I AM THE IMAGINARY LORD

meow

[imaginarylord]

Trigun stamp/gaze has ended officially. I have thoughts that will likely be more organized in the future, but here's this is like my overall sort of shit post.

I don't like stamp/gaze for a lot of reasons. There are definitely a few things I like or thought were well done (omg I love the soundtrack) but I cannot ignore the very large issues I have with it.

If you view the anime as it's own show completely without any ties to the manga beyond inspiration, it doesn't make any sense. There are events that happen and mechanics that work that are really only explained in the manga; I imagine it would be quite difficult to understand the show if I hadn't already read the manga.

If the anime is viewed as an adaptation or reimagining, there are just as many issues. These characters are not the same as those in the manga. Vash and Knives both function completely differently. Surface-level they are pretty similar, but when there are certain events that happen in the anime, they don't make sense because these new versions don't have the same motivation. We also don't get the same emotional bits that make the manga and the characters truly special. I think trigun as a series is as good as it is because the characters are incredibly well-written. They're difficult to pull off accurately, which can make the storytelling fall apart.

The studio's refusal to decide if this anime is an adaptation or just loosely based and inspired by the manga weakens the show in its entirety. If they had committed to making something completely new, I think it could have been interesting to see. I'm sure I wouldn't be without criticism, but at the very least, they'd have a defense as to why things weren't consistent. Stargaze's desire to be more manga accurate was completely undermined by mechanisms and character motivations established in Stampede. The 12 episode Season certainly didn't help, when the director was essentially given the task to adapt 14 volumes of manga into a short window of time.

There are a few redeemable qualities to the anime which I will discuss further later. I will also likely be posting about my frustrations with individual characters and the like depending on how motivated (and frustrated) I am.

[imaginarylord]

Okay trigun manga fans I have a request:

So I'm so certain there's a panel where legato is talking to knives's like brain in a tube? I might be crazy but my friend and I swear it's real. If anyone knows what volume it's in or has the image, I'll love you forever.

[ruporas]

we were brothers and we only had each other — [ id in alt ]

[vicarilex]

Happy birthday to the twins of all time

[imaginarylord]

Thought I'd do another trigun spread. This one seems more fitting considering I just finished the manga.

[imaginarylord]

Here's my attempt at placing soundtrack 2 which was infinitely more difficult with so many songs and so many of them being repeated. This is incomplete and probably more inaccurate than the first one, so I will totally update if I figure them out more clearly. I'll be sure to indicate which ones are guesses.

Episode 6:

0:01 - Reborn

3:31 - Sand Steem Ship

6:10 - WORMS NETWORK

7:05 - Orphanage

10:50 - The Desert Rogue

11:07 - Boyhood

14:09 - My best guess is a variation on Irritation

14:44 - Irritation

17:49 - NICHOLAS THE PUNISHER

20:14 - Whom to Kill, Whom to Let Live

Episode 7:

0:01 - Reckless Driving

2:11 - The Desert Rogue

4:50 - Orphanage

9:47 - Irritation

12:37 - Time Left

17:50 - Rollo's Ill

18:45 - Energy of The Plant

21:26 - Bio-Power Reactor

Episode 8:

0:01 - Rollo's Ill

2:43 - Complicity

7:23 - Dialogue

11:26 - Luida's Decision

15:40 - Home

19:03 - Reality

21:08 - Reunion

Episode 9:

0:01 - Duet

3:11 - Last Run

10:50 - Drain Gate

13:13 - Boy and VASH

14:20 - Geodome

17:20 - Blues Harp in The Wasteland-ii

20:46 - Human or Plant?

Episode 10:

0:01 - maybe a variation or piece of last run?

3:50 - July City

5:02 - ???

6:20 - Irritation

9:13 - The Ultimate Life Form

9:33 - Bio-Power Reactor

11:16 - Elendira the Crimsonnail

12:14 - Which Is The Monster?

14:44 - Meryl's Regrets

16:55 - I Have To Choose

20:33 - ???

Episode 11:

1:34 - Nicholas and Meryl

2:50 - ???

4:45 - The Memory World of KNIVES

12:51 - The Memory World of KNIVES (restarts after mid-episode break)

17:49 - Memory of Geranium

19:26 - MILLIONS KNIVES

Episode 12:

0:01 - Plant of Drain

3:32 - Conception

5:23 - Childhood Memories

6:48 - Memory of Geranium

8:09 - Time Left

12:56 - Drain Arm

18:44 - Epilogue

I'm planning on picking out some leitmotifs to take a look at relatively soon, so I'll likely be getting to know these pieces even better and will hopefully have an easier time filing in the blanks after I've taken a closer look at the pieces. Disclaimer: I am not a music major or anything, I just happen to play a couple instruments and I took classical piano lessons for about a decade. If anyone wants to jump in with their own thoughts or corrections, they would be more than welcome!

[imaginarylord]

I have thoughts also im tired

hear me out. i think it's interesting how vash and wolfwood each have to change themselves for the people around them. i dont think that vash is a naturally kind person - at least not in the manga. but he has changed himself and his actions because of the people around him (rem). He does it for the people he loves.

but wolfwood is the opposite. he's clearly kind at heart, but he resists it. i have a bad memory but i'm under the impression that everything wolfwood does is for the sake of the orphanage. he does terrible things, but it's for the sake of others. he's a kind person turned evil, because of the people he loves.

someone pretend this is like profound or something. imaginarylord out. woof.

