#art obviously by nightow

[serpentineshine]

So with the recent Gungrave G.O.R.E news a lot of people have already pointed out that Bunji shares a resemblance to Wolfwood… but you know that other guy? The one some have said shares a resemblance to Vash? Well,, I just found out that his name is..,

Fucking,,

Rocketbilly Redcadillac

[duncanor]

It would be joever for him, I had enough !!

if orange is making merch that kinda relates to trimax they need to do a nightow punching bag so any time anything sad happens i can punch my feelings away

[catbountry]

It's been a year since the premiere of Trigun: Stampede. The series, despite the fears of the fans of the '98 anime, actually turned out really good; Yasuhiro Nightow is a big superhero comics nerd, and wanted to have this new anime adaption be an adaption similar to the adaptions of the MCU, back when those movies were consistently enjoyable, and I daresay a bunch of the people watched Trigun probably were either already anime fans, or they were nomad fans who may have been really into the MCU at one point.

I have a lot of thoughts on an American perspective on Vash the Stampede as a character, with a lot of comparisons to American comic book superheroes. And while Trigun wasn't my first anime, I was hooked on it, as someone who grew up around Batman and Spawn's 90's popularity. During my first Otakon in 2001, I must have seen a dozen Vash's and Wolfwoods. I remember the year there was a Wolfwood cosplayer whose Punisher gun was shaped like the Star of David instead of a cross, making him a rabbi. That shit was amazing. The larger point is that I've loved this character for more than half of my entire time being alive, and I haven't seen a lot of discussion of Trigun viewed from a more political lens, and why it resonates so much with Americans (or at least me, who is an American) in particular.

Buckle up, kids, this is gonna be long and rambly.

There was a period of time where I watched nearly every single new MCU movie in the theater. It was exciting seeing adaptions of comic books that would have probably never gotten a movie before the success of The Avengers. And I don't think it's a mistake that the most comic book-y of the movies are usually the best; Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel remain as probably my favorite MCU movies. Nightow was working directly with the studio making a new Trigun anime and reportedly got the crew to watch a bunch of Marvel movies to set the tone for the anime as an adaption; it's why Vash got a completely new redesign that freaked all us old fans the fuck out. Though it appears that once again, Trigun tried and failed to get that massive Japanese audience that most successful anime have. But boy, oh boy, do us westerners fucking love Trigun, especially us Americans. Nightow's love of superhero comics bled into Trigun, and it just so happened that he was incredibly influenced by Spawn, Hellboy and Batman as much as he was influenced by Akira Toriyama and mechanical art. McFarlane Toys released a Vash figure that is McFarlane'd the fuck up. Nightow loves all superhero comics but especially the Blade trilogy.

Just look at this and imagine being 13 years old and seeing this on a screen for the first time with the instrumental hard rock opening.

Also, I wouldn't actually get around to reading Spawn until I was an adult, but you know what? It's pretty good. The writing is definitely weaker than the art, but holy shit, that art goes hard and I still think that shit's cool as fuck.

As stated before, around the early 2000's Trigun was considered peak anime, though it's been more overlooked in recent years in favor of Cowboy Bebop, an anime that has aged gracefully by comparison. But while Bebop has that sort of timeless cool and level of quality that drew the attention of filmmakers like the Wachoski sisters, Trigun has that very specific kind of adolescent sense of coolness that comic book fans get, especially back in the 90's before this sort of thing would be smothered to death by MCU's Joss Whedoning of superheroes. Spawn, Hellboy and Batman are still cool. And Trigun also has a shitton of guns, obviously, given that Vash being an incredibly OP gunslinger in a world where everybody has guns.

And America loves guns.

I think the contrast of Vash's pacifism while still wielding a gun is extremely interesting because it's not something you see very much (I bet if I watched more westerns, I'd have a better idea if this is a trope in them at all). Batman does not use guns and doesn't kill people, which is why there's still discourse around Tim Burton's Batman films to this day still; I don't think Kevin Smith has budged on this. Other more morally grey superheroes will use guns (by this definition I'm counting The Punisher even if he doesn't have any superpowers, unless you count severe PTSD as a superpower). And a lot of them had huge surges in popularity in the 90's around the time Nightow was making Trigun. Vash posed like Batman or Spider-Man looking brooding (like the gif above) happens a lot in the earlier issues even though that's not really his character.

