Reviews for Trigun (7.72) 521k17

Critic's Log - Earthdate: December 28, 2012. Review #28: Trigun

Life is a journey, I think most people would agree on that. There are
endless possibilities on whatever path a person chooses to walk in. Some
paths may be filled with light, love, and happiness while some other
paths may be filled with darkness, hatred, and despair. I chose to walk
to a path where I live an extraordinary life. There will always be
challenges in life and we eventually have to overcome these challenges
and we have to confront our destiny whether we can control it or not. Some people try to find the meaning of life but I do believe that life has multiple meanings.

With that said, I shall set the philosophical stuff aside and do a
review like I always do. Let's stampede on this gun-toting classic and
gunslinging ride that which is Trigun!

Vash the Stampede is a outlaw gunslinger on the run with a $$60 billion
bounty on his head which has made it hard for him to go anywhere without
being chased and shot at. Every town he ever visits ends up being
destroyed because of his pursuers, but miraculously no one ever gets
killed. Meryl and Milly are agents for the Bernardelli Insurance Society
that have been sent to find Vash the Stampede and keep him under
surveillance so no more damage is caused. Meryl, who leads the pair,
refuses to believe that the man they have met can possibly be The
Humanoid Typhoon that they are looking for. This spiky haired, gangly,
young man is extremely friendly, a pacifist, hates blood and suicide,
absolutely loves donuts, he is also silly and a crybaby (far from a
notorious outlaw). But there is more to Vash and his past than meets the
eye.

To be technical, this is a Studio Madhouse production and Madhouse is
known for their great quality in animation. Trigun however does have
some nice cool looking animation from time to time, but most of the time
it's a bit hit and miss. Some of the earlier episodes didn't look
impressive on some parts. Luckily, the first episode didn't have much
problems with animation quality. Also, This anime came out in the same
year that Cowboy Bebop did and that anime had great quality in animation
for its time and Sunrise isn't a studio known for top-notch quality
animation like Studio Madhouse tends to get an acclaimed reception for.
Maybe Trigun didn't have the budget like Cowboy Bebop did, who knows.
Honestly, I have no problem with the animation. I know it's hit and miss
in some areas, but it's not too disappointing when it comes to the
action scenes which I do think that Trigun has some awesome gun fights.
All in all... The animation isn't terrible by any means, it's mostly
good but not as top-notch as you would expect from Madhouse, it's just
sometimes off in some areas.

What makes the show great are the characters, they are the heart of the
show and they are pretty unforgettable. Vash the Stampede is hands down
one of the most memorable heroes in anime because of his somewhat
bizarre appearance as well has his mysterious personality. He doesn't
carry the story alone. There's Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a priest that is
fascinating to watch with his reflection on Vash's nature and an intense
opposition of Vash's way of life. Meryl Strife and Milly Thompson are
also fun to watch, even though Meryl is short-tempered, she is
comionate toward others. She's a nice character. Then there's her
co-worker Milly Thompson who happens to be very muscular which she
physically towers over Meryl. She's a character that looks up to Meryl
and she appears to be rather simple yet she shows genuine optimism as
well as a kind heart. I like her too. The minor characters as well as
some characters that only appear in one episode as well do handle the
greater part of this little deceptive bugger. I'll explain more of that
later. Who else is left? Oh! How can I forget about the sadist with the
malicious use of his psychic powers?. That's right, I'm referring to
Legato Bluesummers. He is by far one of the most memorable villians in
an anime and even though he's not the main villian, he was still
fascinating to watch from his first appearance to the last. Then there's
Knives Millions which has got to be the strangest name for a fictional
character. In fact, some of the names in this series are a bit weird.
I'll give some credit to Yasuhiro Nightow, it is a pretty unique and
original method for naming characters. Anyway, Knives Millions has a
immense hatred toward humanity and he doesn't really appear all too much
until the end. Knives was a bit interesting at times. The characters
really make the show memorable. Also, keep an eye out for a black cat in
any episode of the show because this black cat appears in a brief scene
in every episode of the show, maybe just for sight gags.

The music is done by Tsuneo Imahori and he happened to be the guitarist
for The Seatbelts (the band that was formed by Yoko Kanno for the
soundtrack of Cowboy Bebop). The soundtrack for Trigun is a bit
under-appreciated except for the awesome kickass opening, and the catchy
closing theme. The music does bring life to the world of Trigun (A
desert planet named Gunsmoke if I'm not mistaken) and the soundtrack is
nice to hear from time to time. Even Legato's theme is a little eerie.
The music is pretty good on its own.

