#trigun theory craft

[brutermonger]

I wonder if we will see these bebes next season? I want to see them Thrive and bring about unspeakable atrocities upon humanity(affectionate). 😌 💖

[to-eat-laugh-love-in-peace]

So I have a theory that the next season of Trigun Stampede is going to tackle the Fifth Moon Incident seeing as one, there have been a few official merchandise that depicted one or more moons in the background such as a t-shirt depicting the phases of the moon right beside the series’ title and above Vash and Wolfwood who are standing back to back with their guns drawn,

a Vash figure that again has him with his gun drawn depicting not only three moons but also Jeneora Rock, which was where the Fifth Moon Incident took place in the manga, behind him,

and a poster from the Blu-ray Soundtrack CD Booklet depicting Vash releasing a grappling hook from his prosthetic arm towards the general direction of the largest of the three moons present in the background, with the friction from the grappling hook being released causing sparks to fly,

and two, in the end credits scene in episode 12 an unbroken shot of the crater-laden surface of a moon overlooking a red and brown planet that I think is supposed to be No Man’s Land is shown while two people can be heard talking to each other off-screen. This leads me to think that Chronica and the other members of Project Pieces of Earth are going to have something to do with the Fifth Moon Incident happening this time around as seen how one of the two voices belongs to an unidentified man, who says that Project Pieces of Earth is entering phase two now that the drain gate deployment has been completed and the experimental warp drive craft is just about to be released, only for the other voice belonging to a woman later identified as Special Ops Lieutenant Colonel Independent Chronica, to give him the order to suspend the countdown because she notices a fluctuation in the gate, that they’re receiving something via subspace, and so she gives the order to be given readings of the entire solar system from which they learn that the noise is coming from Project SEEDS, which leads to Zazie letting Meryl know that ships from Earth will arrive at No Man’s Land after crossing a bridge of light thanks to the twins casting a bridge across the void during their confrontation in July when they met up at the memorial, before they take off. Also, in Tristamp’s iteration of the July Incident, when Vash tries to keep the excess energy from his gate he had condensed into the cube he kept contained within his demon arm from killing every living being on the planet and even possibly destroying the entire planet itself once the cube came apart, he couldn’t just point his demon arm up at the sky from where he was standing like he did in Trimax and ‘98, he had to actually fly past the planet’s atmosphere in order to release the blast into space so he’s likely going to enter into another fight with Knives that takes place in space for the Fifth Moon Incident to take place so they might be bringing in the Ark.

And on top of that, I think that the series of events that lead up to the Fifth Moon Incident are going to be combined with the series of events that lead up to another incident in Trimax where Vash nearly caused another July Incident, the Dragon’s Nest Incident, seeing as the people present and had a role to play in the Dragon’s Nest Incident were Hoppered the Gauntlet, Midvalley the Hornfreak, Zazie the Beast, Legato Bluesummers, Elendira the Crimsonnail, Millions Knives, Vash the Stampede, Nicholas the Punisher, Meryl Stryfe, and Milly Thompson, and in Tristamp, and in Tristamp Hoppered is pretty much confirmed to show up since his entire character hinges on the destruction of July City, Midvalley was name dropped in a newspaper article Roberto was reading in episode 6 about how he was scheduled to perform in September City for his live tour, Milly was also name dropped and practically confirmed to appear in S2 as Meryl’s very own newbie, with Meryl literally heading back to HQ to pick her up, Vash, Meryl, and Wolfwood have traveled together and gotten to know each other for at least two months prior to Lost July, with episode 1 taking place at May 25 and episode 12 taking place at July 21, which they were personally there to witness, and even play a part in, with Meryl learning not only more about Vash but also Wolfwood thanks to Conrad after getting kidnapped by Zazie and held hostage at the EoM’s base of operations in July City on top of receiving her signature weapon that is her derringer from Roberto and solidifying her resolve to go after Vash and help him however way she can to stop Knives from killing off each and every human on the planet, and Legato and Elendira have already made an appearance, however brief they were, so the cast lines up.

Starting with Vash having to leave behind his life with Lina and Sheryl as Eriks, I think that bringing him back into the fray in S2 is going to be group effort among Meryl, Milly, and Wolfwood for reasons others have pointed here and here, and that S2 is going to take the scene of Meryl returning Vash’s belongings that had been confiscated by the Bernardelli Insurance Society now that it had gone out of business with everything that had been happening with Knives and the ark in Trimax, and have it be her returning Vash’s belongings that he didn’t bring with him to July and instead left on Ship 3, like his photo of him, Nai, and Rem, along with the other photos of them and maybe even that recorder thing that Rem used to film their first birthday that Brad had been able to bring back from the ruins of Ship 5 back then and also that notebook he was shown writing what were likely journal entries during the flashback to the first few years he spent living in Ship 3, among other things like small trinkets he’s kept during his travels around No Man’s Land in Tristamp, since he was kind of pressed for time what with Meryl and Roberto getting kidnapped by Zazie so he really only brought the bare necessities with him to July.

