Trigun

[The Shadow Gentleman]

I noticed this didn't have a thread, and since it was recently named the first third greatest anime of all time, I felt we needed a place for everyone to give their opinions on it. And I just felt like making a thread.

All you need to know is that Trigun is to me what Yu Yu Hakusho is to Ensatsu-ken, and leave it at that.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Where was it named third greatest anime of all time? It's my third favorite show of all time, but I have a hard time believing someone objectivley ranked it that high in a best anime list.

Anyway, the first time I watched Trigun was the episode that aired on Toonami's april fools stunt last year. I became interested, to say the least, and started watching the show on Netflix (back when they had more anime  ). I was hooked from episode one, and the show just got better and better with every episode after that, and I finished it before April was even done.

I love all the small details in the story and how Vash's character is established and built in the early episodes, so that by the time Legato shows up I already cared about what was going to happen to Vash and what his past was. I also like how commited Vash was to his ideals and how he shouldered his burdens while still putting on a smile. It was really insprirational in a way, but also made his character a little but tragic and made the 24th and 25th episodes of the series pretty heartbreaking (okay, the end of 25 gives hope for Vash, but its depressing to see him at the beginning of that episode). The final fight between Vash and Knives was intense, and I personally thought the ending worked, although I think the manga's ending worked a lot better and made just a tad bit more sense to me. But the anime's is still great.

Wolfwood is great, layered character as well, a perfect compliment to Vash's character and has one of the most memorable death scenes I've seen in an anime. And Legato, truly, is one of the greatest villains ever to exist in animation. I get chills thinking about his theme right now. Of course, the rest of the Gung-Ho Guns and Knives aren't quite the most interesting villains out there (although Knives is still has strong characterization that makes him a  great dangerous villain), and for most of them I prefer their manga counterparts, but since the focus was always on Vash's character and his struggle to keep his promise to Rem, I was able to overlook this aspect of the series and kept enjoying the ride.

Speaking of the manga, I like it quite a lot and it's one of my favorite mangas now. I think the anime's story, however, is on the whole more solid, as the last twenty or so chapters of the manga could get a little muddled, cluttered, and confusing at times. Pretty much all the Gung-Ho Guns that appear in the Maximum portion are better characterized, though, and I thought Knives had more to him than just being the complete monster he was in the anime. Legato is very different than how he is in the anime, but I liked the obessive version of him in the manga a lot as well, even though he's not the threatening, dangerous figure he is in the anime. And finally, I will say this about the manga: Wolfwood and Vash v. Livio/Razlo and Chapel and Livio/Razlo v. Eleindra are two of the most brutal, intense, epic fights I have ever read in any manga EVER. Seriously, I love them.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble is an okay anime movie. Not really a must-see, but it had a solid plot and kept me entertained throughout. I wish they would just make a remake of the anime that adapted the manga's story, though. That would be epic. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Where was it named third greatest anime of all time? It's my third favorite show of all time, but I have a hard time believing someone objectivley ranked it that high in a best anime list.

He's semi-joking. About a month ago we had a greatest anime game thread, and when we got down to the final results, Trigun came in 3rd place among those of us that voted, while Monster came in 2nd place, and Cowboy Bebop in 1st place. He's saying that Trigun was collectively ranked as the 3rd best anime among us, though its his overall favorite anime.

I LOVE Trigun, myself. Personally I think its at least as good as Cowboy Bebop, which I know is saying a lot, but it really is that damn good. Of course, I love all 3 of the space westerns, including Outlaw Star, but I love how Trigun has a good combination of the stellar action from Cowboy Bebop, the absurd comedy elements from Outlaw Star, and even the kind-hearted but insanely bad-ass hero figure in Vash the Stampede who is much akin to Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin. It basically combines the elements of 3 other great shows into 1, which is one reason that I love the show so much. Aside from that, though, its just an all-around well-written story with great characters. I still want to check out the manga one of these days, but even if this isn't technically a faithful anime adaptation, its commonly agreed that its one of the best anime adaptations around among those that deviate from their source material.

