Trigun - All About the Trigun Anime Series

The Gist:

A stranger with amnesia tries to live peacefully as he travels from town to town, but is forced to use his skills with guns as he evades the bounty hunters chasing him.

The History:

Trigun got its start in a manga entitled Shonen Captain, created by Yasuhiro Nightow and published in Tokuma Shoten magazine in 1995. The series was canceled in 1997, and Nightow was approached by Young King Ours magazine to create some new works. House wanted to finish Shonen Captain and the publishers agreed, debuting Trigun Maximum in 1998.

It was quickly adapted into an anime series, directed by Satoshi Nishimura and animated by Madhouse. The series began broadcasting in Japan on April 4, 1998, and was subsequently licensed by Geneon (then Pioneer) and began airing in the U.S. on Adult Swim in 2003.

Manga vs. Anime:

If there was ever a series that had a vastly different manga, Trigun would be it. Because the anime debuted the same year that the manga picked back up (Trigun Maximum), the two storylines are literally alternate universes of the same set of characters.

The anime series ended with 26 episodes in September 1998, while the manga continued until 2007 with a total of 102 chapters compiled into 14 tankobons.

How to Watch:

Trigun has been released on DVD in 8 separate volumes as well as several complete bundles and collector's editions.

See all the Trigun DVDs.

Genres:

Action, comedy, sci-fi, drama

Themes:

post-apocalyptic, space western, western

Learn more about anime genres and themes.

Studio:

Production: Geneon
Animation: Madhouse

Rating:

Teens (violence, language, nudity

Learn more about anime age ratings.

The Review:

Trigun is one of those rare anime series that comes along once in a blue moon but blows you away for years to come.

The story centers around Vash the Stampede, a mysterious gunman on the run with a 60 billion double dollar bounty on his head. You read that right - 60 billion double dollars. The reason for the high bounty? He allegedly destroyed the city of July way back when, but because Vash has amnesia, he can't remember that part of his life.

Vash is hunted by the Gung-Ho Guns and is also followed by Meryl and Milly, two employees for the Bernardelli Insurance Company who have been charged with keeping Vash out of trouble and minimizing the massive property damage he causes. In truth, it is the bounty hunters that cause most of the damage, but Vash quickly earns the nickname "humanoid typhoon" because of the utter destruction that seems to follow him wherever he goes.

He is also joined by a priest named Nicholas D. Wolfwood, also a skilled gunfighter and a bit of a mystery himself. Vash has a brother, Knives, whom he is at odds with and whose memory haunts him throughout the series.

In short, Trigun is a complex, entertaining anime that keeps you wanting more.

The $60 billion dollar man is quirky, funny and even considerably "dorky" at times, explaining why even Meryl doesn't fully believe that Vash is the legendary gunfighter. But back him into a corner and he can quickly pull an array of serious guns, all of which he has mastered quite well.

The animation is exceptional and the action is intense, with just enough comedic relief to lighten things up once in a while. The characters are really well-developed, and although the storyline takes place in a space-western future where organic weapons and bionic arms seem to be the norm, Trigun never leaves you doubting for a minute.