if you dont mind, could u please explain what trigun is and also why you like it! ive been looking for a new tv show to go absolutely insane over
TRIGUN IS...
...a western aesthetic sci-fi in space. the story takes place on the planet gunsmoke aka no man's land, a totally inhospitable space where humanity clings to a few life-supported outposts where reactors called plants produce water and power. these plants are exceedingly precious, and more and more of them are failing. it follows vash the stampede, a skilled gunslinger who refuses to kill and hates fighting, a man with a sixty million bounty on his head for killing millions of people and wiping out entire cities.
if you like desert aesthetics, if you like one-man-against-the-world stories, if you like sci-fi fantasy, it's a must see/read. "trigun" is the overarching name, but properties include the original manga (20 chapters), the follow up 97 chapter manga called trigun maximum (aka trimax, where most of the notorious story beats come from), the 26 episode 1998 anime trigun (aired before the trimax manga was completed), a follow up OVA called badlands rumble (fun side story?), and now the trigun stampede anime which is both its own story and seems to be following trimax's plot more closely (conflicting reports on how many episodes it will be; at least 12).
WHY I LOVE IT
STORY | for me, it's this perfect melding of exquisitely lovable and interesting characters, a truly beautiful aesthetic, and mindblowing plot. i love something with an overarching message and trigun's is, in a world of gritty jaded stories, unflinchingly kind. don't get me wrong; it still manages to be one of the grittiest stories i've ever read but kindness is the core of the story. or, i guess, if i want to be sappy about it, love. it's a story that draws you in because it's funny! vash is so fucking weird and sweet and how could he possibly have killed millions of people? i won't spoil that. you will undoubtedly encounter spoilers. i did, but nothing prepared me for the repeated gut-punch of reading the manga. i also love a sci-fi that seems real. this is a fantastical one in so many ways, but it's also doing what all great sci-fi does and asking questions about what humanity will do to itself when driven to the logical conclusion of the path it's already on. it's truly a what-hath-we-wrought tale in the most classic sense. also as someone who grew up in the catholic tradition, the author is also catholic and though it's absolutely not a religious story, it does deal with thematic stuff in that vein and seeing that juxtaposed against a sci-fi western is exquisite.
CHARACTERS | oh my god. i don't even know what to say. to me, trigun has three perfect characters and though the story is vash's, the narrative is a back and forth between knives, wolfwood, and vash himself. at times this is a philosophical back and forth: knives has every reason to believe what he does and in many ways he's right about humanity, but so is vash and they level and scale of their argument is horrific and beautiful at turns. and meanwhile wolfwood exists as this necessary medium, the ultimate realist to vash's happy-go-lucky (oof) belief in everyone's goodness--you can believe everyone is good but you're still going to get shot in the face for it at some point. their interactions are kind of the heart of the story to me, at least. they're like a comedy duo and then they turn around and slap you in the next page. and then we have this panel of other characters in the people they meet, the gungho guns which are this like... villain-of-the-week gang that every shonen needs but with a side of cutting your heart out, and then meryl and milly who are kind of the odd every man of the anime but have a bit (a lot) bigger role in the manga. it's rich. there's never a point where i'm watching or reading and going "oh i have to sit through these guys now" like no i want to see them i want to grind them up with my mortar and pestle and add them to a hearty soup. i want whatever knives is on to be packaged as an energy drink and sold in bulk at costco. instead of wwjd it's what would wolfwood do because he's always right until vash is there and then vash is slightly more right but it's not like i would take vash's advice in my every day life, you know? wolfwood would know about the turning on your windshield wipers to get the car behind you to stop tailgating trick, but also he would be the one tailgating? i'm not making any sense this is totally incoherent now but hopefully you're picking up what i'm spreading thickly on the ground here. it's good god damnit. it's good.
oh and watch stampede. they really said "we love trigun what if we make it more of everything and then turn the breedable dial on vash up to 11" "that's so great, should we animate him like he's a catboy PUPPY BOY and take off the ears and tail?" "yeah perfect" please don't block me i don't even like catboys it's just what they did canonically or i can't explain why he fucking looks like that in stampede
also there's like music and art and stuff and the music is really good and the art is gorgeous and i'm coughing up blood as i try to finish typing this please trigun yes
Uh. I have a lot to scream about re: Vashwood in Vol. 8. This is the volume that, on my first read, fully converted me to a Vashwood Believer, had me screaming crying at 8 am. I still got all hysterical reading it again. "You are not lost... Wolfwood" changed something in my brain.
I JUST. AAAAAAHHH. Wolfwood feels like he's dying, there's no hope, he is utterly lost, and Vash swoops in to answer his literal prayer - no, you are not lost. You can change. You can be forgiven - in fact - there is no need for it, because you are not your past. All that matters is what you choose to do in the here and now. And of course, Wolfwood saves Vash from the Ark, then Vash helps them escape... they're fighting in tandem again, saving each other over and over, expressing how much they care for each other over and over...
Just get married already.
ADKJFHSJLF THIS IS STRAIGHT OUT OF AN ACTION-ADVENTURE ROMANCE NOVEL??? BATTLE HUSBANDS??? WHAT?
Also, "Wolfwood, I owe you for so much, don't I?" Is just. Fuck, dude. Vash is terrified of losing Wolfwood in this moment and he's thinking about how far he would go for him. He owes him so much - Wolfwood changed him so much. It's not dissimilar to how Vash feels about Rem's memory - he feels like his entire struggle is to make up for her sacrifice, for what she taught him about hope and determination. Remember the parallels with baby Vash and Rem vs the Vashwood "shoot" moment?
Then Chapel begs Vash to stop, and Vash is like, "think again motherfucker, I'm actually considering murder this time" which is. HUGE. Local pacifist comes face to face with the person who destroyed his loved one's psyche and he's seeing red. For Wolfwood, would he pull the trigger? Would he exact revenge, would he ensure Chapel and the EOM by extension could never harm another child?
"He is all the reason I need to keep on fighting" is just. AGH. Just all pure Vash, too, no prosthetic arm, no red jacket, no gun, even - just his plant powers. Elendira tells him he's throwing his life away, but Vash doesn't care. He'd gladly give his life for Wolfwood. If that isn't love then I don't know what the fuck it is.
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