Post by Chandra Jenkins
A man of many names, Vash the Stampede serves as the main character for what may be one of the best anime series ever.
Set in the distant future, on a distant planet, Trigun follows the gun slinging exploits of Vash. He has an extremely large bounty on his head, which makes him the target of every dodgy character and bounty hunter in the world. And he has two very nice insurance agents, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, on his trail to hold him accountable for the devastation he leaves behind in every town he stops in.
From the opening, viewers are set to follow the amazing exploits of a gunslinger extraordinaire. And then you meet Vash. He would be the best bet for a team scrambling to grab the final scraps of food in town, and he would make you and everyone else alive cry from laughing. His heart for people becomes obvious as the list of towns rebuilding, but not burying piles of dead, grows longer. As he meets up with another gunslinger, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, we learn that Vash intentionally stops people from being fatally shot. And as the series hits its stride, Knives, Vash’s brother and antithesis, walks into the series.
I have loved this series since my best friends shared their DVD set with me between college assignments. Though laughter creates a large part of the sound track, this series deals with the tough issues humanity would face in the end. The lack of equal access to food and the constant threat of the desert surroundings provide ample situations where the best, and the worst, of humanity shine through. The secondary characters provide the heart, and drive Vash to ultimately face the soul of the world they all inhabit.
The series could have focused solely on the gun fighting ability of Vash, or made him a monster that had to be tamed. Instead, Trigun follows an outcast who follows his heart and tries to make sense of a world devastated by some ancient and almost forgotten disaster. If the world is half as together after we blow ourselves up or suffer some great natural disaster as the world Vash and the others wander through, I think I’d be pretty content.
Trigun has been nearly impossible for those of us on a budget prepped for the worst to find in recent years. But Funimation is releasing the entire series on DVD Oct. 26, 2010. I’m very excited to relive the adventures of Vash and pick up tips on how best to survive in a wasteland. Maybe this time when I watch the series the ending will make sense.
Watch 8 minutes of Episode 1:
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