Current Events > I decided to rewatch Trigun before Hulu took it down. (Spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm not huge into anime, but this is a definite top ten for me. Maybe a top five.

The most impressive part, for me at least, is just the visual design. You look at a character for half a second and you can recognize them as a Trigun character. Some of the images, like the sight of a town from over a cliff's ledge, are just truly artistic. The action is pretty good too.

I gotta say, without trying to sound too negative, there's a noticeable disconnect between the characterizations and everything else. The series has quality cinematography, art design, pacing, and story-telling. However, the characters are mostly standard Shonen fare. It's like if someone took an A-grade western like Tombstone, but swapped out 90% of the characters for ones found in a Michael Bay movie. Let's keep Val Kilmer, but replace Kurt Russel with Shia LaBeouf.

I also have to comment that I don't care for the treatment of women in the series. Both women are airheads. Meryl is smarter than Millie, but in the same way that Moe is smarter than the other Stooges. The rest of the women in the series are just eye-candy with the exception of Rem. The show also treats sexual harassment and even pedophilia like minor offenses.

Other than that, I really enjoyed it. Knives could have been better. He laughs maniacally and that's about it for his character. I would say that Legato makes Knives a superfluous attachment, but he really doesn't. Legato only works as a follower, so Knives is a necessary character even if he's nowhere near as memorable as his servant.

I'll also have to give the show credit for making Nicholas D. Wolfwood such a memorable character without letting him completely steal the show. It's a rarity that a bad boy sidekick doesn't just completely take the show away from a nice guy protagonist. They knew how to use him to his maximum potential without overutilizing him. A+ work on that one.

Consider reading the manga, which is very similar up until about Dominick the Cyclops and then goes in a WILDLY different direction. IMO it's significantly better than the anime (and I love the anime) and resolves your complaints from above.

FYI there's 2 fat volumes named "Trigun" and then the manga changed magazines and rebranded as "Trigun Maximum" in case you get confused looking for the volumes.

I remember enjoying Trigun, but I'm mostly glad it helped introduce me to Gungrave (from the same creator, iirc).

s0nicfan posted...

Consider reading the manga, which is very similar up until about Dominick the Cyclops and then goes in a WILDLY different direction.

That tends to happen when they turn a manga that's still going into an anime. (Fullmetal Alchemist)

g0ldie posted...

I remember enjoying Trigun, but I'm mostly glad it helped introduce me to Gungrave (from the same creator, iirc).

I'll try and keep that one in mind.

Damn, did not know it was on there. Gonna have to check it out before they pull it off in about a week.

Explain Knives again.

@Legato-and-Vash

Lot of nostalgia for that show, watching it and Cowboy Bebop every night with my brother on Adult Swim

XxKrazyChaosxX posted...

Damn, did not know it was on there. Gonna have to check it out before they pull it off in about a week.

I'm not even going to attempt Cowboy Bebop since I don't think I can make it through 26 episodes in 8 days. :(

Xethuminra posted...

Explain Knives again.

He's the evil brother of Vash the Stampede. He wants to wipe out "garbage" humanity for being inferior and violent. He makes exaggerated crazy expressions and he laughs like a psycho. That's about it. He gets a good fight scene at the end though.

MC_BatCommander posted...

Lot of nostalgia for that show, watching it and Cowboy Bebop every night with my brother on Adult Swim

I like Cowboy Bebop even more than Trigun. I just ran out of time to watch it. They're both on Hulu for eight more days and I'm working for all but one of them. It would be possible to marathon the series, but that would knock me out of other things.

Of course, they had previously said that they were going to expire and then the expiration notice disappeared. It's possible that they're working over licensing fees and whatnot and that it will remain. If so, I'll be happy to watch it again. If not, oh well...

FortuneCookie posted...

I'll try and keep that one in mind.

If you choose to watch Gungrave, people almost universally suggest skipping the first episode. It spoils a twist that happens halfway through the series and the scenes end up being repeated later anyway.

FortuneCookie posted...

I'm not even going to attempt Cowboy Bebop since I don't think I can make it through 26 episodes in 8 days. :(
I like Cowboy Bebop even more than Trigun. I just ran out of time to watch it. They're both on Hulu for eight more days and I'm working for all but one of them. It would be possible to marathon the series, but that would knock me out of other things.

Bebop should be on Netflix, they added it prior to the live action show premier

s0nicfan posted...

If you choose to watch Gungrave, people almost universally suggest skipping the first episode. It spoils a twist that happens halfway through the series and the scenes end up being repeated later anyway.

Thanks for the heads up.

MC_BatCommander posted...

Bebop should be on Netflix, they added it prior to the live action show premier

Thanks.
I don't have a Netflix account, but I'll keep that in mind if I get one.

They put up the 'expires in 10 days' or whatever right in the middle of my rewatch. Probably wont finish it now but it's my favorite anime if all time.

I liked the 1st half when Vash was just wandering into towns and they would get blown up cuz of people trying to get the bounty on him. And then people would blame Vash for it and make his bounty and legend that much bigger lol. But then it got too serious in the 2nd half and I was kinda eh on it afterwards.

Meryl and Milly are both good waifus btw >_>

SydneySweenHero posted...

I liked the 1st half when Vash was just wandering into towns and they would get blown up cuz of people trying to get the bounty on him. And then people would blame Vash for it and make his bounty and legend that much bigger lol. But then it got too serious in the 2nd half and I was kinda eh on it afterwards.

Meryl and Milly are both good waifus btw >_>

I preferred the second half, honestly.

Aside from B.D.N., nobody in the first half is really a threat to Vash. And even if they had defeated him, they would have been killed later once Knives and his genocidal goon squad got their way. It's a nice message though - people fighting against the one man who could save them. I'd like to think there's some kind of symbolism or commentary behind it.

Lol I love that I get tagged in these topics. Although I created the username when I was 12 back in 2013, and don't use it anywhere else, Trigun is my favorite anime of all time although it's mostly nostalgia I'd guess.

SydneySweenHero posted...

I liked the 1st half when Vash was just wandering into towns and they would get blown up cuz of people trying to get the bounty on him. And then people would blame Vash for it and make his bounty and legend that much bigger lol. But then it got too serious in the 2nd half and I was kinda eh on it afterwards.

Meryl and Milly are both good waifus btw >_>

I think I read something about the first half was intended for kids, but something changed either with the publishing or just the direction, but the 2nd half was intentionally geared for adults instead.
s0nicfan posted...

If you choose to watch Gungrave, people almost universally suggest skipping the first episode. It spoils a twist that happens halfway through the series and the scenes end up being repeated later anyway.

I watched the first episode first, but luckily I watched a few other things before coming to the 2nd episode. So I was still hit with the twist because I had completely forgotten about the guy in the beginning's name and didn't make the connection until later...although you kinda get the idea that Harry is scum pretty early on. I do recall thinking man, this first episode is NOTHING like the rest of the few episodes though. Until after the twist happens.

"I did not want to die this way!"

g0ldie posted...

I remember enjoying Trigun, but I'm mostly glad it helped introduce me to Gungrave (from the same creator, iirc).

Gungrave is my shit. Such a good anime.