As for Bad-Lands rumble, it was really just a glorified over-extended filler episode, more than anything else. Its not bad by any means, but not really very good, either. Its just a passable movie that doesn't really do much of anything for long-time fans of the series or complete newcomers. Its kind of just....there.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

I LOVE Trigun, myself. Personally I think its at least as good as Cowboy Bebop, which I know is saying a lot, but it really is that damn good. Of course, I love all 3 of the space westerns, including Outlaw Star, but I love how Trigun has a good combination of the stellar action from Cowboy Bebop, the absurd comedy elements from Outlaw Star, and even the kind-hearted but insanely bad-ass hero figure in Vash the Stampede who is much akin to Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin. It basically combines the elements of 3 other great shows into 1, which is one reason that I love the show so much. Aside from that, though, its just an all-around well-written story with great characters.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

[LumRanmaYasha]

He's semi-joking. About a month ago we had a greatest anime game thread, and when we got down to the final results, Trigun came in 3rd place among those of us that voted, while Monster came in 2nd place, and Cowboy Bebop in 1st place. He's saying that Trigun was collectively ranked as the 3rd best anime among us, though its his overall favorite anime.

Ah, I see then. I love Trigun, but sadly I've never seen it in a top anime list before, which is why I was skeptical. Thanks for the clarification!

I LOVE Trigun, myself. Personally I think its at least as good as Cowboy Bebop, which I know is saying a lot, but it really is that damn good. Of course, I love all 3 of the space westerns, including Outlaw Star, but I love how Trigun has a good combination of the stellar action from Cowboy Bebop, the absurd comedy elements from Outlaw Star, and even the kind-hearted but insanely bad-ass hero figure in Vash the Stampede who is much akin to Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin. It basically combines the elements of 3 other great shows into 1, which is one reason that I love the show so much. Aside from that, though, its just an all-around well-written story with great characters. 

Trigun is my favorite of the three as well. Vash really is just a very well written, layered character. Spike is too, but Vash was just far more endearing to me. Really one of my favorite anime characters, truly.

I still want to check out the manga one of these days, but even if this isn't technically a faithful anime adaptation, its commonly agreed that its one of the best anime adaptations around among those that deviate from their source material.

Personally, I'd say the story of the anime is stronger than the manga's, but the villains in the manga, especially Knives, have more layers to them, making their interactions with Vash and Wolfwood more of a struggle between human beings (most of the time, at least) than Vash against an outright villain. There are some parts of the manga I have problems with as well, like the often confusing imagery of the final twenty chapters, and the redemption of a certian Gung-Ho Gun which works, but comes off too sudden and thus a little questionable. Meryl and Millie are also not quite as well-written  as their anime counterparts, but since the manga focuses of Vash and Wolfwood for the most part, it isn't that much of a problem.  Despite these criticisms, though, I do think the manga is a great read and it really is one of my favorites, so I'd say you should give it a shot, even though you might not like it as much as the anime.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I never posted in here? Well, here it goes.

Trigun is my favorite anime (Yes, there's Monster but there's a difference here) and probably the one I can rewatch the most and never get bored of. The comedy is genuinely funny, the characters are all distinctive and memorable (Vash and Wolfwood are my favorite anime protagonists by far), the action is amazingly well directed, the music is perfect for atmosphere-building and just plain great mood setting, and the general story is excellent.

There's also the general battle between good and evil, the theme of repentance and forgiveness, the contrasting ideals of the outlaw wanderer Vash the Stampede (the optimistic idealist who has problems being realistic) and the traveling priest Nicholas D. Wolfwood (the pessimistic realist who has problems understanding others) make for great foils to each other and bounce off each other for great character moments and some of my favorite story beats in any anime. The Gung-Ho Guns are all very different in their ideals and motives (something I didn't catch until I was older) from the despair of Legato Bluesummers (Who loathes those who control, but has no problems doing it himself) to Chapel (Who realized the error of his ways a bit too late) they all have their reasons for doing what they do.

Knives is frequently regarded as shallow, but I always thought that was the point. Vash is the one who took the time to learn about people, their history, and the world, he's the one who made an effort to learn and grow. Knives never lost his childish and simple goal of 'they're imperfect and are therefore objectively junk', which makes him only grow in bitterness in his inability to understand Vash even slightly never understanding why he had to shoot him so many years ago or why he confronted him at every opportunity. Knives is the only foil to Vash that would work, Legato is close but being that he hates himself more than Vash it would never quite be as strong a fight. Knives simply refuses to understand, and Vash is the only one who does understand.

