#in the manga and the original anime vash having an evil twin brother is a plot twist its a mystery to be uncovered later in the story

[memecatwings]

i wish trigun stampede was better bc i love whats happening conceptually but the pacing of the story is all fucked up and the soundtrack is generic and the characterizations feel miles away from the source material

[hashtagloveloses]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Thanks....

the issue here is i have a recency issue. they cycle out depending on what i’ve consumed recently. so ill forget a blorbo and be sad about it. also i have a predilection for sad little bisexual guys so it’s very skewed

1. one of my OGs is will parry from his dark materials. he’s of that type of male character that is relentlessly kind shonen protagonist who keeps being forced into violence but doesnt want to. also the original book boyfriend next to percy jackson. 12 year old me was obsessed. i loved prince caspian and half the narnia boys for the same reason, and when i watched fullmetal alchemist this was why alphonse elric was my favorite elric brother. (this is also why i love yuji, tanjiro, and deku very dearly)

2. probably one of my first blorbos of all time was elphaba from wicked, hence my old URL. reading that book too early changed my brain chemistry. area leftist of a marginalized identity maligned by society and also bisexual as hell. she will always be my first and forever girly. you can imagine what happened to me when i met wei wuxian, who is essentially the same character. i went nuts

3. the funny little bisexual man who covers his pain with humor and cares so deeply usually goes on the list. one of my first was and always will be Sokka, but percy jackson fills this role as well as my beloveds, Satoru Gojo, and Vash the Stampede

4. funny little bisexual man who covers his pain with humor and is doomed by the narrative could cover many already mentioned but Nicholas D. Wolfwood remains the pinnacle. he’s very important to me. ive made a lot of posts about him but him representing this existential dread that you’ll die before you find happiness haunts me

5. the secondary villain who becomes a begrudging part of the team for comedy also always is a favorite but Greed from FMA has always stuck with me. an embodiment of one of humanity’s sins finding peace because the thing he most coveted became the love of others and not material wants got my ass

6. i understand there arent many women on this list and while i have favorite female characters in many pieces of media they dont often make the top list, however asajj ventress goes on the list. her story even before dark disciple is one of the best in star wars. as u can tell i have a predilection for evil women maligned in society

7. maul is also one of my favorites of all time. they really resurrected him and made him the most compelling in the narrative. the tragedy that he wont let go even in his last moments always gets me. watching twin suns actually broke me. his story in rebels was airing in a part of my life where i really identified with him as someone gifted yet ignored and thrown away and it got me

8. shocking absolutely no one, while sailor moon is one of my favorite pieces of media of all time and it is largely about women, my blorbo is tuxedo mask, mamoru chiba, the like ONE guy. he’s pathetic, he’s bisexual, and he’s also one of my first anime crushes of all time. more importantly he has been wronged by many adaptations and i must fight for his honor.

9. the Doctor remains ever important to me, especially 9, but them as a character. probably the same as Vash and Xie Lian, the sad immortal character cursed to constantly be alone who doesn’t want to hurt people always gets my ass

10. Rapunzel from Tangled has always been a very special blorbo for reasons i wont share online but that series had my ass in a vice grip for a reason

[rosethornewrites]

Vash the Stampede as a Contemporary Outlaw Figure

(This is a paper I wrote nearly 20 years ago. It is also a first draft, and were I to rewrite it, I would make major structural changes. It was written for a Robin Hood literature class, and the assignment was to analyze a contemporary outlaw figure in a work of fiction using the framework developed in the course. I received an A on the paper, and the professor loved it because most folks just did it on Robin Hood.)

The twenty-six episode Japanese anime series Trigun was originally published as an eight-volume Japanese manga (graphic novel or comic book) by Yasuhiro Nightow in 1997. In 1998, the manga was turned into an animated series, which was directed by Satoshi Nishimura. Trigun’s genre is rather interesting, as the setting is a desert planet called Gunsmoke, so the series itself is a mix between science fiction and westerns. Interestingly, the year 1998 is sometimes referred to by Japanese anime fans as “the year of the ‘space cowboy’ animes” because of two other anime outlaw series that were produced in the same year: Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop (Raye).