[imaginarylord]

Guys I'm insane and it paid off.

Okay so I've been looking at the soundtrack of stampede and I've noticed some things. "Mystery Man" is a less developed version of "Common Front/TRIGUN STAMPEDE/VASH The Stampede" (don't worry I'm working on parsing out the differences there) but like idk if that was common knowledge but that's cool af.

Look at my last post if you wanna see where the songs play in the show lol. (Mystery Man plays when Vash is first introduced btw and the others play as we learn more about him.

[imaginarylord]

If anyone was curious here are all of the tracks from the first soundtrack album of stampede and their locations in episodes.

(P.S. I did this in one day and I did my best. Please correct me if anyone notices something wrong.)

Episode 1:

0:01 - Immigrant Space Explorer

4:26 - NOMAN'S LAND

6:58 - Mystery Man

8:26 - Ethics and Morality

9:55 - JENEORA ROCK

12:11 - Bio-Power Reactor

15:16 - TRIGUN STAMPEDE

20:55 - Visitation of A Calamity

Episode 2:

0:10 - Childhood Memories

2:58 - Mystery Man

4:48 - Escape

6:41 - Hide and Seek

10:05 - Chase

13:19 - Might is Right

14:09 - The JENEORA ROCK Resistance

17:58 - Common Front

21:45 - Looming Crisis

Episode 3:

0:03 - Lost Technology

4:43 - Might is Right

8:57 - Memory of Piano

10:16 - Irritation

13:25 - MILLIONS KNIVES

17:32 - Compatriots

20:08 - Reality

Episode 4:

0:03 - NOMAN'S LAND

2:32 - NOMAN'S LAND

5:10 - Undertaker

7:41 - WORMS NETWORK

11:13 - Ethics and Morality

14:39 - Looming Crisis

17:07 - PLANET ZAZIE

19:41 - HUNGRY!

21:47 - Gate

Episode 5:

0:01 - Blues Harp in the Wasteland

2:19 - NOMAN"S LAND

5:00 - Blessed Child

6:38 - Shadow

9:27 - Blessed Child

11:46 - Boy and VASH

14:53 - Cyborg

17:52 - Dud

21:43 - Human Subject

[imaginarylord]

Quick little spread for trigun. It will not leave my mind someone help.

[imaginarylord]

I have so many ideas for edits that will not leave my brain until I do something with them. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to actually make them so y'all are getting this instead. Behold: a list of song lyrics that I feel are very vash, wolfwood, and/or vashwood coded.

Vash:

"I'll have to go when the whistle blows, the whistle knows my name. Baby I was born on a train."

"When I finally forgive myself, I'll be tired and sunburned tripping over Spanish moss again."

"Did you see the avalanche? Cause I did not feel it coming. When we were done with the aftermath I woke to find myself running."

"Then all this guilt kick in whenever I picture myself at something like five years old, dreams only getting bigger and braver and clearer."

Wolfwood:

"I'm not a sucker through and through, all bark, no bite, and all forgiving til it's something I can't place the in-between and the reliving."

Vashwood:

"I know that you were never young, and I know you probably won't get old..."

"When I touched you, I felt the current of your dare. I think you wanted me to feel it because you know we're the same."

(P.S. lyrics come from Born on a Train - Samia and Rachael Jenkins, russian doll - dacelynn, When She Calls My Name - Georgia Parker, Dare - Samia, and Dream Song - Samia)

tldr I love samia, her music is sonically so good and lyrically even better. Shout out to her.

[imaginarylord]

Definitely not high and definitely have not been consuming excessive trigun content (is there such a thing?) but I have thoughts that aren't fleshed out enough but I need a spot.

1) me when vash is slowly become like nick both metaphorically and literally with the hair color thing. Womp womp.

2) also there could totally be a thing with vash representing science and nick being representative of religion. Just another way my bros are foils to each other.

3) sunglasses. V important we know. A metaphor for hiding but while vash is hiding his darkness, seems like nick tries to hide his light qualities. At least in trigun stampede.

Anyways super baked gonn delete later but yeah.

[izuvina]

quick thingyy so the colors arent too crazy in this one mb gang

[loveridden1999]

[candiedfright]

some warmth for atsushi because he has suffered enough

[junewi02]

The rot was inevitable

[sorcerersandskillusers]

So I've been looking into some card meanings for BSD stuff, and I've noticed the four king cards perfectly fit the four leaders of the major gifted organisations:

Mori for the King of Spades, Dazai literally calls him the embodiment of logic in the manga, and despite what most people think, he is normally very fair to his subordinates.

This one is almost too on the nose, it literally describes Fitzgerald exactly

The king of clubs for Fukuchi, while it mostly fits for his persona as a hero it does fit if you remember that he is trying to fight for what he believes is justice

And finally the king of hearts for Fukuzawa, He stands apart from all the others as his only concern is the happiness and comfort of his children subordinates

I just love seeing how well these all fit, its very possible this is just a coincidence, but given Asagiri's track record i think it might be at least slightly intentional.