#*post about how trigun stampede has bad designs*

[tomboyyyaoi]

i know im getting really worn out bc a quick scroll thru the trigun tag actually has me on the verge of tears with how repetitive it is

[nimpnawakproduction]

The ultimate reference sheets for all of Vash's outfits in Trigun maximum (with commentaries)

IT IS DONE. I'M FREE. Now I can forget all about Trimax and draw Trigun stampede designs only hahaha (just kidding I have things for Trimax on the stove).

Trigun bookclub was an awesome initiative, I loved the manga with my all heart and wanted to honor Nightow's designs ;w; I also wanted to help my fellow artists with references for Vash's clothes because DEAR GOD it's difficult to understand how the hell he dresses himself in the morning. I have a lot of fun dressing and undressing him like a barbie doll. My hyperfixation is completely healthy.

I put a "read more" section to avoid spoilers :) !

The July coat

The very first coat in Trigun chronology and the one he wores during the destruction of July ! There is not a lot of panels to take references but I tried to stay as close as possible to the manga. I don't know what number of prosthesis he had before but let name this one Prosthesis 1.

Scars map

Next, nakey Vash ! There's A LOT of changes between one panel to another. Scars changes places and forms panel to panel and the design evolved from the first chapters of Trigun, the time we see him naked as Eriks and his undressed state while he was a prisoner on the Ark. I drew the scars that appeared more than once or were in clean view in a panel (but really you can do like Nightow and draw as many scars as you want without thinking about consistency, this boy has been in a meat grinder)

After July underclothes

Or the jumpsuit that gave me grey hair. His suit does not make ANY sense, I don't know how the hell he dresses himself in the morning with this. My solution is that it's very long gloves and chaps strapped to a belt. The position and shapes of the belts changes IN EVERY PANEL. Same for his knee guards, sometimes they're here, sometime they cover his shins, sometimes they are tiny..... I gave up in the end and draw them as we see them in the very last panel he wears this suit. But damn he looks good in it.

Also in all of the 13 volumes, there is not a single panel with a clear view of his holster (I checked...) so here is my interpretation.

This is prosthesis n°2, the design is a little different from the first one so I guess Prosthesis 1 got destroyed (this happens a lot).

After July coat

The very first Trigun coat he wears in the manga ! Very simple, very basic, it gives him impossibly wide shoulders but Vash deserves it. The first one is worn Post July until Vash's confrontation against Brilliant Dynamite Neon. The second one is the state of his coat after the sandsteamer incident. He loses his prothesis after his fight against Monev the gale. He meets Wolfwood with only one arm and stays that way while he fights Knives for the first time.

Eriks

I took liberties with colors because there's no colored panels with Vash as Eriks. Yes I drew him without suspenders because he has them for like 5 panels and then Nightow drew him without them for the rest of Eriks arc so I made choices ;w;

I love the fact that Vash choose to wear tight jeans even in his casual outfits, this boy will not let his skin breath. This is now Prosthesis 3 ! It's way less advanced than the ones he wore in the rest of the manga, the other ones seem to replicate skin.

After his years as Eriks

And now the first Maximum coat, he wears it until the famous Yuri hospital arc! Finally an undersuit that makes sense, I love it, too bad Nightow-san decided that I had to suffer and changed it again to add BELTS EVERYWHERE. We only see his legs in this part of the manga so I gave him the same top because I can.

The tubes he has on his waist are filled with bullets, he can connect them to his prosthesis to have a mini machine gun.

We are now at Prosthesis 4 !

Hospitalization on the Home ship

The famous Yuri hospital phase! Vash definitely shared his wardrobe with Wolfwood, you can't tell me otherwise.

The first outfit still shows Prothesis 4 but he keeps it for like 5 minutes and lost it again against Nine-lives. I don't really know if the prothesis comes with the integrated glove or if there's synthetic skin under it but why would he keep the glove on if it's not intergrated?

The second pictures is the different outfits he wears during his convalescence. I took liberties with the colors, I drew this in like 10 minutes, everything seems easy when you don't have to draw BELTS. We are now on Prothesis 5 ! Nightow drew it as a regular arm so I guess Vash wears gloves on top of it??????

Back on the road in pursuit of Knives

He wears this one after his stay at Home, throughout the Dragon's nest ark and until his 2nd fight against Knives.

I liked the design of his jumpsuit until I looked closer at the panels and saw that the design change ON EVERY ONE OF THEM. Knee guard on only one knee? No kneeguards? Two??? WHO KNOWS ??? I tried to make it work but really go wild with this one, even the author does not know how his pant looks.

Still prosthesis 5, BUT UNTIL WHEN?

Prisoner on the Ark

THEY MASSACRED MY BOY. Did they even feed him at least in 7 months? Those pictures are the definition of the drenched kitty cat left under the rain. Give this man a blanket and a therapist.

Bye bye Prothesis 5 ! And see what I mean when I say that his outfit does not make sense????? It comes out in parts????

After his imprisonment on the Ark

The last suit in the manga! He keeps this coat until the end of the story. From this point, only his hair changes (or the color of his coat).