The main character of Trigun is Vash the Stampede, also known as the Humanoid Typhoon, a man questing for love and peace. Vash is tall with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He is distinctively marked by a mole on his cheek and an earring, and he always wears a red trenchcoat. As the title of the series implies, he wields three guns: one “regular revolver, the hidden gun in his artificial left arm, and… the Angel Arm” (Adam). Vash has a bounty of sixty million double-dollars on his head because he destroyed the town of July with the Angel Arm. The setting of Trigun creates problems for this outlaw, as Gunsmoke is technically uninhabitable. The cities on Gunsmoke have to use technology to protect themselves from the harsh elements, so when Vash destroyed July it was a death sentence for the surviving residents. In fact, there should be no humans on the planet at all, but a colony fleet crash-landed on the planet centuries before. It is later revealed that Vash is not human and was born on the vessels. His twin brother and the major villain of Trigun, Knives, decided that humanity was evil and had to be kept from spreading to the rest of the universe and caused the near-fatal crash. Knives is also able to manipulate Vash’s Angel Arm[1] and was the true cause of the destruction of July. At the end of Trigun, Vash and Knives battle one another. Vash wins, but refuses to kill Knives.

Vash has three companions: Meryl Strife, Millie Thompson, and Nicholas D. Wolfwood. The major villains are members of the Gung-Ho Guns, a misfit gang of technologically or genetically enhanced humans who serve Knives in his quest to rid Gunsmoke of all humans. The Gung-Ho Guns follow Vash wherever he goes and cause trouble that is generally blamed on him. The main members of the gang, who Vash fights at various points in the series, include: Legato Bluesummers, Monev the Gale, Dominique the Cyclops, E.G. Mine, Rai-Dei the Blade, Leonof the Puppetmaster, Grey the Ninelives, Hopperd the Gantlet, Zazie the Beast, Chapel the Evergreen, Caine the Longshot, and Midvalley the Hornfreak. Various other villains not associated with the Gung-Ho Guns, appear in the anime as well.

Vash the Stampede is a contemporary outlaw figure. The series itself follows very closely with traditional outlaw themes, though much of the underlying philosophy and mysticism is decidedly Eastern. Trigun can be easily viewed as an outlaw tale using the tracking outline. In addition, it is important to look briefly at the birth of the Japanese outlaw figure.

Trigun exhibits many qualities common in outlaw tales, though with a different and sometimes unabashedly silly flavor. Instead of a reigning monarch, Gunsmoke is ruled by the Bernardelli Insurance Company, which initially outlaws Vash and places the bounty on his head for the destruction of July. Of course, the desire to gain that bounty causes mayhem wherever Vash goes, and things simply get worse. Gunsmoke is run by the whims of the insurance company, coupled with the whims of town mayors and sheriffs, who are often corrupt. There are several examples of this. In episode four, the owner of the town water supply, Mr. Cliff, turns out to be blocking it for economic gain, which has forced the town residents to flee or die of dehydration. In episode four, the town patron, Grim Reaper Bostock, and the town sheriff, Stan, are revealed to have murdered innocent people to gain their positions. In episode ten, an unnamed town mayor takes a woman and child hostage in an attempt to force Wolfwood to kill Vash so the mayor can acquire the sixty million double-dollar bounty. In each instance, Vash tricks the villains and delivers justice, setting things right again, though often leaving quite a bit of damage in his wake.

