#nows a good time as any to go on a SECOND trigun break for the blog!!

[pin-yao]

[vashsscoreboardofpain]

WELCOME BACK SPORTS FANS ;D

Today we start the amazing journey that will be next sports season. Trimax Vash, our dear contestant, is ready to go right into the action!

Let's start with volume 1 of Trigun

Chap 1:

-1 "bad event" point for getting shot at while eating

-1 "bad event" point for being threaten by the town people he just saved

yes, dear audience, things can go that bad that quickly and the contestant is here to exploit that fact

Chap 2:

-1 "bad event" point for still being chased and shot at

-1 "bad event" point for getting cornered the moment he thought he was safe

-1 "yikes statement" point for saying that he cannot stop until he finds someone. He would give up his life otherwise.

the contestant is starting slow but it is only the second chapter and he has plenty of time to catch up

Chap 3:

-1 "bad event" point while being attacked while saving people

-1 "action" point for risking his life trying to protect people he doesn't know

-1 "action" point for not defending himself from all the insults nebraska is throwing at him

What a nice way to close that small arc! Points were gathered and now the contestant has to travel with the insurance girls.

Chap 4:

-1 "action" point without saying goodbye to the children of the town before leaving

-1 "action' point for pretending to be asleep to not be honest, which comes with an additional point

-1 "yikes statement" point for saying "that was more than I deserved." Its only chapter 4 and the contestant will not give himself a break. Fascinating

-1 "bad event" point for getting hit right in the eyes (ouch)

-1 "action" point for just....slamming his own head to get the kid

The action is starting again folks. The contestant is out to get those points in the sandsteamer way earlier than his counterparts

Chap 5:

-AND JUST LIKE THAT, 1 "bad event" point for getting drugged. Things may not look good for the contestant but they sure look good for his score board

-1 "bad event" point for his dream of....rem falling into the earth....this is fine

-1 "bad event" point for his sad dream overall, we are getting momentum people!

Chap 6:

-1 "bad event" point for getting shot at while saving the kid

-1 "action" point for risking his safety by jumping out the window

-1 "yikes statement" point for the contestant saying "why do death and destruction always follow right behind me" because if the dear audience thinks about it, thats a really sad statement considering his age.

Chap 7:

-1 "bad event" point for getting shot at after he was so ready to start his plan, damn

-1 "action" point for fighting while injured

-1 "bad event" point for bleeding from that injured, this guy I swear-

-1 "bad event" point for getting hit with a sad (but beautiful) flashback

-1 "action" point for calling himself pathetic. ok I think we are going a bit too far on this chapter-

-1 "bad event" point for still getting shot at

-1 "bad event" point for getting cornered. Seems like the plan went south for the contestant, and yet he keeps going!

Chap 8:

-1 "bad event" point for getting shot at, even if they failed

-1 "bad event" point for getting shot at while the sandsteamer is about to crash, which means rocks and bullets are falling onto the contestant

-1 "bad event" point because his wound got worse mid fight

Chap 9:

-1 "bad event" point for getting shot at as a threat. The contestant just wanted to say thank you but that's not allowed. He needs to get shot every chapter, otherwise the tally would break.

Chap 10:

-1 "bad event" point for being used as a shield by old people. They chose wisely but that is not the point

-1 "bad event" point for getting attacked from behind by meryl and millie. The girls are finally here trying to get the contestant some points.

Chap 11:

The contestant didnt hit any points in this chapter! He just wasnt there! The contestant decided to stay back on this one. But do not fret, dear audience, we have so much manga ahead of us.

Chap 12:

-1 "bad event" point for being ignored for the rest of the chapter after helping meryl!

This was sure a start for the contestant! The contestant stands proudly in front of the audience, even if he didn't hit a lot of points in his debut.

And the tally starts. Trimax Vash starts with 33 points!

For the hardcore sports fans, this means we can finally measure the stats between the competitors! Stampede Vash had the strongest debut with 9 points, while Trimax Vash had the lowest with 2 points (in the 1st chapter ever). 98 Vash stays comfortably in the middle with 8 points.

This is gonna be a long (and probably sad) sports season, please dont miss it!

[forsakenqueer]

Two things I wanna know! (feel free to ignore obviously ^^ )

What are your top 5 favorite characters and why are they your favorite? Could be current favorites, favorites over the years that you still like, favorites in general, etc. Also any media

And/or gimme 1-5 of your ocs - whether they're your favorite, most recent, the one you've been having fun with recently, etc. Tell me some fun facts about them, and why you picked them!

Hope you're having a great day/night - and remember to stay hydrated!

Sorry it took me so long to answer I got excited and thought about it really hard and then didn't do it lol

I'm just going to do off sort of the top of my head because if I try to do all time I really will never get this done.

Favorite characters:

1. Kon-El/Superboy

There's probably some recency bias here because I just finished his 90s run but anyway- The thing about Kon is that it would have been really easy for me to dislike or only tolerate him, mostly because when he was created the chauvinism and misogyny in comics was really on full display and his run in particular does NOT help with that. However, I actually ended up really loving Kon. The thing that won me over was that no matter what Kon always sets out to do what he thinks is the right thing. And it doesn't matter who's against him or what it is, he's going to go out and do it. Now obviously this hastiness and recklessness causes some issues, but it always stems from a place of good intentions. His pride and dignity mean a lot to him, but he's still willing to wound both in order to make up for mistakes he makes. Kon makes mistakes, but he always works his ass off to do better.

2. Leonard "Bones" McCoy

I always love a character who is willing to break the rules placed on them in order to follow their own moral code, and while a whole lot of characters do that in Star Trek, I like McCoy maybe the best. The grumpy guy who cares so so much about other people character is like prime blorbo to me. Bones is always having such a bad day out in space but he's still in it to help people. Plus him and Spock are always so fun to watch interact and try to out-bitch each other

3. Stephanie Brown

She's so much an example of wasted potential I would almost assume it was really good on purpose character writing if it weren't actually because she's a female character in DC comics. She is again and again acknowledged as talented and determined and driven. Cass acknowledges her potential and Bruce says she could be as good as or even better than Tim with proper training, but no one gives her a chance long enough to get there. She doesn't get to raise her daughter because of her father. She gets tortured by Black Mask, escapes, and dies. She has been beaten to hell by the narrative and had her characterization whipped all around and she's still hanging on. For every stupid sexist thing DC pulls on her I'm determined to love her twice as hard.

(It's been over two weeks since I typed the first half of this.)

4. Vash the Stampede

I again really love characters who can't catch a break and also characters who have a very strict moral or personal code they adhere to throughout everything. Vash's refusal to kill and his refusal to give up on believing in humanity paired with his horrible experiences and depression and struggles with his own existence make a story that really speaks to me. He's so goofy but he's also just permeated by this unshakeable sadness. Trigun, to me, as a series, has done one of the best jobs I've ever seen of portraying emotions in such a way that they feel real and that made me feel very connected with the characters.

Also side note: half the time whenever you reblog pictures of that guy from the tangled cartoon or whatever it is (Varian?) I tend to think it's a stylized Vash for a second before I'm like oh no wait it's that guy

5. Cissie King-Jones

I feel she's a very interesting character, and I like the way that how she's handled is very different from how you might expect it to go. I think it's very cool to have a character who quits superheroing as a result of sort of her own moral ideas and standards for what a hero should be and then sticks with it. Because like all the core four or whatever of Young Justice have at one point stopped heroing but they always come back. (And I'm ignoring whatever the hell was happening recently with her going back to being Arrowette with a bomb in her head or whatever I ignore most DC after 2011) I also love how integral Cissie remained even after quitting to her friends and the plot of yj. Like her competing in the Olympics, her being a a medic in our worlds at war, her being on Wendy the werewolf stalker, she doesn't stop being a main character just because she's a civilian now.

OCs! I'm just going to go with some from the WIP I've been working on most recently

1. Carmen

Carmen is a werewolf who is going on a journey of self discovery of sorts. Being adopted by human parents, she never really had a pack or did any of the normal stuff a werewolf might do growing up, like lessons about controlling her more wolfish impulses and her transformations. Carmen is deathly afraid of conflict, and needs to learn that asserting herself and differences of opinion are not the end of the world. She is big-hearted and a little clueless, and very anxious most of the time.

Fun facts about her!

She loves cats. Cats do not love her.

She's a big film buff.

She knocked out her two front teeth as a kid falling at a splash park.

She mains monty mole in Mario party

2. Marsh

Marsh is by all accounts a fledgeling vampire (he's only just coming up on his fifth vamp-iversery) but has the control and demeanor of a much older vampire. The fact that he has achieved this through his fear of not being in control instead of through hard work and confidence in his abilities is definitely not going to bite him in the ass soon (it will). If he was in a self-flagellation contest, he would take second place because he would feel he hadn't earned first. He lives his life through an elaborate and painstaking persona that is so stifling and punishing to him. (Because his story is not finished) he's a very unhappy person in general, with his main solace in his afterlife being that he really, really loves his friends.

Fun facts about him!