That is assuming Meryl was able to visit Ship 3 at some point after the July incident which I like to think that she was able to one way or another even if she did leave on short notice. I figured that with how well Meryl and Luida got along while she was on Ship 3, especially with how supportive Meryl was of Luida’s goal to terraform No Man’s Land into a green planet with the flora she’s been growing in Ship 3’s biodome in order to lessen the strain the plants, they would want to keep in touch with one another somehow from that point on. And then there’s also the fact that Zazie told her that ships from Earth were on their way to No Man’s Land so Meryl would want to talk to a first-generation Project SEEDS crew member about it which I wonder how it’ll go since it seems like in Tristamp no one not even the people on Ship 3 seems to hace any idea that there's still life of Earth seeing as Luida’s plan in Tristamp isn't to repeatedly send a message to Earth until their receive and respond to it like it was in Trimax but to terraform No Man’s Land into a green planet in order to lessen the amount of work that the Plants have to do in order to keep humanity alive. Also, I also have a theory that the new pairs of earrings that she’s shown wearing two years after the July Incident aren't just for show, that they were given to her by Ship 3 and they work kind of like how Vash's earring does in '98 and Trimax where it acts as a hidden communication device connected to a pen or just the other earring in her case since she owns a pair ever since I heard someone, somewhere, forgot where, point out that Meryl’s new earrings look not only like a combination of her signature dangle earrings and Vash's signature huggie earring in silver, but also like a Dependent Plant with their petals curled to form a bulb around their upper torsos, I haven’t stopped thinking about it ever since.

I’ve theorized before in the tags of another post here that Brilliant Dynamites Neon and Meryl might have a confrontation with each other in S2 since although the two haven’t interacted much outside of her and Milly disguising themselves as members of the Bad Lads Gang to later back up Vash and Kaite when they’re cornered by the Bad Lads Gang during their heist on the sand steamer in the ‘98 and Trimax, in both iterations Neon took the time to ask Vash about what exactly happened in July that led to the city being destroyed, and in '98 its residents being left alive but homeless unemployed and impoverished leading them to fight and kill each other to survive in the fallout of the incident, and in Trimax its residents being swallowed by a black hole leading to no survivors or even any bodies left to be found which led Vash to ask him if he had folks who were in July at the time of the incident and then admit that he just didn't remember much about July when asked if he had anything to do with it which Neon was forced to accept before the two had a duel and then after Neon shot a rock about to crush Vash's head during their duel he was revealed to have been prepared to kill Vash for some time since July only for him to decide spare him for now not having let go of his reasons for wanting revenge post-July to stay true to the terms of their duel as was pointed out in this post.

Now in Tristamp Meryl was not only in July when the incident took place but was also there to witness firsthand what exactly happened for the city to have been completely demolished and more than half of its population to have been killed by a large explosion. Also, unlike Vash in '98, Trimax, and possibly Tristamp she didn't develop amnesia from the traumatic incident and still retains her memories of the incident. On top of that, she along with Roberto were announced on the radio to be suspected accomplices of Vash the Stampede who the military police were looking to bring in as persons of interest in episode 4, and she’s implied to have been spending the past two years since the July Incident defending Vash as was pointed out here. And then add in the fact that she's met the Bad Lads Gang when they took her and Roberto with them to the sandsteamer to take pictures of them during their heist to publish in the paper before Vash came in and knocked them out and all of this took place on July 20, the day before the July Incident took place, meaning that they could recognise her if they tried to find her. Also I wonder why Neon wasn't on the ship at the time like was he visiting his folks in July only to be pulled away when he heard that the heist was a bust because the ship was taken off course and its ion cannon was locked and loaded to fire at Hopeland? And if Neon had folks in July in Tristamp then what's their deal since it's been said to be the wealthiest city in NML with its citizens having to contribute to the city's development and pass a screening process to obtain citizenship according to additional lore provided in a tweet by Studio Orange.

I’ve also theorized in the tags of another post here whether or not Studio Orange will adapt the Little Arcadia arc considering what they've established with the flora in S2 which I think that they’ll likely adapt it because one, that’s when Marilyn Nebraska along with her mother and brothers make an appearance in Triamax and in Tristamp she’s been seen in wanted posters from time to time confirming her existence in this iteration, and two it puts a lot of focus on Meryl and Milly, like it provides some insight into their personal lives with their families and everything, as well as who they are as individuals and as partners, and with Milly being confirmed to show up in S2 as Meryl's very own newbie it's going to be crucial that they take some time for them to get to know each other and grow closer. Besides that if they ever do adapt the Little Arcadia arc I wonder how they would adapt Badwick and his family? With how Meryl reacted to the flora and by extension Geo Plants on Ship 3 are Geo-Plants just that rare even among Plants? Does no one else really try to use them to grow flora to the extent that Luida does? If so, what would that mean for Badwick's parents? Are they people who have no connection to Luida or Ship 3 and simply happen to share her dream to terraform NML into a green planet through the use of a Geo-Plant they have in their possession only for their dream to be threatened by their son planning to sell the land to someone who wouldn't really take care of it not to the extent that they have and certainly not with the dream that they hold? Or is something else going to go on with them?

