Trigun

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

Trigun Volume 5: Angel Arms

By otaku_kei
16th Dec 05

Trigun stands alongside titles such as Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, as a series that fans site as either ground breaking, innovative or just a plain old thrill-ride which is why it remains as one of the more popular shows of the last decade. When MVM announced that they would be releasing this show I was pleased, as I had heard such positive things about this show, and yet I’ve felt that so far this show has shown only hints of what it could be. Certain episodes have been very impressive, and yet others have been nothing more than average. I’m pleased to say that this show seems to have finally gone beyond this hindrance and delivers three awesome episodes that truly demonstrate why this show remains so popular.

Volume 5 finally seems to deliver Vash into a situation when he may actually be in danger! With the introduction of Legato Bluesummers and his gang of ruffians the Gung-ho Guns: has Vash finally met his match? With so many questions still surrounding The Humanoid Typhoon this volume finally sees some of those questions get an answer. Just who is Vash really? Where does he come from? And is he truly responsible for all the destruction that is accredited to his reputation? Well of course for such an affable guy Vash is not truly responsible for such atrocities, but nor is he blameless and truly deserves the guilty conscience and ghosts that haunt his every move. The revelations behind the tragedy that landed Vash with his fantastically large bounty goes a long way to explain who the man Vash has become. But who ever heard of a thing like plot exposition getting in the way of a bit of unbridled action!

So if its isn’t Vash refusing to fight before pulling out an amazing one in a million shot; or Meryl and Millie pumping round after round into every moving target within a several kilometre radius. The action scenes remain one of the ongoing bright spots of this show- bright, extravagant, gripping and heart-breaking as the action almost always comes with a message as to how violence is bad, m’kay. Characterisation is not forgotten though: Meryl continues her re-evaluation of all the ideals and obligations that had previously dictated her life, whilst Vash continues his search for inner peace. The characters on the periphery all have their own insights to add of course, insights that generally have a profound impact on our characters way of thinking.

But whilst this show continues to get better we still have far too many unanswered questions, and the show still seems to be meandering along without any real focus on what it wants to achieve. With only a few volumes left there is a long way to go to pull this show out of the plodding plot development that it is mired in. Sure this volume does go some way to furthering the plot but there is still much to do.

This latest volume of Trigun follows much the same pattern as previous efforts with lots of action as Vash enters yet another dusty town and has to face off against the local villains. Of course by mixing it up with a man that clearly has some history with Vash we are starting to get to the real meat of the story, and signifies a true end to the introductory episodes of the show. I just hope that the enjoyable tone, action scenes and engaging characters can carry this show into a conclusion that lives up to all the hype that surrounds this acclaimed fan-favourite!

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English Language 2.0; Japanese Language 2.0; English Language Subtitles; Textless Opening & Closing; Trigun Trailer; MVM Trailers

Release information: OUT NOW

Notes: This is perhaps one of the more dissapointing releases that MVM are getting onto the market at the moment. For such a recent show the picture quality seems to have degraded significantly. This is not of course anything to do with the disc encoding, but is a due to the master copies used for all Trigun releases. A shame really. Also the lack of any interesting extras is depressing as this is appears to be a wasted opportunity to capitalise on the popularity of this show.

-- otaku_kei 16th Dec 05

Trigun Images