Several years ago, there was an attempt by a conservative thinktank to discredit a bunch of Hollywood actors saying that gun violence in America is a serious issue and contrasted their statements scenes of them shooting guns in movies, but if we're being real here, gunplay in movies can be really fucking cool. Again I invoke The Matrix, or movies by Robert Rodriguez and John Woo. Look at video games, and compare the decline in violent crime that's been happening here since the 70's and 80's, as culture warriors bemoan movies and video games for becoming more violent. Remember when Wayne LaPierre, vice president of the NRA, brought up fucking Splatterhouse as a reason why Sandy Hook happened? Do you know what Splatterhouse looks like?

It looks like this.

You know how these guys constantly say the only way to counter a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun? Usually, the inference is that if the "good guy" with a gun shoots, he's shooting to kill. Deadpool and the Punisher would shoot to kill. But Vash is constantly trying to avoid it. And I remember as a teenager finding that really cool? And the manga and anime don't shy away from how impractical Vash's pacifism is. It's a bit more realistic than Steven Universe's ending, but also Steven Universe was made for children.

I know Avatar: The Last Airbender is often invoked when criticizing Steven Universe's philosophy, but I haven't really seen Vash's similar philosophy criticized in the same way, and I think a lot of that has to do with the presence of Wolfwood, who is the "I think we're gonna have to kill this guy" guy. I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen art of this yet. I may have to get on that. I already drew Vash horrified at the Trolley Problem.

Vash is a character designed with maximum coolness in mind, but also an overpowered being who is capable of killing millions, and in the anime, he somehow destroys July City without killing anyone directly, but the destruction of the city led to a bunch of people dying. He's so deeply committed to not wanting to kill anyone that he's probably killed more people than he would have if he just shot Knives. The best Batman stories acknowledge that Batman's refusal to kill Joker has similarly results in the deaths of people Batman could have prevented if he killed one guy, and this could also apply to Vash's relationship with his brother Knives, who was kind of destined to be a mass murderer with a name like that, let's be real.

Online, we tend to joke about bringing out the guillotines, or justify not feeling an sympathy for billionaires who die in a sub trying to view the Titanic. But if you were given a gun and a real human person begging for their life, what would you actually do? Do you honestly think that you would be the ethical Death Note user?

Vash has guns but he chooses not to kill people; he prefers to not even use them unless he has to, instead opting to run away and look cool doing it somehow.

He really, really doesn't want to kill people. He doesn't become numb to people dying. It hurts him every single time he watches someone get killed. In reality, most of us that aren't sociopaths would be distressed at the thought of killing someone. The only reason armies in real life work is that they become inoculated to the idea of violence and dehumanize the enemy. Vash is no soldier. He is idealistic, he is empathetic, and he sees every human being as a person worthy of life. Batman refuses to use guns, as that's how his parents were killed in front of him. Vash has to use guns in order to protect people from getting killed. He has the ethics of Superman but the tools of a comic book antihero. He's the logical conclusion of an shonen anime protagonist in a world that chews up anyone with that kind of optimism and hope and spits them out. And yet... he still keeps going. He remains committed. He's still cheery, goofy, lovable Vash.

Batman used to kill people, in the earliest comics. With the Comics Code Authority, superheroes could no longer kill people. In the 80's, comics were getting darker and edgier, taken more seriously. While Alan Moore's Watchmen delved into the moral complexities in a world with superheroes that was similar to ours, Frank Miller was keeping Batman consistent, even as Gotham got darker and uglier.

Batman is a vigilante. The police can be helpful or they can fuck up everything, depending on what's needed for the story. In Batman Year One, there's a scene where Batman crashes a party attended by the elites of Gotham, politicians and mobsters mingling.

Seeing this during the Bush presidency blew my mind. I don't want to get into just how perfectly the members of his administration seemed to resemble a rogue's gallery of sorts with the shared goals of making a lot of money and bombing the shit out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I was extremely anti-war even before the 2000 election as a very opinionated 14 year-old watching, Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and feeling relieved that a grown-up was able to see through all the bullshit; it helps when the guy who's against the war and killing people is funny. I remember writing in my diary at 12 years old after Columbine happened that I wanted to take all of the guns and melt them down in a pot, similarly to that scene in Superman IV where he throws the entire world's nuclear arsenal into the sun. But also that same year I would fall in love with The Matrix... and not long after that, Trigun.