Vash “recruits” followers quite inadvertently. Meryl and Millie, two employees of the Bernardelli Insurance Company, meet Vash in episode one, but do not believe that he is really Vash the Stampede because, as Meryl says quite blatantly, Vash acts like a bumbling idiot. However, they keep running into each other because the two insurance agents are chasing Vash sightings. During their initial meeting, Vash rescues them from two bounty hunters who end up destroying a town in an attempt to capture or kill him. As the story unfolds, Meryl and Millie slowly realize that he really is Vash the Stampede. Through their observation of Vash, they come to understand, to a certain degree, that the destruction that follows him is not his fault. In fact, several times they help him restore justice in the towns of Gunsmoke. Despite their reports of this to the Bernardelli Insurance Company, Vash is labeled a human natural disaster and the insurance company stops paying for damages caused by him. Meryl and Millie become outlaws, of sorts, by continuing to follow Vash against company orders. Similarly, in episode nine, Vash saves Wolfwood from dehydration in the desert. In the same episode they work together to save a child. Though Wolfwood doesn’t join the three immediately, they run into him several more times. When Vash and Wolfwood are forced to fight each other in episode ten, it becomes obvious early in that they are evenly matched. Following the battle, Wolfwood becomes a permanent fixture in the series as a traveling companion.

The code that Vash exhibits is also very similar to that of the traditional outlaw. One of his oft-repeated lines is “This world is made of love and peace!” and he travels Gunsmoke questing for those two ideals. In addition, Vash tries to help those in need and believes in protecting the helpless and innocent, especially women and children. However, his biggest code of conduct is his refusal to kill. Vash tries to get his travel companions to follow this particular code of conduct over all others, especially Wolfwood, who has no qualms about killing those who attack him. Wolfwood obeys until near the end of the series, when he kills a child: Zazie the Beast, who controls sandworms and is trying to kill not only Vash and the others, but also several dozen orphaned children. Vash is outraged by this because he was convinced that Zazie was simply misguided and could be helped, and a rift forms between him and Wolfwood, which never heals because Wolfwood is killed. Similarly, Vash is forced to kill Legato Bluesummers, a telepath who can take control of humans’ actions, which drives him to a mental breakdown.

Vash’s determination not to kill is very complicated in its origin and consequences. Vash promised a woman named Rem Saverem that he would never kill. Rem is the outlaw’s love interest, though she is much different from the Maid Marian figure: Rem is dead. Ironically, Knives is the person who killed her when he tried to destroy the fleet of colony ships. Rather than escaping death with Vash and Knives, Rem went back and altered the course of the other ships enough to prevent them from burning up in Gunsmoke’s atmosphere, giving the humans aboard a chance to survive. Rem is a powerful figure in Trigun, and almost acts as a patron saint, appearing in dreams that sometimes warn Vash of danger and in flashbacks that show that she is the basis for the system of moral values that Vash follows. Rem’s appearance is generally accompanied by the Greenwood vision of red geranium blossoms, which, she explains in one flashback, represent determination and courage[2]. Vash’s refusal to kill is his attempt to keep Rem alive, and killing Legato causes a breakdown because breaking his promise to Rem reminds him of her death. Though he would never acknowledge it, part of the purpose of Vash’s activities is vengeance, though in the end he forgives his brother and stands by his promise to Rem, deciding to reform Knives.

Trigun also has some major comparative scenes that fit the traditional outlaw tale. For example, in episode three, Vash plays an altered version of the game of truth. He and Frank Marlon, who repairs Vash’s gun, save a town from bandits using only their fingers, which they pretend are guns, Vash with his in a pocket and Frank with his up against the lead bandit’s head. At various points in the series, mayors and sheriffs, along with other characters, break their oaths, welcoming Vash with open arms only to betray him in an attempt to get the bounty. For example, in episode six, Vash is hired by a woman named Elizabeth to protect her while she repairs the plant that protects the town. However, she sabotages the plant and locks Vash in it because she is a survivor of the July incident and wants revenge so badly that she is willing to sacrifice a town. Vash also has a habit of helping his enemies or taking service with them. For example, in episode two, Vash is hired to protect Mr. Cliff, stumbles upon his criminal activities, and seeks justice. In episode five, Vash saves the women who were holding him at gunpoint when their lives are threatened by outlaw mercenaries hired to kill or capture him. Vash defeats the outlaws and donates their bounty to the town, despite the fact that the townspeople had tried to kill him.

