Trigun is a very interesting anime series from what I have seen. I remember borrowing the DVD set from a friend of mine that ordered it online. In every aspect, Trigun is indeed a true sci-fi western. In a sense, it’s similar to the popular but short-lived sci-fi western series called "Firefly" created by Joss Whedon. However, Trigun mainly takes place on one planet and one planet only.
The storyline of Trigun revolved around the main character Vash who known as "Vash the Stampede" causing chaos and destruction everywhere he goes. Due to the destruction of the city of July and the disappearance of the people living there in Trigun, Vash finds himself with a sixty-billion double-dollar bounty on his head. Double-dollars is the currency used in the Trigun series.
While Vash is wandering from one place to another taking up all sorts of oddjobs to get paid, he finds three companions. The first of his companions are Meryl Stryfe who goes by "Derringer Meryl" and Millie Thompson whom are representatives of the Bernardelli Insurance Society sent to investigate Vash the Stampede and to see if he’s the legendary Humanoid Typhoon that the rumors claim him to be. Due to the destruction apparently caused by Vash, he is on the unnatural disaster insurance watch causing billions of double-dollars worth of damage.
Though they’re your typical smart agent and ditzy co-worker, they seem to work very well together and are pretty loyal to one another.
When they meet the actualy Vash, they are mistaken. Vash is one of the baddest heroes in the history of anime. At the same time, he has a personality that makes him pathetic to most people. It’s a very interesting balance when Vash is serious when he has to be. When he doesn’t have to be, Vash can be a total clown which is very evident in all of the episodes of Trigun. At times, he’ll degrade himself in public if it means to save other people.
One episode, Vash under the alias of "Erics" didn’t want to fight these bandits. The bandits said that they wouldn’t harm anybody if Vash stripped naked and barked like a dog. Vash did just that. That’s an example of the interesting humor that Trigun presents.
What’s also apparent is Vash’s addiction to doughnuts. In the opening of each episode, it shows Vash fighting off bandits and bounty hunters. At the same time, he grabs a doughnut when the opportunity presents itself.
Then almost halfway through the series, Vash is joined by the gun-toting priest known as Nicholas D. Wolfwood. Personality wise, Wolfwood is Vash’s opposite. His main reason for following Vash is to raise money for an orphanage that he runs. Vash by far has a very interesting weapon in the form of a giant cross that’s concealed. About four to six handguns are hidden inside the cross. The short part is a rocket longer while the long part is a built in machinegun.
Throughout half of the series, the story gets far more interesting as it goes into Vash’s past. It shows how much suffering Vash has went through and how old he really is. Trigun reveals Vash to be at least over a hundred years old and that he’s not really human and he lived up in a space colony. It shows how the people came to be on the planet and that they’ve descendant from the crash survivors.
It also reveals what type of being Vash is and the origin of his gun.
At the same time, it shows the reason for the crash and Vash’s torment which brings to light the main antagonist of Trigun: Millions Knives, the twin brother of Vash. Knives has a hatred towards humanity with good reason which is explained in the latter episodes of Trigun. To inflict suffering on humanity and Vash, Knives assembled the Gung-Ho Guns. The Gung-Ho Guns proceed to hunt down Vash and bring to him great suffering.
It would seem that the plot picks up almost to the end where Vash takes on the mission to show the goodness of humans and vows to protect humanity from Knives, who still thinks that humans are mere insects that need to be exterminated from the planet Gunsmoke. Knives’ intention is to create an Eden or a Utopia but cannot accomplish that unless all of the humans are eliminated on Gunsmoke.
Overall, Trigun presents a good story with a great diversity of characters along with villains with very interesting abilities such as Midvalley the Hornfreak one of the Gung-Ho Guns who uses a saxaphone to fight. Trigun also presents a great lesson about the darkside of humanity who tend to be selfish for their own self-preservation which disgusted Knives greatly to no end.
There’s plenty of action, humor, and drama packed nicely in this animated series. For anybody that’s into anime, then I would definitely recommend Trigun. Interestingly enough, Vash is very perverted which is contributed by the many decades of sexual frustration. But there’s nothing physically or mentally sexual with Trigun which makes it pretty humorous.
There’s a balance that is shown throughout the series where Vash is revered and at the same time ostracized for his brother’s actions.
In the past, Trigun was aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block with Cowboy Bebop. You can still buy the DVD set of Trigun from various places online. Currently, there’s a Trigun movie that’s in the works.
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