Again, we come back to the idea of someone using a gun, a weapon designed to kill people, and using it in pursuit of the exact opposite. That resonated with me. I myself was very idealistic, and the political climate of my teenage years seemed to do almost everything to stamp that out of me. Things feel just as fraught two decades later, but in slightly different ways. Pacifism is looked down upon, as indicated by the backlash to the ending of Steven Universe, and how one crazy lady called Rebecca Sugar, a Jewish person, a Nazi for writing it that way. But for Steven, things worked out. For Vash? Well, he still has hope somehow, despite everything. I think the fact that he strives to protect human life, even when someone is a complete monster, is admirable in that it cuts to the very basic desire to not see people hurt. But we're also selfish, and scared, and sometimes it's hard to conceive of a solution to a problem that doesn't involve violence. Seeing dead bodies on TV or the internet upsets us, but we're often paralyzed by feeling like we can't do anything, and even if we tried, we'd likely perish in the attempt. We desire revenge, punishment for those who transgress by inflicting violence, and we can rationalize using it against the right targets. Vash the Stampede would have a fucking breakdown dealing with the state-backed violence that's been a part of geopolitics pretty much as long as there have been states and geopolitics. Vash would try and solve the bombings of Gaza with an impassioned plea for both sides to stop fighting before he would somehow wind up making things worse and it would eat away at him inside, no matter how brave a face he puts on as he tries to find some kind of hope in a hopeless situation. And... you know what? I kind of wish more people would be like that. Maybe if there were enough people like that, these sorts of things wouldn't happen in the first place. I wish more people could look at human suffering and feel compelled to try and stop it, not discriminating against one side or the other, trying to understand why people are doing what they do. Seeing anti-war protestors in Tel Aviv brings back memories of protests against the start of the War on Terror, and how hated America was internationally during those years, even when most Americans approved of the war. Michael Moore was booed at the Oscars for condemning George W. Bush and the War on Terror. It's terrifying that those in power want us killing each other and have conditioned us to support it. I want so badly for human beings to come together to just stop the violence, but it feels impossible, like we're destined for failure, like we might somehow make things worse or become worse versions of ourselves full of hatred and ugliness. But we should want to try, even if it's hard or unprofitable or we have no idea how to even do it. Somebody actually dedicating themselves to trying to fight our violent impulses out of love is appealing, and if they're more powerful than us, and can do more... well, I want the biblically accurate angel with every mental illness willing to martyr himself over and over again. But it is more fun when he's Bugs Bunny about it.

[brown-little-robin]

Robin do you have any thoughts on Christian religious themes/imagery in Japanese storytelling? I watched enough of Tristamp before getting locked out of Hulu (lol) to pick up on the themes and imagery and now I'm reading FMA and I'm seeing it there too, and like... I'm all for it, it's very interesting, I'm just curious as to why that seems to be rather pervasive in this genre (are Trigun and FMA even the same genre...?) and if you have any Thoughts... bc if anyone was going to have something to say on the topic, it would be you my friend :)

HIIII THANKS FOR THE QUESTION <333

short answer: I don't know! I would like to find out too!

longer answer: okay I'm gonna generalize for a second, so please know none of this is true for Everyone In Japan, thank you. But Christianity is a minority religion in Japan (under 2 percent of Japanese people are Christian). It's not unknown—some Western Christian customs, such as celebrating Christmas, have trickled into Japanese culture over time, plus Christian art is widely appreciated in Japan—but most Japanese people don't know the actual doctrines of Christianity. Christianity as a practice simply is not that relevant in wide Japanese culture, so it doesn't appear that much in Japanese culture based anime as a whole.

Christian themed anime: some anime, of course, such as Blue Exorcist or Trigun, are explicitly themed around Christianity, but that's a subgroup, not typical of anime as a whole. I think that what you're seeing of the presence of Christian themes/imagery in anime is kind of... confirmation bias? Both of our friend groups have a lot of Christian presence, and of course we both tend to gravitate toward stories that deal with faith, and we tend to talk out loud about elements that are subtextual in the original work (Trigun is HEAVILY Christian coded, but isn't like, Christian Fiction TM the way Christian Fiction TM happens as a consumer culture thing in America, whereas Blue Exorcist doesn't actually present a typical or complete Christian worldview, just uses demons as generic monsters). I don't think I can speak to anime as a whole, but I don't think Christianity is either overrepresented or underrepresented there compared to the interest in Christianity in Japanese culture. shrug!!