Contemporary outlaw themes also run through Trigun. The Greenwood theme is apparent in most of the flashback scenes with Rem, many of which take place in a garden on the ship and are accompanied by the symbolism of red geraniums. Vash also conforms to the idea of the good outlaw. His “outlawry does not bring shame upon [him], but instead proves [him] to be superior to [his] opponents, both in martial prowess and… in moral integrity” (Ohlgren xxiv). Vash meets his match in his draw with Wolfwood and later in his battle against his brother, though he emerges victorious. There is a repeated carnivalesque theme in Trigun, as the revealed corrupt officials are placed on the level of an outlaw while Vash acts as the official. Vash also plays the role of the trickster repeatedly, disguising himself once as a farmer in an effort to escape his outlawry and its heavy burden. Trigun also contains many elements of Monomyth; for example, Vash and Knives are pitted against one another in a battle over the fate of humanity and eventually must reconcile. In this reconciliation, Vash is able to understand and learn to control his destructive Angel Arm. In his battle against Knives and with his eventual understanding of his brother and also himself, Vash matures.

Trigun contains quite a bit of social conflict, especially between officials and the rich (the aristocracy and bourgeoisie), and the ordinary citizens. Citizens are often helpless against the corruption in towns, and are villein rather than citizens. In addition, the only example of clergy is Wolfwood, who does not hesitate to use violence to accomplish his goals and often abandons a moral value if it is inconvenient. Furthermore, ethnic conflict is rather obvious. Knives falls from grace because of the prejudice he and Vash suffer on the ship because they are not human. In addition, the members of the Gung-Ho Guns are all freaks of nature, mutated by the harsh Gunsmoke climate and are not welcome in society.

Interestingly, Trigun’s Vash the Stampede also fits the Japanese version of a good outlaw, which is rather similar to the European version. Like the European good outlaw, the Japanese outlaw fights injustice for the common good. A famous historical rebel known as Sakamoto Ryouma, a samurai who participated in the Meiji Restoration that moved toward ridding Japan of the oppressive warrior class, fought against the shogun, eventually forcing him to resign and allow a new government to form. Sakamoto Ryouma “did not live to see the Meiji government come into existence,” because he was killed in the chaos in Kyoto following the resignation (Jansen 335). Sakamoto’s rebellion resulted in “the 1868 collapse of the Tokugawa shogun’s military government (Bakufu) and the restoration of power to Japan’s Imperial family” (Huddleston). Outlaw tales about the Meiji Restoration are extremely popular in Japan, the most famous being Rurouni Kenshin, which is at least partially based upon the story of Sakamoto Ryouma.

Trigun takes the traditional Meiji Restoration tale and sets it in the far future on a desert planet far from Earth. Vash is no different from the traditional Japanese outlaw of these tales: he seeks to atone for his sins (the destruction of July) and also wishes to attain justice for the people. His quest for love and peace, as well as justice, leads him to better the lives of many people, despite the destruction he leaves behind him. In addition, he learns important life lessons along the way, and is able to reconcile his past and move on toward the future.

Vash the Stampede’s adventures are that of a contemporary outlaw. Trigun has many of the same elements as traditional European outlaw tales, and the series also contains allusions to historical Japanese outlaws. When looking at Vash in this context, one can easily see Trigun’s value as a contemporary outlaw tale.

Works Cited

Adam. “Trigun Characters and Weapons.” TheOtaku.Com. 27 Sept 2004. 10 Nov 2004 <http://articles.theotaku.com/view.php?action=retrieve&id=21>.

Huddleston, Daniel. “The Meiji Restoration.” Animerica. October 2000: 9-10, 34.

Jansen, Marius B. Sakamoto Ryōma and the Meiji Restoration. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1961.

Nightow, Yasuhiro. Trigun. Geneon Entertainment.

Ohlgren, Thomas H. A Book of Medieval Outlaws. Thrupp: Sutton Publishing, 1998.

Raye. “Trigun.” Spectrum Nexus. 9 July 2001. 10 Nov 2004 <http://thespectrum.net/review_trigun.shtml>.

  [1] This is because the Japanese believe that twins have a connection that borders on magical. Often times in Japanese stories, twins have the ability to communicate with one another telepathically. This magical quality associated with twins may be because Japanese twins are very rare.