His favorite shirt is an old band tee he stole from Cole which is two sizes two big and old and soft. He only ever wears it as pajamas and it's one of his most prized possessions.

His most common emotional response to things is to cry, which he hates.

3. Cole

I was just gonna do Carmen and Marsh but if I do Marsh I feel like I gotta do Cole and then if I do Cole I feel like I have to do Marion. Anyways, Cole is sort of the token human of his friend group. He has an affinity for creating codependent relationships with all his friends. Cole often feels unmoored and like he's fighting just to want to exist in the world, let alone have a place in it, so he throws himself at any chance to be useful. He can't handle change, and feels like he can never stop having the rug pulled out from under him, but he's still fighting and scrapping, hanging on by the skin of his nails.

Fun facts about him!

He is a seamster. Dresses are his favorite thing to make, and Marion is his favorite model.

His friends are always stealing his clothes, because he's got the most simple and cozy style of them and he's the tallest.

4. Marion

Last but not least, my girl! Marion is in a new chapter of her life where she is completely, uncompromisingly, being true to herself after an adolescence of self-repression. A witch, Marion finds a lot of joy in her magic and connection with her family, who she's close to (unlike all the other ocs on here somehow). While she may be mostly comfortable with herself again, Marion still doesn't know herself very well. She's working hard to find her ambition in life. (Perhaps a bit too hard and perhaps she's looking in the wrong places)

Fun facts about her!

She and her sister have matching flower tattoos.

She is allergic to pistachios and cashews.

Her familiar is a rat.

It's been like well over a month since you sent this ask so I'm sorry about that and I'm just gonna end it here. Thanks for the ask! I love to ramble about characters even if it takes a stupid amount of time for me to finish

[pidgydraws]

hi pidgy, how are you doing? i don't know anything about trigun but i'm just happy to see you on my dash living your best life. what is one (or more if you like, don't let me restrain your joy in any way!) important trigun fact i should know? :3

(T w T) i had to break out my sketchbook immediately and start sketching this as soon as i read your lovely ask <3 thank you, wonderful friend! <3 <3 <3

i don't know if this is... quite what you would have expected when you asked this~ or if this is what anyone else would say - since, we all have very different relationships with art we consume (or that consumes us! lol) - but the singular, driving fact of Trigun that immediately came to my mind (and filled my eyes with tears) was: kindness.

is that one word something that can really even be sighted as a "fact" about a written and animated piece of narrative art? maybe not~ but the very nebulous, transformative, and even mundane NECCESSITY of kindness is what Trigun is to ME.

it doesn't even matter if you know anything about the story at all for me to state my case though~ because we are all alive. we have to keep going on day-to-day to exist; and that's incredibly difficult. we don't need to live in a fantastical, desolate, violent, sci-fi western to experience - even just second hand - the struggles inherent to living. but as you move through Trigun's narrative (which you can absorb in a lot of different forms now) all of it's horrors and triumphs come back to one thing for me: the undeniable force of - and need for - kindness in the world.

Trigun's main character, Vash, is incredibly foundational to me because his stories came into my life at a time when standing strong and remaining kind - in the face of unrelenting, banal, unkindness - was beginning to feel impossible. he is a mess of scars, both physical and intangible, and yet he carries on trying to do good in the world. Like an unhinged magical girl he yells, "PEACE AND LOVE!" in a way which reminds me of how insecure teenagers - and us disillusioned adults - laugh unironically at our own grim, gallows humour. Sure he's good with a gun, but he's even better with his heart; yet it's a heart that's been broken over and over and over again.

still~ he carries on.

we might awe at the spectacles of violence and heroics; despair at the cruelties and killing. We might weep over deaths and losses, laugh at the humour, and shed tears over the beauty; but it's the KINDNESS that moves and shapes things in the most meaningful ways, for the most people, for the better. And that's not just a Trigun fact, that's a LIFE fact~ and that's why i love Trigun so much, and am so, so happy that people are rediscovering it and returning to it because of the 2023 adaptation.

i love Trigun. and i love it's kindness most of all <3

[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…

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 3/4/2022

So, I think I am going to stop doing word counts for a bit. My lizard brain gets extremely motivated by numbers going up, so when I am in nose-to-the-grindstone mode, they are very helpful, but when I’m not, they are actually counterproductive. A fun story about me is that when I was pregnant the second time, I tried to use a food tracker app to make sure I was getting enough vegetables and iron and stuff. It also tracked calories. I never really gained enough weight with my first pregnancy so I knew, logically, that calories were good and important, but if I had to look at how many calories I had eaten each day, I could not stop trying to make that number as small as possible, and anyway, I had to delete the app.

I was trying to explain this last week, and I didn’t do a very good job because I was also depressed, but I saw this diagram once (I googled, but I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for), that said that an actual and real part of the creative process is, for lack of a better word, feeding yourself-- reading, watching movies, getting inspired. I have been working so hard at just ever having any time to get anything down on the page for maybe the last two years that I gotten out of the habit of doing any of this. 

I really rebelled against the idea of saying I am taking a break from writing, because I’m not. a) of all, any time I want to write, I am going to write, I’m just not going to prioritize writing as something I make myself do when I don’t feel inspired to. b) “Taking a break” implies I am relaxing, and I’m not, I am intentionally trying to do things to get my creativity flowing. I am also just trying to get back on making writing a side thing I do and not, like, my job that I work at 40 hours a week and don’t get paid for, so I am trying to do more household stuff. I always get sort of torpid in the winter, so it would be good to do a little more cleaning and then yard work when the weather permits. (also taxes)

I actually feel like I had a pretty good week in this regard, in that I was actually able to think about some of my stories this week and come up with a few scenes I am excited about, and I even did an outline for the last two acts of a little in love (I hate outlining, so this was An Achievement). I did a teensy bit of writing, because I felt like it, and as soon as I counted it up (it was like 450 words) and I immediately felt guilty for not writing more which was not the point, so I am just not doing word counts for now. I do wish my brain would settle on one story to work on instead of bopping between three different ones (not counting the one that is 95% done that I would really like to just finish and get off my plate, except that I don’t particularly feel like thinking about it) but maybe that’s too much to ask at the moment.

I did read two volumes of Battle Angel Alita, which one of the first manga I ever read. (Mr. P loaned them to me when we were first dating) It is incredibly violent and gory, but the story is also very thoughtful and introspective, and I can see a lot of themes in it that I still incorporate into my writing today. The way I write Rukia has a non-zero amount of Alita in her, and I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the Scrapyard/Tiphares (I think the elite city is Zalem in later translations, but mine are so old that they’re printed left to right) and how it relates to Rukongai/the Seireitei. It’s also kind of fun because we’ve been rewatching Trigun, which has a lot of the same ideas, but comes at them from a very different angle.

I had also kinda got into a place with our tv watching where we had gotten kinda bored-- we both hate season 2 of the Witcher after loving season 1, which was disappointing, and we were stuck in the absolutely interminable Dark Tournament arc of Yu Yu Hakushou. We picked up a few new things, and I am now looking forward to tv time again. Here’s our current lineup:

Touch Your Heart - this is a kdrama about a scandal-marked kdrama actress who takes a job as a secretary at a law firm in the hopes that it will land her the role that will get back into acting, except that she has to work for an extremely straight-laced defense attorney. It stars the actors who played the Grim Reaper and Sunny in Goblin, and it is delightful. I also really enjoy dissecting the way the romance is set up and whether or not the characters are good for one another-- kdramas are really good for romance writers if you enjoy thinking about the mechanics of stuff. Also words cannot describe how much I am in love with Kwon Jung-rok, the lawyer character, he is extremely My Type. (Oh Soon-yeo is fine, she’s extremely cute and the fact that she cares for Jung-rok says a lot for her, but I am just trash for a hard-working autistic lawyer man who everyone says is cold but actually feels too much)

Trigun, as mentioned, we are about halfway thru, it’s time to get into the part where it Gets Weird.

Fruits Basket. Neither of us has seen any version of this show before; we are extremely mystified by everything about it. The sad guy who turns into a seahorse is my favorite.

Revolutionary Girl Utena. I watched part of this about twenty years ago and definitely did not get it at the time. My husband had never even heard of it, but he loves Weird Shit like prog rock and French animation. I mostly wanted to watch it because I am sure, in my bones, that The Locked Tomb was influenced by this show, and I am trying to build my case. Anyway, this show is so weird, we are having a fabulous time with it.

Anyway, so that’s what I’m into this week. I am trying to finish up another illustration for the last chapter of What We Do with Our Hearts (I meant to do more, but it looks like it’s just gonna be the two... I can always do more later if I feel like it, I suppose). It’s been ages since I did a tutorial, and doing straight-up learning stuff is still really important for me with my art, so I will probably try to do that next. I am toying with the idea of maybe taking some sketch requests? I do nearly all finished pieces these days, which are so much work, and I think it might be good for my brain to do some things quickly, like as an exercise. I dunno. I am trying to weigh in my mind whether that would be Fun or just Stressful.

