I don't like Westerns. Never have, not even sci-fi ones.
Until now, that is...
It's a hot, dry land, parched, where water is difficult to find, hoarded, and sold at inflated prices to keep the controllers in luxury. Where turning infertile sand into something capable of producing foodstuff means sweating blood for years. A place where life is hard and often short. And into this inhospitable, barren landscape comes a blond man in a red coat. Vash the Stampede, a gunman so dangerous he has a 60 billion double-dollar bounty on his head...
Sounds like a host of other Westerns, doesn't it (well, except perhaps for the size of the bounty)? But this isn't Earth. It's a human colony-world, two suns, five moons. A desert planet, where the astonishing technology that made the colonisation possible has been all but forgotten - and if it still operates, is faulty (if not actively deadly) and expensive to keep working. Where gangs of outlaws roam at will, making life even more perilous. Where travel is by ancient sand-steamer, bus, tomas (a strange pony-sized half-bird, half-lizard creature), or, more rarely, car.
And where we meet some extremely interesting people.
Meryl Stryfe (small, spirited and with a mean right hook) and Millie Thompson (sweet, childlike, big and occasionally very strange) of the Bernadelli Insurance Society, two of the strongest female characters I've found in anime.
Nicholas D Wolfwood, travelling priest with a dark secret.
The Nebraska family. The Gung-Ho Guns. Brilliant Dynamites Neon.
Vash himself, of course...
By the time I reached the last episode, number 26 (Under the Sky so Blue - dammit, even the episode titles are evocative!) I felt I really knew these people. And they are people - no two-dimensional characters here, each and every one is a complex, fully-rounded person. Even the tiny cameo roles are expertly delineated....
Part of the beauty of this anime is the number of different levels within. At its simplest, it's a rollicking good story with a very, very dark edge, hysterically funny or heartbreaking in places, full of action, intrigue and mystery, where nothing is quite what it seems. On a deeper level, it's an exploration of unlikely alliances, fascinating interpersonal relationships between some of the most memorable and captivating characters I've ever come across (in anime or live action!), and the nature of family ties. Deeper still it's a heart-rending story of hope and betrayal, sacrifice and redemption and the kind of love most of us can only dream about...
A fistful of things you might like to note: -
You have to watch all the episodes, in the right order. This is a complex, fully-fledged progressive story and should be treated as such.
The first four episodes (all together on the first tape, The $$60 Billion Man) may seem strange to anyone not that familiar with anime (hell, some of the animation seemed strange to me, and I've been addicted since 1994!), but it's perfectly in keeping with the subject(s) involved. Bear with it. These first four episodes are essential in setting the scene and introducing the viewer to the main characters. They're also extremely funny! The deeper story starts in episode 5 - Hard Puncher, which contains my favourite chase scene of all time in any genre, and a stunning slow motion segment.
In this anime, even the most throw-away line can have a meaning that isn't revealed until later: this is not a series to half-watch while doing something else. If you don't watch it properly, you'll miss important cues.
Note the use of reflections throughout: in liquid, in glass, in metal. They're so beautiful.
Remember, in Trigun, things are rarely what they seem...
It's an emotionally powerful story: I spent the last four episodes crying my eyes out. (I still can't quite believe it - I cried for more than an hour over animated characters.)
My introduction to Trigun was something of an accident: I was wandering around Aestheticism.com on a break from writing, and I found a yaoi doujinshi by the excellent Aoki Soh - and fell in love with the characters. Which led me to hunting down Trigun links on the net, which in turn made me certain I'd enjoy the anime. Which is probably the understatement of the year...
Isn't synchronicity wonderful?
Seen on a car bumper in Florida (thanks, Kaze-chan!)
Keep an eye out for the marvellous visual pun, too - plant, bulb, lightbulb...
Although I must confess I've not seen Bubblegum Crash/Crisis or Dirty Pair. Back