I adore the little angel wing symbol on his left arm, such a cute addition. Too bad it appears in one of the most traumatic event of his life.

Speaking of his jumpsuit...The return of belts.... But at least this outfit stays relatively coherent except for his kneeguards who appear and disappear panel from panel but most of the time he doesn't have any, so no kneeguard it is. Prosthesis 6 hello !

Final battle and end of the story

It hurted to drew those outfits ;w; And working on the design of his coat when he fights Legato made me realize where Orange studio took inspiration to chose the colors for Vash's coat in the final episode of Stampede ! Great job ! I tried to color the same effects as one of the illustrations showing dark Vash but I'm not really good with colors..... He actually radiates energy but with some purple undertones, I took some liberties because those are my drawings I do what I want.

I'm not sure at 100% that he has a tuft of blond hair left when his outfit turns black but his hair is all black at the end of the fight. His prosthesis is destroyed at the end of the fight. He got another one in the final chapter. So 7 prosthesis throughout the story!

[anime-grimmy]

Trigun hyperfixation has an iron grip on me and I desperately need to get my head to think of something else. Especially cos I crave so much for good stories but to my suprise, a lot of (vashmeryl) fanfics I read are extremely samey, especially the post-anime ones.

That being said, while reading, I was actually suprised to see a few scenarios or themes never explored? So I thought, since I can't get my brain to focus anyways, might as well drop some vashmerly hcs and prompts.

the one I'm most suprised has not been explored at all is Meryl and Milly trying to teach Vash how to actually talk/flirt with women. I still dunno how Vash came to be known as a womamizer in the og anime cos he is abyssmal when it comes to flirting. So, after an especially embarassing rejection, Meryl picks a fight with Vash as usual and he's all like "yeah, then you show me how it's done." Not one to chicken out on a competition (and with avid encouragement by Milly) they set up a fake date. I can totally see it going really funny, Meryl trying her darn hardest to act like an actually interested date but can't help herself from cringing and and scoffing at how stupid Vash' approaches are. So basically, it would be a mix of silly flirting and a lot of bantering. By the end Meryl admits that he's not half bad if he just turns down the goofiness a bit, mentioning if he just ties up the night nicely he might even score a second date (she means in general, not realizing that it sounds like she's implying a date with her). Cue Vash doing the only smooth move in his life and stealing a goodnight kiss, asking "well, did it work?"

less of a prompt or headcanon, but in all the scar-centric fics Ive read, not once is it mentioned how Vash has a literal cage over his heart? Ive always loved this little design aspect, since it so obviously shows Vash fortifying his heart and keeping everyone out. I can also see Meryl being all smug like "well, im small and nimble, and the spaces between the bars are wide, I can easily slip through"

another funny thought about the metal grids on his body would be them cuddling but Meryl's hair gets caught on the metal and now they have to akwardly maneuver out of this situation

Meryl uses any and all situations to be taller than Vash. Since she is so much smaller than him, she usually stands when he sits, especially when they argue, tries to be just a few stairs above him or walks a few more steps up a slop so she can peer down on him. Not that her presence isn't big enough already, but she for sure tries her hardest to assert dominance.

To her dismay, Vash likes to use this moments to pick her up. I dunno why, but since Meryl is so small I can see Vash just enjoying it to pick her up and twirl her around. Lugging her around like a pretty looking sack of potatoes.

Vash is a human pretzel. He will contort his body in ways to hug as much of Meryl as possible.

Meryl becomes incredibly good at ignoring Vash if she needs to work. She could be sitting at her typewriter, only noticing Vash has her in a vice grip when Milly asks if she isn't distracted.

Despite how spiky it looks, Vash' hair is actually pretty soft and fluffy, and once Meryl finds out she uses any opportunity to run her fingers through it. Vash doesn't mind cos he totally digs the head scratches (humanoid typhoon? more like humanoid doggo)

when traveling together, they usually share a thomas cos Vash can't ride for shit. Vash likes to be dramatic and complain about it (cos he's a big boy thank you very much) but he can't deny that he wholly enjoys being cuddled up behind Meryl for hours on end.

Welp, just some food for thought cos my brain is in Trigun overdrive. These are specifically based on the 98 versions of them but I have a whole lot for Stampede as well haha

[yuhi-san]

So for the last day of @tristampparty have just some fun fact about trigun, escpecially july but lets get them done in order.

Despite being very, very obsessed with anime and manga and being quite active in german forums at the time trigun 98 first aired and was popular here… I was barely aware it existed.

I vaguely recall two people from a rpg trying to get me into trigon but they showed me the silly opening, vash skedaddling around like a lizard and him not having a bullet in the first episode. So it didn’t seem like something for my edgy teenage taste (oh sweet summer child I was.)

Trigon stampede didn’t show up on my radar at all either until I was traveling in japan in late july. I have no idea what even caused it but I went through the wiki, snooping for spoilers like any normal person. Which, sins the wiki contains stuff from trimax, 98 and tristamp it was. Uhm yea.

So anyway what I knew after was:

Vash and knives were species plant (which was so like ???? because I was thinking of trees without any context)

Also what the fuck is millions knives, how is that a name, this is almost as bad as the very manly male priest named ‘frau’

I am not going to entertine the section about a group that calls themself the freaking gung-ho guns, is this a joke

There is superhuman stuff going on with vash and also knives who is his twin.

