Trigun Forum

Well, I can say this was as fitting an ending to the series as there likely could be. The hot blood was boiling in a spectacular, explosive duel between these steel-hearted scions and that was that. While it’s kind of… inconclusive (?) for Vash to prove the superiority of his philosophy over Knives’ by maiming him like this (as opposed to killing him, I suppose)  I’ll admit that his “gotcha!” surprise with the Punisher was one hell of a moment. I never really warmed to Wolfwood like so many of you lunatics did, but it’s good to know he contributed to the effort like this. And, more importantly, the usage of that firearm crucifix is one of the only plot threads that really gets tied up here. 26 episodes in and our parting images are of Vash returning home with a wounded Knives on his shoulder. Will he take him to some jail? Will he settle down and live a normal life now? Will he and Meryl finally express their feelings?  

We’ll never know, because the show’s over, now! Good night. Go home!

I think it’s best to liken TRIGUN to some toe-tapping rock song that moves you for the three or four minutes of play time, but proves pretty shallow and contradictory when you actually review the lyrics. On the whole, my suspicion is that this show continues to be so highly regarded because a lot of viewers probably discovered it when they were 14 and their perception's forever tinted in rose hues.  

• Was the gunmanship cool? Mmhm.   
• Was this morality play moving in the broad strokes? Yeah.   
• Was Vash a sympathetic hero? Very much so.  
• Was his relationship with Merly, Missy and Wolfwood engaging? Sure.  
• Did that relationship advance in a meaningful way? Nah.  
• Did this universe feel cohesive? Not really.  
• Did the supposedly-scary Gung Ho Guns look ridiculous? Oh yeah.
• Did the story feel like it was made up as the show went along? Pretty much.
• Could this have been better as a tight eight episode OVA? More or less.

 
TRIGUN really feels like it was cooked up a young creator. It's got youthful enthusiasm and it's got heart, but it doesn't have the maturity to reinforce its rough edges. It really feels like something that could probably benefit from a Brotherhood-style re-do.  

All that being said, here's to...  

LOVE AND PEACE!!!  

Watch this episode, “Under the Sky So Blue,” below and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here .   

    

    

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of  HYBRID BASTARDS!  &  UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon   here  &   here .  Follow him on Twitter:  @tompinchuk

Truthfully I would't want a re-do of Trigun since it already lay down a fitting performance. It'll go down in Anime history as one of the best. 

@lambwisegamgee said:

" I went out and brought the box set the other day and sat down and watched them all and I agree that I had rose tinted memories of it. I mean I enjoyed it but I can totally see why I liked it much better when I was younger. "

So I'm not crazy then!

@metalsnakezero said:

" Truthfully I would want a re-do of Trigun since it already lay down a fitting performance. It'll go down in Anime history as one of the best.  "

You mean you wouldn't want one?

@lurkero said:

 I was hoping you'd mention the scene where Knives describes the situation with the butterfly and the spider. You keep saving the butterfly and the spider starves to death, you keep the spider alive, and it goes off to kill another butterfly (there's more to it as well). Life is certainly not black and white.

Yeah, every thing's got to eventually some other thing and all that. If we're assessing this show as some kind of morality play, I don't it really lays out sound arguments points or a satisfactory conclusion.

 I did see the show when I was younger but I’ve re-watched it recently and I think it mostly held up. I appreciate your… respect? While reviewing this show… I mean, it’s not like you could of offended me but in general you expressed the shows problems without being a douche bag or anything like that. Since it seems your not interested in anymore Trigun then I’ll go ahead and point out some of the differences between the show and manga, if you care to know. These are the ones I saw as most important:

