#all I’m saying is they made some points with that Tristamp take

[b0tsbby]

Midnight Rem doodles she’s simply Aaliyah to me

[alexiethymia]

vashmeryl

While watching Trigun Stampede, I ended up binging the Trigun ‘98 anime, and I will try, but no doubt fail, to articulate what it is about VashMeryl that makes me so feral, and I mean in all continuities because the themes rings true for the both of them regardless if it’s TriStamp, TriMax, or the anime.

Many people have praised Meryl’s agency in Trigun Stampede, how a lot of the plot moves because of her contribution, and I can’t help but compare this to the anime, where it was because of her that Vash has a breakthrough in how to deal with Knives (after her and Milly took the time to heal and take care of Vash, ugh, found family for the win). In both TriStamp and the ‘98 anime, Meryl is juxtaposed (contrasted? given a parallel with?) Rem. 

And in the ‘98 anime, after Vash’s battle with Knives, he finds the peace to move on, casting aside what was in a way his clutch to Rem (his red geranium coat) to come back home to Meryl and Milly. 

And I love the ‘98 anime because of the implications, that he willingly sheds his outlaw persona for a chance to live a quiet life with Meryl, Milly, and his brother. It was Meryl who gave him the hope to do that, through her words, her invitation to stay together permanently, and even through her actions in standing up for him. (Honestly, the only thing that would have made the ‘98 anime ending perfect for me is if we had Wolfwood. Which is why if Knives could survive 1/3 of the continuities, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Trigun Stampede is the continuity where Wolfwood actually gets to survive). 

Even in the manga, he makes a promise to return to her, and though he ends up quite late, he does end up making his way back to Meryl and Milly eventually.

I love how there’s a chain of influence that happens, and the parallels between the two. Rem says she had been influenced in her ideals because of the person she loved, Alex. Vash is influenced by her, and eventually Meryl is influenced by Vash to the point that she’s ready to stake her life for what he believes in, such that it becomes her ideals too. 

“You can’t save everyone, you can only be there for them.” And this really rings true for Meryl in that while she can’t save him the way Vash tries to save everyone around him, she can still be there for him, whether it’s staying and trying to help him when no one else won’t (Trigun Stampede), making a home for him to return to (’98 Trigun), or telling him to unburden himself because he’s not alone (TriMax). He’s superhuman but he gets hurt like anyone else. I love that Meryl doesn’t scoff at his ideals or tell him to stop, but just helps him in whatever way she can, the way he tries to help everyone else. She treats him not like some act of God, destruction personified, or a savior, but simply as Vash, a softie who needs a bit of help sometimes (which is why when Meryl ends up scared of him, it was heartbreaking, but again this is something she chose to overcome because her love outweighed her fear). 

But at the same time, she won’t simply wait around. Again, I love her agency. In TriStamp, she chooses to stay behind to help Vash (which was pivotal because who knows if Rem’s spirit would have been triggered if not for her voice) and in TriMax, even if it was Vash who made the promise, when he’s late, what does she do? Goes and meets him herself. 

In every continuity, she’s always aggressively chasing after him. When Vash said in the TriStamp finale that he’d keep running and running, and when it becomes quiet again, he’d settle back by humanity’s side, it sounded so lonely. 

And yet, when Vash runs, Meryl will chase after him. Even when he believes he should be alone because everyone who touches him dies, Meryl still wants to be by his side. Meryl proves over and over again that Vash is loved (in a way, to him as well) because she doesn’t ever want to leave him alone. And again, it’s such a wonderful ending in both versions (the anime and TriMax) that when Vash eventually does stop running, it’s to Meryl (and Milly) that he returns home to. 

[feverdreamsandlucidnightmares]

Okay, these are some of my opinions after finishing both Trigun 98 and Trigun Stampede:

Tri98 Vash’s pervier moments were annoying and I liked Tristamp Vash better in that regard. Not bashing, it’s just not for me. My biggest complaint with this is in ep. 6 with Elizabeth and the otherwise very sad backstory reveal for both of them. I feel like having Vash follow her like a dog for most of the episode kind of took away from that, but whatever.

Tristamp Wolfwood is openly a bastard. He knows it, I know it, you know it, etc. Tri98 Wolfwood is also a bastard, but he’s a charming bastard - or at least trying to be.

Getting to see an/the origin of Derringer Meryl in Tristamp is heartbreaking and wonderful. Seeing Tri98 do her cape flare of derringers was deranged and so fun.

