Trigun

Anime, I say the word and it probably conjures up some image in your mind, and it may be very different than what I think of. I see Anime as an art form, and as a medium for telling amazing, high quality stories.

But as with all other mediums for telling stories there is lots of crap you have to sort through, and I mean a lot of crap. Anime is notorious for lots of subpar shows, crappy animation, sexiest interpretations of women, and lots of shows you should just NEVER watch. Really a lot of this stuff is unavoidable, now you might be saying "Well why the heck would I ever watch Anime?" Well because sometimes when shoveling through the sea of crap you may well find a gem mixed in with it all. Really gross analogue aside, I'm here to help you find those gems by taking about all of my favorite Anime. So enjoy the ride.

The Story:

Taking place on a distant desert planet, this space western begins with Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson who are sent by the Bernardelli Insurance Company to evaluate claims regarding Vash the Stampede.

The Humanoid Typhoon (aka Vash the Stampede,) has a 60 Billion double dollar ($$) bounty on his head for the destruction of an entire city and all of it's inhabitance. Because of the amazingly large bounty on his head everyone is gunning to catch him. But when Meryl and Milly finally catch up with him, they find that Vash the Stampede is nothing but a smiling, kind-hearted idiot, who wants nothing more than to promote love and peace!

But trouble always seems to find him, as Meryl and Milly follow him on his journey. Along the way, they will meet the down on his luck priest who carries a giant cross on his back named Wolfwood,

and the sinister villain named Legato.

But the question remains is this the real Vash or is there something else going on?

The Anime:

Trigun is a really awesome show, you don't even have to go very far to see why. While it may look like a simple westren, Trigun is an action science fiction series. There are crazy gun fights in this show, and lots of fooling around on Vash's part.

He always gets into these ridiculous battles were he is outgunned and you think: Oh man there is no way he will make it out of this one, but then he does! It feels a bit like he is always in control, and he is just toying with whoever he is fighting. This often leads to some very comical moments, where he might end up dropping something and make someone trip, and then it sets of some chain reaction. If fact you might say that Trigun is more of a comedy than anything,

I mean the show opens with a whole Saloon getting literally destroyed.

But no Trigun really isn't a comedy because the are a lot of sad and serious moments, and when they hit they hit hard. Vash himself may look like a fun loving, pervy, womanizer, but its really just a cover for something else. Don't get me wrong he is like that, but he is a character that suffers from a lot of pain, and grief of the past.

While we are on the subject of characters in Trigun I say that they are all really well done. Meryl and Milly may look like plain damsels in distress type characters,

but Milly carries around this big honking gun which she "accidentally" beats people up with.

Meryl is sort of there to deal with Vash's antics, and while it may not always seem like she has that much of a character, she has a great friendship with Milly, and she does have some awesome moments. And who knows she might just end up falling for Vash.

As for the rest of the cast I really don't want to say much as to not spoil anything, but the villains are really cool.

Oh and Wolfwood is the best.

The Music and Presentation:

Trigun's world very much resembles that of the wild west, and if I didn't tell you anything about the show before you watched it you would probably think it was just a western. But then there are these crazy characters that almost look like monsters, and creatures, and they carry giant space guns.

The planet that it is set on is never named but it is completely made up of desert, and they do a good job making it look like it.

The action in Trigun is very top notch, and the animation still looks really good even 14 years later. And there is very little repeat animation, thank goodness!

As for the music it is pretty varied. Some of the music sounds like the music in a western, some of it sounds like heavy metal, and then some of it sounds like Jazz. It is a very weird mix, but it works quite well, I feel like it is all Trigun.

As for the theme song it gets me all pumped to watch the show, it is awesome. Check it out.

Final thoughts:

Trigun is a wild ride of a show. It tells a well constructed story that keeps you guessing. At the beginning it seems like it isn't really going anywhere and doesn't know how to end, but then it comes from left field with an ending that you realize could only have been thought up at the beginning, as it was setup pretty well. And while the show would have still been great if it was just about Vash helping people, but it is the ending that really makes this one worth watching, and then rewatching. Go out and enjoy this great anime. You won't regret it. Oh and watch it in Japanese.

LOVE AND PEACE!