Oh, and the last thing I did this week was make a fish pie, which was good for me, mentally, I think. I have not done much baking lately, and it was nice to have a success.

[medea10]

My Review of Trigun

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just say this was one of those animes that used to air on Saturday nights back in the day that I would every now and then come across while waiting for either Full Metal Alchemist, InuYasha, or Cowboy Bebop to air. But I never did watch a full episode or know a damn thing about this anime. So I’m just jumping into this anime blindfolded. All I know is that this was Johnny Yong Bosch’s first anime role.

Who is Vash the Stampede?

A frequent question that comes up throughout the series! Rumor has it that he wears a long, red trench coat and sports a Mohawk hairstyle. Some say he’s a notorious lecher. Many recount him shooting up their villages to a pile of rubble just for the heck of it. He has quite the reputation as he has a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head and is often known as the “Humanoid Typhoon”.

In reality, Vash the Stampede is…a bit of a dingus. He just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and things kinda get out of hand. But that doesn’t stop two insurance agents (Milly Thompson and Meryl Stryfe) from following him around to confirm Vash’s identity and keep his actions to a minimum. At first, it’s hard to tell if he’s a stupid-genius or just flighty and gets lucky one too many times. But when shit goes down, don’t be surprised when you see this doofus get serious.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Okay, what sad company did this use to belong to, Geneon, Bandai, or ADV Films? Oh, Geneon! That means good voice actors from L.A. put in really shitty roles. On the contrary, this was a fairly decent English dub. And on a severely positive note, this was indeed Johnny Yong Bosch’s very first anime role (and a main role at that). This was like fresh off his time as a Power Ranger! And I gotta give props for giving this guy a chance at voice acting. This role was the launching point to what has been a very successful career for Bosch. As for the sub, let’s just say I’m happy any time I get to hear Hiromi Tsuru in something besides Dragon Ball. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Vash is played by Masaya Onosaka (known for Bill on Pokemon, Isaac on Baccano, Jadeite on Sailor Moon, Kero on Cardcaptor Sakura, Leeron on Gurren Lagann, France on Hetalia, and Spandam on One Piece)

*Meryl is played by Hiromi Tsuru (known for Bulma on DBZ, Ukyo on Ranma ��, Yubel on YGO GX, and Mika on Gravitation) [R.I.P.]

*Milly is played by Satsuki Yukino (known for Kagome on InuYasha, Mion/Shion on Higurashi, Tae on Gintama, Amakata on Free!, Hiiragi on Natsume Yuujinchou, Mutsumi on Love Hina, and Yoruichi on Bleach)

ENGLISH CAST: *Vash is played by Johnny Yong Bosch (known for Ichigo on Bleach, Lelouch on Code Geass, Makoto on Free!, Izaya on Durarara, Artemis on Sailor Moon redub, Koizumi on Haruhi Suzumiya, and Yukio on Blue Exorcist)

*Meryl is played by Dorothy Elias-Fahn (known for Kaoru on Rurouni Kenshin, Naru on Love Hina, Tomoe on Rozen Maiden, Hakuei on Magi, Houki on Fushigi Yugi, and Amane on Tenchi Muyo GXP)

*Milly is played by Lia Sargent (known for Dorothy on The Big O and Judy on Cowboy Bebop)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Milly! I don’t need a reason, it’s Milly!

SHIPPING: I didn’t really start thinking about shipping until more than halfway into this series. I thought there might be something between Vash and Meryl, but then again maybe not! Then I saw the backstory of Vash’s “younger days” and falling for the one woman who showed him compassion.

Yes, this is the same woman we consistently see in Vash’s flashbacks, Rem. Ooh boy, it’s one of those stories! So yeah, never mind my thinking with Vash x Meryl ever happening. I feel like Vash will mourn Rem’s death for a long time that I don’t think the whole thing with Meryl will ever work.

And as for Wolfwood x Milly…

FUUUUUUUCK! WHY DID YOU RUIN THIS CUTE COUPLE?!

MILLY WAS HEART-BROKEN!

…At least she got to have one night of passion with Wolfy-boy before the unthinkable happened.

THAT DARN CAT: If you watched this series, you might have noticed a little black cat spotted in nearly every episode. It’s there in the opening theme. It’s there in random places throughout the series. It’s there in the ending theme. What’s up with this cat? Well, there are a lot of theories surrounding this particular cat (or Kuroneko). Some say it’s really Rem inside that cat since you see it in literally every episode around Vash. Others say it’s because the creator of Trigun wanted to just mess with your minds with the kitty walking around in random places and towns. Seriously, it will always appear in every new town Vash and the gang comes across! As an avid cat enthusiast, I’m fine with whatever the result. Just as long as no harm comes to the little Kuroneko.

HALFWAY POINT: Halfway into the series we notice something more when it comes to Mr. Vash the Stampede. First of all, those horrifying scars all over his body! Second, that mysterious girl he often thinks about. I mean, we see flashes of her in the opening sequence. And third, the reason why he never kills. Vash has the ability of causing so much damage when pushed to a breaking point. One of the many reasons why he’s known as the “humanoid typhoon”! And that was perfectly shown when Vash chases the residents out of a town (so there would be no casualties), totally demolished the town during a fight, and made an indent on the moon!

But the story takes a sharp-left turn into WTF territory when we learn about WHAT exactly Vash is. Vash is a plant. Vash also has a brother named Knives. And while Vash has a mentality that all beings have a right to live, Knives has a “kill them all and let God sort them out” point of view. Now the existence of Vash and Knives came with a lot of controversy, especially in the ship that they were on. But that girl who Vash cares for, Rem cared for them regardless of what they were. Rem had high hopes for a peaceful world with coexistence. Too bad Knives had other motives and killed her.

ENDING TO TV SERIES: Vash has tried so hard to keep Milly, Meryl, and Wolfwood out of harm’s way. He knows there are some pretty bad people after him, including his polar-opposite brother, Knives. Vash hates death and wants to save as many people as humanly possible. He doesn’t want to see any more needless death. Probably from his flashbacks and losing Rem! Unfortunately, this doesn’t go so well.

I can see how iconic this death was now after witnessing it. Wolfwood, the priest who would hook up with Vash every now and then when they’re up against some ruffians, now finds himself in a crucial decision. He gets orders that he must eliminate Vash. And Wolfwood ends up dying instead in a very dramatic death scene. God-damn! And just that scene where Milly is sobbing freakin’ eats you up inside.

At least she had one night of passion before the unfortunate happened!

Vash hates the thought of having to kill anyone. But he might not have a choice if Knives is coming after him and even hires a powerful foe from a previous episode and the guy that killed Wolfwood to take you out. Once Vash met up with Knives, he winds up having some pretty sick flashbacks of Knives. But our homeboy was able to take out Knives, the desert area gets water, and…

I’m gonna have to read the fucking manga for more, right?

Tap dancing fuck!

BADLANDS RUMBLE: 12 years after the series ended, Japan decides to release a side-story in the form of a movie, bringing back our favorite characters like Vash, Wolfwood, Milly, and Meryl. And yes, reuniting the cast…in Japan.

By 2010, Geneon was as good as dead and FUNimation licensed Trigun. In short, they managed to get Johnny Young Bosch to reprise his role as Vash the Stampede. But everyone else was replaced. And surprisingly, the people they got to do Wolfwood and Milly were pretty freakin’ close to their original voices. Meryl’s voice, come on I know Luci Christian any-damn-where! Vash helps a young lady take out a big-bad guy (who turns out to be his father). And it has the feel of the original series where it’s set in a western town with lots of booze and shoot-em-ups! It’s an interesting side-story to the Trigun trilogy.

Trigun was a pretty good anime. I mean, not one of my favorites, but I can definitely see a lot of people sticking by this classic. Maybe you can chalk up my blah attitude to the fact that I’m not fond of westerns and I kinda took it out on Trigun. Or the fact that there was so much more that the anime could have covered before the end and the ending kinda felt off to me! Like I thought I was expecting more. But I suppose that’s what mangas are for. To be honest, the stories that really grabbed my attention were the back-stories with Vash and Knives and Wolfwood’s final episode.

*sniffles* At least Milly got one night of passion before he died!

If you would like to check out Trigun, all the episodes are available through FUNimation and Hulu (in both Japanese and English). And if you really like the anime, why not purchase the hard copies? Both the series and movie are available for home video.

Okay, that took me a while, but I’m glad to finish Trigun. What’s next on the FUNimation list?

EEHHHHHEEEHHHE

Fuck is that supposed to mean? What is that? Is that even in English?

YOU WILL BE HORRIBLY MUTILATED: The Isekai

Do you mean Re:Zero? That’s great…but that review’s not ready yet. And it probably won’t be until after April 2021! So let’s cast caution to the wind and pick another FUNimation licensed anime.

You’re watching Sarazanmai next. It’s best if you don’t ask questions.

Sarazanmai? The fuck does that even mean?!

OH. MY. GOD.

[severalspoons]

Liveblog: Rewatching Trigun, Episode 9 (a Very Important episode)

This is where Wolfwood enters the story. TBH, I would’ve guessed he’d appear earlier. Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to this! Here we go!

