#steve tri98

[bowlinggwithmargo]

Rem and Joey's relationship should be discussed more as it directly parallels Vash and Knives' relationship in so many ways and it's highlighted so effortlessly in the first minute of episode 17.

The sub differs slightly as Rem asks plainly:

The fact that Rem completely ignores Rowan's analysis, asks Joey this question, and Joey dismisses Rowan again to give her some hope that there might be flowers on the planet, speaks on just how weird their dynamic is. Rem is able to turn away from reality/tangible facts because of Joey's status as the ship's captain. Additionally, because of her proximity to Joey and his authority, Rem gets to maintain her rose colored view of the world/future with no one to contradict her and avoid Steve's sexual harassment. So even though there is tangible evidence that her Eden may be impossible to achieve (Steve sexually harassing/assaulting Mary and verbally abusing her sons in front of her), Joey allows her to exist in this perpetual fantasy where she can blatantly ignore what's happening in front of her. That way her Eden remains intact. It's a fantasy that she engulfs Vash into, one so all consuming that it borders on/is emotional incestuous in nature.

But Knives' relationship to Rem is relatively non-existent. They share like three scenes with each other but each lacks the same intimacy she has with Vash. That's likely because while Vash had Rem, Knives had Joey, whose clear logic clicked more for him than Rem's emotional arguments. But that's the thing. Joey's logic is tempered by his affection (love?) for Rem. It twists and bends to make room for her fantasy. And in turn, Knives follows Joey's example and uses his logic to provide Vash solace that Rem's Eden is possible after Vash is abused by Steve.

Later, after Knives is also abused by Steve, he speaks with Vash as he doesn't believe they'll be protected in Rem's Eden. Vash disagrees and uses Rem's sentimentality as a weak counter argument. It's here that Knives rationalizes that Rem philosophy will not protect them for the discrimination ahead of them. (Moreover, this is the exact moment Knives begins to absorb both Joey's logic and Steve's racist abuse to form his own outlook on the world. It's an outlook that defines him for the rest of the series (most clearly seen in episode 24 in his monologue to Chapel*) and in this way, he is as much a child of Steve as he is Joey.)

So Knives clings to hard logic instead and when he sees that Vash wants to solve a problem (save the butterfly from the spider) he acts for his brother to Vash's anger.

This is Knives taking the next step in Joey's outlook by assuming what Vash wants and doing it. Knives then chooses to not coddle Vash by forcing him to grapple with reality of the situation. It's parental and blurs the boundary of their sibling bond. (It's also his first attempt to take Rem's role in Vash's life. Knives does so definitively when he killed Rem's last living relative in episode 26 to cut off Vash's dependence on Rem and her legacy.)

And when Rem protests, Knives argues against her sentimentality and, with no one to back up her worldview, Rem can't respond effectively.

Vash proceeds to counter Knives' logic by tackling him, using physical violence to shut him up. (This introduces violence to Rem's Eden and foundationally changes their relationship.)

And when Knives plots with Rowan and Mary to take out Steve, Rem and Joey's relationship begins to change as well. When Mary accuses Steve of rape, Rem begs for a fair trial. But Joey can no longer coddle or give credence to Rem's sentimentality because of the severity of Steve's charges (spiders eat butterflies.)

Things escalate when Rowan tells Mary he murdered Steve so that they could be together only for her to refuse his advances. Rowan then kills her. And when Rem takes a step of faith to get the gun out of Rowan's hands, Joey, terrified that she could die, makes the decision to open the air lock and kill Rowan (killing the spider to protect the butterfly.)

But unlike Knives who remains resolute in his logic, Joey falters. He lets his sentimentality (love?) for Rem cloud his judgement. Could Rem have taken the gun? Did he make the wrong choice? And Knives kills Joey for doubting himself and to affirm that he's making the right choice.

The weirdly parental bond Knives develops because he takes after Joey (and Steve) is the throughline for his relationship with Vash and why they misunderstand each other.

Because while Knives' logic driven paternalism** is obviously bad and dismissive of Vash's agency, Vash's rose colored view of the world where he can consistently step in to stop violence without killing every time/being 100% beholden to Rem's pacifism at the cost of his body and life is bad as well. The only way for their feud to tangibly end is for Vash and Knives to both give up their parent's logic/worldview and decide for themselves how they want to act as Vash concludes in the final episode. And by not killing Knives he gives him the chance to do just that.

(If you want a full breakdown of Vash and Knives's relationship/psychologies I've already written a full essay on the subject here!)

Some footnotes below!

*Here's Knives' monologue to Chapel: “Animals run instinctively when they sense danger, but your behavior is completely irrational. Even the word ‘foolish’ fails to describe you. The only reason the human race came to possess humanity and morals was because they believed themselves a superior breed of beast. The moment they taste the true fear of knowing a far superior breed exists, humans act entirely on instinct… [the cornered mouse attacks the cat] because the mouse seeks death in order to escape pain.” It's a blend of Joey and Steve's logic as mentioned above.

**Logical paternalism is an oxymoron and that's by design because Knives isn't 100% logical. His outlook on the world is colored by a deep need to protect Vash and show him that his worldview is flawed coupled with his horrific fear of humanity. Knives puts aside his goal to destroy humanity (which he could have done relatively easily when he and Vash were apart) for this purpose. It's completely illogical because love makes you illogical. But he can't clock his own hypocrisy only Legato could, as seen when he mentions in episode 23 that he wears Vash's arm because Knives is suffering without him.

[bowlinggwithmargo]

It's interesting how the violence Tri98 Knives wreaks is always reactive and not active as his actions are always reflective on what was done to him taken to heightened level because to him all pain is unbearable. Of course all of this stems from Steve's initial abuse but the arbiter of Knives and Vash's feud, the one who brought violence into the Eden the brothers' shared with Rem and Joey (Eve and Adam), is Vash (Caine) when he tackles Knives (Abel) in anger after he squishes the spider and every action Knives takes after that fact is a reflection of that.

[bowlinggwithmargo]

I have a lot of qualms with Tesla and how her narrative in the trigun manga is handled (alongside a lot of other manga specific issues but that's a post for another day). While the twin's differing reactions to her death are interesting, especially in conjunction with Rem begging Vash to forgive humanity, Tesla really only exists to die for the sake of opening Vash and Knives' eyes to the brutality humanity is capable of.

Further, the theme of humanity exploiting plants plays out no different than the other hundreds pieces of media (sci-fi or otherwise) that posit humanity as being a disease or the greatest evil on the planet. Mostly because these narratives often rely on either creating a new form of life for humanity to oppress (like plants for example) or use existing life that we're currently oppressing (like destroying the environment or ruining the habitats of animals) to make this point. But what these narratives don't consider, or don't feature as heavily, is the idea that the worst crimes that humanity has ever committed will always be against other humans first. The manga certainly touches on humans oppressing humans but the primary driver of the narrative is Tesla and the plants' oppression rather than the humans themselves.

That's why I like Tri98's utilization of Mary's character so much more than Tesla because human exploitation is the central evil in the narrative. The crew did nothing to stop Steve from sexually harassing and groping Mary repeatedly, thus it's no surprise that he went on to target Vash and Knives as a way to justify his place on the crew. The theme is further developed throughout the anime as human side characters struggle with the idea of bettering themselves alongside countrymen that refuse to do so. Because the anime is focused on small scale interactions that center humans, it always felt more emotionally and morally impactful/applicable to real life than the grander sci-fi kumbaya ending of the manga.