Apparently he blew a hole in a moon??

He has a bounty on his head.. because he destroyed a city I think.

There are the two girls milly and meryl

Wolfwood dies (I vaguely remember seeing his death in a top then tragic anime deaths from watch mojo, I think)

when I came home from japan I just binge-watched it before going back to work.

So I went into stampede with very little context, but still some. I guess a lot of easteregs and hints went past me at first but that meant I was also unbiased (*cough*Roberto*cough* Milly *cough* new design *cough*)

I was delighted to hear johnny young bosch but a little disappointed we didn’t get any robin-esque gremlin cackle.

Was just a little surprised that wolfwood lived but I did eventually catch on that it was sort of an alternate prequel so to speak.

But then there is lost july.

See, I was vaguely aware vash destroyed I city. Sort of. But I don’t think I really took notice of july when skimming the wiki.

So the finale comes. Everything goes horribly. Roberto dies. At least meryl and wolfwood live. What knives does to vash is terrible. The fight isn’t looking too good for vash. The way knives kills the officers that attack vash.

and like vash was probably expecting it to be a suicide stunt to get the cube so far up in the air and detonate/fire (?) it. And in such a tragic way, it kills knives too (or at least that’s what it looks like to an unsuspecting audience and DEFINITELY to vash).

Everything is horrible but at least he managed to save the city.

Except it explodes anyway.

I was like WHAT!? WHAT!?

I’m telling you guys, I was shocked. I did not see that coming. In the slightest. I think I was still reeling from it by the credits.

Somehow, despite all the spoilers I’ve seen and read (also the couch…) I somehow managed to not expect lost july and was so blindsided by it

Edit: I posted this like three minutes ago but it just hit me what triggered me getting into trigun!! I’m pretty sure I never had trigon posts on my dash but somehow I had a post on it suddenly that was like this:

A screenshot of wolfwood saying to vash: don’t call me that! I’m Nicholas the punisher!

Then a short text about how he was trying to make himself and others believe that this was all he was or something along these lines and then the screenshot of the title drop “Wolfwood”

And then something really clever about how this was set up, as if right after wolfwood insisting he was just the punisher, the title drop immediately tells is otherwise. Like, no, no matter what you tell others and yourself, you are still wolfwood.

Actually if anyone has an idea what post that was hit me up.

[miss--river]

at first i wasnt going to watch the new trigun because i just didnt feel the need or the want to watch it. personally i dont like how vash looks like a kid (at least to me.) im not a fan of the animation style. im also really disappointed that milly isnt in the show.

after i got done rewatching the OG anime and the movie after... idk how many years its been since i last watch it tbh. i just started googling random things i had questions about in the trigun universe that really doesnt matter. one of the search results was a reddit link to r/trigun and the title of the post is "TRIGUN STAMPEDE is TERRIBLE"

the reddit user goes on to explain why they think the show is terrible but... everything they listed as reasons for the show being terrible were things that actually happened in the OG anime. and i cant talk about this post without mentioning that this person was unironically calling OG vash 'alpha' and the new vash 'beta' and 'imposter'. their reasons were he's a cry baby, there's no way he had no bullets in his gun, he's a try hard, he's too much a spazz, ect. they said all of this AFTER stating they went back and rewatched the first episode of the original anime but its like, did they REALLY watch the first epsiode? because vash is all of those things right from the start. he screams, he freaks out, he cries, he has no bullets in his gun, he's just a complete and total dork.

honestly i could just feel the anger from this person seeping through the post as they stated that no one should watch the show and if you want to get into trigun, the reboot is not the place to start. they talk about the show as if the original was this perfect gem and to be honest, while yeah, the original show kicked ass and we all loved vash for who he is, the show wasnt perfect at all. there are even things said in the original that just wouldnt fly today, things that vash himself has said and done that would get him possibly cancelled.

after reading that post i decided that maybe i will give the reboot a watch, try it for myself. i had only seen gifs of it so far at the time of reading the post and to me the show honestly didnt seem that bad. i may not like the animation style but its perfect for such an animated person like vash. milly may not be in the show but i shouldnt let that spoil the experience. vash may look more like a child compared to how he looked in the original anime but that doesnt mean the design is bad.

so i gave the reboot a watch (8 episodes are out at the time of writing this, only 6 of them dubbed so i havent seen 7 or 8. i dont have hulu or anything so im watching on an anime website.) and im not really good at giving in depth reviews but for what the show is, i really like it. it's a different spin on things and if thats what people are upset about then thats on them. i still prefer the original anime and the things i dont like the reboot are still things i dont like but the show is still great on its own. if you're against the reboot but still want give it a try, watch it with an open mind. it's still the same vash that we know and love, he just looks different.

[tardis-goes-thvooo-ooosss]

Trigun

So... Hi.

