pretty much filler episodes. Not much story is involved with this bunch, but the thing the series is trying to get the viewer to understand is how the characters work, what their personality is like, and so forth. Things can get a bit repetitive from just the first eight episodes, but it's worth the wait until Nicholas D. Wolfwood arrives. The cross-carrying preacher saves the show from losing viewers by adding to the silliness. When Wolfwood and Vash team up, it's nonstop fun.

By the middle of the series, there may be a few turned off by how the show is going. There has been no plot introduced and the characters are well developed, but have nothing to work with. Enter the Gung-Ho Guns, the villains of the series. At last, Vash has a major group of enemies to deal with.

At this point, Trigun has turned serious. No longer will you see Vash dancing around your television screen. Instead, you will see the other side of Vash, his serious side. The past begins to haunt our hero and the Gung-Ho Guns don't give poor Vash a break. What will Vash do to stop villains that are not only after the bounty on his head, but his life as well?

There are a few gripes about Trigun. Every anime has a con. Trigun starts off slow and picks up the pace midway through the series. Even so, after that, there are a few unnecessary filler episodes that follow. About half of Trigun's episodes don't carry much plot. While a lot of characters are well designed and well developed (Vash, Wolfwood, Knives), the characters with smaller roles (Meryl, Milly, Gung-Ho Guns) lack personality, with the exception of Legato Bluesummers. The Insurance Girls are in almost every episode of Trigun, yet, not much people care if they are. I say they're just there to make Vash look good. Milly can add humor into certain scenes, but other than that, their personalities are pretty dry. The same thing can be said for the Gung-Ho Guns. There's a bunch of them, but they're not as important as they should be.

What disappointed people the most was how Trigun ended. In my opinion, it was a decent ending and nothing to vomit over in utter disgust. Perhaps it's because there were too many things that people were hoping to see but never happened. So, if you're one to write up fan fiction, Trigun's a good series to let your imagination run wild.

Getting back to the Rurouni Kenshin-Trigun relationship... Vash the Stampede is like Himura Kenshin. Neither of them wants to kill, even though they could easily do so. The only difference is Vash uses a gun and Kenshin wields a sword. Trigun originally was a manga that made its debut in 1995. Rurouni Kenshin was coming out around the same time. There are some who speculate that Trigun's creator, Yasuhiro Nightow, borrowed some of the characteristics of Himura Kenshin and used them for Vash. However, Vash is a lot more pacifistic than Kenshin ever will be.

Conclusion

Overall, Trigun is a decent series. Beginners trying to get into anime will like this show. Trigun has some of the nicest (and coolest) character designs around, but unfortunately contains a plot that lasts throughout only a few episodes in the later half of the series. The music for this series is good. It matches nicely with the western theme and has a few that go along with the sci-fi theme. All there's left to say is... Love and Peace!