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Trigun (Anime)

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Trigun (トライガン) is a Japanese anime series that was created, written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow.

Trigun

The manga series was serialized in Tokuma Shoten's Shonen Captain in 1995 with a total of 3 collected volumes when the magazine was discontinued in 1997. The series continued in Shonen Gahosha's Young King Ours magazine, under the title Trigun Maximum (トライガンマキシマム), where it remained until finishing in 2008. Both mangas were adapted into an anime television series in 1998. Madhouse animated the TV series which aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 1998 to September 30, 1998. In the U.S the anime aired in English during the year of 2000. An animated feature film called Trigun Badlands Rumble was released on April 24, 2010. The anime had gained more popularity in the United States than in Japan. However only the manga had gained more popularity in Japan.

Plot

Everyone's looking for Vash the Stampede. He's got a $$60 Billion bounty on his head for destroying a city. The only problem? No one knows for sure what he looks like. Enter Descartes and his gang who are after this geeky guy in a red coat. They capture him but start to have doubts if this guy really is the legendary gunman, especially when Loose Ruth shows up also fitting the description. Then come the Bernadelli Insurance girls, Milly Thompson and Meryl Stryfe who have Descartes' description - is he Vash? They certainly think so when he takes the girls hostage. But then the geeky guy shows up and saves them and takes out both Descartes and Loose Ruth without using a single bullet! But that couldn't be Vash the Stampede... Could it?

Meryl and Milly stop at a mansion in a deserted town for water when Vash (or simply, in Meryl's mind, the bumbling idiot from last time) answers the door. Shocked by his presence, the girls then follow the mansion's owner Cliff Schezar into the mansion whereupon he explains that someone in a red coat with blonde hair has been trying to kill him.

Cliff explains that's why he hired a bodyguard, jokingly asking for Vash the Stampede, but that he didn't really expect him to show up. Cliff also says he needs the bodyguard because Marianne, the granddaughter of the one of the members of the Standtall Federal Bureau is staying at the mansion as his guest and he wants her to be protected. Meryl pulls Cliff aside and tells him that he is being duped by Vash and that he could not possibly be the real thing. Cliff assures Meryl that he knows, that he is only calling the man Vash to scare off potential attackers.

Meryl and Milly get ready stay the night and cook dinner while Marianne goes to take a bath. Vash, ever lecherous, goes to spy on Marianne in the bath only to find that she is missing. Around the same time elsewhere in the house, Meryl sees Marianne leave Cliff's study. During dinner Marianne gets angry at the conversation Cliff and Vash have about how prosperous Cliff is and leaves the dining room. Vash follows her to have a brief one-sided conversation about their romantic future together when it is cut off because Marianne sees someone sneaking around outside. It is revealed that she is wounded when Vash unknowingly clutches her shoulder. Vash then jumps out the window to attack the suspicious person and finds it to be "only" Meryl.

Shortly after, both Marianne and Cliff go missing and Milly finds Marianne's discarded dress and some bloody bandages. Meryl believes the evidence points to Marianne being the one trying to kill Cliff though Vash is in denial about it. When Meryl confronts Vash about sneaking around Marianne's room he panics and falls against a bookcase, pulling a cord and revealing a secret underground passage.

We then learn that Marianne is in fact a Marshal looking for proof of Cliff's corruption- and she finds it in the form of a dam, several water tanks and ice blocks Cliff has been hoarding. Cliff then confronts her and takes advantage of the fact that she is wounded and hits her with his gun, knocking her to the ground. Cliff is about to kill Marianne when Vash comes screaming down a water chute. Vash then stands up to oppose Cliff and easily dodges all of Cliff's shots while gradually moving toward him by reading the trajectory of the bullets and watching the gun's movements and timing. Vash runs up to him, and flicks him in the nose and takes the gun away.

Cliff then reveals that he has several guns ready to fire under his coat, and tries to shoot Vash. Vash then dodges the shots, causing Cliff to shoot one of his blocks of ice. This enables Vash to catch an ice shard and hit Cliff's guns, which seemingly accidentally changes the trajectory to instead hit the water tanks and run out of ammo.

