Okay so. With That Moment of the latest trigaze episode. It was absolutely brutal, the way they showed it all. The way we saw while Vash did just how *bad* things were for Wolfwood. And I took pictures of the close-up shots of his eye, because I wanted to really dig into what he's thinking for every little bit of it. So I am now here with my findings. (Please excuse the shitty phone pics, since I was watching it on my TV 😂)
So, starting out, Vash's expression change when he realizes what Legato's getting at. What he's Demanding. We get several shots of him looking back and forth between Legato and Wolfwood as things get worse, and then...
Him fighting with himself as it gets worse and worse for Wolfwood. The horror climbing, the *panic* climbing, his harsh panting breaths on top of increasingly intense music as Wolfwood starts to bleed, as he starts to Die...
But the moment where it changes, the moment where it Snaps...
When Wolfwood's neck quite literally snaps. His head slumps. He's bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Foaming at the mouth. And... a tear. His head was leaned back before this, and thus the path of the tear, but still. Curved and trailing from the eye. Maybe it was just from the pain. Or maybe it was from the fear. His last word, the last thing he may have said... "Tongari". Calling for Vash.
And with that snap, the literal snap of Wolfwood's neck... Vash snaps.
The Exact Moment. Even more extreme than before, but without the bloodshot effect of the eyes. Less stress, and more... shock. His eye's dilation, his eye *widening*. It's shock, horror, and *rage*.
So he pulls the trigger. And then, as the bullet's flying, we get one more closeup of his eye...
And now *this one* in comparison to the last is what really drives this home for me. His iris just a bit bigger again, eye a Little less wide. A little bit narrowed even, at least in comparison to before. It feels like certainty in his action, as well as anger. And at the same time, the grooves of his face are deeper, more intense, more *angry*. More malicious, even. And even the lighting on his eye is just that little bit darker, truly showing his rage.
So this one moment, as he's watching the bullet he shot fully by his own choice, feels like Malicious Certainty. He shot to kill with 100% knowledge and intention, and that *matters*.
And the thing he remembers just before it...
"Someone has to bring the fangs. Otherwise, someone else pays in tears." Wolfwood's voice. Wolfwood's words. Vash remembering them as he pulls the trigger for him, shooting to kill for the first time for a man who might already be dead... He learned a lesson here. That same lesson from trimax, but with Wolfwood instead of Livio. Sometimes you *have* to kill someone to save someone else.
So even though Legato didn't end up dying, I think the moment still dug its fangs into Vash. For this one moment, his staunch pacifism snapped, and he's going to have to live with that knowledge of what he's capable of for the rest of his life.