This is my first ever post I make about Trigun. And it's me just generally ranting about my thoughts on all of the Trigun versions and on the fandom as a new Trigun fan that came to be one with Trigun Stampede.*some spoilers for all versions of Trigun in my ranting*

I first found anything Trigun related in August of this year when I randomly saw a Youtube short of Vash from Trigun Stampede, and I just clicked on it because I found it intriguing as the title of the short was something like "this anime has beautiful CGI" and that the comment section of that short seemed too devided between people praising the show and people writing "not CGI again, it looks awful", which is a reaction that I can understand as anime doesn't have a good track record with using the CGI style. But from the short alone, that had some scenes of the first Trigun Stampede episode, I thought it just looked fine.

And then I watched the show and I absolutetly loved it (and still do, lol). The animation is amazing, even if at first it was kinda weird before getting used to the characters' design and movements with the CGI.

When it comes to the characters, I think that Meryl and Roberto were a fun pair and a good point of view for the viewer to the weird and suspicious things going on with Vash, Vash was such a fun and sweet but also misterious and cool character and Wolfwood was amazing, especially his introduction (best one 10/10). His backstory episode had me in tears. And they even dared to make the animation on that backstory different from the rest of the show, being so beautiful and warm with baby Nico and Livio at the orphanage and then so trippy and strange when he gets experimented on... ahhh, that episode was just so goddamn good!!! (Sorry, got a little carried away....) And I love Meryl as the female protagonist and her progression throughout the episodes.

The only thing that I remember bothering me after watching it the first 2 times (I think?) was the aftermath of the reveal that Vash is a Plant on the sandsteamer, as I thought that after that the plot just speeded up too quickly and the audience (especially first time Trigun watchers like me) and the characters didn't get the proper time needed to compute and reflect on the fact that Vash is a Plant. Like ya, we got the flashback episode after the steamer one, but I feel like it would have worked better if that was shown later, because at that point I cared more about the characters of Meryl, Wolfwood and Roberto and their reaction to Vash being a Plant, and also how tf they found ship 3 and got there, than the tragic flashback between Knives and Vash.

But overall I still think that Stampede is pretty solid standing on it's own as a sci-fi space western story about 2 brothers and their complicated relationship and differing morals and goals. (I mean, it's still not finished but the point it's that I think that season 1 was pretty good despite obviously having it's flaws, and I can't wait for season 2, aaaa!!)

Plus, the CGI animation really grew on me as I watched the show. It looks amazing! Especially the fights. Best use of CGI on character design and animation in anime, imo.

Then I watched the Trigun 1998 anime adaptation. And I had so much fun. I loved the more day to day laid back adventures with the people of No Man's Land, and that then things with Vash started getting more misterious and complex. Also, I cried when Wolfwood died. (This man and his story sure knows how to make you cry... goddamnit I wanna give him a hug...)

But the problem with the 98 anime is that Knives is too much in the background for me to care that deeply about the conflict between the twins. The Gung-Ho-Guns, especially Legato, were more interesting and fleshed out antagonists than Knives, that can be described as cartoonishly evil in this version (like, it's not a bad thing, but he could have been portrayed as more sympathetic like his other versions).

Plus, the Plants part of the Trigun deal is really left out in this version. Like, the Dependent Plants don't even get personalized as they are shown and treated all the time as objects - they are never shown to unfurl. Though, I think this was because of sensoring issues from back then, but still, they could have put some body suit on them or something, idk. It's such an important part of Trigun and it was completely left out in this version. Though, they certainly didn't have a problem making Vash sometimes chase women kinda excessively. I mean ya, it was way worse in 2010 with Amelia in Badlands Rumble. But really, what was the need... though, compared to other anime it is very tame when it comes to this (and thank everything for that!), plus the headcanon that Vash just exaggerated these behaviours so he can make himself appear like any fool Human man helps with ignoring these scenes. So, ya... I still don't like it but it's not that bad as it could have been in this aspect.

But that aside, watching this anime really hit me with the nostalgia train of the 90s/early 2000s anime (yes, I was born in 2001 but reruns on TV exist, so ya... sorry if this is random but there are always some smartasses on the Internet that like doing the "how can you even know about it you weren't even born or you were just a baby when these shows came out", plus there are piracy sites to watch older shows on, lol).

So ya, I literally fell in love with Trigun 1998, and pretty fast. It really has a charm to it, not just because it has that nostalgic feeling for me, but also because Trigun 1998 (and the manga) is really quite unique with the way it does story telling, the jokes, the characters and their dynamics (at least imo) and it also felt like a breath of fresh air for me, considering that I was kinda tired of fast paced Netflix like shows and current action anime don't appeal to me that much. (Also, huh, pointing at my pretty big disappointments with MHA that made me reach the point where I actually ended up making 4 huge ass posts with my issues with the anime/manga on my other Tumblr blog. Hahaha, trust me when I say that all versions of Trigun are a gold mine of a story, despite having differences between each other and each one their own (pretty small, imo) issues. And when I say that Trigun saved me by giving me a very good mood in some of my free time, as I really reached a point where everything seemed too boring or annoying to me, until I found Trigun, lol)

And then I got to the manga... and holy shit, did it get me hooked to the point I ended up staying up until 4 a.m. for 3 days straight to finish reading all of it... and yes, from the Trigun manga's first chapter to the end of Trigun Maximum... I needed a lot of coffee to function in those mornings as I woke up 2 hours later everyday, haha, fuck sleep I need my dose of Trigun so I can know what happens next and then laugh and cry because of it!!