Vash then declares that he has done his job of protecting Cliff's guest when Marianne shouts for him to look out and he screams as the entire dam breaks, filling the mansion and entire town with water. Later, safely above the now flooded city, Vash, Meryl, Milly and the now tied up Cliff stand. Marianne says that it's okay even if the damn broke - because it will eventually go back into the ground and cause the city to become prosperous again, and people will be able to return to their homes.

She then thanks Vash which irritates Meryl as she believes it was all luck. Marianne asks if Vash dodged all those bullets on purpose to which Vash says it was more like a fluke. Vash asks what would happen if she knew he was the real Vash the Stampede and Marianne responds that she would have to arrest him. Vash then throws his hands up in defeat and leaves the group as Marianne thanks the girls.

Marianne realizes Vash is leaving and tells Meryl and Milly that she could really fall for a guy like that - that Vash is a real man. Meryl strongly disagrees while Marianne tells her she has no taste in men. Vash leaves on his own to the desert, lamenting that he thought it would really work out this time that he did not want to get arrested.

Vash, our red coated geek, comes into a town looking for Frank Marlon, a legendary gunsmith. Marlon has been spending his days drunk ever since a group of bandits killed his wife and daughter using one of the guns he made! Vash agrees to drink with Marlon (much to the insurance girl's dismay) and eventually Marlon tells him his sad tale. Vash leaves his gun with Marlon the next morning and ends up stumbling upon a man calling himself Vash who is holding up an armored truck with his gang. Milly and Meryl, after trying to warn the mayor that this could happen, have been roped into helping the thieves. Apparently the group found out that the town didn't have a sheriff. The reason? Everyone has a Frank Marlon Special, including the bartender at the place Vash and Marlon partied at. She brings out her gun after Vash makes a heroic stand, bluffing that he has a gun in his pocket - and eventually everyone in town bring out their guns as well. Finally Marlon comes in also using a finger as his gun and they chase the thieves out of town. Marlon fixes Vash's gun and he heads out of town with the girls close behind.

Milly and Meryl are stuck in a little town waiting out a sandstorm, when the bar they're waiting at is held up. They are taken hostage along with a "girl who loves cards". Vash is dropped off outside of town to walk through the huge graveyard which is there. He comes into town listening to headphones, chewing gum, and dancing - right into the bar where the hold up is taking place! He doesn't hear the sheriff or the mayor as they yell at him. Vash is taken hostage and eventually finds out the reason the bar is being held up. Apparently the girl who loves cards is the mayor's daughter - he and the sheriff had killed the parents, and families of many of the original townspeople. Meanwhile, the sheriff hires the help of some pretty shady men who have come to save the girl, even if that means killing the other hostages. Vash, Meryl, and Milly manage to stop the men, and Vash sets up a showdown between the mayor and the leader of the first gang. The sheriff is also thrown out of his position after he tries to kill them all to become the mayor himself. The show ends in one of Vash's famous lines: "This World is Made of Love and Peace!".

Vash is having breakfast when a group of bandits come to collect the $$60 Billion bounty on his head. Vash scares off the group, but when the townspeople find out he's Vash the Stampede they try to get the bounty themselves to fix their Plant. Milly and Meryl track him to the town and find the whole town is after him! Including the Nebraska family who were hired by the sheriff to capture him. Even though the women of the town capture Vash, he saves them from the Nebraska pair and manages to stop them with just 6 bullets (the first time he uses his gun) - and in turn capture the Nebraska family for their bounty which he gives to the town. Meanwhile, Meryl finally realizes that this geeky broom-headed guy is the Vash they've been sent to find!.