-- “That is one heck of a well-prepared dead guy” lol

-- Wolfwood resting against the cross looks vaguely crucified. Oh, symbolism.

-- Could you possibly show any more of your chest, Wolfwood? ;) 

(Also, where does he get his razors and how can he afford them? Actually, same question goes for Vash, too).

-- Vash introducing himself in a silly fake-deep voice. Longest. Name. Ever. Like he’s trying to joke and impress Wolfwood at the same time. Pretty sure he’s flirting. He sounds ike a middle school child trying to talk to a crush, lol.

-- That’s quite a handshake. Would probably break a normal person’s hand.

-- OMG the way they’re laughing maniacally about the water is the best thing ever. 

It isn’t actually that funny, so I think this bit is supposed to stand in for a longer conversation where they’re joking around. 

-- Wolfwood’s voice sounds so blase when he’s talking about the orphanage. 

So we have Meryl guarding her feelings with anger and Wolfwood guarding them with distance/blocked emotions. The only one expressing their feelings in any sort of open way is Vash. In fact, he might be expressing too many feelings. Actually, even Vash doesn’t express deep and meaningful feelings, only momentary reactions to the situations around him, or oversharing about body needs (hunger, thirst, pain, needing the bathroom). He’s a great example of how to hide your feelings while looking like you’re sharing them openly.

-- Wolfwood and kids. Compare how he acts with these kids to how Vash was with Kaite last episode. Wolfwood is gentle and sweet, and literally gets down on their level <3. 

-- What are those food bars Wolfwood is sharing? They look like something astronauts would eat. Are they “lost technology?”

-- Wolfwood feeding the orphans. My heart!. No wonder Vash smiles so sweetly. I probably have the same look on my face right now. XD <3

-- Holy shit Wolfwood’s character analysis of Vash after knowing him for like 30 minutes. It’s perfect. Especially after starting out similarly to Meryl, being like, “this goofy guy can’t possibly be Vash the Stampede.” 

-- And then from that he launches into advertising like, “That’s this man’s opinion anyway...and THAT’S why we have this confessional!” “You really are good at your job, aren’t you?” Vash looks surprised and pissed off. I don’t blame him. He’s been wandering the world for many years, no one understands him and he probably feels so alone. Then someone gets him, but he doesn’t care, he’s just doing a bait and switch routine. Ouch.

-- I think Wolfwood probably did the confessional thing because he just got way too personal and was starting to feel uncomfortable and awkward. This was an excuse. Plausible deniability, if you will: “I’m just doing my job.”

-- “You would have gone anyway, wouldn’t you?” Awww

-- Why the f*** did the colonists of this planet make these giant mechanical spider-things? Of all the guards you could possibly make, why? ::asking the real questions::

-- The little girl whispering “how embarrassing” as the guys who were supposed to save her spin around in quicksand. Ahahahaha

-- These guys fight together really well. They move together really well. In other words, they have perfect chemistry. SO fun to watch.

-- “That’s no ordinary priest.” What/how much does Vash know?

-- Why does Wolfwood bother lying that he’s never used a gun? First of all, Vash just saw him shoot the mechanical spiders outside. Second of all, he’s about to shoot like someone who knows wtf he’s doing, realizing Vash will notice.

-- This episode is really playing up the similarities between Vash and Wolfwood. That surprised me because I remember Wolfwood as more of a foil. But it’s so cool to see Wolfwood at his best and kindest.

-- Wait, where’s the little girl?  Did Vash and Wolfwood even bring her back when they got out of the spaceship? Did they forget why they were out there in the first place?

-- OK, so the entire episode shows the similar values/chemistry/synchronous fighting/endless flirting of Vash and Wolfwood, and then just kind of abruptly pairs them off with the girls for the rest of the ride, for no apparent reason.  

-- Well, not quite no apparent reason. I don’t know how much Wolfwood likes Milly yet, but considering that the alternative is Meryl, I’d pick Milly, too. Lol, poor Vash is left to be tormented by her.

-- Haha, I love how Vash has learned to roll with Meryl’s diatribes and just sass her back.

-- Wolfwood falling asleep on Milly’s shoulder and Milly being a little embarrassed and then just going with it and falling asleep leaning on him herself, aww.

-- It takes four men to lift that cross out of the truck and toss it down to Wolfwood, who just catches it without his arms even sagging, as if it were nothing. No wonder he was dying, he lugged something that took 4 normal men to carry for 100 iles (the equivalent of miles), in the desert heat.

-- “It’s so heavy because it’s full of mercy” lol iconic

-- Wait, why is Wolfood leaving? I thought he had reasons to stay with them--wait, is that a spoiler?

-- Haha he says goodbye to Vash personally by name and then says goodbye to everyone else as a unit.

I’m going to fall asleep smiling now. Seeing them happy makes me happy.

[dragonclaw29]

Top Ten Anime

Its that time of year again. The time of year I post my anime review list for my personal picks for the best anime of all time. You can disagree with me if you want, you’ll be wrong, but you can. As per usual I will give a brief synopsis of each anime when I get to them in the list. Prepare to see many of the ones that were on last year but there have been a few new additions. Now without further adieu let us begin. 

Number 10 Azumanga Daioh

It's cute it’s funny it’s Azumanga Daioh. Follow the tale of a group of high school girls who may be missing a few screws as they adventure through their daily lives. This show is one of comedy and laughs. It sticks close to the core of what makes it fun and doesn’t through you for a curve. By far my favorite comedy Anime of all time. If you really enjoy it check out the manga as well it is a blast. Not much to say about this one so moving right along.

Number 9 Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon is a staple of the three B’s of anime those being Boobs, Bullets, and Businessman. What happens when a young salary worker is forced into a mercenary band of Americans? Well, you get Black Lagoon. An action anime through and through. Every episode is tackling some new problem. Some of these problems are entertaining like neo-nazis on a boat but others will tug at your heartstrings. One of the few anime that can keep a light-hearted tone then switch to a different genre within seconds and make it work. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get into anime. 

Number 8 Death Parade

Everybody put your hands up! God dang does this opening rock. I mean its completely misleading but the song is such a jammer that it doesn’t matter. Ever wonder what happens when you die, do you rise to heaven or be banished to Hell? Well, the characters in Death Parade will try to help answer that problem. By playing the games found in their bar people will expose their darkest secrets and I do mean darkest.  Not for the faint of heart but worth a watch. If you want to see a heartwarming touching show that also has some heavy philosophical concepts Death parade is right for you. Has one of the best scenes in all of anime near the end. I will amendment I was balling like a baby during parts of this show. 

Number 7 Trigun

Trigun the space western that tells the tale of the most wanted man who ever existed. What did the man do to become so wanted, especially when all the guy seems to do is tumble his way through life? Well, I’m not telling you but its fun figuring it out. A great show with some stand-up comedy. Like Black-Lagoon the tone of each episode can vary greatly but its never not enjoyable. This is a show where the plot sneaks up on you and by the time your in the thick of it you’ll be eating everything up. One of the only anime to have a pair of insurance girls as main characters so that's a plus. If you liked Cowboy Bebop you love Trigun. 

Number 6 Future Diary

Future Diary is the show that really got me into anime. I remember watching this for the first time and staying up until four in the morning to binge it even though I said I was only going to watch two episodes. This show put me through the wringer and I loved every second of it. Future Diary has great character creation and has a way to make you stop and look at how people can break. Beautiful animation and great fight scenes future diary also is the origin of the modern Yandere. This show will always have a special place in my heart. 

Number 5 Last Exile 

This show is so good and has such wonderful world building I don’t know where to start. The basic premise is steampunk world but it is much much more than that. Last Exile creates a massive narrative that leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat. The budget for this show was crap so they made up for it by telling an awesome story. So much happens in this show it almost feels like three shows despite only being a twenty-six episode series. The characters are dynamic and fell real. The situations they find themselves in are interesting and everything comes together in the end in one massive finally. 

Number 4 Berserk (Original 1990′s version and theatrical releases)

I’m going, to be honest with you these shows exist to get you into the manga. Also, Mirua finish the god damn manga already its been thirty years. Anywho the berserk anime before 2017 are all lovely. My recommendation is to watch the one that came out in 97 first then watch the three movies that cover the same time period. The anime goes into more depth into the story while the movies give berserk the awesome animation it deserves. The story is dark and bleak sometimes oppressively so but the plot and characters will have you blitzing through every moment. Berserk is good enough to be taught in a writing class for its nature, and I to this day wait patiently for each manga chapter to come out. All I can say is push through the darkness struggler. 

Number 3 Serial Experiments Lain

Award for best pajamas in an Anime goes to this show as well as the reward for making one of the most confusing convoluted shows to watch. Every scene in this show means something. The narrative is one that hits the ground at 90mph and doesn’t stop. Through every twist and turn, more questions are raised and the answers never seem to come. In order to truly enjoy Lain one will have to watch the show multiple times and even then you may be missing large aspects of the show. People have hundreds of theories with each theory seeming reasonable or sound. My recommendation watch this show with an open mind and theorize as you go. Don’t go online looking for answers you won’t find ones that suite your ideas. When you finish then you can look around but truth be told the theory you come up with might be as factual as any of the other ones. 

