Background: Trigun aired on Japanese TV in the spring and summer of 1998, and came to American shores not long after. It didn’t garner much of an audience in its home country, but was a huge hit on this side of the Pacific, especially once it aired on Adult Swim in 2003. Hot Topic sold replica Vash the Stampede coats, people. 26 episodes were originally released over 8 DVDs at $30 each by Pioneer/Geneon, but now I think you can get the whole thing in one Thinpak set from FUNimation for, like, 2 pennies and a song or something, or watch it for free online. You kids get offa my lawn.

So how does it hold up? In the interest of full disclosure, I have a Trigun tattoo. Just so you know.

Trigun was animated by the famous MadHouse studios, but I remember thinking back in 2001 that the animation quality was uneven, and it’s only highlighted even more now. There are episodes and sequences that look amazing, and then there are episodes and sequences that look like MH spent all their money on the good bits, so everyone’s animated at 3 frames per second and colored in crayon. Episode 2 looks like it was farmed out to some sort of magical girl animation team who never came back. So if you, or someone you want to introduce the series to, is a snob about such things, ply them with a few drinks first so maybe they’ll get involved with the story and won’t notice until it’s too late and they’re hooked. (If you want to stay on theme, ask me for the recipe for the Pink Derringer, an ill-advised recipe I made up that my gracious friends choked down at anime cons. If I recall correctly, it involves Jagermeister and Cheerwine, so, y’know, you were warned.)

I watched it dubbed, as that is the way I first watched it and fell in love with it. Also, if an anime is supposed to take place in an English-speaking or Western world, I have a weird tick about needing to see it dubbed, even if the dub is terrible (see: Hellsing TV series). What I learned is that I was remembering the dub a little more fondly than I should have. The main actors are fantastic – no complaints about them. However, the scriptwriting and sync really could’ve used some work. There are some awkward pauses, only highlighted more in emotional moments, which happen exponentially as the series progresses (by the final episode, there are dramatic speeches about the beauty of life every 30 seconds). This was one of Johnny Yong Bosch’s first roles before he became an anime dub superstar, so you get to hear him while he’s all virginal and shit.

Plotwise, it holds up fairly well. There was once a time in my life where I was watching this show so often that I could tell with one glance what episode any given screencap or cel was from. Those times have passed and been replaced with maniacal rewatches of Doctor Who, so I was seeing this with somewhat fresh eyes. Some of the filler episodes are pretty ridiculous (wow, I had completely forgotten about “Quick Draw”), but when it’s good, it’s REALLY good. When Vash first seriously draws his gun in “Hard Puncher” (let’s ignore the Engrish episode titles), I still held my breath. I fell asleep during the recap episode, but was enough of a fangirl that I snapped awake at the moment that actual plot happens. And even the stupid episodes exist to further character development of our main 4 good guys, which is where the real strength of the series lies. Though the TV series had a really great ending (more on that later), it legitimately could’ve continued longer on the strength of its awesome characters. As I said to a friend, rewatching Utena makes me think, “This show is so AWESOME.” Rewatching Trigun made me think, “I want to write fanfiction!” (Don’t worry, it only goes in private notebooks and you all shall be spared, unless you’re really curious.)

One of the biggest complaints about Trigun is that it takes a sharp turn in tone halfway through the series. Episodes 1-11 are wacky madcap action with an occasional serious note. Twelve and on, the series becomes dramatic action with occasional jokes. This was a turn that never bothered me – we spend the first 11 episodes with a character who behaves like an idiot, but we’re reminded that he turned a major city into rubble 30 years ago, and he’s a crack shot who’s really concerned that no one EVER dies. If you didn’t read that as giant warning signs that the ToonTown highway was ending and Route Serious Backstory was going to begin, I feel bad for you, son; I got 99 problems, but genre switch ain’t one. Watching it again, I still had no problems with this changeup, though I admittedly like my comedy spiked with drama (and a side of UST biscotti).

Ultimately, rewatching Trigun was enjoyable, but it made me want to get back into Trigun fandom more than it made me want to re-rewatch Trigun. It also piqued my interest in maybe finally reading all of Trigun Maximum, which I never finished because HOLY FUCK WAS THAT STORY MEANDERING AND ENDLESS. Which brings me to another point – the ending. When the Trigun anime was in production, the Trigun Maximum manga was still going with no end in sight. Don’t you hate that when that happens? When an anime just keeps going for its 26-episode contract, but you never get closure because there’s not a real ending since the comic was still–

Oh wait. You know what the Trigun anime team did?

THEY MADE THEIR OWN FUCKING ENDING.

And honestly? That might be the kicker that pushes Trigun from “fun anime” into “awesome show I will keep forever and would totally buy on Blu-Ray if FUNimation ever cleaned it up and released it HINT HINT.” MadHouse talked things out with Yasuhiro Nightow, manga artist, and got his plan for where things were maybe kinda going, and then they WRAPPED THAT SHIT UP. They wrapped that shit up with a satisfying ending that made sense and properly reflected the characters, and made ALL THE SHIPPERS happy. Just think about how amazing that is, also factoring in that when the manga finally ended, it had an insane ending that was, like, a million years in the making and made no sense and made no one happy. When I think about the Trigun manga, my left eye starts to twitch. When I think about the anime ending, I feel warm and fuzzy and happy.

So, 13 years later: Yay or Nay? YAY! Trigun is a series that can be silly and dumb, but it can also be really emotional and touching. There is something for everybody in this show, and Western enough that it’s a good introduction for someone who maybe doesn’t think of themselves as an anime fan. And the fandom, if it still exists, is pretty awesome. Now excuse me while I go back to translating all my dirty Vash/Meryl doujinshi.

P.S. – When I got into Trigun, I had disposable income, an interest in anime, and no reliable way of checking out shows other than just buying them and hoping they were good. As a way of trying to gauge if I’d like the show, I downloaded the opening theme from Napster (did you not see above that I got into this show in 2001?), and that sealed the deal for me. Give a listen and tell me this doesn’t get you excited for something awesome.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The plot looks like it’ll take place somewhere mid-series, since it stars Vash, Meryl, Milly, and Wolfwood. (OMG SPOYLERZ).  And there’s a bigtime robber named Gasback (ah, Trigun names) and a female bounty hunter named Ameria (not gonna lie – I hope someone writes pr0nfic with her in it and titles it “In Ameria”.)

Here’s the trailer. Exciting!

Click here to view the embedded video.