Moving onto Legato, I think that when he does reappear in S2 he’s already going to be in a body cast like his Trimax counterpart was in since I think that the reason why he wasn’t in the S1 finale was because Knives crippled him prior to Vash’s arrival as punishment for acting on his own when he had taken the sandsteamer off of its original course to July through the use of his telekinetic ability to have it collide with Hopeland instead, leading Vash to take even longer to get to July after he had exhausted himself from communicating with the ship’s Plant to slow the ship to a stop, on top of redirecting the ship’s ion cannon which he had also telekinetically manipulated to power up to keep it from firing at Hopeland, fighting with Livio who he had sent after him, and fighting off the Bad Lads Gang who’d taken over the ship and held Meryl and Roberto hostage, and so had to be taken to Ship 3 to rest and recuperate for more than half of the day he was supposed to have already arrived in July, when he was just supposed to take the ship’s Plant once it arrived to July and further raise the stakes by stranding the ship’s passengers, leaving them with no other choice than to seek refuge in the city.

Either leading him to focus either solely on Vash after possibly both out of anger for being responsible for Knives’ state after July, nevermind the fact that Knives wouldn’t have been in that state had he not continued to put himself in Vash’s demon arm’s line of fire to reach for the cube despite Vash yelling at him to stop, to get out of the way, that he’s going to burn himself alive if keeps this up, and shame because his actions had led him to be put in a position where he couldn’t assist Knives when he surely would have needed it most, or direct his attention to Vash along with Wolfwood and Meryl because all three of them, in his eyes, had a part in Knives’ being severely injured, if not nearly dead after July. Or at least in Wolfwood’s case, he was the reason why Meryl had gotten out of July before the incident took place which I’m sure he wouldn’t be very happy about.

For a moment I thought that the idea of him meeting Vash for the first time since July in a full metal body cast like the coffin-shaped one that was either carried around by a lackey, attached to a motorcycle he would drive around, or attached to a sort of arm piece that would prop him up or push him forward his Trimax counterpart was in when he introduces him to the game he’s set up wouldn’t be likely since it would be a bit too conspicuous for him to go out in public in but then I remembered that his Trimax counterpart had also used his ability to make himself invisible to everyone but Vash in their first meeting, which was why Meryl and Milly expressed confusion when Vash warned Wolfwood about him on the bus ride to Jeneora Rock, so he could also just do that in Tristamp. And the thought of Vash being the only one who is able to see him in this utterly ridiculous contraption while everyone else just goes about their day like nothing’s wrong is such a funny mental image to me.

Since Monev is dead in Tristamp, I think that the one who Vash is going get into a fight with first after Legato introduces him to the game that he’s set up for him is Dominique the Cyclops because when he fights her in Trimax, he’s down one arm after he had his prosthetic arm blown off during his fight with Monev, and in Tristamp he’s also down one arm after he had sacrificed his prosthetic arm along with his gun to form his demon arm during his fight with Knives in July so the circumstances he’s in in Tristamp kind of line up with the circumstances he was in in Trimax. Also, Studio Orange could could easily give Dominique a backstory in Tristamp similar to Monev’s in Trimax with just a few changes to act as a parallel to Legato’s backstory, considering how they revamped Monev’s backstory to act as a parallel to Wolfwood’s backtory in Tristamp, again with just a few changes made for it to also act as a cautionary tale for both Wolfwood and Vash.

Seeing as what we do know about her is that she talks about the deaths of half of the Roderick Slavers as a simple matter of taking out the trash that profits off of the suffering of others, even calls it spring cleaning, and expresses happiness and relief over the surviving slavers having left town and no longer lining their pockets at the expense of the townspeople and expects Vash to feel the same, she has the ability to induce sensory paralysis in her foes, momentarily stunning them and making her movements appear immediate, when she lifts her eyepatch, which reveals a reptilian eye that I like to think is simply from a mutation rather than a product of experimentation, and locks eyes with her foes, regardless of the distance between them, and she commits suicide after she loses to Vash, saying that if she couldn’t be of use to Legato, then there was only one way this could turn out, which already kind of mirrors how Legato acts when it comes to Knives.