Number 2 Madoka Magica

What does it mean to love someone? Does it mean doing whatever it takes to save them no matter what the cost is? Does love come from self-sacrifice or is it something greater still? Madoka Magica will have you pondering this and more as you go through the episodes. This show has the best art in an anime I have ever seen. Each character has their own unique ark that plays into the central plot line. Each villain has their own unique style that shows up when the girls are facing them. Even typing about this show is making me gush about how good it is. I strongly recommend this to everyone and anyone. This is an anime where I can honestly not think of a single flaw in it. 

Number 1 Tie Evangelion & Haibane Renmei 

Before you get mad at me, yes I know I’m cheating but I honestly can’t rank either of these below the number 1 spot. Both of these shows have changed the way I look at the world. Evangelion made me look at myself in an entirely new way and Haibane makes me cry justing talking about it. I honestly love both of these shows even though each has a budget of two dollars. Evangelion tells the tale of a group of children who are tasked with defending humanity. Each child will be tested in that task with. Haibane tells the tale of a girl finding her place in the world and learning to help others. Both shows are brilliant pieces that I will never forget. I am being vague about both of them on purpose in order not to spoil anything but definitely give both of these a watch some time. Also, a tip when you go to watch Evangelion watch it in this order ep1-24 then End of Eva ep25-26 then the rebuilds. 

Well, that's it another year completed another list uploaded. If anyone has questions feel free to message me and I am more than happy to talk. Lets hope for a great 2019!

[pelikinesis]

just rewatched Trigun for the first time in probably 10 years or so?

Trigun is often extremely compelling, except when its writing becomes very bad, and by bad I mean dissatisfying in terms of internal logic.

production-wise, i get the sense that they blew the majority of the animation budget on the first two or so episodes, because they’re absolutely gorgeous, but in many of the later episodes they take a lot of shortcuts to the point where some scenes are basically slideshows.

writing-wise, there’s a number of really key moments that are intended to be emotional, but they’re so intent on discussing THEMES and making ON-BRAND CALLBACKS that characters start spouting dialogue in moments that are absolutely unfitting for the situations that were set-up, and a lot of the social issues in the later episodes is due to the fact that absolutely none of the main characters ever explain to anyone else, “Okay so there’s this guy named Knives, and he’s totally the reason why bad things happen around Vash”

and i’m not saying everything would be resolved because they’d be automatically believed, but everything Meryl and Vash say in lieu of that rightfully serve only to infuriate all the scared, misguided people precisely because they’re desperately asking for an explanation and instead they’re told some sanctimonious bullshit about how killing is bad, or so it sounds because it has not been explained to them that Vash is not who they think he is.

in hindsight, i mostly stuck around with this rewatch because of how good the first two episodes were, and the richness of the premise they promised. the idea of a pacifistic but extremely skilled gunman with a legendary reputation who is actually a dork IS interesting, especially when combined with the supporting cast. 

If someone pitched to me an RPG campaign idea set in some sci-fi wild west world where we’d be playing as insurance claims agents sent to make contact with an outlaw so fearsome he’s on the verge of being classified as a natural disaster or act of God, i’d tell them to sign me the fuck up. out of all the backgrounds for a supporting cast in this type of setting, that’s a very fresh one.

the way that all the drama in Vash’s backstory which took place aboard giant spaceships intended to colonize other planets effectively turns his past into that planet’s own Creation story in a way, and how this somewhat subtly casts himself and Knives as angels or demigods is actually way cooler to me now than i ever registered the first time I watched Trigun.

but i just don’t find that the whole Vash-Jesus-Job analogue exactly resonates. There’s no tension because Knives and the Gung-ho Guns are effectively all-powerful, and if they’d been even slightly more competent they’d have succeeded in their goals. But it’s also left completely unexplained why the most loyal of the Gung-ho Guns are loyal to the point of death to Knives, and at this point I’m actually just talking about Legato because the rest of them barely exist. but Legato, wow, what a hot mess of a plot device masquerading as a character. 

early on a question is raised: does Vash manage to get out of life-or-death scrapes with zero fatalities (though lots of property damage) due to dumb luck, or because he’s just that good? But the thing is, it’s never truly answered. Legato, in particular, is central to the least satisfying parts of the story. His powers are the most overtly supernatural and staggering in scope. It’s never explained why he has so little regard not only for the lives of other humans, but for his own life, allowing himself to be a total pawn to Knives despite probably being the most powerful character in the setting. Legato’s arc could have been used to help definitively answer the prior question, but it’s resolved in a different way that i’d call a swerve, but ultimately not a good swerve.

there are certain things i don’t mind not being explained, so long as the lack of information doesn’t turn into plot holes. So for example, i don’t really need to know what the Plants are. They’re humanoid and seemingly-sentient, and somehow provide all the resources humans need to survive on a desert planet. That’s fine. Not knowing how they work is fine. That mystery does not distract from the narrative’s comprehensibility.

But the show is very blatantly one wherein the fate of all humanity always falls on Vash’s shoulders, which is a bit too egoistic a story for my tastes--yet this wouldn’t be a problem if it were done well. i don’t think it is, though, not in its totality anyways.

Legato isn’t the only problem, he just happens to be the biggest problem. Legato isn’t so much a character as he is a plot device, a deus ex machina--not one that *resolves* the problems caused by the plot, but rather *creates* the problem that the plot requires so that the story arrives at the resolution the author wants.

Legato was the *facade* of an interesting character--an immensely powerful psychic with no regard for human life who also enjoyed eating sweets in his spare time. He can mind control hundreds if not thousands of people at once. Cool. Why can he do that, and what does he want? The answers to those two questions respectively are, (1) because shut up, that’s why, and (2) because he wants everything Knives wants because of reasons.

and that second part is infuriating, because in failing to address this, the writers miss an opportunity for exposition that would enrich not only Legato but also Knives as characters, at the same time. *how* did Knives convince Legato and also the saxophone guy to do his bidding loyally until death? Why is it that Legato is absolutely devoted to Knives, whereas Saxophone Guy shows some bitterness as they meet their ends to fulfill Knives’ plan? How has Knives secured their loyalty despite hating humans so much? See, those would have made for interesting moments, if they weren’t absolutely shunted off to the side in favor of varied scenes of Vash coughing up blood as he spouts his beliefs in a way that’s usually out-of-context for his audience.

Now, in other fighting superpower anime, i would normally expect a character such as Legato to be defeated once the protagonist figures out a weakness or limitation in his psychic powers and adopts a strategy to target that vulnerability. In a good fighting superpower anime, i might expect that a powerful psychic might have some vulnerability based on a psychological issue or two. that’s intuitive, and would not only be satisfying for the protagonist’s development to figure all that out, it would simultaneously provide an opportunity for deeper characterization of said psychic villain.

the swerve that instead Vash wins by losing, that is, by finally being forced into a situation where he has to (temporarily) violate his own moral code and shooting Legato dead was somewhat dramatic but only because of the buildup. Actually, one thing I unreservedly applaud Trigun about is the restraint they demonstrated in having Vash not even fire a gun for like the first five or six episodes which, in a 26~ episode show is quite an investment. It also spent even more time building  up like 24-25 episodes of Vash not killing anyone, and then suddenly he did. But that’s the only reason it was remotely dramatic. Legato was an enigma and and obstacle but ended up being an empty contrivance, which was disappointing.

in many early episodes, it was very clearly laid out what the villain and guest protagonists’ motives were and why they had them. the writer(s) clearly knew how to do that even within the span of a single mostly self-contained episode. and that makes the bundles of unanswered questions that Legato’s role in the story and also his existence altogether raise that much more grating on my suspension of disbelief.

As soon as Legato’s whole dilemma was resolved, i couldn’t really engage with the story anymore, save to watch the last few episodes for the sake of doing so, and also out of curiosity for where the writers were going with everything. but i was no longer invested in the characters, because at some point they started saying and doing things in a manner meant to tie a bow on the themes the writers had been harping on the whole series, but not in a way that demonstrated any internal consistency or believability as far as the characters themselves.

Vash and Meryl never tell anyone who Knives is because the writers need Vash to forever be a falsely-accused and persecuted Christ analogue. it’s so freaking transparent, and that’s one of a number of similarly unsatisfying elements to Trigun, and it’s a darned shame. because so much of the show is interesting and promising, but it doesn’t really have the follow-through. idk maybe the manga explains everything.

Finally, there’s no good reason why Knives didn’t just kill Meryl and Milly after Legato died. I’m not saying this because I wanted their characters dead or anything. I’m saying it because if Knives’ whole motivation is to hurt Vash, and if Knives thinks of humans like cockroaches, then why wouldn’t he kill Meryl and Milly not long after Vash breaks his own code against killing just to save them? Why not drive that final nail in the coffin just to spite Vash? 