The town throws a party for Vash and friends. The town finally is able to hire engineers to fix their plant, and they arrive on a huge sand steamer. Including the main engineer who is in fact a very gorgeous woman. She hires Vash as her bodyguard/doggy and he follows her around town. The only problem is that someone is after her, and Vash has to fight off a pretty nasty masked guy. The next day our lady takes Vash into the Plant and we find out that she was the one who hired the masked man. Vash defeats him, but then our lady plans to destroy the Plant to kill Vash! He manages to stop the Plant from blowing up somehow, and finds out that the woman had lived in the City of July when it had been destroyed. The people of the city had survived the explosion, but ended up starving to death including her parents and she sought revenge on Vash for it seeing as though he had been the one to destroy the city! But how had he not changed after nearly 30 years and doesn't remember the incident at all?

After saving Inepril City once again, the town holds a party in Vash's honor. The next morning, Vash quickly tries to escape the city well namely to escape Meryl and Milly on the departing sand steamer. As the sand steamer travels, it is attacked by the Bad Lad Gang with the help of a young stowaway boy, Kaite, on board the steamer. While knocked unconscious, Vash dreams of Rem and the gang of thieves storms the sand steamer.

The Bad Lad Gang controls the sand steamer, hoping to steer it into the canyon in order to crack open the vault and get to the valuables inside. Vash, with the help of the stowaway Kaite (the son of the man who designed the sand steamer), must act quickly before the Gang steers the steamer and its passengers to its demise.

Difference Between Anime and Manga

  • In the manga, Vash meets Milly and Meryl while being chased by bandits. But in the anime, Vash meets the girls while trying to avoid a shoot out.
  • In the manga, Vash doesn't get amnesia as he recalls the City of July incident all to well. But in the anime, Vash does have amnesia as he can't recall certain events after he refused to help Knives kill innocent people.
  • In the manga, Meryl has a grandma that has the same personality of Rem Saverem. But in the anime, this isn't mentioned at all.
  • In the manga, Wolfwood spend his final moments with Vash as he dies next to him. But in the anime, Wolfwood dies while being all alone in a church.
  • In the manga, Knives die by sacrificing himself to save Vash from an explosive power plant. But in the anime, Vash makes Knives live by shooting him in his arms and legs as they have a gun battle.
  • In the manga, young Vash tries to kill himself after learning that he is a plant. However Ren stops him and honestly tells him why he is a plant. But in the anime, Young Vash doesn't think about killing himself, when he learns from Ren that he is a plant.

Episodes

  • 26 (total)

Films

  • Trigun Badlands Rumble (take place in between episode 17 & 18)

Theme Songs

Opening
  • H.T (Instrumental)
Closing
  • Wind Blows to the Future (all episodes)

Voice Cast

Japanese
English
  • Johnny Yong Bosch as Vash
  • Dorothy Fahn as Meryl
  • Lia Sargent as Milly
  • Joe Romersa as Descartes
  • Michael McConnohie as Ingway
  • John Snyder as Cliff Schezar
  • Steve Kramer as Grim Reaper Earl Bostalk
  • Mona Marshall as Kaite
  • Jeff Nimoy as Wolfwood
  • Richard Cansino as Legato Bluesummers
  • Peter Spellos as Monev the Gale
  • Carol Stanzione as Dominique the Cyclops
  • Bob Marx as E.G. Mine
  • Kirk Thornton as Rai-Dei the Blade
  • Bridget Hoffman as Rem
  • Bryce Papenbrook as Young Vash
  • Joshua Seth as Young Knives
  • Michelle Ruff as Lina
  • Milton James as Leonof the Puppet Master
  • Jonathan Fahn as Hoppered the Gauntlet
  • Derek Stephen Prince as Zazie the Beast
  • Daniel Woren as Chapel the Evergreen
  • Steve Bulen as Midvalley the Hornfreak
  • the late Kirk Baily as Knives

