Taking place on Planet Gunsmoke where desert is found everywhere forcing people to live in this harsh climate. To make matters worse, people have developed this culture of the wild west leaving many outlaws running about. One of these men is Vash The Stampede whose head is worth $$60 Billion. The anime revolves around his quest to find his brother Knives, stop his villainy & bring peace to his homeland.
Much of the anime is bit rough, to start off people should be aware of its comedic tone as Vash & various characters are very goofy which often clashes with the more serious subject matter of the show being pacifism & Christianity. The early episodes can be slow at times as the real story doesn't kick until episode 12 but even then the story doesn't go full throttle until ep 15 when The Gung Ho Guns finally move as a group; challenging Vash's ideology.
The theme of this story is its study in pacifism on a dangerous planet, where villains with various skills & super powers won't budge easily to words of peace. This is one of the few western based animes that has an interesting tale but I can certainly people not being into the series due to several circumstances. Main problem with the anime is its pacing & enjoyment will heavily depend on the leading character Vash as he be found annoying to some.
When the anime isn't firing bullets it instead speaks of philosophy, however it isn't till ep 17 we understand why Vash is pacifistic in the first place & comprehend his motivations to follow those principles which are heavily affected with his brother Knives,who again, has minimal appearances in the anime. Because of this lack of knowledge, can lead to some viewers not willing to sit through the entire series.
Benefits in the anime include many as when compared to its manga, honestly has better writing & possibly even better conclusions to certain story arcs specifically death scenes. One example of the anime's strengths is the character Wolfwood who shares more screentime with Vash while in its manga, their interactions or moral conflicts aren't as strong compared to its anime. Much of the dialogue & writing placed into the anime is more "to the point" (in episodes 15-26) as the manga Trigun & Trigun Maximum tend to get a bit distracted at times.
Overall, Trigun appeals to certain people but if it does suit your tastes then you may enjoy it either for its setting or its search for the morally correct answer. The anime tends to give subtle messages to the conflict of the series. Most of the strengths of those messages is the opposing beliefs of Vash & Wolfwood as not many other pacifistic themed animes feature
a duo such as this one. Multiple villains also challenge Vash's beliefs in a more drastic level with casualties being build up with every encounter.It also holds two of the most interesting anime villains to date being Legato Bluesummers & Knives Millions.
Trigun's main focus isn't action, but instead dives into a theme heavily resembling beliefs found in Christianity. Other similar series would be Get Backers, Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Rurouni Kenshin & both series of Fullmetal Alchemist. The main difference that separates Trigun from these shows include the following; Vash's decisions & villains affect the planet's society, its western world with its own blend of sci-fi, & its references with religious elements mainly the siblings Vash & Knives & might have a better conclusion although it may come off as either subtle or ambiguous.