When it comes to the voice performances. The Subbed version is pretty
good for the most part, but I do find Trigun rewarding while watching it
Dubbed. There are times where I do prefer the English voice over the
other. Some characters were performed well on both sides as well. Masaya
Onosaka is great as Vash but there are times where he overacts a little
bit, not too bad. Johnny Yong Bosch on the other hand was terrific as
Vash The Stampede and this was his debut anime role and he sure had more
than amateur's luck at the time. Sho Hayami is pretty good for the most
part as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, but Jeff Nimoy really gives Wolfwood a
voice of likability. Hiromi Tsuru was okay as Meryl while Dorothy
Elias-Fahn sounds just right as Meryl. Satsuki Yukino is great as Milly
as well as Lia Sargent. Aya Hisakawa is also great as Rem, same goes for
Bridget Hoffman. Tohru Furusawa and Bo Williams are both alright as
Knives. Toshihiko Seki and Richard Cansino are both terrific as Legato.
There are some worthy seiyus to mention that were pretty good in Trigun.
Unsho Ishizuka was great as Brilliant Dynamites Neon. Akio Ohtsuka
voiced one of the Gung-ho Guns, Rai-Dei the Blade. Atsuko Tanaka voices
Claire, and Norio Wakamoto voiced Gofsef. As far as worthy Voice actors
to mention, Joshua Seth was terrific as the younger Knives. Mona
Marshall voices Kaite, Kirk Thornton voices Rai-Dei The Blade, and Steve
Blum voices Professor Nebraska, Mr. Blum was a bit over the top on this
one compared to his other roles. I guess in a way you can't go wrong
with either version and even though the dub isn't really an all-star
dub, it still is a very likable dub and I really like the dub to Trigun.

I mentioned earlier that Trigun is a little deceptive bugger, well I
wasn't kidding when I said this because this show starts off as a wild
west comedy with some over the top action scenes and it gave Trigun the
popcorn entertainment treatment, or so we think. As the show gets right
to the middle, we delve into Vash's past which is pretty sad and
surprisingly thought-provoking as well. As the series nears its end, it
jumps from being a comedy and spirals downward to a drama. Episodes 23
and 24 are undeniably the most cruel episodes in the show. One
particular episode ends on a sad note while the next one has a
nerve-shattering moment that I guarantee will send chills down your
spine if you're emotionally invested in the characters. However, is the
transition from comedy to drama a bad thing for Trigun? Honestly, in
Trigun's case... No! When Trigun comes in full circle, it is saved by
the depth of humanity of the cast of characters. Neon Genesis
Evangelion? 2/3 of the show was more on action while that last third was
all philosophical and psycologically complex and not many viewers
complained about the change of direction. Trigun does the same thing
except with comedy then drama. Vash's philosophy of non-violence is
charming to begin with and easy to cheer on about, but once it's put
into a cruel context, Vash has to wonder if it's killing more people
than it saves and struggles far more against himself than Legato which
makes for a surprisingly emotional moment as well as a deep one as well.
When it all comes down to story, Trigun is mainly episodic and there is
no line of blatant exposition at all, which makes a somewhat
interesting experience from the storytelling. However, there are some
questions that aren't answered in the anime and I've been told that
there are questions answered in the manga. To be honest, interpretation
is nice to think about because it makes a good conversation regarding a
certain topic in a show. There's really not much room for interpretation
if you decide to read the manga alongside the anime, but as the show on
its own, whatever questions that have not been answered is all up to
your imagination. What really works for the story of Trigun is the
believability of the characters, its originality in characters, settings
and even character designs even if some character designs do look a bit
bizarre. I also like the symbolism in Trigun. Vash's red coat is a
pretty significant symbol to the story. I thought it was there for show
Rem said something about red geraniums (a type of flower if you don't
know) in the flashback episode. A highly notable use of symbolism in
Trigun is references to Christianity. Religious or not, the usage of
this symbolism really doesn't throw it at your face and shove it down
your throat, it gives Trigun a nice touch. The reasoning behind the
Christian imagery in the show is because Yasuhiro Nightow (the creator
of Trigun) is a Christian (Roman Catholic from what I've looked up).
That's what works. What doesn't work in the show is the show's pacing
near the end as well as the ending. The pacing of the show was pretty
average for 20 some episodes until it starts getting pretty dark, that's
when the show starts wrapping up in a rushed pace. I do think there
were a couple of moments where the music does not fit in certain scenes
but that's a minor nitpick. However, the last episode could have had
better direction because I did like how they were showing Vash's past in
full circle, but the first half of the final episode mostly shows that
and then most of the second half shows the big showdown between Vash and
Knives and the fight itself was pretty cool and well... After that, the
show ends two minutes later. I felt the show's ending was a bit rushed.
It's not really a terrible ending to say the least. I just thought the
final episode could have had better direction. This shouldn't really
stop me or anyone else from enjoying Trigun because there are some
things to like about Trigun. It is an anime classic that still gets
mentioned today.

Trigun was available from Geneon until they went under. It is available
from Funimation after they rescued it a few years back. The manga by
Yasuhiro Nightow is available from Dark Horse. The Trigun movie
"Badlands Rumble" is available from Funimation. A video game called
"Trigun: The Planet Gunsmoke" was in the works by Red Entertainment and
SEGA has not made any recent comments about it and is believed to be
cancelled.

With all that said, Trigun is a gun-toting anime classic that does have
hit-and miss animation but it has effective secretive storytelling since
the story is moving at times, the music compliments the show and its
settings, and the characters are believable in their own ways. I do
think the cool appeal is very high in this show. It isn't perfect, but
it still remains an anime classic to this day.

I give Trigun a 9 out of 10. It is EXCELLENT!

Feel free to leave a comment, and repeat after me...

THIS WORLD IS MADE OF... LOVE AND PEACE!