short note about genres: FMA and Trigun are both under the (huge) umbrella of "shōnen" (boys') anime/manga. FMA is a pretty standard, if unusually sophisticated, shōnen adventure story; it was serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan. Trigun is specifically "DEEP SPACE PLANET FUTURE GUN ACTION!!" (that's the official uh. description.) it's a sci-fi western :] it was originally serialized as "Trigun" in Monthly Shōnen Captain, but it's meant for a more mature audience, as is clear from its subsequent publication as "Trigun Maximum" in Shōnen Gahosha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs. Seinen is like shōnen, but marketed towards young adult men instead of boys and teens.

about the authors: Yasuhiro Nightow, author of Trigun, was apparently raised Catholic. So that's where the Christian imagery and themes in Trigun comes from! I don't know much about FMA's author (Arakawa Hiromu), but I know that it's themed around historical European "alchemy" and the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins, with the ideas of "nature", "God / Divinity", and so on, all of which are of course historically intertwined with that era's interpretations of Christianity. So obviously it's easy to apply Christian ideas to FMA's themes.

more information and a link to a good source under the cut :]

source: "A Little Faith: Christianity and the Japanese" by Ishikawa Akito, associate professor at Momoyama Gakuin University, where he teaches religion and war studies. 

[trigun-manga-overhaul]

Hello! I wanted to ask you guys if you had any plans for translating anything else after you guys are finished with Trigun (I think you've answered this already but I couldn't remember your response).

So I was wondering if you'd be OK with me suggesting Nightow's other work, Kekkai Sensen | Blood Blockade Battlefront?

I have found places where I can read the manga online in English, but I don't know what those sites' uploading schedules are like or how accurate the translations are. I'm really just hoping for a high quality version of the manga with a translation I know can trust, and I was thinking you guys could give us that based with KKSS based off of what you've given us with Trigun.

Just wanted to pass that by you. Like I said it was just a suggestion 😅

Hey there and thank you for the question!

Blood Blockade Battlefront is a wonderful suggestion, however we have a few work connections with another team called Morzo Guazza that does scanlation work for it. We highly recommend checking out anything that they do, as one of our team members from Team Overhaul is also a part of their team, doing some cleaning work for them.

Otherwise, there aren't any plans on what we'll do next. It's been many years with various short to long hiatuses for our Trigun work, and by now some of the team are pretty burnt out, so the likehood of the exact same team working on something else is small. I have personally once in a while joked that I'll do an overhaul of the Berserk manga, but obviously some of the art restoration work is a little intimidating.

If we decide to do another manga after Trigun, or the team splits to pursue other projects, we'll look everyone know on here.

[rmorde]

Trigun Manga Reaction

Now back with Volume 1 - Chapter 3

I like this. Simple pose but very interesting with the "imbalance" I guess with the tilted head, shadowed face, and slightly lower slope of one shoulder. It's not "stiff" and it's easy to imagine the wind blowing through Vash's coat and hair.

A thought occurs tho, Did Trigun predate Tetsuya Nomura's obsessive belts, belts, and more belts design quirk? Did Nightow and Vash started that anime fashion trend?

Uhuh. Says the people who tried to shoot a GRENADE at that same one guy.

I kinda put these three panels in a sequence because... we know Vash is a good guy. Of course, he's going to save the women but the emphasis on the Nebraskas reaction to his rescue is really interesting.

Vash gives them a side-eye. He's either gauging their capacity for mercy or already clocked in that they are capable of mercy and silently hints for them to wait just a moment.

Father Nebraska understanding and just waits as he smokes. Then confirms first if Vash is ready to rumble again.

Idk. It's a moment of humanity not only for Vash but for the Nebraskas too imo.

AND IT'S WEIRD! In '98, Father Nebraska tried to get a cheap shot on Vash while he was still carrying someone to safety.

Yeah, assholes. Vash is doing his best to keep the women in the clear while you guys just throws grenades willy-nilly into buildings who have people in them. Smh.

Ngl. This sequence confuses me a bit. But, going with what happened earlier, the Nebraskas were not targeting the women. The punch was intended for Vash - which he dodged easily. However, instead of running further away, he shielded the women from the flying debris that the punch caused.

WHICH AGAIN, I REITERATE, IS REALLY WEIRD FOR '98 TO DEVIATE FROM!

In the '98, they are bonafide bad guys but in the manga they're still bad but not "Muwahahaha I'll shoot the injured women Hahahaha!" bad . The Nebraskas have some semblance of honor here.

