Trigun

26 episodes of a revolutionary anime that mixed comedy and drama flawlessly. This anime found great popularity in the U.S. and for good reason. Like Wings of Honneamise, it very thoughtfully combined religious themes and pacifism in a morality tale. The first half of the series introduces the characters, and may turn some people off by its silliness, but it makes sense throughout the second half. If the entire thing was completely serious, Vash's character development wouldn't have the same effect. The music is very subtle and gets the job done. It's not overly noticeable, and compliments the scenes quite well. I heard one of themembers of the band Black Mages composed the music. The music is very recognizable and memorable for how simple it is. The characters are extremely well developed and human. Vash the stampede is one of the most multi-dimensional characters created in anime. You may be constantly asking yourself questions about him. So is he a womanizer or a gentleman? Is he a killer or a pacifist? A goofball or a serious, stern person? All of it is very well developed and lets you know that Vash doesn't have just one side to him. His friend Wolfwood is also very multi-dimensional and developed. The animation and drawings in Trigun are not so great. They are in fact very mediocre, which is a shame. Many of the lines are drawn poorly, unevenly and the movement is often very choppy and of a low frame-rate (some of the episodes don't suffer from this, however). The lower quality animation is probably a budget issue, so it's a little easier to forgive. It must be extremely difficult to craft such a great series under so much pressure. However, it's definitely one of the greatest moral dramatic comedies I've ever seen. The last few episodes left an impression on me; the show has a very clear and valuable message that has staying power. If you are up for a nice 26 episode series to laugh and cry with, give Trigun a whirl.

Trigun is a classic Sci-fi, Action, Adventure, Comedy series with an amazing Western concept. This action-packed show is full of adrenaline fuelled gun battles and an awesome character to back. The story follows our protagonist Vash, who is known as a terrifying Gunman with a $60,000,000,000 bounty on his head. The story is laid out as an episodic adventure, where each 1 or 2 episodes brings about a different story, involving certain trials and hardships the characters experience. The good thing about this series is that each adventure is nicely linked to the next, so there is a form of progression and development. But this allchanges later on in the series, where there’s a major plot-twist and it becomes clear that this is an adventure with a purpose. By this being a sort of episodic adventure series, there are a bunch of characters but very few recurring ones. At least the main character (Vash) makes up for all that. Vash is a very complicated protagonist and even in the very first episode you’ll know that there’s more than meets the eye. What’s more is that both voice actors do an excellent job on him, bringing out plenty of comedy and intensity from his dialogue. The other characters do a fine job too but most of them don’t do much to stick out. The quality of the animation in this series is amazing. Taking into consideration the year it was produced (1998); this is certainly one of the best looking, old, action anime of its time. Even though the character designs lack a bit of detail, the well-drawn destructible environments and fluid gun battles make up for it. The music goes for the whole Country theme which suits this Western anime perfectly. However the soundtrack overall is nothing spectacular, with only a few notably great tunes and the OP and ED themes are pretty tiresome to listen to after a while. Overall Trigun on the surface may seem like your typical bang! bang! shoot ‘em up, but this actually has a very deep story that will make you feel differently about life. Even though there are a lot of characters throughout the series, there are quite a few memorable ones and plenty of memorable moments in the series. This anime did so well in both the comedy and drama areas, which makes this highly entertaining to watch. ^_^

I personally like this anime, however due to some pacing issues & tone, this series is not for everyone. Trigun anime should be considered to the original Fullmetal Alchemist as it doesn't follow it manga storyline & is more original content, however there are some strengths to this adaptation. Also, it's main principle isn't gunslinger fights but its true writing is based on morality. Taking place on Planet Gunsmoke where desert is found everywhere forcing people to live in this harsh climate. To make matters worse, people have developed this culture of the wild west leaving many outlaws running about. One of these men is VashThe Stampede whose head is worth $$60 Billion. The anime revolves around his quest to find his brother Knives, stop his villainy & bring peace to his homeland. Much of the anime is bit rough, to start off people should be aware of its comedic tone as Vash & various characters are very goofy which often clashes with the more serious subject matter of the show being pacifism & Christianity. The early episodes can be slow at times as the real story doesn't kick until episode 12 but even then the story doesn't go full throttle until ep 15 when The Gung Ho Guns finally move as a group; challenging Vash's ideology. The theme of this story is its study in pacifism on a dangerous planet, where villains with various skills & super powers won't budge easily to words of peace. This is one of the few western based animes that has an interesting tale but I can certainly people not being into the series due to several circumstances. Main problem with the anime is its pacing & enjoyment will heavily depend on the leading character Vash as he be found annoying to some. When the anime isn't firing bullets it instead speaks of philosophy, however it isn't till ep 17 we understand why Vash is pacifistic in the first place & comprehend his motivations to follow those principles which are heavily affected with his brother Knives,who again, has minimal appearances in the anime. Because of this lack of knowledge, can lead to some viewers not willing to sit through the entire series. Benefits in the anime include many as when compared to its manga, honestly has better writing & possibly even better conclusions to certain story arcs specifically death scenes. One example of the anime's strengths is the character Wolfwood who shares more screentime with Vash while in its manga, their interactions or moral conflicts aren't as strong compared to its anime. Much of the dialogue & writing placed into the anime is more "to the point" (in episodes 15-26) as the manga Trigun & Trigun Maximum tend to get a bit distracted at times. Overall, Trigun appeals to certain people but if it does suit your tastes then you may enjoy it either for its setting or its search for the morally correct answer. The anime tends to give subtle messages to the conflict of the series. Most of the strengths of those messages is the opposing beliefs of Vash & Wolfwood as not many other pacifistic themed animes feature a duo such as this one. Multiple villains also challenge Vash's beliefs in a more drastic level with casualties being build up with every encounter.It also holds two of the most interesting anime villains to date being Legato Bluesummers & Knives Millions. Trigun's main focus isn't action, but instead dives into a theme heavily resembling beliefs found in Christianity. Other similar series would be Get Backers, Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Rurouni Kenshin & both series of Fullmetal Alchemist. The main difference that separates Trigun from these shows include the following; Vash's decisions & villains affect the planet's society, its western world with its own blend of sci-fi, & its references with religious elements mainly the siblings Vash & Knives & might have a better conclusion although it may come off as either subtle or ambiguous.