So she could made to be another slave girl who Legato freed for whatever reason, maybe not even with the intention to free her, like how he violently killed over a dozen people with his powers in front of those slave girls in Trimax, not because he intended to free them but because the slavers picked a fight with him first, though he did spare the girls, none of them were physically harmed at all despite the carnage, and he did offer them the closest thing he had to reassurances before he left, when he could have just ignored them, which he also could have done when he freed Dominique, the difference being that instead of being left to process what exactly went down in front of her like those girls did, Dominique expressed an interest to learn from him, work for him, if he’d let her, which Legato did allow her to do, though not without warning her that she would die a slow and painful death if she ever failed or disobeyed him, maybe after learning about her left eye’s ability and figuring that it could prove useful to further Knives’ cause much like his own ability.

Since Grey the Ninelives had also made an appearance, both as the mech suit in episode 3 and as the nine people who control it in episode 10, the attack on Ship 3 is all but guaranteed to take place, and I’ve also theorized in the tags of another post here that Meryl and Milly are going to play a much larger role to take them down probably alongside Wolfwood unlike in Trimax when they really showed up at the end of the fight as comic relief like they literally just happened to land on top of the surviving pilots right when they were just about to try and attack Wolfwood again since in Tristamp Meryl got to learn more about them when Conrad took her and Roberto in a tour around the Eye of Michael’s base of operations in July after she and Roberto had gotten kidnapped but not kept locked up by Zazie so she could be how Wolfwood finds out that this big guy is just a mech suited being piloted by nine people and in Trimax there’s this line that the guy who gave Meryl her first derringer says in a flashback something along the lines of how even small gun like that could even the odds between the biggest guy and her which really gives off a lot of David and Goliath vibes that they could and I kind of want them to reference during the fight. Though I’ve briefly considered that Milly is going to be the one who gets kidnapped instead of Meryl since she’s already gotten kidnapped before by Zazie in episode 9 during which she learned more about not only Vash but also Wolfwood thanks to Conrad in episode 10 and even had gone through quite a bit character development in an elevator lift thanks to Roberto later on, I think that Meryl is still the one who's going to get kidnapped, probably to keep Vash from reaching Knives before he’s fully recovered from his injuries this time around, seeing as Wolfwood did tell her he got her out of July in a mad dash that they were likely going to be hunted down by the Eye of Michael since they’ll never allow those who pose a threat to them to survive so maybe they’re eventually going to catch up to her and then take her away when she finds herself in a vulnerable position, maybe when she’s in the middle of looking out for Milly during a fight.

Which would automatically give Milly a personal stake to get Meryl back alongside Vash and Wolfwood since not only was she there when Meryl was taken away but also she was the reason why Meryl had been taken away despite how vigilant she’d been since she was aware of what was going on. And could lead to Wolfwood and Milly having an argument over whether or not she should come with them to get Meryl back.

Wolfwood could also have a conversation with Meryl after her kidnapping about what Vash and Knives are and what they can do as well as how Meryl should maybe back out and take Milly with her like he did in Trimax, which would be a stark contrast to how he planned to leave her and Roberto behind to be digested by a grand worm to separate them from Vash so he could get he alone would bring him to July as was pointed here and here. This could be something Meryl might seriously consider doing especially when she keeps in mind the fact that they’re fighting actual supervillains and she’s nowhere near on par with Vash and Wolfwood physically, so how is she supposed to protect an intern, who is bigger and stronger than her, as the situations become more and more dangerous, and on top of all that she’s still dealing with her grief and guilt over Roberto death so she wouldn’t want to risk repeating history with Milly.

Since Zazie appears to no longer side with Knives after what he had pulled in July nearly put them and their planet in danger of being wiped out, with how Wolfwood pointed out that he had never seen them so flustered when the two met up just outside of July, and how Zazie expressed confusion and borderline disappointment towards how the general public made Vash out to be the villain behind the July Incident when they and Meryl met up at the memorial, it’s unlikely that they’re going to be ones to kidnap Meryl this time around, with that role either falling to Midvalley or someone else. I think that it's going to be Midvalley since he was the one who commented on Zazie being the one to come up with the idea to kidnap Meryl and hold her hostage to draw Vash out in Trimax so why not just have him be the one to come up with the idea instead in Tristamp, seeing as there’s also this scene during his and Hoppered’s fight with Vash and Wolfwood where he manipulates the sound waves in the area in such a way that Vash can’t hear Hoppered lunging right at him so that could be how he catches Meryl off guard.

I didn’t even bother considering Hoppered to be the one to kidnap her since I think he’s much more likely to try to kill her the first chance he gets when you keep in mind that in Tristamp not only does Meryl know more about what's going on in than her ‘98 and Trimax counterparts have at this point of the series as was pointed out here but also she’s been implied to have spent the past two years since the July incident defending Vash’s name seeing as the first scene we see of her two years after the July incident was her ripping off Vash’s new wanted poster of the wall of the rest stop she stopped by at and then she later gets scolded and even threatened to be transferred to the insurance society by her coworker if she kept acting on her own after she told him she was at the crater so Hoppered definitely wouldn’t think killing her right then and there would be meaningless like he did in Trimax.