Okay, my hyperfixation aside, the manga is amazing and it's obviously my favourite version of Trigun, no question.

This opinion also seems to be true in most of the fandom. Which makes sense as it is the original material and the longest, and thus the most complete version of Trigun (lol).

But this is where I found something that kinda annoys me in the fandom. Like, don't get me wrong for the most part the Trigun fandom is pretty great (at least in the circles I found myself in), but there were some people that kinda really annoyed me (tho, this is more a me problem than necessarely a others problem, as I can just ignore these things and move on to my business, lol - but I'm a dumbass that sometimes complains too much, so here I am). And that is people that don't seem to shut up about how bad Trigun Stampede is because of the CGI and the fact that the story was changed and it isn't the same as Trigun 1998 or that it is not a continuation of it. And you know what, these people are valid in having these opinions, okay? I'm not here to police anyone's tastes, lol, despite writing this in this post in my blog.

But I'm also of the opinion that people that think this are being a little bit unfair to Trigun Stampede as it was obvious from the start that the show was gonna be it's own thing.

Plus, I kinda like the idea that Trigun 1998 along with the Badlands Rumble movie, Trigun Manga along with Trigun Maximum and Trigun Stampede are their own Universes parallel to each other, considering all the differences they have between each other. And also, I'm not really a fan of the opinion that some people in fandoms have that "the adaptations need to follow the source material/original perfectly". I mean, it's an adaptation, somethings are bound to be changed to fit a certain style or era. Also, I'm a fan of Doctor Who and superhero (DC and Marvel) comic books, so big changes are a part of the course in my favourite media, lol. The important thing it's keeping the core of the story and characters. Plus, certain things, like books and video games, need more changes to their stories and characters in order to be adapted to screen, so ya.

But anyway, the point that I'm trying to make is that I don't like how quick some people are/were to dismiss Trigun Stampede and how they critique it without even having watched it. Like, if some people watched it and didn't like it that is totally valid, but it really annoyed me how quick some people were to just shove it down without even giving it one chance, when I think that Stampede is one of the best things to come out in recent years.

Maybe I'm being a little biased because it was my first Trigun version. But I also think that too many people are being biased themselves based on the "It's absolute garbage because it's not like the original" mentality (and the original that they usually refer to is the Trigun 1998 anime, that is, ironically, pretty different from the actual source material too, lol. Okay, I understand that the 98 anime has the excuse of airing when the manga wasn't finished yet but still...). Also, this annoys me because it is a problem that exists with all the series and their fandoms nowadays, which is not giving the chance for a series to explore itself before they talk negativelly about it.

I mean, come on, Trigun Stampede has so much potential, let it flourish on its own without always being compared to it's predecessors.

Though, I also feel like that some part of these opinions/criticisms come from the fact that people nowadays are also kinda tired of remakes, which ya valid, but not all remakes are "cash grab garbage", and Stampede is really great and trying to do it's own thing. So, I think that it really deserves the praise and popularity it is getting.

But ya, despite these nitpicks of mine, I'm having a great and fun time with Trigun and it's fandom.

Never thought I would obsess over a character that is a Humanoid Plant Energy Reactor, lmao. Also, it really got me with all it's symbolism with flowers and religion. There is nothing more that I love than a misterious alien protagonist in a story with religious imagery and dealing with complex moral questions while also having the most bizarre and silly base premise and characters.

Also, Vash deserves all the love and hugs in the Universe!! This Plant-man gives me so many feelings. And he is so hurt. And doesn't allow himself to get too close to people, but he still helps them the best way he can, despite pretty much everyone being against him. Until, Wolfwood, Meryl and Milly come along. Aaaa!! The feels...

I love Trigun so much!!!

All versions of it.

So, anyways, thanks for reading my rant.

Love & Peace🤞🏻

[shxwrunner]

Trigun Stampede - Analysis

I have no idea how to start this really, it's been a long time since I've used Tumblr frequently especially after I accidentally deleted my account a year ago. However, I've been brainrotting this a lot lately and I decided fuck it, I want to make a giant post on the differences that Trigun Stampede has to the original 98 anime. This may not be super coherent, and will not be spoiler free at all.

Of course, I'll talk about the manga here and there but I don't want to focus too heavily on it. If the people desire it, I'll make another long ass post about Trimax and all that nonsense. Also I apologize if this is formatted like shit.

Designs

A lot of the strife that older fans run into is the change in designs, but I think it's odd. Of course, if you want to bitch about how Vash looks like a TikTok E-boy then have your fun but it's not my cup of tea. One of the important things to know about the change in setting with Stampede is that not only is it a change in story- it's a change in aesthetics as well. Stampede is extremely more leaning into the idea of steampunk, and that's reflected in design changes.

Wolfwood remains the most unchanged, but really, no one can be mad about it. He is disheveled and just barely close enough to a priest that maybe he is! However the cigarette habit and giant punisher changes things, makes you question it. He's meant to be a bad boy, be mysterious, and he reminds unchanged. I like it.