All we know about Knives is that he’s Vash, but evil, he wants to wipe out humanity because he thinks they are inferior to them, and he wants to break Vash emotionally. Everything he does is motivated by spite towards Vash, and misanthropy, so killing Meryl and Milly while Vash is sulking over the abstract notion of taking a human life due to killing Legato would be the final insult to injury and would be 100% consistent with everything we know about Knives.

And this is why I couldn’t stay engaged with Trigun. Vash only adheres to his beliefs because the villains don’t do everything that’s within their power to break him. I’m not saying I wanted a grimdark downer ending. I’m saying that the only reason Trigun doesn’t have one is because the writers wanted a good ending, which clashed with everything they set up. Vash’s reaffirmation of his beliefs simply isn’t earned, not in my book, because the only reason they remain intact is because of either laziness or neglect on the part of Knives or the writers. 

[6qubed]

The Tale of Bluesummer; or That Time I Accidentally Turned My Morrowind Character Into A God

(yes I named my Breton in Morrowind after Legato Bluesummer from Trigun. it was 2004 and I was a teenager, get off me)

this whole post, which ended up running longer than I expected, is dedicated to @quinzelade, who is the one who asked about it.

I’m gonna warn you up front that attempting to replicate what I did will fundamentally alter the way you play the game, assuming they never released a patch or something after the fact. you’ve been warned

okay, so

somewhere in the game (I forget where, exactly. balmora? I dunno) is a place called Wolverine Hall. in there is a guy who sells alchemy ingredients.

what’s important about this guy is that 1.) he sells the two ingredients you need to make a “Fortify Intelligence” potion (henceforth “F.I. potion” for convenience), and 2.) those ingredients restock every time you initiate a transaction with him. not every day, every dialogue. talk to him, buy ingredients, stop talking, talk to him again, more ingredients to buy

side note: I almost said “ingredience”. fuck this website

now because this isn’t Skyrim, you can basically make potions wherever you’re currently standing as long as you at least have a mortar and pestle (there’s other alchemy gear you can use to make your potions stronger, but you don’t strictly speaking need them. maybe. I think. it’s been a while) so you can just stand right next to this guy brewing F.I. potions, buying ingredients from him when you run low, and selling him excess potions you just made from the ingredients to cover the costs

now here’s where things get... mechanical. Morrowind’s skills are each tied to an attribute like Strength, Intelligence, Endurance, and so on. Alchemy is tied to Intelligence. and because this isn’t Oblivion and they hadn’t thought to curtail this nonsense from the jump, if you make an F.I. potion, drink it, and then make another one, the next F.I. potion will have a greater affect, both in terms of numerical increase and duration. you will be smarter, and for longer, and most important of all, there is no upward limit to this

SO

after boosting my Intelligence to Somewhere Roughly Up in the Billions (henceforth “SRUB”), I tried making potions to boost my other stats. Strength was an obvious first choice, as it not only covers carry weight, but also attack damage and, for whatever reason, chance to hit. I also boosted my Agility, Charisma and Endurance, so now nothing could hit me, I could ace any persuasion attempt, and I had functionally unlimited stamina. thus augmented, my next course of action was to stride out into the wilderness and test my new capabilities.

and that’s exactly what the hell I did. looking for the first wild animal to fight, eventually I run across a guar, I take out my trust daedric katana with a custom Soul Trap enchantment (because this game had katanas for some reason so of course I had one; I named my Breton after an anime character what the fuck do you expect), and I attack the guar. it dies in one hit, it’s soul gets trapped... and now I’m looking at my empty hands instead of my sword. puzzled, I punch the air a few times thinking that will bring my katana back, then I actually go into my inventory and look for it. well sure enough there it is, but I can’t equip it because it’s broken. it’s a little weird that it would be broken, because as a daedric weapon it has like 5000 hp. well, I have a repair hammer on me and Armorer is governed by the Strength attribute, and I have SRUB Strength, so no worries. I repair my katana, find another monster, and attack it. I honestly don’t remember what it was, it could’ve been a skrib, it could’ve been a golden saint, it’s really not important. what is important, is that it died in one hit as well, and my daedric katana with 5000-ish hp broke again. in one hit.

here I will divert from the story to explain another mechanic from the Elder Scrolls that they did away with; breakable equipment. see, this was back when Bethesda still thought that having equipment that got shittier the more you used it was a good idea, a delusion they would carry into TES Oblivion and both Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. the way this worked in the Elder Scrolls games specifically was that every time you took a hit your armor would get damaged, and every time you would land a hit on an opponent with a weapon, the game would inflict a fraction of that damage to your weapon as well. this was one of the appeals of stronger weapons; not only did they do more damage per hit, but they also were able to dish out more hits before needing repairs. steel was stronger than iron, elvish was stronger than steel, daedric was stronger than dwemer, you understand. I didn’t just have a daedric katana for Cool Points, I had it because not only was it a strong weapon, but it could also go a long time between repairs. and if you’ve been paying more attention than I was back then, you may have noticed The Problem.

see, weapon damage is governed by that weapon’s skill, in this case Long Blades. the Long Blades skill is in turn governed by the Strength attribute, and I had SRUB Strength, in a game that maxed out your base skill and attribute growth at 100 each. every time I landed a hit on something I was doing SRUB damage, and a fraction of SRUB damage was also being done to my weapon. since even a fraction of SRUB damage is still way more than anything the developers of the game ever designed the weapons to handle, even the weapons wrought from the very essence of Hell itself were buckling under the weight of the blows I was dealing. furthermore, since repair hammers have about ten uses before they broke (SERIOUSLY WHY DID BETHESDA THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA) it was taking at least one full hammer to repair my katana every time I broke it, which was quickly becoming A Hassle.

at this point I decided “okay, I’ve had my fun, time to bring this silliness to an end” and decided to reload from a save, but here is where I encountered A New Problem: see, Morrowind didn’t have autosaves, no game really did at this point in history, but what it did have was King Fool of Dummy Mountain playing it, for whom the concept of “multiple save files” was an alien and terrifying thing that one just didn’t bother with. there was no easy way to undo the potions’ effects. I couldn’t dispel them, because it was a potion effect and not magic, and the only other option was to wait them out.

so that is what I tried. I found an inn somewhere, possibly Vivec City or maybe some random rathole of a place out in the middle of nowhere, paid whatever the cost was, jumped into bed and tried to sleep the potions effects off, twenty-four hours at a time. one day, then two. then a week, a month, two months. a year. a year and a half spent in a random bed in a random inn, and still the effects persisted. here was Another Problem; the F.I. potions’ duration was also affected by Intelligence, and I had made and consumed several potions with at least a few million seconds duration on them, and at least one that would last SRUB seconds. I could stay in this bed, doing nothing but sleeping one day at a time, for over a week in real-world time, before this potion even reached half of its maximum duration. I was, for all intents and purposes, Stuck Like This.

so now began the search for workarounds. my first thought was the Unarmed skill; if I just didn’t use a weapon, it wouldn’t break, right? the problem here was that Unarmed was governed by your Speed skill. yes, you had both a Speed and an Agility attribute, and they did different things. but Speed also affected how fast your character could move around in the game world, and giving my character SRUB Speed proved disastrous; the game, you see, was only designed to handle a maximum Speed of 100, maybe more if you boosted it with temporary effects. at least once in a dungeon I ran so fast that I clipped through the walls and ended up floating in an infinite plane of water that apparently served as the water at the lower points of the level. I was not, mercifully, Stuck Like This, because while I was still King Fool of Dummy Mountain I was at least smart enough not to repeat all of my past mistakes, and had thought to save my game before trying this nonsense.

so Unarmed was out. that meant if I couldn’t count on one unbreakable weapon, I’d have to make so with numerous single-use ones. Archery was no good, because the bows were breakable, and thrown weapons were finicky at best, and more importantly I couldn’t get them back if I used them up. I then hit upon the idea of daggers, and set about traveling over Morrowind, finding every merchant I could that sold weapons and buying up every silver dagger or enchanted dagger of cheap material I could find. this was important, because I wanted a way to fight ghosts and other immaterial enemies, who could only be hit by silver or enchanted weapons. or daedric, but for reasons I covered previously those were no use to me. I then developed a fighting style wherein I became adept at fast-equipping weapons mid-combat, allowing me to stab one enemy, then quickly pull out another dagger and use that to kill the next. this also led to one particularly memorable encounter where in my explorations I stumbled across a shrine adorned with six skulls, each with an enchanted dagger stuck in them, and without hesitation I grabbed all six, only to turn around and see a group of six very pissed off ancestor ghosts, whom were no doubt bound to those skulls by the daggers I had just removed. as luck would have it, however, I had just the right amount of daggers to handle this fight. convenient, that

well that covered melee combat, but still left the issue of Magic. being a magic user was less of a tricky issue, since with SRUB Intelligence and SRUB Wisdom came functionally unlimited Mana, so I could cast any spell I wanted without fear of miscasting, because giving spells a chance to fail a casting depending on your skill with that spell’s magical school was another one of those brilliant ideas Bethesda had on the same day they came up with breakable equipment.