Lastly, seeing as Elendira was first introduced in Dragon’s Nest in Trimax, in Tristamp it could be where she could make a reappearance and have that rematch with Wolfwood Kenji Muto mentioned in a post on his twitter that depicted an older Elendira dressed and posed just like her Trimax counterpart, even holding that suitcase from where she would fire her nails in Trimax so I'm guessing that it’s somehow supposed to help her generate larger nails from her gate, did in the only flashback we ever see of her where she follows behind Knives from Legato’s perspective so she likely won’t show up just to keep Vash from firing his angel arm, or I guess demon arm in Tristamp, and retrieve Legato on Knives’ orders.

[makima-s-most-smile]

Trigun Maximum 9.2

And the second part...

Trigun Ultimate: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 Trigun Maximum: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

04: At the verge of death

Again, complex feelings. Wolfwood spared the bandits, but not Livio? No way. Wolfwood expects Livio to heal with the vials after he killed Chapel.

And here, Chapel goes Speedwagon for us readers and explains what modifications Livio went through.

I… just how Nightow draws the blood splatter on the wall, makes Wolfwood’s wounds feel so much more real. And I have to be honest, that started with the last fight on the ark, it is like NIghtow’s drawing had a level up.

Willpower against Willpower.

Midvalley was right that Wolfwood is a God of War.

This panel… Damn. The dynamic poses, the lighting especially on Wolfwood and the way his face is drawn... Wow.

And this sounds so incredibly desperate. Wolfwood pleads for Livio’s life. Wolfwood’s desperation feels so real. I don’t remember reading Wolfwood begging before. Even on the arc, Wolfwood was somewhat kept together, his doubts and pain expressed internally only when he thought he would die. Here he shows his fear and care for Livio openly to Livio. Wolfwood loves Livio. Livio cannot die. If he dies, I do not trust that Wolfwood could go on.

Wolfwood is an incredibly brilliant fighter, but if Chapel is right then Livio is physically better than him. Wolfwood has only a set amount of chances until Livio would overpower him in the end, so he has to take desperate measures.

05: Demon

Is Wolfwood the demon the chapter title mentions? He went beyond Chapel’s expectations and overpowered Livio. Like Midvalley he stands corrected.

I mean… he was trained by you and then he had to run after Vash for like nearly three years. You learn a trick or two from that.

But that is not the only thing, yes, Livio has physical buffs shoved up his arse til kingdom comes, but Wolfwood has for one much more experience on the field and with Vash, too, and, while he is a massive derp in human interactions, he knows how to read people. He just does not know what to do with it.

Does… Does Wolfwood do the weird killing aura plant stuff now, too?!?!?

First time reading, this confused me. There are only 9 of these important weapons! You get the tenth. Now I know it means that Wolfwood is good enough in his… uh… craft that he deserved to get his own made. But, question, is it only ten Punishers? Or ten of these cross weapons as a whole with each having their own name? Because Chapel has one, I do not count Livio’s two and Razlo’s three, since he got under Chapel after Wolfwood, so after this flashback.

The Eye of Michael was founded around 5-10 years after the Great Fall. This is a flashback to TeenWolf, so he should be 6-10 years younger than the current timeline Wolfwood. Sects and such tend to sprout out of the ground like conspiracy theories when times are hard and what is harder than the Great Fall? I’d like to know more about its foundation time. Knives and Vash were walking around together then, so I would be surprised if Knives helped it along. Did he corrupt them later and they started out as something hopeful?

I love the flashback and what it points to. The name of the Punisher is sacred. Wolfwood does it justice by bringing Punishment not to Livio, not to humanity, but to the abuser Chapel.

This will be important later. I always interpreted this as that there is a finite amount of vials your body can process. Like everyone has a limit. Additionally, the vials heal by fast aging the body to heal it up. So every vial is a few years off, but if you go beyond that limit, you die, because you are beyond your maximum time. But Stampede makes me wonder, is it how many vials you can take at the same time or over your whole life? Because I thought the latter, but at the rate StampedeWolfy seems to throw them back… Another thought to my former idea, if you take more than one, it’s effect does not add to another but gets multiplied for the better AND worse. But those are headcannons, since we do not get much about the vials.

We, the readers, get an additional visual hint by Nightow drawing Razlo’s expression from the masked side. This is Razlo.

Did he hide the third arm in his body? I thought it was somehow weirdly placed on his back, wait no, that is the fabric ripping. Still, the third arm makes me laugh so hard. It… just looks so derpy. And off balance, too! Yeah, give him a full additional iron arm on one side! That will teach him.

The chapter starts out with Wolfwood presented as the demon, but it ends with a picture of Razlo in diablo mode. Razlo is the demon. I know Tri-P stands for Tri-Punisher, but the Trip of Death sounds, well, like a trip in itself.