[2] Vash wears a red trenchcoat for this reason as well.

[lost-technology]

I've encountered a lot of media-illiteracy on this and related subjects (mostly on TV Tropes - *glares*). I don't encounter it that much. It seems that most Trimax readers get that it's Vash that has this whole starvation-standoff with Rem and the suicidal impulse. People possibly confuse the two because Vash...uses a knife? I don't know. Maybe it's the fault of people being really, really used to the '98 anime, which gave Vash a sweet, enthusiastic little guy characterization and made Knives the colder, more intellectual one. In the manga, they're opposites - Knives is the emotional lil' tear-fountain and *younger* brother Vash seems to be the more analytical one, and protective. (And then in Trigun Stampede they seem to switch back to the original anime personalities with the cool / analytical Nai and Vash being emotionally expressive). I think it might be from people not reading / having access to the entirety of Trimax? (Trigun Manga Overhall, it's right there. I'm lucky enough to have the original Dark Horse English-language prints, but Overhall is there until there's a reprint). It might be some '98 only fans or Trigun Stampede fresh-fans who go to look up bits and pieces about the manga - various wikis and so forth and they misinterpret things. Maybe they see Japanese-scans and don't understand the language so they just assume that it's Knives that does the stabby-stab because...well, "Knives" and because he and Vash look so much alike. (Hint: Vash's hair is a touch longer and he's got a facial mole, which Knives lacks in the manga). I mean, I'm pretty sure I saw the mistake on TV Tropes once, until someone corrected it. I once saw, myself, another egregious error people assumed about this volume: Under "Go Mad From the Revelation" someone had listed that REM dissected their older sister. I was like... "Oh, no, oh, no, no, no! NO ONE does my girl dirty like that!" I used my edit powers to correct it to "The SEEDS crew dissected their older sister." Rem... did not seem to be involved, or to be involved minimally. Anyone who actually READS and pays attention to Volume 7 will see Rem speaking of how she and Conrad opposed the experiments. (Manga Conrad, who knows with Stampede Conrad since he seems to have been upgraded to more evil there). I would not doubt that Rem was involved in some of the early stages - raising and observation, perhaps some of the first scans Tesla went through, but it's quite obvious that she opted out and protested when things started getting gnarly. She displays how incredibly upset she was to Vash - being "powerless" hence her resolve to hide the twins / not wake the crew when they came along. She was taking a huge risk - something that would definitely get her courts martialed if she was found out, or maybe even executed. Or, you know, lead to a sensitive alien plant-creature crashing their whole project upon understanding the livestock-state of his people.... *tugs collar nervously.* Try to correct the errors when you can. I've seen worse errors in other fandoms (particularly one in which a reboot had almost nothing to do with the original story-wise, hence some entirely different pasts for different characters - and then some people seemed to be making up stupid stuff for a villain just for fun, it seemed, and spreading them through the fandom). Anyway, Trigun's characters are complex. I suppose it is easy for some people to confuse some actions and motivations for them.

CW for gore and suicidal ideation (TriMax Vol. 7) also Spoiler warning!

EDIT: I am a drama queen and just assume a lot of Trimax readers misinterpreted this scene bc I saw like only two people do it but I’m also using this as an excuse to yap about Vash and Knives’ personalities bc it was super interesting in this volume ok byyeee read on:

Is it just me or is the majority of the fandom under the impression that it was Knives who stabbed Rem?? Because it was actually Vash. Which I think says a lot about their actual personalities vs how the fandom perceives them.

Analysis under the cut!

In classic Nightow fashion, it's hard to figure out wtf is going on and you gotta read over it multiple times, but look:

After the discovery of Tesla, Knives faints and is placed in a little incubator thing or whatever and Vash laments the fact he remained awake to mull over the horrors. From this point on, Knives is not in the picture bc he's busy honk mimimi (which is actually something he employs as a coping mechanism throughout the story... his precious beauty sleep...)