since money was no longer an issue, I visited a Mages Guild and crafted a few custom spells for myself. nothing complicated, just a ranged damage spell of some kind with maximum damage over maximum duration with maximum area of effect (and Paralyze and Soul Trap, because why not) and one or two spells that boosted my Speed and Athletics sklll so that even though I couldn’t boost it via Alchemy without disaster, I could still run around fairly quickly, which was handy because fast-travel hadn’t been invented yet, and I was now using my Mark and Recall spells solely to visit the secret scamp merchant that had 5000 gold for buying things, as it was now the only merchant in the game that could handle the monetary value of the goods I had to sell, and even that required a fair bit of back-and-forth juggling with the items that I had sold it previously, especially excess potions

it was here that I finally found A Weakness in my character; my health points. I had up until now coasted by on my ability to dodge any attack and one-shot any opponent; at this point I wasn’t even bothering with wearing a full set of armor or even (being a puerile thing at heart) most clothes. I had some greaves, a mismatched arrangement of gauntlets and pauldrons, and that was it.

but that changed the first time I encountered an enemy capable of Reflecting my own magic back at me. see, I thought that giving myself SRUB Endurance would confer SRUB HP when I first took that potion, but it never happened. and since maximum HP gained through leveling up is calculated from base Endurance, SRUB HP simply wasn’t in the cards. well that was easy enough to rectify, first by going back to the Mages Guild and crafting a spell that both boosted maximum HP and healed the maximum amount, both for maximum duration, as well as crafting a magic ring that could send out some (comparatively) weak bolts of damage, and recharge itself over time

at the end of it, even with all the searching for workarounds to my... condition, the actual game became fairly easy. the “final bosses” of the DLCs, daedric princes and even deity figures proved almost comically nonthreatening, because at the end of it they were all still playing by rules to which I was no longer bound. really the only thing keeping me from beating the game was the fact that my XBox and all my games for it got stolen.

so I guess the moral of this story, if there is one to be had, is when you’re planning to do something stupid, save first or prepare for it being irreversible

that, and don’t bring anything to Job Corps that you wouldn’t mind getting stolen

[doubleddenden]

Out of curiosity I'm just going to list how many episodes left or runtime we have to expect for the current toonami lineup. Shows like MHA or Black Clover that are currently still in production will be harder to predict. This does not take into account marathons, movies breaks, or forceable drops. This does, however, take into account the possibility of rerun seasons.

DBZ Kai: 167 total, 166 left. Estimate: 3.184 years. Likelihood of rerun? I'd say they will take a break for a bit once the last bit runs.

MHA: currently 63, 43 left at the moment with probability of season 4 in the future. Roughly 10 months with current stock pile and give or take the movie if they ever air it, but it'll probably be on for as long as it remains popular.

Naruto Shippuden: look I lost track of what episode we're on but I already calculated it: roughly 5 years with the current pacing and with all the filler we know they won't skip. The good thing is they probably won't include movies to add to this wait time, maybe The Last due to the Tenseigan.

Boruto: having just premiered tonight, we have 75 episodes on stockpile which will last us about 1 year and 5 months plus change, but it is also still in production and likely will until popularity dies out or it ends.

Dragon Ball Super: total number as of now: 131. Episodes currently remaining: 49. Roughly 11 months. I'm not taking into account the Heroes inspired anime just yet, but I'm pretty sure there's a new season I'm the works anyway. Either it will air after or it takes a break for a bit.

Fooly Cooly Alternative: total: 6, we're on 4. 2 more episodes and then a rerun of all 6 like the prior FLCL runs totaling 8 weeks, or roughly a month and a week or 2. I expect a marathon or perhaps a rerun after that spanning all 3 seasons but don't hold me to it.

JoJo part 4: 39 episodes, 32 left, totalling about 7 months. I doubt it'll rerun but I'll bet we'll transition to part 5 by then.

Black Clover: still in production, 52 episodes as of October 2nd, we're on episode 41 after tonight. Roughly speaking this anime isn't far behind its production as far as dubbing goes and it just entered the second season apparently. About 2 and a half months until we're current but it depends on how popular it remains.

Hunter X Hunter: total number, 148, 35 episodes remaining, roughly 8 months. I doubt it'll rerun unless there's a new season.

One Punch Man: total number: 12. We have about 4 episodes left of this season. However, that'll probably rerun until we get season 2, so about 16 episodes, roughly 3.6 months and then season 2 with an additional 12 or so episodes give or take to add about 2.7 months, totalling about 6 more months of OPM at the moment.

Lupin the Third: part 4 has about 24 episodes with 7 left, roughly a month and a half. Part 5 will likely follow with an additional 24 episodes, roughly 5.5 months, so about a year and a half more of Lupin. Might get a rerun of part 4, who knows.

Cowboy Bebop: 26 total, two more episodes and two more weeks, maybe 3 if we get the movie which I doubt. Probably will be rotated out since it's on its second current rerun period. Guessing either Ghost in the Shell, Trigun, or IGPX will run for a bit after but dont quote me.

Samurai Jack: 62 total, 61 left, roughly a year and 2 months unless they do a marathon of the last 10 in one night.

Anyway I only calculated this out of boredom to see how much longer we have with some shows (either because I'm kind of tired of reruns or just curious). Give or take some episodes and maybe an ova or 5, depending on the mood Toonami has. This does not include any April Fools shenanigans or similar.

[unabashedrebel]

Faves

Okay so I got tagged in this like 5 times. I give. You all win. I’ll do this thing. Those who tagged me: @zalaearis @embraelle @taciturnip-up @zookeeper-cielya @kelzthalassunwhisper

Favorite Anime/Manga:

Uh, Dragonball Z, obviously (Detective Conan is a close second though). It was my first real dive into anime, it was a short lived phase, but it was there. Gundam, Bebop, Kenshin, Trigun, Samurai Champloo, Detective Conan, OH MY GOD THAT SHOW WITH LUPINE THE THIRD I CANT REMEMBER, anything but that bitchy Inuyasha love story. Really anything that was on Toonami or Adult Swim back in the day until about... 2008? I probably watched it.

Favorite Video Games:

Of all time? Hands down the Metal Gear series. Not only was it the first game that I beat on my own at the tender age of 7, but like... I dont know, the complexities in the story really got me. I remember my mom legit stayed up to watch me play them just so she could see what happened next (ON A SCHOOL NIGHT NO LESS). Sure there was a lot of really wacky things, or things that didn’t make sense, but I love that series and if you have anything bad to say about it I will fight you.

Honorable mentions go to: Pokemon, Super Smash Bros, Dark Souls (1,2, & 3), The Witcher was dope, currently my soul belongs to Overwatch, Uncharted... and two recents I just got an emulator for? Baulders Gate Dark Alliance, and Gauntlet Dark Legacy. (I’m 200% a gaming nerd, sorry.)

Favorite Books:

I’m not a very big reader. Like I used to say for the longest time that Captain Underpants was my favorite books series. Its still great don’t get me wrong, but I’ve read a few more books now. Just a few.

Tops is A Song of Fire and Ice, really for lack of any competition. I love the setting, I love the writing, and if you’ve seen the show you know it’s something to pay attention to. But again, like I said, I’m not a very big reader. If it wasn’t those books it would be either Animal Farm or Charolettes Web, two classics that really found their way into my heart when I re-read them later in life. Beautiful books.

Honestly though I don’t think this is a fair question for me. I love, love, love comics, I can read them up and down. But a lot of people don’t really view them as novelizations? For good reason, I just dont feel right listening them as my favorite ‘books’. But those I mean I could talk your ear off to favorites and what series or arcs I like to what heroes I like, or what events I thought were the b-- had a nerd moment there.

Favorite TV shows:

Uhhhh, lets see, Flash, Arrow, Walking Dead, Westworld, Game of Thrones, Supernatural, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Stranger Things. Those are the currents. Digging deep we got; Charmed, Angel, Buffy (Y’all feel me on those, I know it.), Lost, Breaking Bad, Parks and Rec, Who’s Line is it Anyways, Castle, Bones.

God there’s probably so much more but I just can’t think of them right now.

Last Song I listened to:

Like really listened to or that came on the radio? I think the last song I put on cause I wanted to listen to it was Lean On by Major Lazer or however you spell his name.

First Language:

Hah, I didn’t even learn English all that well, let alone any other languages. I can speak some broken spanish, but really I just know how to say ‘my pants are strong’ and ‘where bathroom’. Oddly enough I can understand it when its in conversation, generally just by picking up the words I do know and listening to the tone of the conversation.

Tagging: Batman (Though he never responds to my tags.)

[swipestream]

SUPERVERSIVE: Four More Anime Reviews

Hinamatsuri, our first anime

Four Anime Reviews is one of the most popular posts I’ve ever done on the site. Since then I have watched a lot – and I do mean a LOT – more anime, and enjoyed almost all of it (I will only actually watch something to the end that I enjoy).