Both Wolfwood’s early introductions being strangers saying that he’s a well prepared dead man (“That is one heck of a well prepared dead guy.” in Tri98 and “He’s not long for this world” “At least he’s prepared - the dead man’s got his own tombstone.” in Tristamp) is killing me (and it’s very on the nose…mean).

It’s interesting that Gosef is much more person-sized, but otherwise unchanged in Tristamp. I want to see what they do with Gray the Ninelives.

I do like the slow reveal of Vash’s prosthetic and it’s gun in Tri98.

Wolfwood’s confessional is ridiculous, 10/10, love that he always immediately tries to con people, good for him.

Meryl takes soooo long to accept that Vash is actually Vash in Tri98 and even though it made me impatient I get it. She suffers all the time lmao.

Tristamp Zazie is so much more interesting to me. More fleshed out motivations, cooler design, more gender, some body horror eldritch being vibes, just a lot more fun for me as a viewer.

However, I generally liked the Gung-Ho-Guns and Tristamp barely had them at all. Also, I expected to see Midvalley more ngl, with how much I’ve seen people talk about him.

Legato my beloathed. He’s more interesting in Tri98, but he’s pretty flat and unsympathetic in Tristamp so far. Maybe we’ll get more of his manga backstory in season 2. He’s such a good antagonist and I’m fucked up about it.

Millions Knives is a good antagonist in both versions, but Tri98 builds up this mysterious mastermind persona while Tristamp makes him more immediately sympathetic and humanizes his motivations to an extent while also firmly establishing him as an incredibly violent, single-minded character. It’s made clear so much earlier what drives him. Still very fucked up solution and execution, but that’s the point.

Millywood shippers: I get it

Vashwood shippers: I also get it

Meryl is still forever and always aroace to me, but I get Vashmeryl to an extent and wish you all the best in your shipping endeavors.

Honestly all four of them are very shippable in a lot of different ways, so good for them.

I liked Milly a lot as a character, love her dynamic with Wolfwood.

They all feel so fucking young in Tristamp. I know I’ve joked that Roberto unexpectedly got custody of three college students, but they’re so baby. Tri98 has Wolfwood and Meryl in their mid-to-late twenties, they’re more experienced and you can tell.

And now, by the power vested in me by finishing both series, I am going to talk my shit once again.

[avitus-ostrander]

On Knives and Plants

I see a lot of people saying that Knives does not care about plants. That he treats them like things and takes away their agency.

Firstly, what agency?

Did they choose to be put in tanks and used for their ability to create? When they’re dying, do they say to someone “hey, I’m about to die. Please force me to use up all of my energy in one last, painful burst if it will make your lives better.”?

Could Knives go about things better? Of course. There are areas where one can say he is objectively in the wrong - that he is objectively doing something selfish. But when it comes to plants, I disagree.

I’ve seen people say all he cares about in Stampede is reaching the higher dimension. Why, though? What purpose does that serve if not to ultimately help the plants? He wants them all to be independent, like him.

In Stampede, Conrad says the plants are soulless husks. That that’s the difference between Vash and Knives and other plants. He says their true being is located elsewhere and their physical forms are just a window between those worlds.

If Knives feels this way, does it not stand to reason that he feels this because that is what he was taught?

Conrad also says that in order to give the plants souls, they must connect to the core.

Knives doesn’t need the core to help himself. If everything he does is selfish, there is no reason to include the plants at all.

If he considered himself better than them - if he thought they were soulless husks - he could just kill them. He doesn’t need their power in order to wipe out what remains of humanity. He can do that on his own. He made the ships crash without the help of plants. He destroyed Jeneora Rock using his own abilities.

He doesn’t even need to expend the kind of power he did at Jeneora Rock if he wants to kill humans. Knives could go from town to town, destroying these ‘inferior’ plants and leaving the people behind to suffer and die.

He doesn’t do that. He brings the plants with him. In Stampede, the red ones are to further his goals.

One could argue that is selfish.

Is it worse, however, than humans doing it? Knives is one of them. He believes he is using the last of their energy for something that will ultimately benefit all plants. The plants cannot fully articulate their will. Knives has to interpret it. He sees them suffering and it hurts him and he wants that to stop.

One could argue that he only does this to ease his own pain.

He is almost certainly projecting, to a degree. He knows how he would feel in that position. He is scared of what it means when he sees how little humans value the lives of plants.

I don’t think that means he doesn’t care about them. I don’t think it means he doesn’t feel for them.

Re-l makes some very good points about his behavior toward plants in the manga in this post. https://www.tumblr.com/re-l/713763378777227264/idk-i-guess-the-comparisons-between-tristamp-and?source=share

I agree with most of that. (Except where it concerns his behavior in Stampede, for the reasons I’ve mentioned above).