Now, Vash is refusing to eat and lashes out at Rem, expressing his disdain for being stuck on a spaceship with all these nasty humans.

Rem once again tries to get Vash to eat, peeling him a fruit.

Vash lunges for the knife and attempts to stab himself, but Rem stops him.

Vash is locked in a reactive state - he's in shock and acting out. This is where I think ppl miss the mark in interpreting the twins and why Vol. 7 is so important.

Vash can actually be nasty as hell. He ain't all that babygirl. His silly goofy facade is a way of integrating himself into the human world sure - but it's also lying to himself. He's impulsive, stubborn, and dare I say arrogant with his Messianic martyr type shit.

Knives on the other hand, internalises everything. Though he may appear to be the one who lashes out, and yes of course he's also arrogant, but it's mostly projection. He is in a MAD state of denial. For all his talk of being a superior being, that humans are icky and should all perish, yada yada yada, he actually wishes for love and acceptance - he wants to be safe.

Obviously, his head is too far up his ass to admit it, and he's always too busy tweaking about how annoying Vash is and blaming Rem for everything to actually try and sit down and think of better ways to do things but ANYWAY

(You know who else's head is up their ass? Vash. The twins are actually so alike if you really study them!! Anywayyyy)

That was Knives' whole deal from THE VERY BEGINNING. Knives was the one to cry in relief when Conrad and the crew accepted them, not Vash. Vash was more like "ok cool! life might not be so bad! yipee!" and then Knives had to Big Fall about his internalised plantphobia or whatever etc etc.

I AM GETTING SIDETRACKED !! ok so

The stabbing occurs. Again, hard to tell it's actually occurring bc Nightow, but yeah Vash stabbed Rem. Not Knives! Bro has passed out for a couple days now lol.

More evidence it's Vash - Vash was the one to express feeling suicidal. Knives cannot express anything to save his life bc he's the king of internalisation and deflection and projection lmao. Also yeah he's still eeping.

Oh look! He rises! Completely unaware of the drama that has unfolded! Not that he'd care! He's set on a mission to hurl humanity to the dust bowl of Gunsmoke! Little scamp.

Ok take from all that what you will!

Thanks for reading <3

[lost-technology]

Even more:

So, why is this guy so determined never ever take a life in a world that lives by the gun? Well… (Trigun Stampede ruins it, but if you want the slow burn surprise route of the original older two medias) – Vash has dreams of a woman with long black hair – and memories of her.  She talks about things like the meaning of life and finding happiness and seeking your own heart for the right thing to do.  Kind of Hippe-ish.  Red flower petals go by in the wind whenever a vision of her shows up.  You would be forgiven for thinking that this is the standard trope of a lost lover.  It is set up that way.  Read more into the manga or wait until the mid-marker of the original anime and… That his MOM, dude!  Vash and his twin brother were adopted.  Vash’s twin brother calls himself by the truly ridiculous name of “Millions Knives” and wishes to exterminate all human kind.  Vash and Knives are over 100 years old and not human.  They are Plants.  Specifically, they are a kind of random evolution of the generators that live in the light bulbs – independently living Plants that aren’t a part of the Plant hive mind, have full free will and can live like humans.  They were born in space upon a human colony-ship that was a part of a fleet full of cryogenically frozen humans sent off to populate a new planet after we dun wrecked the Earth real bad.  A scientist / spaceship navigator named Rem adopted them.  (In the ’98 anime, there is a full crew and she convinces them not to shoot the weird nuke-babies that one of their energy Plants gave birth to).  In the manga and Stampede, it’s apparently the three of them alone, Rem being on a kind of solo-navigation duty while the core crew is in cryogenic sleep.  She finds them alone and raises them.  They go from baby to 10 year old kids in the space of a year and have genius intellects although one can argue that a lot of their emotional development is still at child-level.  (Even as adults, neither of them seem to get nuance).  In the 1998 anime, one crewmember (Steve.  Everyone in Trigun fandom, boo for Steve! Boooo!) is verbally and sometimes physically abusive to them in hidden corners.  This, and learning how the Dependent Plants are used by humans prompts Knives to think of humans as a parasitic, evil species that has gotta go, that the future should belong to only Plants.  The manga is different.  It’s just Vash, Knives (or Nai in the new anime) and Rem alone.  Rem harbors a terrible secret…

Explaining Vash Outside the Fandom!