The final battle proves it. Vash is able to beat Knives because of all the connections and things he learned along the way, whereas all Knives can do is destroy and use the same skills over and over. Vash uses Wolfwood's cross, his promise to the girls, his gun-skills he learned over the years, and Rem's ideals to topple a monster like Knives without killing him. Vash proves that he was right all along and that Knives was wrong.

Another thing I like, and this might not be popular around here, is that while the action is pretty intense, it isn't gory or extreme. I know Trigun Maximum goes over the top (though I didn't read much of it, I didn't like it quite as much as the anime) but in Trigun when people get shot you typically don't see giant spurts of blood or exploding flesh. Which... you shouldn't. This grounds the over-the-top action and makes it fun at the same time since you never know when a scene will be played for laughs or not until the dialogue begins.

It's only 26 episodes long. So? It told a story and it ended where it should have ended. I'm not sure where Trigun Maximum really goes, but the anime had a story, and told it. Monster was a straight adaption, but Trigun took the source material and made its own story, and wildly succeeded. Though it came out while ago, it's still an enjoyable watch today. I also have to praise the dub voices as being perfectly cast. I still think Johnny Young Bosch is perfect as Vash and Jeff Nimoy does a great Wolfwood, not to mention the rest of the cast (outside of a random townsfolk here or there) this was one of the few anime where I think the dub beats out the original sub pretty handily.

Anyway, there it is. Trigun is my favorite anime series. (Monster is second for being a straight adaption)

[Foggle]

I still need to re-watch Trigun. I definitely liked it the first time through, but I think I'd probably appreciate it more today.

Also, over the top action is over the top action. It's fun to watch whether there's extreme gore or no gore IMO.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The thing is, in Trigun, the action can flow from serious to comical or the other way around in the blink of an eye. If there was blood spurting everywhere it wouldn't fit with the tone. That doesn't mean it can't work for other shows, but for Trigun it wouldn't.

But you really should re-watch it. I like it more now than when I first saw it.

[Rynnec]

This is one anime I'll get the complete boxset of ASAP. I can kinda see why people like it more than Bebop, tbh.

Also, over the top action is over the top action. It's fun to watch whether there's extreme gore or no gore IMO.

Preach on, brother.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I like the OP theme better. 

I always liked Trigun, it's just one of those shows that gets better as you get older I guess. At some point I realized I liked it more than Cowboy Bebop, which was an odd moment, let me tell you.

[Foggle]

The thing is, in Trigun, the action can flow from serious to comical or the other way around in the blink of an eye. If there was blood spurting everywhere it wouldn't fit with the tone. That doesn't mean it can't work for other shows, but for Trigun it wouldn't.

Oh, absolutely. Trigun splattered with jars of tomato sauce would be like Metal Gear Rising without ketchup volcanoes. It just wouldn't work.

But you really should re-watch it. I like it more now than when I first saw it.

It's definitely at the top of my "revisit" list, along with Champloo. I recently gave Gurren Lagann (which I wasn't a fan of when it aired) another shot and absolutely loved it, so I don't see any reason why I wouldn't like Trigun even more on a second viewing.

This is one anime I'll get the complete boxset of ASAP. I can kinda see why people like it more than Bebop, tbh.

Certainly, but I've never understood why people compare them. They're pretty different shows, despite both being sci-fi anime westerns. Now, Bebop and Outlaw Star, on the other hand...

I like the OP theme better. 

H.T. is amazing (top 5 for sure), but nothing beats Tank! or Guns & Roses for me.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Tank! is amazing, don't get me wrong, but H.T. gets me pumped every time I hear it. Trigun's soundtrack of rock, western jangle, and rhythm beats, is some of my favorite anime music.

I'd say only Tank!, You Get To Burning, and Freckles, comes close for me.

[Foggle]

What about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0jNYDjBz6E ?

[Spark Of Spirit]

What about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0jNYDjBz6E ?

Oh, duh. 

Forgot about Lupin!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

We have Trigun on Netflix over here, so I'll give ti a re-watch sometime soon. It's one of my top 10 favorite anime (my favorite is still Yu Yu Hakusho, of course), and Vash and Wolfwood are 2 of my favorite anime characters ever. I also like this show better than Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star, and I LOVE both of those shows, so that's saying a lot.