Trigun concerns itself with one Vash the Stampede, a legendary trouble-maker with a massive bounty on his head. Destruction follows in his wake, with entire cities turning to ruin after he shows up. It's not long before the viewers catch onto the fact that this is not entirely his fault, however. Instead, it all really comes down to him having been at the wrong place in the wrong time at one point in his past, followed ever thereafter by a zealous horde of bounty hunters (sometimes the entire population of towns) who wind up causing more calamity than he does in their attempt to catch him and claim the reward. Vash himself is very much a pacfist. While he does resort to violence if necessary, he never shoots to kill, and will go to incredible lengths to insure the well-being of his opponents and to prevent fatal conflict between other parties, often at the cost of extreme physical harm to himself. On his journeys he develops relationships with several others who become recurring companions, foremost among them the traveling preacher/fellow gunslinger Nicholas Wolfwood, and Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, two insurance agents who are assigned to watch over Vash and prevent him from getting into destructive situations that their employer will ultimately have to pay for.
Goofy antics ensue, and continue largely unabated until one of the best anime villains in existence shows up, Legato Bluesummers. Bluesummers (and his employer) have dark intentions for Vash that go far beyond claiming the bounty on his head, and I would not dream of spoiling them. What I will say is that Vash's pacifism is shaken to its core, particularly as he comes to the realization that it may cost more lives than it actually saves. In one stunning and disturbing scene, we also see the high price that years of putting himself into harm's way to prevent people from killing one another has done to his body: it puts Kenshin's attractive facial scar to shame, to say the least.
This is the good thing that I mentioned above in first paragraph: while the mood whiplash this series undergoes is extreme, to say the least, it also does not shy away from exploring the darker side of pacifism, which is rarely touched on to this same level in anime. It makes for powerful, if dark viewing. On top of which the series is not afraid to kill major characters, or to let the bad guys win.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of problems with this series: the early episodes tend to be pretty weak, the cheap animation budget ensures that there are loads of continuity errors to pick up on, and the explosive ending, while viscerally satisfying, does little to tie up the thematic concerns of the series. On top of which Vash is a hero that not everyone will appreciate. While it is revealed that his easy-going, thick-headed goofball nature is largely something of a front, he's still a very emotional, very one-track minded character, which can lead to him sometimes being a joy to watch, while other times you'll just feel like slugging him good.
Still, this is a 90's classic for a reason (did I mention the fantastic voice-acting and score?), and while it hasn't aged as well as others, it's still very much worth watching for modern audiences.