I guess this is why TriStamp has a much more nuanced presentation of these characters. It's closer to the manga.

Oof... Owww... Vash... 😢

Another gorgeous art. I like how Nightow's way of using perspective here!

Junior is established to be huge - a giant. He always take up so much space in the panels/pages like below:

However, when Vash finally "duelled" them seriously. Doesn't Junior suddenly "feels" smaller and Vash really big?

It's really cool how it instantly shows that Vash isn't goofing off anymore and the Nebraskas stand no chance in winning this.

Ragey Baby Girl no longer smiling.

Sigh. Gotta admire their one track mind.

Ngl. The line work here gave me Junji Ito vides for some reason. Vash's eye look haunting, cold, and really old.

Linework carrying hard on this page. Vash is obviously quicker with how much lines are there in his entire arm - convincingly too fast of a blur. Meanwhile Junior has less lines which makes his fist less blurry and, therefore, slower.

Clever use of the sound effects in the first panel.

I don't know what the fuck is going on in the second panel. I've been staring at it too long already and I still can't understand except it has something to do with Junior's arm?

Third panel is the crazy detail on Vash's eye. His glasses seem like he is looking at the side. However, on closer inspection, Vash is actually not looking away from the incoming attack.

The following pages is really great at building the tension on how would this duel end. The '98 anime captured it very well!

Looking cool, Vash!

Also, is it just me or does he always look for opportunities to show off his flexibility and long long legs. Must he really split here?

...

...

YES. YES HE MUST.

Oh. Ooooh! So that's what happened!

In '98, this conclusion was given to the bandit in Episode 1. His own enhancements crunching his body until he passed out and lost to Vash. However, they can't exactly rehash this in Episode 5. So, we have the "LOVE AND PEACE!" scene instead.

Admittedly, I prefer the "LOVE AND PEACE" conclusion more.

I like how, so far imo, Nightow just gives no fucks about anatomy in his art. I mean... Look at this! Even if we reason that it's because his coat is dramatically billowing with the wind, Vash's body is not proportionate. However, it doesn't matter! It looks cool and it evokes the right emotions just fine: fear and awe.

OMFG?!!! The trials these two are going through! These poor insurance ladies! Milly hanging on for dear life to that pillar. Meryl just screaming her lungs out EVEN WITH A MEGAPHONE!

AND IT WAS FOR NOTHING!!!! OML

Being considered as someone equivalent to a natural disaster shouldn't bring joy, but damn it... LOOK AT HOW HAPPY VASH IS!!! AWWW BABY GIRL!!!

Wow. They blame HER!!! How dare- Meryl beat them up! No, Milly. LET MERYL HAVE THEM!!! THEY DESERVE TO BE CRUMPLED LIKE TISSUE PAPER AFTER THROWING OFF GRENADES LIKE CONFETTI EARLIER AT VASH!!!

Awww. Their first interaction is SO CUTE!!!

In '98, it's funny and amusing. Ditto on TriStamp. But this one is sweet since Meryl and Milly kinda saved Vash in here.

I mean. Yeah, the townspeople are scared because Vash just beat the Nebraskas, but they are desperate for money. Desperation can override fear given enough time. Vash would've been hunted all over again.

I take it back. The insurance ladies climbing up to that bell tower was not for nothing. It was enough to allow Vash a moment to breathe and, as he rejoices, be free (even just for a while).

Wonder what exactly went through Vash's head here. Confusion? Fear? Dread?

HELL YEAH!!! BADASS LADIES IN LONG COATS! STRIKE FEAR TO THE HEARTS OF EVERYONE!!!

Oh. Some responses to the a couple of tags:

@alena-reblobs

Thanks! Glad you're having fun too because I sure am. I appreciate the warning and I'm kinda nervous because the action this chapter was kinda confusing to understand. Hopefully, it won't get worse (will it?) I agree that they are very cool nonetheless!

@eldritchneuro

Thanks for explaining! Paneling is always fun to study in mangas because they usually follow a 3 or 4 panels which mangakas creatively breakdown to evoke a feeling among readers.

Trigun is interesting because its from the 90's! So, some of the paneling are probably "prototypes" of the crazy ones we'd see in modern mangas.

I guess, Nightow's aiming to make the page very "cinematic" with slo-mo (sparse panels) and hyper focus on details (graphic weight). It draws us readers in to the story more effectively as if we are there too with the townspeople looking at the Humanoid Typhoon.