So, today on another forum I mentioned Vash the Stampede. I mentioned him by way of "I don't ask myself WWJD? so much anymore as WWVtSD?" and explained "Vash the Stampede." I said "If anyone is unfamiliar with this name, go ahead and ask and I can fangirl all over you, but be warned, you will be reading all day." I got a taker. And then another taker who is a person on the forum who is straight up not having a good time right now and needs some distraction I feel - to read someone's dumb fangirling over a fandom they aren't in yet. So... I wrote up an essay explaining Vash the Stampede in Word and pasted it in shifts on the blog: (uck, looks like I'm gonna have to post this in shifts, too. Dumb tumblr!

*Flashes my fangirl license*  You asked about Vash the Stampede?  *Raises eyebrows.*  Big mistake.  You shall be here all day!  Vash is the protagonist of Trigun, an anime / manga by Yashiro Nightow.  Well, the manga is by him and there are two different animes to date, one originally airing in 1998 before the completion of the manga (and it gained the idea enough popularity that Nightow was able to continue the manga and purposefully took a different track to keep the story fresh.  Because he had to switch publishers the continuing story was titled Trigun Maximum).  As of 2023 there has been a reboot of the anime, Trigun Stampede, done in a cell-shaded CGI style that takes more cues from the manga.  It has done its own story elements, too, most notably having the City of July as a part of the story, making it almost a prequel, since the City of July is past tense in the other media.  A second set / continuation / completion of it is set for a future release date and as of yesterday, the “final phase” of the new anime will be titled Trigun Stargaze. Additionally, there was a feature-movie made in 2011 based solely upon the first anime titled Badlands Rumble, which is kind of the black sheep of the fandom (personally I enjoy it, find it very funny).  So, anyway, Vash is a tall blonde man with a Bart Simpson hairdo and a long red coat who lives on a desert planet with 10X the guns of ‘Murica.  There are two suns and five moons.  It’s a scavenger world where people barely eek out a living using a form of lost technology known as “Plants” – which are these energy and materials production entities housed in giant lightbulbs (or something more like tanks in Stampede).  No one knows how to create Plants anymore and few know how to maintain them, so everything is slowly dying (except, of course, the native sandworms.  Yep, there’s something Dune-like going on).  People live a half sci-fi half Old West existence and things are, again, very violent.  It’s a world where you have higher chances of making it out better as a bandit than a farmer.    Vash is a pacifist.  He is also an outlaw with Sixty-Billion-Double Dollars ($$) on his head because he has been shown to be capable of incredible destructive power.  Now, most of this comes accidentally from trying to weasel out of tough situations and people after him getting themselves hurt, but somehow towns fall apart.  Except for the City of July (or Jul-Ai in Stampede), which he did wipe out.  Under circumstances not of his own making or will, but the normal citizens of the planet don’t know that.  That was around 24 years ago in the first anime and in the manga.  July exists as of the beginning of Stampede.    Early on in the manga’s story, an insurance company that gets a lot of damage claims regarding damage he supposedly caused declares him a “Human Act of God” so as to avoid payouts.  He is assigned a pair of insurance agents, Milly Thompson and Meryl Stryfe, to follow him around to attempt to mitigate the damage he might cause.  In the anime, it is the same, except that his bounty is not removed for some reason.  (In the manga, the government removes his bounty per his “Act of God” status).  He is also known as the Humanoid Typhon, putting him in the same category as a destructive storm.  Vash-damage is thereafter treated in the same like as hurricane damage!  Honestly, this is one of the most creative things I have seen of any media – having the local superhero / super-cryptid followed by INSURANCE AGENTS. (I am fond of characterizing Trigun as “If Mayhem from the Allstate commercials was followed around by Flo from the Progressive commercials”).  (To Be Continued in Reblog-posts)