Trivia

  • The very 1st debut anime series of Johnny Yong Bosch, that launched his voice acting career after he was finish with the Power Ranger series. Bosch would later on play Kaneda in the 2001 version of Akira. He was the only cast member to reprise his role as the main character for the movie, while his other three original co star friends (Dorothy Fahn the original voice of Meryl, Lia Sargent the original voice of Milly and Jeff Nimoy the original voice of Wolfwood) were recasted. Apparently Bosch, Nimoy, and Fahn originally approached Funimation with the position "You'll take all of us or you'll get none of us". After that, Funimation managed to get Bosch – who had worked with them before – alone, and persuaded him to go to Texas anyway without telling the others. However he was devastated upon learning that they were recast right behind his back when he went to Dallas to record his lines. Years later he is now on good terms with Nimoy and Fahn.
  • The show had aired on Toonami with a few commercial promos on April Fools Day.
  • The only Anime series, that has a lot of fan service in the U.S and not in Japan. Because not too many fans were watching the Anime when it air in Japan back in 1998 as fans in Japan only liked the manga.
  • Vash's age currently confuses many fans both Japanese and American since they don't even know how old he was as a young child.
  • The opening song sequence is call H.T. HT is short for the "Human Typhoon", which is Vash's official nickname by strangers.
  • The small black cat that appears in every episode of Trigun is called "Kuroneko Sama" (which means "Lord Black Cat". The cat is reveal to be a female and was a creation for one of Yasuhiro Nightow's first mangas (Japanese comic books), and he has stated that the cat is indeed a female. Her alternate name is "Kuroneko Kukan" or "Black Cat Space". She also makes a cameo in the video game "Wild ARMs: 2nd Ignition" and in the Trigun movie.
  • Yasuhiro Nightow has gone on record to say that English is the language actually spoken on the Planet Gunsmoke.
  • For unknown reasons, the anime series contains various fictional units of measurement. The three most prominent examples are "iles" instead of "miles", "yarz" instead of "yards", and "double dollars ($$)" instead of "dollars ($)".
  • The series is named Trigun because Vash has three guns. His revolver, his prosthetic arm which houses a gun, and his angel arm.
  • The D in Nicholas "D" Wolfwood stands for Dokonokuminomonjawaresumakinishiteshizumetarokakora.
  • Wolfwood's cross is known as the Punisher.
  • Spiderman was a big influence on Nightow. The character Monev the Gale was inspired by Venom. If you notice, Monev is actually Venom spelled backwords.
  • When the anime started, Nightow was still doing the manga, only up to volume 2. So from episode 16 onwards, the anime breaks off from the manga and follows a different storyline.
  • The song that Rem used to sing to Vash is also sung by the boy from the train, who is known as Kaite. "Oh! On the first celestial evening, all the children now are sleeping. Night upon a dreaming world!".
  • Rem Saverem is the only minor character that made the most appearances in the anime. Her voice is heard in episode 7 when Vash wakes up on the train. But she is seen in a vision when Kaite sings her favorite song in episode 8. Rem is seen again in episode 12 when Vash stopped himself from killing Monev the Gale and that is when she talks to him for the first time. She is seen in a flashback in episode 17 and episode 20. She is seen in a vision once again in episode 25 and lastly in episode 26. The final time her voice is heard is in episode 25.
  • The three episodes where Vash appears as a child is episode 17, 20 and 26.
  • Milly has a large family. She addresses her siblings as Big Big Brother, Little Big Brother, Big Little Brother, Little Little Brother, Big Big Sister, Little Big Sister, Big Little Sister, and Little Little Sister.
  • In Episode 2, in Cliff Schezar's wanted poster, it says "Vash the Stanpeat".
  • In Episode 9, Murder Machine, you can see Wolfwoods Cross Punisher on the roof of the bus before they find him.
  • In Episode 9, the name of the city goes from Mei to May back to Mei.
  • In Episode 10, Vash's name on the board is spelled as Stanpede instead of Stampede.
  • In Episode 12, you can see that Vash's gun is a Colt.
  • In Episode 26 during Vash's flashback, when he first shoots Knives, his hand turns from gloved to bare skin, and then back to gloved.
  • Fans love how Vash sounds like a child in Japanese compared to English.