06. Fortitude

Razlo may be stronger, but he is so much more naive… Why would he even think that the Eye of Michael would be friendlier? I get that they trick kids, but that is really… Dunno.

Razlo IS Livio’s fortitude. But is this chapter truly about Razlo’s or will it circle back to Wolfwood’s fortitude?

Uh… that’s a way to appreciate your servants… Again, Razlo does not care about others. Razlo exists because he is there to protect Livio’s life at all cost. But this introduction makes it difficult to feel empathy for him. The way he treats others and life in general is revolting.

Wonderful fight scene and the way Wolfwood crashes into the surroundings makes it just feel so much more visceral.

Again… Does Chapel want Wolfwood to die? I… Razlo boasts about his fighting prowess and Chapel puts him down, commenting on how Wolfwood did not fight with his true power, that he held back for Razlo. And… It does not read as Chapel being on Razlo’s side, but Chapel wanting Wolfwood to let go of his chosen path and return to his true “assassin” form and that Razlo is the thing that will make Wolfwood do that… Razlo reads as the unaware sacrifice for that specific goal.

And Chapel’s anger comes from Wolfwood staying true to his chosen path. His pride is hurt from Wolfwood rebelling against his order. And now, after he tried the last time to return Wolfwood, he prefers to kill him for his transgressions.

Is he? Wolfwood started his path to change before meeting Vash. He tried to kill Chapel beforehand for the orphanage. Yes, the way Wolfwood comfortably stays against killing if it is not needed, is thanks to Vash. But he was on the path to that decision long before meeting Vash. 

Additionally, isn’t cursing Vash kinda against Chapel’s belief system? Vash is an independent plant, he should be at least on the same level of reverence like Knives, even if he has no authority over them.

I do not get this sentence. May be because English is not my mother tongue. Does Wolfwood think this fight, his fight is stupid?

But… Vash can die. He learned that from Luida. Vash does not bleed like humans, he heals easily, right, that adds to his ignorance and arrogance when he judges people who kill to survive or even for others. (But the reason is not Vash’ immortality, the reason is that Vash does not understand community, because he is just that unbound by it.)

And Wolfwood does not follow Vash completely. Wolfwood is still ready to kill Chapel. I… don’t think Wolfwood has truly a No-Kill-Conviction, but he knows his skills. The bandits from before were outmatched, so why should Wolfwood go the easy way and just kill them if he has the ability to not do that? That’s mercy.

“Killing is a sin but also a path to redemption. Do you understand?” No, do you? This is a contradiction in itself. Fitting for Christianity, truly. You build up guilt and guilt and guilt, by all these rules that are partly so complicated and changed through translations and intention that you cannot hold up every last one. If you feel guilty, you will keep your head down and follow the head mocho. This only leads to suffering and easily exploitable followers.

I do not like that it reads a bit like the only way to survive is by killing or you die by trying to find a way out. 

The one part where Wolfwood was right in the past is that sooner or later Vash will be forced to decide. And making no decision is also a decision. 

So much about Vash is avoiding, avoiding connection, avoiding rejection, even avoiding real responsibility by feeling responsible for everything. But if he acts, he stands by it. And Wolfwood respects him for that, he respects Vash for that with him he was able to live a softer life, a life where he didn’t always have to kill, where he had another option, even if Wolfwood was in the position of the preacher, warning Vash about his fallacies and getting him out of shitty situations. 

“An iron bell is tollin’ inside my head… Or at least one should be... I can’t seem to hear it now…” 

I was confused about the meaning, but in the first chapter of the volumes they are already mentioned as a sign of warning. Wolfwood is saying that he will do something dangerous, that he will go against his better senses, against his survival instincts. If that isn’t an omen, I do not know what is. :) 

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Hi! I adore your analyses.

If it isn't too much to ask, I would love to hear about your general approach to analyzing works. I wanna learn how to analyze things better from other people, and I really like the way you methodically break things down.

In other words, pls sensei teach me your ways HAHAHA

No trouble if you can't, though! Your blog is always a joy.

Have a wonderful day!

Sensei... 🫢

Ah, thank you, this is really flattering! I don't think I really do anything that special. Honestly, all it is was that I got misinterpreted a lot when I was younger and it made it difficult for me to express myself - so I ended up creating something of a system which I found seems to make things clear to others!

I can do a quick overview of it, for sure! I hope it helps! (It's under the cut :D)

Tip 1: Analyze things you love.

Look, this isn't school and I'm not a literary critic. I don't bother forcing myself to analyze things I'm just not feeling. Sometimes, I'll really enjoy something, but have nothing to say about it in particular. (Ex. Akutagawa. I adore him but for some reason don't feel compelled to analyze him as much... even though he's this blog's pfp...) That's not a commentary on the character/media nor my engagement with it. No need to analyze something you don't particularly care to - these write ups take a fair amount of time and effort, so you'll want to have enough raw energy at the start to sustain yourself. You should want to talk about it, is what I'm saying.