- The Plants are explained very bluntly. They’re life forms created buy humans which can provide energy. Although they’re alive and have some level or conscience they aren’t really intelligent in any way, as far as we can tell.
-Vash and Knives being birthed from a Plant is far more important. As far as they know they are a unique miracle(a life form humans created as an energy source, gives birth to completely sentient beings, who happen to be super human in almost every way) but they find out they were not the first.
-A girl named Tesla came before Vash and Knives on the very ship they eventually are born on. The crew aboard the ship experimented on the girl and basically dissected her and killed her. Rem was the only one who was not in cryo sleep when Vash and Knives were born(it seems they take turns keeping an eye on the ship while the rest of the crew sleeps) so she kept it a secret from everyone so that the past would not be repeated. She wanted to raise the kids in secret to atone for what they had done.
-Eventually Vash and Knives find out about Tesla(and see her tumor covered remains, gross) and felt that Rem betrayed them and was only watching over them to pick up the experiments where they left off. Knives actually faints when they see her, but Vash stayed awake and angry and suicidal while Rem tried to explain herself to him. Eventually she convinces him and they ended up bonding even more, but then Knives wakes up never having heard the sappy apology talk. The implication, I felt, was that Knives ran away from the shock and never truly comprehended the situation while Vash road it out and was able to develop sympathy towards Rem and her guilt. Thus getting him closer to understanding humans.
-Knives’ main weapon isn’t a black version of Vash’s gun. He can extend a microscopic wire from his body and use it to cut people to pieces. Making his name far more apt.
-Towards the end of the manga he realizes he can fuse with Plants to increase his power. So he goes around the planet stealing all the Plants(leaving humans to rot with no power source) and creating himself into some sort of amalgamated-hive-mind-thing. Since the Plants aren’t sentient he stays him self, but when he tries to combine with Vash Legato stops him telling him that Vash would end of absorbing him as appose to the other way around. Something about Vash’s flow being stronger.
-Vash’s Angel Arm shoots a black hole instead of a huge blast. It’s very explicit what happens to July. The whole town, people and all, are sucked up into a mini-black hole.
-In the manga lore there are these hippy Plant worshippers who feel it’s wrong for humans to use Plant’s the way they do. They’re only mentioned a few times, though.
-Wolfwood is part of an Assassin group called the Eye of Micheal and they scout there new members from orphanages. He’s actually much younger than he seems because his metabolism and growth was accelerated. He may be 16 or something like that.

I think I’m running out of “important” difference although there are still huge ones left. But if these don’t convince you of the gap between the show and the manga then the rest probably wont.

@Tom_Pinchuk said:

" @metalsnakezero said:

" Truthfully I would want a re-do of Trigun since it already lay down a fitting performance. It'll go down in Anime history as one of the best.  "

You mean you wouldn't want one? "

Yes, curse me for not double checking my spelling.

@darfox8 said:

-Knives’ main weapon isn’t a black version of Vash’s gun. He can extend a microscopic wire from his body and use it to cut people to pieces. Making his name far more apt.

Also, Vash's revolver is just his preferred revolver.  It has no connection to his special abilities. 
 
Also, adding some more manga stuff:

@darfox8 said:

"  I did see the show when I was younger but I’ve re-watched it recently and I think it mostly held up. I appreciate your… respect? While reviewing this show… I mean, it’s not like you could of offended me but in general you expressed the shows problems without being a douche bag or anything like that. 

Yeah, like I've said, it's not really my nature to be some hyperbolic critic looking to write things off. 
 
The threads about the plants and Rem's betrayal sound like they would've made this a lot more interesting. Too bad it was taken out. Although, it does kind of harp on my issue of why they bothered stressing that Vash is over 100 years old. You're saying he was never put into difficult decisions about killing before?

@Tom_Pinchuk said:

" Yeah, like I've said, it's not really my nature to be some hyperbolic critic looking to write things off.  The threads about the plants and Rem's betrayal sound like they would've made this a lot more interesting. Too bad it was taken out.

It probably wasn't taken out. It probably wasn't thought up yet. I'm pretty sure the anime ended before the manga got to that point. It's no wonder the manga is better realized. He had the benefit of hind sight by seeing a version of the story. He was able to add elements that would of made the anime's story more interesting. I totally hope they go back and do another Trigun anime. Like how you mentioned with Brotherhood. My hope is that the film(which has been received pretty positively, and I think it sold well in Japan) might open up some interest in doing another series.

I'm a little sad. No crazy series ending video Tom?

Tom, have you decided what your next Watch and Learn will be yet, or will you run a poll?