Trigun: The Acts of the $$60 Billion Dollar Man

 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:

Biomega

 [This post written by contributing writer Chandra.]

My house is currently under a monsoon, so I’m curled up reading. Not under a blanket because the temperature continues to hover near 85F, but the thunder, lightening, and rain make for good reading. Especially when I have my new favorite manga about the end of the world - Biomega by Tsutomu Nihei.

Set in 3005 A.D., Biomega is the tale of humanity’s attempt to avoid contracting the ultra contagious and dangerous N5S. Should a person be unlucky enough to catch it, they get the pleasure of becoming a drone. Drones are basically traditional zombies in their shambling ways and desire for food, with humans being a particular favorite. But N5S doesn’t just turn people into movie monsters; it takes zombie to the next level by adding the terrifying ability of regenerating limbs and other physical aspects. This makes the drones of Biomega significantly more difficult to kill and simultaneously more deadly.

Of course, N5S was created by a corporation, Data Research Foundation (DRF), who wanted to control the planet. But it wasn’t created on earth; it was formulated on Mars. And it is a return trip to Mars that brings it to Earth. The ship from Mars never lands back on Earth, since all of the crew turned into drones. Nope, they made it close enough to get caught in the orbit, and one of the crew went outside of the ship. So the nameless Mars drone is orbiting Earth dropping spores of N5S onto the planet.

All of this information is simple back story, told in the books in conversations and flashbacks (typical manga style). The story of Biomega consists of the actions of Zoichi Kanoe, one of the operatives of the competing company, TOA Heavy Industry. Zoichi is searching for a girl, Eon Green, in order to rescue her before DRF finds her. He has a pretty nifty motorcycle that contains a computer link. The computer persona functions as a partner for Zoichi and makes him a better agent. Being a synthetic human doesn’t hurt him either. His super-human abilities make him a problem for DRF despite the ability of many of their agents to shape-shift.
The fighting ranges all over the cities and even makes it to the edges of Earth’s atmosphere. Fires, death, survival, and nuclear weapons all make it into book 1. Books 2 and 3 contain monsters more terrifying than drones and a mutation of N5S that infects more than people. Biomega manages to hit all of the fears surrounding the end of the world without making it unnecessarily dreary. Perhaps it is because Zoichi is completely focused on the mission. Or it could be the talking grizzly bear.

The series has an original Japanese release date from 2007, but 2010, marks the first time the series is being released in English books. The first 3 books are currently available from Viz Media, with the last books in the series to be published through early next year.
Biomega is a new series to me, and I picked it up in the bookstore because I liked the font for the title. The covers are interesting, with their mix of zombie art and character sketches. I was sold on the series in the first few pages and walked out with books 1 and 2. I found book 3 in a different bookstore a few days later. I’m glad I picked up all of the currently available books because I finished the first one in a few hours. I made an effort to have the second book take several days, but by the time I opened the third one, I had to know what happened.

The series is character driven with a decent amount of action scenes. Because the villains are essentially monsters, it can be difficult to track with the specific moments of the fight. But for being character driven, the series is surprisingly light on actual information about the characters. Tsutomu Nihei relies on the reader’s imagination and participation to make the story come together. But the author does not use the reader to write the story; Nihei uses the blank spaces all comic book style stories contain in one of the most effective ways I have ever come across. I had enough information to connect the immediate points in the story, but not so much as to ruin the twists. I think Nihei’s beautiful artwork makes the story so easy to connect with. The faces are expressive on the page, even in their blank looks. The mood comes through the lines even before the words include the grim information in the new twist in the story.

Each book stands on its own, but each part becomes much better with the other books. I am anxiously looking forward to the rest of the books to see how the whole story turns out. Because I’m from the U.S., I’m hoping for a happy ending. But I’ve also read enough manga, and watched enough anime, to know that my hopes will probably be dashed in the best possible way.

If you’re looking for a good series to curl up with and read as the weather changes, I definitely recommend Tsutomu Nihei’s Biomega. The end of the world never looked so terrifying and awesome.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

This week is a look back to 1984 and Hayao Miyazaki’s first movie that he wrote and directed. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind  is more than an overly optimistic vision of how humanity will act near the end. The movie also provided the necessary momentum for Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli to produce the films most associated with him (many will appear here in later discussions). I stumbled across it when Roger Ebert posted a link  to a review of the movie. Now that I’ve seen the movie, I have high hopes for peace at the end of all things.

Nausicaa, the movie, follows the title character, Nausicaa, the princess of the Valley of the Wind. She’s fearless and inventive, which is exactly what you want in a lead anime character. The movie takes place 1000 years after the end of the world, caused of course by giant flame throwing robots. The imminent threat to people comes from toxic plants and giant insects. Nausicaa has the ability to calm the insects and reason with them to return to the toxic jungle. She apparently has incorporated the peace the bugs embody, except when she gets upset. As the story unfolds, we see her travel to other towns and discover the reason for the toxic jungle.

I know this sounds like the plot to a 1950’s B movie, but it makes sense as you watch. Miyazaki does a great job making the horror aspects chilling, without compromising the integrity of the overall message – that when we bring the end of the world down on our heads, we will need to re-think our relationship with nature and weapons. The watercolor palette cuts the danger, but the sharpness of the voice actors communicates what danger exists in the world.

The world that Nausicaa lives in seems almost too peaceful for being set on the verge of humanity’s end. The introduction of the military elements a quarter of the way end moves the movie into more conventional territory, but the military serves merely to illuminate the ways in which humanity fails. But even they seem less threatening than they should. It could be the watercolor palette that makes everything seem easier to contain. Or it could be that the social structure is so developed that it appears anyone could make it through the end of the world.

What I really learned from this anime is if I end up living through the apocalypse, I hope I find myself in a world like Nausicaa’s. I’d much rather deal with an avoidable toxic jungle and giant insects that only attack if provoked. They seem far less threatening than many of the other possible threats at the end of the world. I still don’t really want to deal with giant beetles with big eyes, but since the giant beetles seem reasonable, I could probably manage. Also, flying would be a great bonus, since you’d always be able to escape from harm.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is probably the most upbeat post-apocalyptic anime I’ve encountered. Don’t get used to this kind of positive spin on the end of the world. It will most likely be dead by morning. 

This post is brought to you by Chandra

There's a new ninja in town. Her name is Chandra.

Hello. I’m Chandra. This is the beginning of a, let’s say weekly, column. I’ll use this forum to recommend animes that deal with the apocalypse. Because when the world ends, you’ll want a sympathetic form of entertainment. And what better form than a genre known for its shows set at the end of everything.

The best part about apocalyptic animes is the possible solutions they offer through their various series. Trigun provides a great example for how to rebuild the world and have fun when you have to start from scratch in a wasteland. Darker than Black teaches you how to survive in the midst of the animosity an apocalypse would incite. Highschool of the Dead covers the detailed techniques needed to defend yourself in the midst of the impending zombie apocalypse.

So in this column, I’ll provide overviews of various animes. Some of these columns will also be re-watches of animes. Big O is one I already own on DVD; Trigun is coming out on DVD (again) in the next couple of months. This column will be a place to cover what we learn from various apocalyptic animes and discuss which would be the most fun to carry with us into the post-apocalyptic world.

A huge thanks to R. Van Saint for providing the space here at ApocalypseHub! If you have any comments/suggestions/tips for keeping our sense of humor, please leave them in the comments! And I’ll see you next week!