Trigun, on the surface is a tale about a man named Vash the Stampede who is a goofy gunslinger and wanders from town to town on a futuristic, yet run-down dust ball planet, in order to find a place where he can belong to, while encountering hardships along the way. When in reality, Trigun is a beautiful story of redemption, internal struggle, and always standing for what you believe in even when it is inconvenient. Throughout the course of the story, Vash is faced with nearly overwhelming hardships, yet he never compromises on his beliefs. You are constantly on the edge of your
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seat wondering, "How the HECK is he gonna get out of this one?!" and there is a sort of unpredictability that is rarely felt in most fights. On the surface it appears that Vash's goal is to discover more about his past, when in reality, his is searching for a form of redemption to make up for all the people that he has killed in the past, as well as simply finding a place where he can belong, help people, and live the rest of his life in peace and joy; though there are always villains who wish to interrupt that peace in order to gain the title of "the person who defeated Vash the Stampede" the world's first and only human natural disaster, as well as gain the $$60,000,000,000 reward that goes along with it. Trigun also does an excellent job in rationing the explanation and answers to the questions that develop in your mind as you're watching. There is always a sort of mystery about things and you never feel as though you are receiving "the whole truth". In this way, it keeps you especially interested whenever a flashback is shown or when anyone is speaking about why something is the way that it is. You also always have this feeling that there is always something to look forward to so that you can receive "the whole truth" of the matter. It also has some of the strongest feelings of both joy and sadness that I've felt when watching anything. Wonderful story!
Nearly every character in Trigun is interesting in their own way and feel very human; which allows you to feel a sort of unique connection with most them that you wouldn’t normally experience in an anime. Even if a character is minor, you still care about what happens to them and you are at least somewhat interested in their past. Trigun also possesses not one, but two of what I consider to be some of the greatest villains in anime history and all condensed within only 26 episodes. How many anime can say that? First, we have who I consider to be the better of the two villains, Legato Bluesummers. Legato Bluesummers is the leader of the Gung-Ho-Guns and is more than capable of killing Vash at any given time. But he doesn't. Why? Because Legato understands that Vash would rather die than take the life of another, he doesn't attack Vash's body, he attacks his spirit. He forces him to choose between the lives of his friends and maintaining the stability of what he believes in. The entire elaborate plan, along with the fact that all he wants in life is to make Vash's pain as severe as possible makes him in my opinion, one of the most sinister and diabolical villains in anime. I won't spoil what ends up happening, but it is one of the very most intense scenes that I have ever witnessed. Then we have both Legato's master and Vash's brother, Millions Knives. Now Knives, in contrast, has given up on attacking Vash's spirit. He realizes after several attempts that Vash will no change his views on the human race and will never join him. So Knives attacks Vash's body in the present and does everything in his power to kill him. By doing this, Legato and Knives create an insidious duel villain set unlike any other that I've seen previous, or since. Another amazing character is Nicholas D. Wolfwood. I can't say too much about him without spoiling anything, but he has a very real, yet mysterious feel to him and is just an all around bad ass. In a world where most people wear cowboy attire and are either unarmed or have a cowboy pistol, this guy wears a sleek suite, shades, and carries around a giant chrome cross that shoots automatic rounds and RPGS. Come on. The only thing that detracts from the characters somewhat is a lack of a quality back story for some of the more major characters such as Legato Bluesummers and the Gung-Ho-Guns. But that aside from that and a few other ambiguities, they are nearly flawless.
While the quality of animation and art leaves much to be desired, it more than makes up for it in terms of sound. The voice cast for Trigun is pretty solid and nearly all the voices match their characters personas quite well. But what are even more impressive than that are the soundtrack and sound effects. The soundtrack or lack thereof ALWAYS adds to what's taking place at the time and the sound effects sound real as though the scene is taking place right before your eyes.
Overall, Trigun is one of the best anime out there in my opinion. One thing that I also find fascinating is there are many contradictions and are combined into one that exist within the anime. Anything from the fact that the planet is quite futuristic, yet anything from the way people dress, to the architecture, to even the way people go about things is very primitive. Wolfwood is both a priest, yet a gunslinger. Vash is a jolly womanizer with a heart of gold, while at other times he is as serious as can be and turns into someone you would not want to face in a million years. Just something I thought was worth mentioning. Now, the primary complaint that I hear about Trigun is that it feels too "episodic" in the first half or that there's no story until towards the end of the series. And though I can sympathize with those who say that a few of the first episodes do seem somewhat episodic, and somewhat unimportant in the grand scheme of the story itself, I do believe that almost all of them are necessary for the full understanding of the what characters are actually willing to do in certain situations or how much they can endure as an individual. I also believe that part of the problem is that some people go into it thinking that because it has guns, that its merit will be found in action. And though Trigun does offer some good action, it's not great by any means. The people that really like it for what it is possess a full understanding and appreciation all of the unique, deep, and meaningful themes, motifs, symbolism, and characterization and can really relish the depth that can be found in these notions, because they are willing to peel away all of the layers that go with them. Due to Trigun’s occasional ups and downs and its few other weaknesses, it is prevented from receiving a 10/10 from me, however I do have a great love for this anime and it will always hold a special place on my list. This anime isn't just good, it's fantastic.
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Sep 6, 2012
Trigun, on the surface is a tale about a man named Vash the Stampede who is a goofy gunslinger and wanders from town to town on a futuristic, yet run-down dust ball planet, in order to find a place where he can belong to, while encountering hardships along the way. When in reality, Trigun is a beautiful story of redemption, internal struggle, and always standing for what you believe in even when it is inconvenient. Throughout the course of the story, Vash is faced with nearly overwhelming hardships, yet he never compromises on his beliefs. You are constantly on the edge of your
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