#tri98

[bowlinggwithmargo]

If Tri98 Knives' goal was to get Vash to stop overly relying on Rem in times of conflict and rationalize human brutality in a sense he kind of won by the end of the anime. Did he have to make multiple sacrifices (getting shot multiple times) to win in the end, yeah but the ends justify the means I guess.

[bowlinggwithmargo]

Tri98 Rem stakes so much of her beliefs in the creation of Eden where people can live in peace--a happy ending for humanity. She prioritizes the conclusion to humanity's strife but finds herself hesitating in active conflict as she searches for a way to make everyone happy. But the anime ends with ambiguity. Vash saves Knives but there's no guarantee he'll change after being shot. Rather, the focus is less on Knives changing his ways and instead giving him the opportunity to go on that journey for himself. The ending is so compelling because the audience gets to witness the sublimation of Rem's ideology into Vash's own unique ideology in real time.

[kurukufute]

Nicholas D. Wolfwood, my beautiful gorgeous and perfect punisher (⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠）

[maramoonae]

98vash i drew because i miss him :(

maybe ill color him one day....

[bowlinggwithmargo]

Tri98 using subtle imagery to connect characters is so interesting. For example, Knives and Vash playing chess and Milly winning Wolfwood's chess game is used as foreshadowing or subtextual reinforcement of Milly being the antithesis to the moral dilemma Vash, Knives, and Wolfwood find themselves in.

Because Milly doesn't hesitate to think about the morality of her actions she just makes decisions and deals with the consequences.

That's why when Rem discusses the potential of there being red flowers on the planet, a sign of her eden...

It's no surprise that the character that finds the first natural water source on the planet is Milly.

But outside of Milly, both Wolfwood and Knives take a bite out of their mentor's respective apples to solidify them choosing their own path.

There's probably more but if I remember any other examples I'll add them to the post!

[bowlinggwithmargo]

Chapel and Rem fundamentally disagreeing with each other only to end up sharing the same fate because they love their children is so sick

[bowlinggwithmargo]

Tri98 Rem and Vash's attempts at getting the gun from Rowan and Zazie relies on them appealing to a person's better nature, like this isn't you/you don't want to do this/no one has the right to kill another etc., which feels more self serving for their own ideologies rather than an appeal to the person standing in front of them.

When Meryl reaches for the gun from the man that wants to kill Vash she appeals to who the man was, ie you were not born wanting to hurt people, and when she is countered with the man's genuine pain she notes that if we don't stop the cycle of violence now it will continue, validating his pain, empathizing with him, and rationalizing that there will be endless suffering if they didn't stop hurting each other now. She doesn't project a better version of this man onto him or try to appeal to that version. She takes the reality of the man in front of her and appeals to who he was to show him who he could be (or return to) by putting the gun down.

But beyond that, she's rationalizing Vash's belief system through her own experiences and not the other way around. That's why it works out for her and why Vash has his breakthrough at the end of the episode/knows how to handle Knives using his own sense of empathy.

(Though that does call into question Vash's previous actions as not being derived from empathy as he views/saves the lives of others to reaffirm Rem's Eden which is scary but really interesting...)

[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.