Meryl... I don't have too many opinions on, I'll be honest. No strong yay or nay on her, but keeping her palette the same and the same tomboyish nature, is very good. Maybe leaned a bit too much into making her "cute"? In a way? That might not make sense to anyone but me though.

Vash, oh Vash. Everyone is so focused on your hair they don't notice the amazing details on everything else.

Vash's arm I'll start with, is one of the more interesting starts to the steampunk-ish aesthetic. As for his coat, yeah the simplistic style is a bit disappointing. The weird coat he had in trimax and 98 was very fun and unique and it's just a bit... Too normal. The one positive I will give it though is that when I first saw the Project Seeds patch I was very happy.

Such a dedication to something that means so much to him made me tear up, honestly. On the topic of character importance with the coat- it's still colored after Rem's favorite flower. I find that to be the most important factor in it all.

His eyes are pretty cool, and I like the effect that the glasses have with the animation. Not much more to say on the matter I think!

We haven't seen enough of Knives for me to make too many comments, but send an ask or smthn if you want to know about something specific. I Also can't say very much about Legato either but I do love his design rn!

Milly

I figured it'd be best to have a section on her early on, no?

I'm very upset about the fact that our beloved girl hasn't shown up yet, and frankly if she doesn't show up at all I'll be deeply hurt. Not only is she an extremely loveable character, she fills a dynamic that Roberto does not. Milly is one of the few people to love everyone unconditionally, Vash aside. She's upbeat, silly, and a bit slow when it comes to realizing things. As opposed to an extremely serious cast who has so many issues, comes a girl who just loves her friends and family.

Not to mention how important she is to Wolfwood's betrayal of Legato in 98. At least in my opinion. Of course I am the kind of person to lean more on development and chemistry in ships than anything, but he does genuinely love Milly in canon, and her reaction to his death is one of the most heartbreaking things. If they remove her from the series entirely, I would find his inevitable death to be... Unfulfilling? In a sense?

Of course, like all characters, Milly deserves a life and story uncentered around a man but we all know anime writers don't we?

Timeline of Events

I considered splitting this into separate events, but decided against it because I don't want to go on forever, as well as I am completely unsure how to word this section until it comes off my fingertips.

One of the biggest surprises to me was how quickly things are mashed together and how fast things happen. Like the fact that we meet Zazi the beast within the first 4...? Episodes?? I don't remember exact episode numbers, mind you. I can respect the narrative choice to MENTION Knives episode one, as I think it adds a lot of atmosphere and it helps the writing they seem to be shooting for.

Jeneora Rock, as a location, if I recall is when he meets one of the first Gung Ho Guns in 98. Nothing major happens, but I believe Legato does threaten him there and he fights the cyclops. So, seeing it basically be demolished and mixed with the city that was affected in the beginning of 98 by the Nebraska Family, is odd. Of course, the Nebraska Family still shows up, but is not called by the city to capture Vash. They're just ... There. And that's fine! Knives absolutely wrecking it though is what threw me off.

It wouldn't weird me out as much had it not been for the fact that one of the major reasons that Vash is wanted in 98... Hasn't happened. July is intact. Vash hasn't been forced to open his gate. He's only wanted because Knives is stealing plants. Along with that his bounty is only $$6 bil, rather than $$60 bil.

With that said I definitely think July won't remain for LONG, and the season might end right before or right after it's destruction. At least that's my prediction, and hope.

Plants

Like the last one, this is formatted as I go. It's a mess, I apologize. Hopefully the last section unless I come up with something new. ANYWAY!!

The way the plants are designed is quite honestly, gorgeous. I hope they lean into the almost seraph-style from Trimax a little more especially as we see Vash do his thing as a plant. I also like that they expand a little more on HOW plants provide things for humans, as noted by when Vash was being questioned about what he can produce. There isn't much for me to say about it, but I'm excited to learn more. I wanted a nice closer to this long post so, here's this. It's almost midnight so night trigun fans

[b0tsbby]

"I would like to hear more from you"

Oh absolutely! I myself, tend to get quite obsessed with and verbal about Stampede Knives, whether I like him or not. (I don't like him, but he is also, my everything) So much so, I had to bust out the laptop at midnight for this.

I must say, in regards to 98, I think he is framed much differently and a lot closer to a "mad villain" archetype, but I feel his 'shallowness' could also be a matter of perspective. He feels evil as a villain is suppposed to be, but I think he also explores an aspect of being born into a world where you're already a second class citizen. He's still a victim. I mean he was abused. And his pain and confusion turned into anger, at both humans and the unjust nature of the world. As Knives tends to go in the narrative, it ended up being 'a little too much', at least from the perspective of humans.

I think his iteration just came across poorly cause i believe as an audience, we've heard that kinda story of a victim turning 'villainous' like one million times already. It's worth analysing in itself why, that trope in itself has somewhat lost weight and meaning.

But alas this is not about him right now. I'll be his defense attorney another day.

