In 1998, Madhouse, a Japanese animation studio know for its movie adaptations of Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, made an anime television series based off of the Trigun manga. This 26 episode series was my first serious exposure to anime, alongside Outlaw Star, and it cemented my fanboyism of anime.
This show revolves around Vash the Stampede, a gunslinger with a huge bounty on his head for the destruction of a town named July. However, he is unique in that, for reasons disclosed later in the anime, he does everything in his power to avoid killing anybody, even in self-defense. He is later joind by Milly Thompson and Meryl Stryfe (no relation to Cloud Strife), two insurance agents investigating claims of the disasters he has caused, and Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a gunsliger/priest with a far different philosophy than Vash. These character are all extremely well developed, and are awesome in their own ways. If there was one complaint to be made, it's that, in my opinion, the show doesn't really play off the "priest" portion of Wolfwood's character, outside of a couple of jokes. There could have been a lot of potential to make Wolfwood even more interesting than he already is.
They are eventually opposed by the Gung-ho Guns, which consist of: Monev the Gale (who wears a powersuit and carries two chainguns on his arms), Dominique the Cyclops (who possesses the "demon's eye", which allows her to cause hypnosis and sensory paralysis, giving her the illusion of teleportation), E. G. Mine (who uses a suit that surrounds him like a naval mine and shoots spikes), Rai-Dai the Blade (who uses a samurai sword with a rifle built into it that he can swing to cause supersonic waves), Leonof the Puppet Master (who controls puppets to do his bidding), Gray the Nine Lives (a nigh-indestructable cyborg), Hoppered the Gauntlet (who uses a shield and rocket propulsion to turn himself into a projectile), Zazie the Beast (who controls sand worms with a high-frequency device), Midvalley the Horn Freak (who uses a saxophone to sychronize sound waves with pain), Caine the Longshot (a sniper), and led by a psychic named Legato Bluesummers (who is literally powerful enough to kill everyone in a bar without stopping his consumption of food). These make for quite formidable opponents, but they are not the sole opponents of Vash. In fact,
. These villains all give a very formidable challenge to Vash and his party, and are each unique enough that you will not forget any of them, no mean feat when you consider just how many villains there are.
The main theme of Trigun, "H.T.", was composed by Tsuneo Imahori, a genius composer. This tune is instantly recognizable as soon as you hear it, and gets the adrenaline pumping. The end credits song, "Wind Blows to the Future", is much mellower and was performed by Akima & Neos. The other songs, which all fit the given situation well when used, were also composed by Tsuneo Imahori.
The voices for this anime are very well done for an English translation. Particular stand-outs include Johnny Yong Bosch as Vash, Jeff Nimoy as Wolfwood (who is a second cousin once removed of Leonard Nimoy), and Richard Cansino as Legato Bluesummers. However these guys are awesome, rather than the rest of the cast, which is "only" quite good.
The animation in this show is very well done. The scenes that are meant to be suspenseful, while helped by the soundtrack, are improved greatly just by the camera cuts. While the first few episodes of the show have a very light feel to them, the later shows convey the much more serious tone to them. Yasuhiro Nightow, consider this a salute of the highest order.
The entire run of the show can be bought on Amazon for $$35 (yes, the dollar signs were intentional). This show is worth every penny. If you see anime as hentai or something for little kids on Cartoon Network, this show will change your mind. If you have already seen the show, watch it again. You may see some things you missed. If you call yourself an anime fan but not have seen this, slap yourself, then order this and binge on Coke and avoid sleep until you have seen it all. This show takes the best things about anime and leaves out the worst. There are few anime shows I have seen that are anywhere near this quality. You owe it to yourself to check it out.
This show revolves around Vash the Stampede, a gunslinger with a huge bounty on his head for the destruction of a town named July. However, he is unique in that, for reasons disclosed later in the anime, he does everything in his power to avoid killing anybody, even in self-defense. He is later joind by Milly Thompson and Meryl Stryfe (no relation to Cloud Strife), two insurance agents investigating claims of the disasters he has caused, and Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a gunsliger/priest with a far different philosophy than Vash. These character are all extremely well developed, and are awesome in their own ways. If there was one complaint to be made, it's that, in my opinion, the show doesn't really play off the "priest" portion of Wolfwood's character, outside of a couple of jokes. There could have been a lot of potential to make Wolfwood even more interesting than he already is.
They are eventually opposed by the Gung-ho Guns, which consist of: Monev the Gale (who wears a powersuit and carries two chainguns on his arms), Dominique the Cyclops (who possesses the "demon's eye", which allows her to cause hypnosis and sensory paralysis, giving her the illusion of teleportation), E. G. Mine (who uses a suit that surrounds him like a naval mine and shoots spikes), Rai-Dai the Blade (who uses a samurai sword with a rifle built into it that he can swing to cause supersonic waves), Leonof the Puppet Master (who controls puppets to do his bidding), Gray the Nine Lives (a nigh-indestructable cyborg), Hoppered the Gauntlet (who uses a shield and rocket propulsion to turn himself into a projectile), Zazie the Beast (who controls sand worms with a high-frequency device), Midvalley the Horn Freak (who uses a saxophone to sychronize sound waves with pain), Caine the Longshot (a sniper), and led by a psychic named Legato Bluesummers (who is literally powerful enough to kill everyone in a bar without stopping his consumption of food). These make for quite formidable opponents, but they are not the sole opponents of Vash. In fact,
they are being used by Million Knives, the brother of Vash
The main theme of Trigun, "H.T.", was composed by Tsuneo Imahori, a genius composer. This tune is instantly recognizable as soon as you hear it, and gets the adrenaline pumping. The end credits song, "Wind Blows to the Future", is much mellower and was performed by Akima & Neos. The other songs, which all fit the given situation well when used, were also composed by Tsuneo Imahori.
The voices for this anime are very well done for an English translation. Particular stand-outs include Johnny Yong Bosch as Vash, Jeff Nimoy as Wolfwood (who is a second cousin once removed of Leonard Nimoy), and Richard Cansino as Legato Bluesummers. However these guys are awesome, rather than the rest of the cast, which is "only" quite good.
The animation in this show is very well done. The scenes that are meant to be suspenseful, while helped by the soundtrack, are improved greatly just by the camera cuts. While the first few episodes of the show have a very light feel to them, the later shows convey the much more serious tone to them. Yasuhiro Nightow, consider this a salute of the highest order.
The entire run of the show can be bought on Amazon for $$35 (yes, the dollar signs were intentional). This show is worth every penny. If you see anime as hentai or something for little kids on Cartoon Network, this show will change your mind. If you have already seen the show, watch it again. You may see some things you missed. If you call yourself an anime fan but not have seen this, slap yourself, then order this and binge on Coke and avoid sleep until you have seen it all. This show takes the best things about anime and leaves out the worst. There are few anime shows I have seen that are anywhere near this quality. You owe it to yourself to check it out.