[revenantghost]

Hey! I'm just getting into trigun and I don't know much about the story/characters so far, but how old is wolfwood actually? I'm seeing people say different things, like he's in his early teens, late teens and then even like mid twenties (which I think he'd probably be considering he smokes, drinks and has a blowup doll?) but I've seen people call vashwood weird and proship??? I like the art I've seen so far but knowing ppl think he's an aged up kid who's still a kid makes me uncomfy :{

Heya! First and most importantly, I'm not about harassment and censorship in fandom spaces, ship and let ship, just tag it correctly to keep actual, real people safe. I absolutely understand wanting to know the facts for your own comfort though, this sorta thing's a squick for me too! As for canonical ages, obviously '98 is an adult with no modifications (I don't remember his age off the top of my head), Trimax is in his early/mid-twenties (Nightow's timeline is... something else, so there's a range in fanon), and we've got no idea what Tristamp's actual age is yet! I'd guess something similar to Trimax, considering the amount of inspiration from the source material, but a lot of theories are he's slightly younger, though not by much. I feel like there are some good meta attempting to dissect the timeline, but I can't remember any off the top of my head. Folks can feel free to add links if you remember any!

[cerealandchoccymilk]

Trigun Bookclub: Trigun Vol.1, Chapter #06

previous | all | next

I’m doing a deep-read of the Japanese original print (reread) and Overhaul 1.0 (first read) side-by-side, and writing down everything I notice from small details, version differences, translation differences, etc.

Here are the non-analysis meow meow panels (only 2 today, sorry 😔)

And the rest is under the cut.

[link for if the images aren’t in horizontal rows]

I really love the "train conductor/bus driver/etc puts themself in danger to protect the passengers" trope- NOOOOOOOOOO COOL CONDUCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Small correction: These first onomatopoea are actually...flesh sounds...... And I wasn't really thinking about corrections for this one, more just for nuance, but Neon says something like "it's unfortunate, but..." in this line.

A small difference here: in my version it's actually CO2, not oxygen that's being supplied to the Heat Plant. However, considering that O2 is a fuel for combustion and CO2 is a byproduct, it may be an error on Nightow's part.

This is one of the first indications of who Kaito actually is. He knows all of this off the top of his head, which catches the Captain by surprise.

It also provides information about Plants. This could either mean that all Plants require some kind of fuel, or that the Plants can utilize those resources in some other way to help the Sandsteamer.

Get graphited idiot.

We also get to see more of Kaito's attachment to this Sandsteamer.

Here, the original line is more like "Why would Brilliant Dynamites Neon have to listen to you when this treasure—the prey I've been hunting—is right in front of me!?"

This is where I notice that Neon has a sort of obsession with "beauty," not just in the regular sense but also in his own way. He obviously values visuals—his over-the-top fashion and desire to go out with a bang—but to him, it's also a question of dignity. (this will be on the exam yall)

Even the gang member is getting worried about what Neon might do to Kaito... And here's where we find out why Kaito knows so much and wants to protect the Sandsteamer!

Notes on the original phrasing of this line, since I saw a few posts comparing the Dark Horse and Overhaul versions.

The Japanese line is「パッと散りな　小僧」 パッ(pa') is an onomatopoea for "pop," "poof," or a release (e.g. letting go of an object). 散る(chiru, used here in command form) means "scatter," most commonly associated with falling cherry blossom petals. From that, it's also a euphemism for dying. i can go on for another paragraph on the association of cherry blossoms with Japanese views on life/death but you can figure that out. or google it idk

I think this line is another excellent representation of Neon's values on beauty and death.

I love this page so much!! The flow comes to a complete stop, and the tension that has been building throughout the last few pages is at its peak here. The composition is also excellent. The art is symmetrical, and Neon's giant outfit follows the lines leading from the bottom corners of the page up to Vash's gun, where they intersect right in the middle. I JUST LOVE THESE KINDS OF COMPOSITIONS SO MUCH.....

can't remember why i wrote "sike" there

It took a while to figure out what happened here, but I think Vash either sensed danger or actually dodged a bullet, and chose to jump back out. Love the way he's firmly holding Kaito's overalls while Kaito doesn't understand anything that's going on lol

The silly goofies... theyre screaming crying shitting themselves out there....

It's a bit hard to see, but Kaito is screaming "AAAHHH PULL ME UPPP" in the middle panel.

