It's hard to not have a bit of nostalgia and a soft spot for the original having grown up in the 90s and been really into anime. Going back to re-watch it with a lot more experience with story telling and critical media consumption it's pretty easy to see the original's flaws. It has an uneven quality of writing through out, it could probably stood to have been cut down a bit, and maybe some aspects of Vash's womanizing are a bit less funny in 2023 than they were in 1998. All that said, it has excellent characters, a really interesting world, good animation, and
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a story concept that's revealed at a decent enough pace to keep you interested and invested. I was really excited when the trailer for Stampede came out, I liked what they did with Vash's design and the animation looked great in the trailer. But watching the series feels like they saw how the story started dragging through the original 26 episodes and really twisted the dial in the other direction to the detriment of the story and characters.
The show starting with Vash fighting 4 different sets of opponents in one town in the first episodes, after the very first scene revealing Rem and the sci-fi aspects of the show that we didn't get until episode 17 of the original series, kinda sets the tone for the pace of the show and it really continues at the same breakneck pace. Characters and enemies are introduced and killed off or left behind before the audience really gets a chance to know them or feel any real attachment. While the story is revealed so quickly it feels less like the characters are doing anything to move it along and more like it's just happening to them.
I think the Rollo/Monev episode/arc is the perfect encapsulation of this. At this point in the original show we're 12 episodes in and already know Vash as a goofy charismatic pacifist, seeing him make such a flip to the dead eyed humanoid typhoon who is seriously struggling with his desire to kill Monev and his horrible guilt at being the indirect cause for so many civilian's deaths is seriously striking, and a turning point in the story as the stakes ratchet up. The people being sent after him are only going to be more lethal and he needs to make choices about the people he travels with and where he goes. Whereas in Stampede, we meet Rollo/Monev in episode 5 where he just attacks Vash and Co from nowhere and is killed off minutes later. The show tries to forge a connection between the audience and Rollo by telling us that he was a cute kid with a terminal illness that Vash promised he would save by bringing medicine, but he didn't for some reason. So now, 20 years later the medically enhanced Rollo attacks him as Monev, Vash somehow knows it's Rollo and tries to get through to him but Nicholas shoots him in the head with his cool cross laser beam right as we see the recognition in Monev's eyes. Vash is upset that Wolfwood killed him, but he goes right back to traveling with him because Wolfwood goes "well you gotta kill people sometimes". We've learned nothing we didn't already know about the characters, the story hasn't been moved at all apart from learning that the little girl and old man are experimenting on kids and Vash seems to be aging slowly. We get an admittedly very cool redesign of Monev and a pretty dynamic fight scene, but it's bombastic, all flash and no substance.
Trigun 98 does a good job of drip feeding elements of the story and characters to the audience (maybe too good at times). Meeting Wolfwood as a wandering preacher with a giant cross, which is then revealed to have a bunch of guns stashed in it, which is then revealed to also be a gun itself, which is then revealed to also be a rocket launcher, when he's then revealed to be a current/former member of the Gun Ho Guns, all of these layered character elements are revealed throughout the whole series and make him a more fleshed out and interesting character. In Stampede he immediately shows his cross is a gun and it has a laser cannon in the first episode he's appears and he's shown to be a current/former member of the bad guys in his second episode. Every plot point is thrown at you right away there is no holding information back to add suspense or conflict between characters. Everyone keeps plugging away as their character archetype and that's it.
I wish the fights were more interesting, there's a lot of dynamic action and cool designs but they end up feeling like fights in RWBY. The supposedly trained and deadly killers can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn as the characters flip around largely empty spaces with a few boxes and obstacles scattered around.
The show is enjoyable to have on in the background, the designs and action are really flashy. But sitting down to watch it and really parse the story it's trying to tell reveals just how shallow the characters are and how much of the story they really crammed into 12 episodes. I really think that this is another case of, had this not been Trigun but a new IP that didn't already have so much cultural cache, it's efforts would have been much better served.
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Mar 28, 2023
Trigun Stampede
(Anime)
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It's hard to not have a bit of nostalgia and a soft spot for the original having grown up in the 90s and been really into anime. Going back to re-watch it with a lot more experience with story telling and critical media consumption it's pretty easy to see the original's flaws. It has an uneven quality of writing through out, it could probably stood to have been cut down a bit, and maybe some aspects of Vash's womanizing are a bit less funny in 2023 than they were in 1998. All that said, it has excellent characters, a really interesting world, good animation, and
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Sep 29, 2012
Eureka Seven AO
(Anime)
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The first Eureka 7 series was simply phenomenal in its blending of action and romance and drama. The characters were unique and memorable and having only seen the series once when it first came out stateside I could describe every character in detail (too bad I suck with names, my failing not the shows). Eureka 7 Astral Oceans greatest folly is that it has none of that character development and feeling.
Ao is kind of whiny and annoying but he has some sort of resolution to do something not quite resembling the right thing but it's what he wants to do for some reason that ... 
Sep 29, 2012
Mawaru Penguindrum
(Anime)
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Mawaru Penguindrum is a gorgeous series with endearing characters that seems to lose its way a little over two thirds through its story.
Praise first, this series is simply beautiful, many shows have quality animation but this one has style. It wonderfully combines graphic design elements and fantastic use of color to create stunning compositions and scenery. Similar to Bakemonogatari if you need an example. The characters are excellent and all present different and wonderful interactions. The balance of the three main characters was great to see, with Himari balancing out the hot headed Kanba and the loving Shouma. The story arc with Ringo and Shouma was ... 
Sep 29, 2012
For me Black Lagoon and Cowboy Bebop are two of my favorite series. The mixture of interesting and human characters, excellent (if over the top) fighting, and underlying and hidden discussions and opinions about life, people, etc. When I first started watching Black Lagoon I fell completely in love with the characters, the differing points of view conflicting, the psychosis, the struggles to understand each other and dealing with a wide variety of backgrounds and histories. And to top it all of was that they felt real and believable. Characters didn't just do things because the story needed them to, but because its what they
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Sep 17, 2008
Black Lagoon
(Anime)
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The story/action/characters are great, everything unveils nicely, and all the episode arcs have parts with some amazing gun fights. However, as far as I'm concerned the rest of the episodes could be horrible except for three. The Hansel and Gretel story is to this point one of the most disturbing and brilliantly written episodes of a show I have ever seen. I don't know how many times I have watched those three episodes and every time I get chills. If you watch this series at all be sure to watch those three episodes, your time will be well spent.
Sep 17, 2008
When this show started off I loved it. I loved every episode, the action was great, and it had some interesting story development. But then the show went on and as it went I spiraled down fast. Naruto himself got annoying, Sakura got frustratingly moany about Sauske, and Sauske turned out to be an arse. But the thing that really turned me off to the show fastest was the story line and how they were trying to get that laugh, and mostly just pandering to the age group that finds fart jokes funny. It got really irksome when an entire mission/story ark gets completely destroyed
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