It's notably interesting to me you feel Stampede was a lot clearer. I'm not sure if you have engaged with Max, but he seems to take the trophy as the most readable and understandable antagonist of the three. (An achievement I think he deserves mind you). I say antagonist especially, as i struggle to really call any Knives a true and final villain. There's just too much in him and Trigun for me to really box them in these terms insinuating good or evil.

BUT Stampede Knives, by definition probably is the more villlainous of the three by a bit of a mile. He's...pretty selfish. Knives allegiance to some form of justice is floppy for all three, but Stampede really, really, has no/little concept of outward responsibility. His goal is one so deeply rooted in himself and I'm not sure if the weight of what he's done has really hit him on the noggin yet.

And even so, I get it. I get what you're saying and I get where he's coming from, more than I'd like to i think sometimes.

There's a myriad of themes interwoven into his design, his dialogue and the first season of the reboot as a whole! I could break him and Season 1 into themes of self-hatred, denial, identity, safety, autonomy, delusion and a coming of age...oh, and mommy issues of course.

In my view, every character feels so weightless and lacking substance in a way that's just so messy compared to their Max counterpart. I sound mean, and I don't know if it was truly an intention on Studio O's part, but I attributed a lot of that to the fact it feels a lot like growing up, and how messy that is. Shit, Knives entire character design is driven by the visual metaphor of a caterpiller nestled in a cocoon. If that doesn't at least whisper the hints of still developing into oneself I could simply be insane.

And I feel it. While Vash is driven by some sense of guilt and self punishment (WHICH IS A VERY FLIMSY MOTIVATION) in comparison, Knives first feels like at least, a 'villain' with maybe some sense of real direction...

Until he talks, and I'm listening to an edgy reddit gospel sermon.

Point is, it's funny, I think he's actually pretty hard to analyse, considering he really only shows his hand, or a semblance of real character, at the very end when he's literally dying on screen. While Vash is so painfully vulnerable and open to the viewer, its a game of masks with Knives. A game he seems to be playing with himself too. A master of lying to the world, but more importantly himself.

There's a lot on each individual theme, and we'll be here until 2025 if i try to get it all in one post, but I have to say S1 really sets up the brothers as black and white, a good vs evil debate for 98% of its running. Knives really plays a good big bad villain, and Vash a perfect noble heroic knight. We really don't get any Knives exposition beyond crumbs, cause the little church boy monologues don't mean shit.So any dislike feels warranted.

Perhaps I'll have to write that big essay after all.

It only concerns me a little bit I haven’t really seen a written introspection on Stampede Knives’ character, specifically him. 98 is 98 and Maximum Knives has enough elitists on his case to cover him, definitely not a fan favourite but people have broken him down.

I’m aware of how disliked he is, Stampede that is, but it really is something. Could I write it, and could I kill an analysis of him? Most likely. I’ve been injecting the character into my veins, breathing him in and out for a year, every incarnation of him.

But I’m so curious to see someone else do it. Curious to see if someone else will do it…Maybe to convince myself I’m not a complete fool, or stuck in delusion. Maybe to find someone else that got it.

Hate and disdain, is something I’ll never protect him from. He’s an asshole. But man, even he doesn’t deserve the shallow reading of him that’s too widely accepted I think.

But who am I to say what is and isn’t…

[sebastiano-merlino]

I've just published a new post on https://mylittleblackbird.com/2017/10/16/trigun-my-review-of-the-anime/

Trigun - my review of the Anime

This is going to be an article full of feels… so many feels!

Trigun is one of my favorite animes. This is the result of a combination of factors that can be summarized up into:

Awesome setting

Compelling theme

Incredibly well-designed characters

Great ability to inflict emotions on the audience.

I’d like to talk about them in order and, don’t worry, as usual, I will mark the sections containing spoilers.

Before we get into the meaty part, I am going to refer to the 1998 Anime series, not the Manga (that I read way too many years ago) nor the “Trigun: Badlands Rumble”, the movie from 2010 that I’ve yet to watch.

Trigun is an adaptation by the director Satoshi Nishimura (studio Madhouse) of the homonymous manga written by Yasuhiro Nightow. It is a Space Western story and follows the adventures of Vash the Stampede for a brief amount of time while trying to show us his philosophy and how this is impacting his and other’s lives. As the story progresses, more is discovered about Vash’s mysterious past and origins.

The setting

The story takes place on Gunsmoke (No Man’s Land) a desert planet in a far away galaxy. The human race has left planet earth because of unknown reasons and now finds itself on this deserted planet. Here humanity struggles to survive to the lack of natural resources. This caused a de-evolution into a society similar to that of the first explorers of the American’s west. Gunmen battles on the streets while sheriffs struggle to avoid the violence to spread.

One of the main resources of energy (and even water and food) are Plants. These mysterious systems are heavily relied on by humanity that builds cities surrounding them.

The theme of Trigun

I guess the simplest way to explain the theme of this series is to show you a short clip that summarizes it.

Simply put: can we save everybody? Can we subvert the idea and perhaps the natural order of “kill or be killed”?

This short video is a haunting one. I find this scene incredible from a writing standpoint – Rem (the woman) and her reaction when she sees Knives killing the spider (0:17) and the single shot of the two brothers (1:14), so similar and yet so different. So close and distant at the same time.