Tip 2: Understand the core themes of the story.

I cannot stress this enough! It's so important. The best stories will have their characters, plot arcs and settings all serve to enhance the major themes of the story in some way - figure out what these themes are, and keep them in the back of your mind. I think of themes like a filter - it should change the way you look at the story, and with any luck, draw a lot of seemingly loose threads together in interesting and surprising ways. There are typically about 2-3 major ones (Ex. BSD - living through uncertainty, good as a choice / Trigun - morality and autonomy, life after loss / Hatoful - love as salvation or corruption / there are other themes of course, these are just examples). From this point on, assume you have your "themes filter" active for completing the other tips.

Tip 3: Pick a small detail and think about "Why" and "How".

See, I used to go too big when doing analyses. I used to try and analyze everything there was to examine in one go, and it would become unwieldy and just have far too much information for me to juggle and process. So, it's better to start small. What's something that caught your attention? What was something you liked? Was there anything that confused you? Pick one thing... then ask yourself why and how. Why did I like this? Why did this character act in that way? How does this aspect of the story work? Etc. This will be your topic!

Tip 4: Read other people's thoughts.

I know we all hate going into tags and seeing some of the worst takes out there... so I don't actually do that. I only look through meta and theory tags, and most of those are done by people who put a lot of time and care into their theory crafting, so they at least usually bring the receipts. It always helps to read other's opinions. This is just a good thing in general - you need to open yourself up to different views. Even if you don't agree, you might be better able to articulate why you don't. There's some god-tier stuff in these theory tags, you just gotta look. :)

Tip 5: Pay attention to context and setting.

For most of the stories I analyze, the characters do not exist in a world or situation that is comparable to mine. Asking yourself "where did this character come from?" "what's the overall state of the world they inhabit?" "were this character's experiences different or similar to the rest of the cast? different or similar to their childhoods?" - this is really going to help you understand motivation, far more than core personality traits will alone. (Ex. remember that BSD is a newly post-war society. Tensions are still high. People are being hired at young ages. A lot of people grew up in the slums, and violence is common. How did the different characters interact with this world? What sides might one character have seen to this world that another didn't?)

Also, it's good to at least be somewhat aware of the author and the context they created their story in. Many of the works I analyze are from Japan. It's good to know where a work is from - typically you're going to see at least some expression of cultural values, and I find this is helpful to keep in mind. Some decisions made in story will make a lot more sense when you remember the story's place of origin.

Looking at author influences is also helpful! BSD has a great built-in source of background info, since the entire premise incorporates classic literature. This can be an excellent supplementary source!

Tip 6: Tell a story with your analysis.

Again, I'm doing this for fun. I'm not a literary academic, so I try to use conversational flow. I tend to write like I'm speaking - in fact, this is very much how I talk in real life. It's up to you the tone you set in your writing - just make it something that flows naturally. You can always go back and re-read it if something seems unclear.

What I mean by story is to break your analysis up into chunks. There's no hard and fast rule on how to do this. You can see a clear example of it in my "Dazai Likes People" post, which was long enough that I bolded the sections. It should have a beginning, middle, and end, roughly - beginning where you say what you want to analyze or lead into it somehow, middle (which I typically break up into individual topics), and the end, which honestly is just a rephrasing of the beginning (or sometimes I just leave it out). Sometimes, to break things up I'll add quotes or images that help me with my points; these serve as visual interest so the reader is not faced with a continuous wall of text. Bolding and italicizing key points can also do the trick.

A good way to see if the analysis flows is to see if you can say "so then..." between each paragraph. (Ex. Point 1 -> "so then..." -> Point 2 -> "so then..." -> Point 3, etc.) Each point should flow into the next - I try to make something of a narrative out of it. (It's why the word "so" pops up a lot in my analyses haha.) I'm sorry, I feel like this is the part that's the hardest to explain in a way that's easy to follow. It's mostly practice, really. It's also subjective how you want your analysis to read.

Tip 7: Fact check!

I hate spreading misinformation. Mostly because it's frustrating to have constructed a theory only to get called out that it's based on something misremembered, but also because, as a science student, I'm really mindful of keeping track of my sources. Always have your sources on hand! I spend at least three re-reads of my analyses consulting books, episodes, and manga to ensure that everything I've added is correct. (I might go a bit overboard with it sometimes... I can be a bit paranoid about this...)

And finally, my Golden Rule: ✨Explanation, not Justification!✨

If you have no other takeaway from this post, please remember this! Every character in the story should have their actions be explainable! This does not mean justifiable! Explanation is not just logic, and should always take into account character values, emotions, and situation. This will help prevent analyzing characters only from the perspective of relatability, and is very useful when analyzing antagonists/villains.