This exchange after the two get to safety is also so silly... There's a missing "whrrrr drill drill" SFX for Vash's drill hand (?). I saw a photo of the Dark Horse version which was missing it in the same way, with the leftover ン on Vash's cheek.

I forgot to highlight it, but this note pertains to Vash's second speech bubble about death and destruction. The Japanese version of the line is something like "I swear!! I have at least 2 digits' worth of death-gods(死神) or poverty-gods(貧乏神) haunting me!!" Death-gods/shinigami are already well-known in the West so I won't explain that here. The second one, poverty-god/binbōgami, is a similar kind of thing, except it brings poverty to whoever it clings onto (instead of death). Fun fact: Binbōgami are said to like yakimiso (grilled miso paste).

VASH'S SOUPY BRAIN!!! The mystery has been solved!!!

But first, in order... Vash's first line is more like "We can't be worrying about all this right now." It could keep the original phrasing, but the main idea is to change "me" to "us."

The next (most important) line is actually "We gotta save brainpower [for the matter at hand]." The confusion lies in the word 脳みそ, which literally translates to "brain miso," but is actually the word for brain tissue, and thus brainpower. It has nothing to do with miso soup! The origin I wrote in the middle-left of the image is...dubious.... I told my mom about this just now, and she mentioned that it might be called that because みそ(miso) also means the center or key aspect of something. Weblio also says it signifies innards (like from crab or shrimp), similar to what I wrote in the annotation at first. I'll fix it in the document later

Also, I would phrase the last line as "I mean, we're gonna stop this ship, right!?"

Kaito's skills are actually insane. What do you mean you just copied the entire blueprint... Mistranslation: The respect is directed towards his dad, so it should be "You must really look up to your dad."

I didn't know his name was spelled Kaite in this version. My Japanese version copy has that bottom part in a regular speech bubble, and with the font for the boxes. It's most likely just a version-exclusive error. He also says that his dad "found" the ship, but I'm not sure if that's another error or not since this translation makes more sense.

This line is phrased more like "Just for a little bit of cash, I'm now taking advantage of you for a deal with a crook."

I really loved the execution of this scene in the '98 anime. get hammered into the ground boy The final line is from Kaito, not Vash, and should be "...Yeah!!"

And that’s it for Chapter #06! Sorry for the wait, I couldn't work on this as much as I'd liked because of the smoke and rainstorm, combined with weekend responsibilities. Feeling better now though 💪 As always, the Japanese annotations are in the reblogs.

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Bonus: reactions to the soupy-brained Vash post

[lotsobagels]

This is just wild inconsequential speculation about the plants in Stampede but major spoilers for Stampede (including concept art) and the Trigun Maximum manga.

So uh...you've been warned. Spoilers under the cut.

Alrighty so I guess it isn't the biggest spoiler because we have seen plants so far in Stampede.

I'm a lil bummed that they've lost the lightbulb shape but it didn't take until I saw this concept art to realize they are still discreetly lady shaped. It tracks when them giving everything a fresh re-design, but like I was saying at first glance I didn't realize that those were legs hanging out the bottom.

Obviously it's a departure from Trimax where plants had a much more human silhouette (albeit with a sprinkle of body horror for flavor).

BUT

After episode 1 I put some things together and I think the top of the plants in Stampede open like petals to reveal the lady inside.

Reason being: the scary statues over Knives' sad boy times organ setup.

(Sorry for the shitty screenshot I'm afk for now.)

Their silhouette is similar enough to me so I'm thinking these are either actual plants that have done their final run or an effigy of plants. Both kind of break my heart tbh. 🥲

I'm also kind if further reinforced by their scary face because uh...Trimax got very body horror hours.

Nightow can have little a Cronenberg as a treat 🤝

There's also this moment in the ending where it seems like there's a "something" unfurling and then it turns into a baby Vash...

So yeah! Idk all of this to say I think this is a fun redesign of plants taking the flower aspect to a literal level and I really hope we get to see Vash interact with them more. There's also something up with the pattern on Knives & Vash's skin when their kids that Knives kept and Vash didn't that I'm pretty sure has something to do with plants, too.

We'll see what happens! 👀 I wonder if they'll go in a new direction?

I really loved the way Trimax ended with humans connecting with and coming to understand the sentience of plants in order to better empathize with them. So I'm hoping that will be something they explore in Stampede.

Thanks for reading this far! 🤞 Sorry if it's incoherent!