This theme is the main focal point of the entire series. The thing that hurts the most is that I am not even sure Vash is right here. We see him struggling for the whole duration of the story not to kill anyone. Protecting the good without harming the evil.

At first sight, this looks like the author wanted to create a perfect hero. I think there is a better read though. Vash keeps fighting without even knowing if there is a meaning in it. He doesn’t know if there will be an end. We watch him struggling to do the right thing without even believing it is actually the right thing. Is he just being a hypocrite? Will he not just make the spider die anyhow by continuously saving the butterfly?

I don’t know. The author doesn’t seem to know either and the anime doesn’t claim to give you an answer. It just leaves you with the pain of the question.

This draws quite an imperfect hero who is probably just lying to himself while trying to do what he thinks is the right thing and being punished for it.

The characters

Trigun displays an incredible cast of characters. Protagonists and antagonists are compelling and because of this, the series received overall praise during the past twenty years.

The main protagonist is Vash the Stampede. He is a mysterious man, arguably the best marksman on the planet. He has a massive bounty on his head for having destroyed an entire city on his own. Because of this hunters are always behind his back. For the same reason, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, two Bernardelli Insurance Society employees, follow him to prevent him and who want to kill him from causing excessive damage.

Vash the Stampede

Vash is a pacifist. He has the goal to protect everyone he meets without harming anyone. Not even the evilest of villains. Because of this, he suffers incredible pain and losses. Many times while watching I struggled because of the emotional pain inflicted to the character. As discussed in the previous chapter, Vash has a naive and simple view of life. He keeps himself in sync with it by thinking of his mentor Rem Saverem (the woman in the video above). She taught Vash while still young and acted as a mother to him and his brother Knives. During this period, she explains a philosophy of peace and non-violence that remains with Vash forever.

Another important character is Nicholas Wolfwood. A priest and yet another mysterious gunman. He has a bleaker and more practical view of life and how to deal with evil. It is hard to talk about Wolfwood without making any spoiler, but he is what Vash would have probably ended-up being if not for Rem. They become closer and closer during the series and it makes it for an important subplot of the series to watch the growth of both characters as they influence each other.

The big bad of the series is Millions Knives. He is Vash’s brother. Knives’ philosophy is completely opposite to Vash’s. He looks at life in a more black and white way. Evil exists and must be eradicated. We must protect innocents and destroy who harms them. Sad to say, but in his view, humanity is the evil to eliminate.

The perpetrator of most of Knives’ actions is Legato Bluesummers, an emotionless nihilist. He continuously puts Vash in “kill or be killed” situations through the use of a group of outlaws, the Gun-oh-guns.

Trigun and the ability to convey emotions (Contains Spoilers)

Despite having often a humoristic tone, Trigun seems to have made a mission of making you cry. This especially in the last few episodes.

We see an example of this ability when Wolfwood dies. This happens on two fronts: the death itself and the way the others cope with it. We are used to seeing heroic characters dying in a stoic manner. Maybe even happy to have achieved their goals. This is not the case for Wolfwood. He has just saved Vash and saved the lives of the people he loves. Despite this, he cries while dying and re-affirms he doesn’t want to die. He finds it unjust and even blames God for having created an unfair world in which he has to die immediately after having found love and friendship.

This also continues after. Milly, Wolfwood’s lover at this point in the series, has to deal with his death. It is excruciating to see the scene in which she cries and laugh at the same time while claiming she is fine. Similarly, we follow Vash, while he separates from the girls and travels to another village. He is apparently joyful while buying some donuts (his favorite food). He sits down and starts eating them just to break into tears one moment after, consumed by the guilt of having convinced Wolfwood not to kill. Because of this, the man has paid with his own life.

A second example is when Legato forces Vash to kill him. The scene itself is powerful.

I consider this one of the greatest defeats for a hero I have ever seen in almost any media. Vash has lost. He has killed someone and, even worse, this happens to him after his best friend has been killed for following his ideas.

The aftermath is again devastating. Vash goes through the crisis. Unable to cope with what he has done, he thinks of himself as a killer. We hear him screaming in pain behind closed doors while Meryl and Milly are unable to do anything that can help him.

Does Trigun have any defect? (Contains Spoilers)

Well… nothing is perfect, right?

I am not here to talk about the relatively poor animation and generally flat drawing, but I can see some problems in the story too.

The Anime doesn’t really help us understand some of the things that happen. One example is Legato and his strong motivation. He almost appears surreally insane. Why such a devotion to Knives’ cause? (I know, the manga explains it but, we are not talking about that here).

Similarly, the story never goes deep on what Plants really are. We understand that Vash and Knives are Plants – this is why they hold such power. We never understand where Plants come from and why only the two brothers, amongst all the Plants we see, have human form.

There is also some waste of time. Whereas the first few episodes might be useful to establish the setting and Vash’s famous “fake smile”, this section of the Anime goes on for a bit too long. I would have preferred a shorter intro to the anime and I think it represents a risk of abandonment for the story to have such a long and undertoned introduction.

  This is my review of one of my favorite animes. Let me know what you think in the comments and if you like my work here feel free to subscribe to my mailing list.