In light of that, I have thought carefully and decided on four more anime to review. The rules: They must be an anime I have not written a review or article on already…and that’s it. This means nothing on Mob Psycho 100 or One Punch Man, even though Mob Psycho especially is probably my second favorite anime that I’ve watched since that original article.

I’ll also be sort of kind of breaking that rule for the final review, but that show NEEDS to be talked about.

The 10 star rating system is gone. I realized I would have to rank too many shows I really liked below 5 of 10 if I wanted to be consistent. So now it’s just thumbs down and thumbs up.

(I wrote a couple short articles on already airing anime, so my short conclusions on them: Cells at Work improved as the season went on, added real character development and intelligent world building, and ended on a high note. It is my easy winner for anime of the summer 2018 season. Steins;Gate 0 spun its wheels a bit in the middle and had some hilariously bad action scenes but the last four or so episodes were fantastic and it too ended on a REALLY high note.)

And without further ado:

1) Hinamatsuri – Yoshifumi Nitta is a high-ranking member of the Yakuza whose life is turned upside down the day a young, probably autistic girl named Hina with psychic powers inexplicably shows up in his apartment. Nitta pretty much has no choice but to adopt the little girl and wacky hijinx, as well as moving familial bonding, ensues.

Review – This was another show from the summer 2018 season, but I didn’t watch it until much later. It really took me by surprise how much I liked it. The characters are lovable, the jokes are consistently on point, and they do an excellent job juggling their surprisingly large cast of characters.

While the jokes are great, and the show really is very funny, where it truly shines is in its serious moments. The bonds formed between the characters – not just Hina and Nitta but several side characters as well – are consistently touching, and even some of the gags have a sweet edge to them that just makes you smile, like when Hina decides to throw a party celebrating Nitta’s promotion but somehow gets the idea that parties are supposed to look like funerals. It’s a great gag but it’s still touching that Hina makes the effort to go that extra mile, as well as an excellent character moment – the first time in the series Hina decides to do something nice with no ulterior benefit to herself.

Best girl is Hitomi.

Is it superversive? – Very! Not just in its main plot, but throughout its several subplots as well the story is consistently uplifting.

Recommendation – Two thumbs up. It isn’t a must-watch classic, but it is a lot of fun.

2) Last Exile – Claus Valca and Lavie Head are sky couriers on the planet of Prester, a steampunk style world where two nations are in perpetual war and flying machines known as vanships rule the skies. One day a dying courier asks them to complete a dangerous mission: deliver a little girl named Alvis to a flying battleship known as the Silvana. And our adventure begins!

Review – This is one of the classic anime of the early 2000s that helped anime boom in the U.S. Like Trigun before it Last Exile was more of a hit overseas than in Japan, perhaps due to the heavily eurocentric atmosphere, though the split was not nearly as extreme (you can go so far as to call Trigun a bomb in its home country).

The reputation is deserved. Last Exile is a fantastic show. The visual style and tone are reminiscent of Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, though with a more adult edge to it. The plot is intricate and complex but well written, and all secrets are revealed in the end.

The characters can sometimes come across as a bit two dimensional with one exception: Dio (no, not that one). Dio is probably the series’ biggest achievement, along with its revolutionary integration of CGI into the airship scenes. Introduced originally as a mysterious, androgynous, and rather creepy figure, he becomes almost a metaphor for the show as a whole as it progresses, as solving the mystery of who and what Dio also solves the mystery of what is really going on in the plot. He is by far the most memorable part of the story, which is a real compliment as the story itself is also engrossing.

Is it superversive? – Extremely so. Like Pazu before them Claus and Lavie are the sort of people to selflessly commit themselves wholeheartedly to a stranger – Alvis – despite barely knowing her, and this is presented as the correct and moral thing to do. Characters who start off looking like they’ll be threats become allies and the story ends on a high note.

Recommendation – This one IS ammust-watch classic. Two thumbs up.

3) Yu Yu Hakusho – Yusuke Yuremeshi is a young punk who spends all of his time fighting and going to the arcade. One day he knocks a boy out of the way of a car, getting hit himself and dying as a result. Then a cheerful young woman with a flying…paddle…informs him that she’s the grim reaper and that due to his selfless act, if he wants it, spirit world is willing to give him a second chance at life. After seeing the reactions of his sort-of-girlfriend, principal, and mother he agrees. On his return Yusuke is made the Spirit Detective of Earth, hunting down demons and punching out bad guys to save the world.

Review – One of the more influential shonen anime, this early 90’s show shows its age occasionally but for the most part holds up exceptionally well. In contrast to Togashi’s later and far inferior anime Hunter x Hunter (maybe the most overrated anime of all time), Yu Yu Hakusho is fast paced (almost no fight goes longer than two episodes, a trick My Hero Academia stole) and always fun. Togashi’s real strength, however, is in his exceptionally well realized characters. The main group of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hei is one of the most memorable and entertaining in all of anime. Not only are their personalities distinct and memorable, but each of them has an interesting backstory and goes through a TON of character development as the series progresses.

The Dark Tournmanet arc is, rightly, considered one of the greatest arcs in anime history. It goes on a little long but the high points of that story are so high who really cares? But the show isn’t perfect. The arc following Dark Tournament noticeably drops in quality and Togashi has a really, really big problem with killing off major characters even when it makes sense both narratively and metatextually – to spoil a scene, the revival of Genki was particularly egregious. This problem gets even more ridiculous in Hunter x Hunter, with the utterly absurd revival of Kite. Still, back to Yu Yu Hakusho, the show picks up again by the Three Kings saga and while I’m still five or so episodes away from finishing it completely it’s hard for me to think I won’t be satisfied by the time it all ends.

Is it superversive? – Yes. Just listen to the OP. How can it not be?

Recommendation – If you’re a fan of any modern shonen you really should see Yu Yu Hakusho and get a look at a lot of classic tropes used when they were still fresh. Two thumbs up.

Actually, you can see a lot of its DNA in My Hero Academia, leading to…

4) My Hero Academia – Young Izuku Medoriya is born quirkless – powerless – in a world where the vast majority of society possesses some sort of superpower. When Medoriya gets a chance to meet his favorite hero, the legendary Symbol of Peace, All Might, he convinces him he has what it takes to be a hero. Seeing his potential, All Might gifts him a special quirk that can be passed down generation to generation: One for All, a quirk that stockpiles power. But in order to harness this power, Medoriya, who takes the hero name Deku, needs to train at the prestigious superhero academy UA High, where he begins his journey to become the world’s greatest hero.

Review – This is the one I’m sort of almost cheating on, since I did write a review of the movie. Rawle already talked about season 1 and Nathan gave it a rec last year, but hoooooooly crap. We need to talk about how exponentially this show improved.

Season 1 was…okay. It was good. I liked it. I decided to keep going with the show on the basis of strong recommendations and the excellent final fight scene that ended season one. And then season 2 happened. And it started with a tournament arc.

And suddenly, the show was amazing.

Previously the show had focused on Deku, leaving the rest of its colorful cast in the background. Season 2 shifted focus, turning into a true ensemble show, with side characters – even side characters who weren’t the center of any stories – getting their own arcs and backstories. The sports festival reaches its climax in a fantastic battle with Deku and the fire-and-ice powered Todoroki, and this is the moment the show passed “really good” and became exceptional. The interweaving of Todoroki’s backstory in the middle of the exceptionally well choreographed fight, combined with the strong narrative being told by the fight itself, really cemented the series identity as a vehicle for both stellar action AND compelling drama without losing its optimistic, can-do spirit.

It is also not the best fight in the series.

The show isn’t perfect. Season 3 was arguably both the show’s best and worst season. The first half of the season, the training camp arc up to the unbelievable battle between All Might and All for One – one of the greatest fight scenes of all time – was clearly the highlight of the entire show to date, but the preliminary exam arc in the second half fell a little flat. The stakes in the prelim exams weren’t high enough to make the stories compelling by themselves and it lacked the strong interpersonal drama that drove the sports festival of season 2, though the arc did end on a high note.

Even so, how does anyone not love My Hero Academia? Literally every single person I know who gave the show a shot is now a huge fan. It is brilliant.

Is it superversive? – Oh, HELL yes. It’s probably the most superversive show on TV right now. Deku is seriously inspiring.

Two last things about the show:

The soundtrack KICKS ASS. Each OP gets progressively better. Make My Story is an earworm. You Say Run goes with anything.

UNIIIIIIIIIIITEEEEEEED STAAAAAAAATES OOOOOOOF SMAAAAAAAAAAASH

Postscript: There are two honorable mention anime I really wanted to talk about but didn’t quite make it onto the list this time. Robotics;Notes came out of nowhere to surprise me with a well-written slice of life story about a school robotics club in an alternate history where robots are a much larger part of daily life. It takes place in the Steins;Gate universe but aside from a couple of Easter eggs this is incidental.

And Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is absolutely fantastic and maybe my second favorite shonen anime to HeroAca. They’ll both be on next list.

SUPERVERSIVE: Four More Anime Reviews published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[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.