  • As of now in 2018, this Anime will be forbidden to watch on YouTube because Funimation the company that owns the Anime in English has blocked anyone on YouTube from uploading the full 26 episodes and movie on their own YouTube account without the company's permission. Therefore this Anime will be blocked if you try to watch an episode in Japanese or in English. Other animes that share this issue on YouTube are Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, the Dragon Ball franchise, Code Geass, Eureka Seven, Wolf's Rain, Mars Daybreak, Digimon Adventure 02, Claymore, Deadman Wonderland, Fruits Basket, Yu Yu Hakusho, Soul Eater and Sengoku Basara. Therefore you would have to either buy all these anime on DVD, or watch all these anime on the Funimation website instead of YouTube.
  • Johnny Yong Bosch is the only cast member to meet the creator of the series. He met his co star friends at comic con as he had recorded his dialogue in the studio by himself.
  • A soundtrack album was release under the title The First Donuts. Another soundtrack album was released under the title Trigun the 2 Donut Happy Pack.
  • The only anime series at the end of the 90s era to have a movie in 2011.
  • Japan was planning to make a video game base off of this anime, but the idea was scrapped for unknown reasons. The video game was going to be call Trigun: The Planet Gunsmoke. One of the characters, Gazelle the Peacemaker, who was created by the creator of the manga even had an official action figure released. Some of Gazelle's design elements were reused for Livio and Beyond the Grave.
  • Vash makes a cameo appearance as a poster in the video game Wild Arms 2.
  • Vash's iconic silver gun is reveal to be an upside down gun. Yasuhiro Nightow wanted Vash's gun to look cool and different, but also not too unbelievable. He decided on the upside-down barrel as a distinctive and practical look for the weapon of the protagonist of the series.
  • Trigun is not a character, but it's a reference to the fact that Vash carries three guns. We have the .45 long colt nickel-plated revolver capable of firing seven shots with a full load. Then there is his cybernetic left arm which hides a deadly secret in the form of a powerful semiautomatic pistol, later upgraded to a submachine gun. And then finally, we come to Vash's ultimate weapon, his angel arm. Upon activation, Vash's right arm transforms into cannons, capable of destroying entire cities with a single blast.
  • Vash's angel arm is one of the most destructive weapons in all of mangadom. The design of the arm is distinctly feminine. The reason behind this choice is that since Vash grows the arm out of his own body, the process is similar to that of giving birth. Since the birthing process is a solely feminine prerogative, the author wanted to incorporate feminine features into the angel arm to acknowledge that fact.
  • Trigun is known for having fantastic writing and well-rounded characters. A lot of anime suffer from an excess of style over substance, giving more weight to stylized action scenes and one-liners than an actual plot. But Trigun has been consistently praised for its deep themes and frequent social commentary. There is an intellectual heft behind the action that unfolds across the series. Villains are not one-note, but carry complex motivations and relatable goals. Vash himself is a fascinating patchwork of ideas and motifs relating to real-world eastern and western philosophies in connection with pacifism in the face of war and the desire for redemption for past sins.
  • Manga authors who wrote an original series are being dissatisfied with the onscreen adaptations of their work. This did not happen with Trigun manga creator Yasuhiro Nightow. He loves the anime for being able to distill the ideas he was exploring in the original manga into something that a viewing audience can appreciate. In fact, Nightow loves the anime so much that he has frequently incorporated filler characters from the show into later manga chapters of the series. So Trigun the anime carries the seal of approval from the original creator of the series.
  • Nightow heard of Bosch's take on the character and liked his work. Having to previously worked on the Power Rangers television series, Bosch tried to use a quiet tone to fit his character.
  • Vash, Woofwood, Meryl and Milly will be playable characters in the Brave Frontier RPG Mobile game.
  • A anime sequel series call Trigun Stampede will be released in 2023.
  • Johnny Yong Bosch reveal on Twitter when the anime sequel started as a rumor, that he wanted the announcement to be official and that he really wants to sign on to reprise his role as Vash again.

Gallery

Videos (Opening and Closing Theme Song)

Commercial Bumpers and Promo Videos

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