Trigun:

Reviewed: Episodes 1-26 (subbed) 1-4 (dubbed)

Basic Plot:

Years ago, the city of July was destroyed by the infamous Vash the Stampede, earning him a 60 billion double-dollar bounty. Since then, destruction follows wherever he goes. The strange part is that, while people are often injured, no one is ever killed. Every town he goes through files many insurance claims to the Bernadelli Insurance Agency, so the agency sends two women, Meryl Strife and Millie Thompson to find Vash the Stampede and act as damage control. Finding him may be harder than they thought, however, because the only man who fits the description is a clumsy, bumbling idiot who appears to have nothing but an odd string of incredible luck. Upon discovering that the fool is indeed Vash, the two girls begin their work in trying to control Vash’s crazy antics, but are surprised to find that Vash is a soft-hearted, sensitive man who has vowed to never take a life. How well will his no-killing philosophy hold up when every bounty hunter on the planet, as well as a dark figure from his past, are out to get him?

Review:

This anime became an instant fave of mine. Rarely does the first episode of a series hook me, but this one pulled it off. The major appeal of the series is Vash himself, who caused me to completely rearrange my list of top ten favorite males after just three episodes. I normally don’t like main characters, or blonde guys (sorry, blondes!) but Vash is a character of such charisma and depth that no one can deny how awesome he is. You won’t even get a glimpse of how deep he is till around episode 12, but trust me when I say he is incredible. The other characters are also memorable and colorful. The two main females (the insurance girls) are cool because they’re not glamorously beautiful like most females in this type of anime. Instead, they earn their keep by being smart, funny, and tough. That’s not to say there are no pretty girls in this series; there are plenty to be found. Even the enemies are colorful, having unique designs and a good portion of them even having their own back-story.

The animation is pretty fluid and very attractive. The character designs look really nice. The colors are mostly natural, except for Vash’s vibrant red coat. The music is great! It fits the series like a glove, and even the background music melds perfectly with the story. Flaws were hard to come by, but one could be the fact that it takes half the series for the actual plot to kick in. Also, the first half of the series is almost purely humor, with only a few serious scenes. The second half shifts sharply to slightly darker themes and more angsty material, with considerably less humor. Although I found the transition refreshing, some may not like it. Big time humor fans may be upset with the change, while non-humor fans may find the first half boring. That pretty much boils down to personal taste though.