Character analysis is always about drawing a throughline between motivation and action. It's not about whether you would do the same, or whether you agree, or whether it is a choice you would forgive.

Everyone has their reasons for doing what they do. This is true in fiction, and it's also true in real life. I try to always keep this in mind.

I hope this was helpful to you, or to anyone who might want to read it!

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Hey Dana! I hope you know that you're super rad! And I really appreciate you! I love hearing your thoughts about everything from Trigun, to Night Vale, to your in depth theory-crafting and stories! I miss movie night in MP10 (but what can you do when all the idiots who want to organize a movie night can't stream lmao) because I always had a blast. Your comments on my works always made my day, and I hope you know how much you mean to me! Much love!!!

AUGH?!?!

Oh my god, thank you.

I do have a new gaming laptop, and I mostly stream on twitch now, but I don't know how well my laptop would stream a movie.

My online social anxiety has gotten a whole lot worse, so I'm not that active on the server anymore.

But I do think about you guys often.

And yeah! I'll always message you about my On again off again listening to NightVale when it matters <3

[veilder]

7! For the writer asks!

Ahhhh, Keltii!! Thank you for the ask, friend! :D (For the Weird Questions Ask Game here!)

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

Wooeee, coming out swinging, eh? Well! Lemme just... try and explain it. So, I think anyone who's ever spoken to me about anything fandom-related knows that I can get... really enthusiastic about the stuff I like? (This is putting it mildly. >_>) I absolutely love discussing theories and meta and trying to decipher the canon and character motivations, etc. And as a side effect, my overactive imagination just goes off, lol! When I am invested in something, I am invested. And that's when the ideas and plot bunnies start hatching. Look. I get... A lot of ideas about stuff. Just so many. AUs and post-canons and fix-its and found family feels and h/c ideas and just everything, it all rushes in and inundates me and completely submerges my mind in a tidal wave of BLORBO!!!! (Anyone following me rn will be able to track my new old decent into Trigun madness in this way, omg.) But I will literally just zone out all day long thinking about Situations™️ and what I want the characters to do and tropes I'd like to hit and damn, if I don't get an outlet for it? I'm miserable. Just freakin floundering like a beached whale, omg.

So, suffice to say that I think my deepest joy about writing is... getting all that out. Taking these ideas I craft and putting them to paper. Letting these nascent thoughts coalesce into a cogent, coherent narrative. I think nothing gives me a greater sense of relief and accomplishment than finishing a chapter? Or especially a whole fic? It's so... cathartic.

All that said, I have been in the midst of a terrible, terrible burnout for a few years now, so that has definitely affected my output, omg. And I only ever published my first fic back in 2018, too. It really... hasn't been that long for me. I went and churned out a huge amount (for me) all in one year and I've kinda been stagnating since, lol. But, y'know... I feel like I've been slightly more invigorated recently? I definitely have some ideas I'm trying to get down and I've even written decent amount for a Trigun AU fic, lol. XD It remains to be seen if I manage to follow through, but I hope so! Finger's crossed! :D

Thank you again for the ask, Keltii! It's nice to be able to try and convey all this. Writing does really mean a lot to me, despite how infrequently I partake these days, lol! This was a fun subject to examine. ^_^

[autumnslance]

Lvl 77 Solo RP Duty

Look, I need to do some screaming, while trying to be as considerate as possible. So still vague-ish, but my initial impressions under the cut.

The only complaint I have is it went too long. We know this enemy by now; the first quarter of the fight, OK, fine, whittle him down until the duty action is available. After that though? The times between being able to use the duty action again took way too long. I don’t think it was based on how much damage we did--given the guy barely takes normal damage--and even if so, for a melee character, there were a lot of times we couldn’t get in close. It could easily be half the time it is, if the enemy’s attack that triggered the duty action came at slightly quicker intervals.

And it should if only because of the sheer tension of that battle! It is easily one of the most intense solo duties in the game at all, thanks to not only the mechanics--oh gosh, the screen change and heartbeat noise!--but also the sheer stakes of it all. This conflict between these characters has been building since the first duty where they were introduced, and this scene works, especially with the dialogue--but the dragging on of the actual combat, when there is, again, no point due to this particular (annoying) enemy, threatens that wonderful character tension.

Not only does this feature one of my favorite characters in game, but of the new RP battle features, it is so beautifully crafted, built on the many quests leading to it, and the scenes immediately before and after are fantastic (I had sudden uncomfortable reminders to certain preachers in Trigun). I was gripped with real fear, I was shaking trying to complete the duty, begging SE not to tear my heart out, and so, so relieved when it was over.

And honestly, if it had come to the worst, I would have grieved, but as a writer, been satisfied with the angst, things left unspoken, and general drama of that story. However, I am also exceedingly glad it went better than I feared it would.

And now I have new theories and ideas, but have to go dive into a well, and see if SE will break my heart after all as I continue on to lvl 80.