see i think it's interesting that the main perception of nai seems to be that he's the stone cold twin, emotions unreadable, and vash is the expressive one. close! close!! that's what they want you to think :)
because if you take a second look at nai, that guy wears every single emotion on his sleeve. all the love, all the hatred, every ounce of hurt when he's betrayed. just watch ep 9. that man's facial muscles are working overtime. even in '98 he's expressive, at times comically so.
trimax. trimax also!! his emotions can be seen in his whole body!
so then let's talk about vash.
yes, he's extremely expressive (god bless studio orange) in stampede; same for '98 and the manga. but i'd argue he puts a lot more effort into controlling his face than knives does.
there's a reason wolfwood calls him out on his fake smiles, you know. vash is a people pleaser. he hides his pain frequently, whether that means smiling when he doesn't feel it or hiding behind suddenly-opaque sunglasses. visually, vash gives off the vibe of someone expressive and unrestrained in their feelings but is, in reality, much more guarded.
that isn't to say he's truly an expressionless, stone-cold character, because he obviously isn't, but that he tries to hide his real thoughts much more frequently than his brother.
who's knives fooling, anyway?
(the answer is rem and vash, btw. he only really seems to control his face in the trimax chapters leading up to the big fall.)
i think it's also interesting (but a little tangential) that this dynamic...swaps. but only when vash and knives are wrapped up with each other.
i wouldn't interpret it as a conscious decision to close himself off from his twin, but knives--when confronted with vash--tries to hide his fear and insecurity under layers of bluster and bravado. "it's all for you" and "a new paradise for us" is simultaneously his true feelings and...not.
because he'll never admit to vash that he's scared. and vash is suddenly the expressive one, unguarded as he screams at his brother. as he begs and cries and lifts his gun to shoot. there's no bravado there, no false fronts, just vash's betrayal and anger.
vash lies to everyone. little white lies. knives doesn't lie to anyone except his brother. there's a gap there that vash can't bridge on his own and it leads to so much delicious tension between the two of them. absolutely stellar writing and visual design from trigun, god.
dededos
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
vaporwave
areudirty
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