Trigun

Director
Satoshi Nishimura
Production
Madhouse, TV Tokyo, Victor Entertainment
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
1998

Trigun volume 1: The $$60,000,000,000 Man

By otaku_kei
14th Feb 05

The Western has repeatedly thrown up iconic characters that have captured the imagination of the viewing public - from John Wayne's embittered ex-cavalryman Ethan Edwards in The Searchers, through to Eastwood's epitome of laconic cool as The Man With No Name, touching upon the gunslinging swagger and bravado of Han Solo in Star Wars right up until Eastwood again gave us the tortured killer Bill Munny in Unforgiven. Joining this Pantheon is Vash the Stampede the single biggest insurance liability on the planet Gunsmoke, and the sharpest shot to ever traverse the endless desert on that barren planet. This is a harsh world where everyone comes tooled up for action, but even the mere mention of Vash's name causes fear and panic. This is his story - Trigun.

With the first volume in this long awaited release we get four episodes that initially follow two insurance investigators Meryl and Milly as they try to track down Vash, but there search has so far proved fruitless due to he conflicting rumours as to what the 'humanoid typhoon' even looks like. Now whilst the average viewer will already be able to guess Vash's identity from the cover art for this disc, theses episodes do little to confirm his identity as the conflicting rumours about him keep recurring. This then leads to a series of adventures that the insurance investigators have to muddle through whilst trying to piece together exactly who Vash is.

Never having encountered the Trigun universe any more deeply than the fantastic Kaiyoda toy range I did not really know what to expect from this show. In many ways Trigun is reminiscent of Fist Of The North Star - a desolate land, a misunderstood hero, mutant villains, but that is where the similarity ends. Whilst Kenshiro may have been a tortured, brooding warrior, Vash is more the class clown. With his billowing red trenchcoat, and clutching his chromed hand cannon I envisaged a much more brooding anti-hero than the bumbling buffoon that this show actually delivers. Whilst this show may be action packed and have some great old-school showdowns on windswept streets with tumbleweed billowing past in the background, the lingering memory from this volume is the comedy and not the violence. (Personally the show could do with a few more Sergio Leone-esque extreme close-ups to the eyes, best things about Westerns are the extreme close-ups.)

Trigun was an interesting title and could well make for a popular gateway anime for people looking to entice their friends into this subculture, and should sell well I'm sure much to MVM's delight, but for me something was missing. Perhaps it is that recently I have been looking for a more serious title and after the recent slew of Love Hina, Kiddy Grade and then this - I could have just been burned out. But as it stands this is not the disc that really demonstrates why this show has such a cult following, no matter how enjoyable a romp through a sci-fi Western frontier it is. For those of you who finally want to find out what all the fuss is about it won’t really matter what I say you are going to pick this up, but for the wary I can recommend this as a light hearted action comedy that entertains and thrills in equal measure. But for those who are looking for a plot heavy serious title to sit back on the sofa with I do not think this title will be for you.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English 2.0; Japanese 2.0; English Subtitles; Image Gallery; Character Design Gallery; MVM Trailers

Release information: 21st February 2005

Notes: Well what to say about this title. The presentation is pretty standard for a UK release, and the picture and sound quality are great. The animation has dated a little but there is no noticable transfer problems on the picture quality. The extras are once again pretty light with little point or interest to them. Perhaps the only extra that I found any worth in was the Character Design Gallery, but even that will not keep many people coming back for too much. The menus are rather plain, but when changing between menu screens we have some great animation as one screen gets blown away - the bulletholes revealing the next menu choice.

-- otaku_kei 14th Feb 05

Trigun Images