However, I will get into the manga myself a little bit here.

Knives lives his whole life in service of one goal. He says himself (Trimax vol. 8, ch. 2) that his only purpose is to save the imprisoned plants. He doesn’t say his goal is to destroy humanity. He just says that is an acceptable side effect of his actions.

When the plants ultimately abandon him, he says he’ll keep fighting, but only shortly after that he wishes for Vash to kill him. (Trimax vol. 14, ch. 7)

I’ve seen people complain about how he handles the dead plants in Stampede. In the manga, he and Vash both acknowledge that humans throw away plant corpses like garbage. (Trimax vol. 8, ch. 1) Many human funeral rites are designed to give peace to the living, but Knives is not going to find peace in using human rituals for dead plants.

Could he have come up with something better than decorating his piano room with them? Maybe. But I believe it is unfair to say he is wholly selfish there.

Look at how he reacts during the Last Run.

Here is a close-up of Knives’ expression in this scene. He looks like he is about to cry before he redirects that into anger.

And here is what he is seeing as he makes that face.

He reaches out to the plants. He demands that Conrad save them.

When the plants die, Knives falls to his knees. He isn’t attacking anyone yet. He doesn’t care about how he is perceived or about trying to act strong. He is truly devastated. It isn’t until Vash shows up that he composes himself. And it isn’t until Vash does not react to the plight of the plants that he becomes violent.

Plants are, arguably, the only thing Knives cares about in a way that is not twisted and selfish. He is willing to die for them.

He gives everything for them, in every iteration of Trigun.

[deludedfantasy]

Trimax Vol.2

Hello! I’ve been lurking in the book club so far but I wanted to jump in the ring and add my own thoughts to the mix. Fun fact: I actually binge read the manga about two weeks, but read it so fast I didn’t absorb much. I’m taking this as an opportunity to read it more slowly and really savor it, and hopefully understand it a little more. My first experience was fun, but I was also a little confused by the end. 

I certainly can’t compare to some of amazing analyses I’ve read so far, but here are some thoughts!

Ch1

WOW. What an opening. This only gets more horrifying on reread. I was actually very confused the first go around because I thought Midvalley was the one shoving all those people in the trucks and squashing them and my knowledge of him from 98 did NOT fit this at all. It was a great way to reintroduce Legato though 

I’m STILL wondering who this giant person is that’s carrying Legato around in his Iron Maiden. Just another Knives minion I guess?? They got put on Legato babysitting duty

Ch2

Well, Legato is somehow more unhinged than before

Genuinely sometimes feel like Legato mauling that steak when I’m reading this manga though 

Love when Vash and Wolfwood are being stupid together. Also Vash driving is me when I drive

Vash’s ridiculous greeting Rai Dei is preceded by him having a Very Serious moment staring at the empty town. I appreciate the ability this manga has to insert moments of humor into otherwise incredibly serious situations without it being jarring. 10/10 great character and storytelling

Death skull rollerblades??? Death skull rollerblades!!!

I really like this panel of Vash, right after Rai Dei reveals he knows about the colony. Something about how most of his face is obscured, it really underscores how terrifying Vash can be. Every time something he loves is threatened, he gets very, very scary very fast and the way Nightow shows this is just amazing

Ch3

The cover for this chapter is on point

Not actually sure what Wolfwood is saying here? He’s going to help Vash…because the Gung Ho Guns are inhuman humans? They’re too determined and this will take too long? 

Vash acrobatics!! Big fan of Vash acrobatics!!

He just won a fight but he’s such a goofball about it

Ch4

“C’mon. Leading a normal life, it’s not so bad, y’know.” He’s speaking from experience and this line makes me kinda sad. He really liked it, but he had to give it up to do the right thing :( 

You know, for some of the backstories of the Gung Ho Guns, it makes sense where they got their abilities from. Like Monev and Rai Dei obviously trained for years and years to become these expert fighters. But for the others, like Dominique and Legato, I’m constantly wondering where they picked up what are essentially supernatural abilities without being plants or something. Though this may just be the fact that I saw tristamp first talking, since they do explain that there.

WHAT? How did I not notice Rai Dei had a gunblade??? My favorite ridiculous anime weapon

Also, uh oh Wolfwood’s done it now

Holy shit, did Vash just punch him?!?!

Hmmmm, oh yes, this scene made me lose my mind when I first read it (last week lol). Wolfwood trying to prove a point about making tough decisions by making Vash literally put a gun to his head and calling Vash a coward for refusing to kill and get his hands dirty

Unfortunately, it also confuses the hell out of me because it feels like they’re having multiple conversations at once and I can’t pick up on maybe more than half of one.

But!! The thing that stands out to me: Vash calls Wolfwood out, saying that he knows he’s better than this, that he wants better than this, but he’s so scared of hoping that he becomes a devil instead. I love how these two really see each other. Even when Wolfwood is kinda scared of Vash, he’s trying to understand him more than anything, and though he struggles, he does see him and get him

On a lighter note…Ahhh yes, the girls are back!! I’ve missed them the past few chapters.

Ch5

Oh no, Wolfwood’s dream :( It makes me so, so sad. He just really doesn’t think there’s any way for him to go back or wash his hands clean

The tone shifts are honestly masterful. Wolfwood goes from having a horrible nightmare to slapstick comedy because Vash crashed Angelina again

Gotta love that Wolfwood just dumps Vash facedown on that couch

Oh my god, Vash, you have a concussion, what are you doing!! Why did Wolfwood just leave him there on his own? I know they haven’t spent that much time together, but does Wolfwood not know him at all? Vash will get into Situations if left to his own devices.

Hmmm, Rob’s situation really underscores the argument Vash and Wolfwood were having last chapter. Especially his father’s line about not everyone being able to gamble with their lives so easily

Jesus, Wolfwood is terrified of Vash. I thought on my first read that this is a bit of an overreaction to this situation, but thinking on it again, after Fifth Moon and seeing all the crazy shit Vash can do, it has to be scary to see a guy who’s hurt and reeling and still manages to cause massive damage. So yeah, can’t really blame him for wondering what kind of monster he’s gotten himself involved with

But then he’s reminded…Vash is also just some silly guy who really likes food. Ah, the duality of man and monster. Again, the tone shift from Wolfwood having serious thoughts of fear and doubt to Vash being a certified goofball.

Ch6

The opening of this chapter is great. We get a little bit of Wolfwood’s backstory and start to understand how dark it is. Who shot him as a child? Where did he come from? But also, we find out he has a deep conviction to stay alive

You know, I completely forgot Rei Dei threatened the colony two chapters ago because for a hot sec I was really confused why they’d been traveling so hard and why the hell they’re on this weird contraption right now.

What’s interesting to me about what Wolfwood says here—about living his life the way he does, about the reason he kills—is because he’s doing it to protect something. Just reminds me of that bit of Stampede where Vash asks Wolfwood if he has something he wants to protect above anything else. And how protect has a different meaning to each of them—for Wolfwood it’s about who he’d kill for and for Vash it’s about what he would do to save them. Idk, there might be more there but I’m having a hard time explaining it.

Vash has a moment of doubt in front of Wolfwood! He admits he’s not always sure of what he’s doing. I kind of read Wolfwood’s silence as him not knowing what to say to that because he wasn’t expecting that

Okay, but how hidden is this place really if there’s a platform and an elaborate construction to get into it. Are you telling me no one has stumbled on it before and wondered where it led?

Vash is so afraid when he opens the door! His first thought is of all the horrors his enemies have promised to him and he doesn’t know if he can face it

Look at him!! He’s so sweet! He’s relieved and immediately goes to play with the kids. (While Wolfwood just poses lol)

Oh god, he gets teary eyed, he’s so happy! How rarely have people reacted to his presence with joy or care? 

How dare!! This was cruel. Crueler then if he’d walked in on corpses. He’s literally given something he wants so deeply and then has it snatched away

Ch7

Wolfwood really went, “I’m done listening to your bullshit” and interrupted Leonof’s evil villain speech. Respect.

Ooooh, Wolfwood did it because he was angry. He felt Leonof was too cruel! He cares so much about Vash already.

Hey um so…did Leonof just say his puppets used to be people?!?! That he dissected while they were alive?!?!?! Yeah, no wonder this guy is unimaginably cruel.

Oh, Vash is angry. I love how he’s drawn when he’s like this. He disappears behind his glasses and his face gets very still. That’s when you know he means business. 

Vash is crying blood!? And he’s so angry he’s emanating some weird aura that paralyzes Wolfwood and emits a “sensation of death.” I’m actually having trouble finding the words to describe how I feel because this is a very different Vash from the one we’re used to. It’s jarring and terrifying to see him like this. And that feeling also reminds Wolfwood again that Vash isn’t human, something Wolfwood is very fixated on.

Despite that, when Gray the Ninelives appears and Wolfwood makes eye contact with Vash, he doesn’t immediately go to shooting him! We’re making progress already.

That’s that for this volume! Excited to get started on the next one and see how the big showdown with Leonof goes!