TRIGUN REMASTERED COLLECTION
January 2nd 2012 22:13
Based on the Trigun & Trigun Maximum manga by Yasuhiro Nightow
Director: Satoshi Nishimura
Script by: Yosuke Kuroda
Producer: Shigeru Kitayama & Masao Morosawa
Starring: Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash), Jeff Nimoy (Nicholas D Wolfwood), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (Meryl Strife), Lia Sargent (Milly Thompson), Bo Williams (Knives Millions), Richard Cansino (Legato Bluesummers) & Bridget Hoffman (Rem Saverem)
Produced by: Mad House
English Language Version by: Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 650 minutes Rating: M
This one is an anime classic, the kind of show that anime geek boys & girls in the western world no doubt drool over and no doubt expound about their favourite moments or episodes with great vigour and authority at conventions. Billed as an action comedy and space western this remastered collection of the Trigun anime consists of the entire series spread over four discs. On the surface it certainly seems as if Trigun is a space western action comedy but frankly those terms are at the end of the day only really skin deep, if anything one could go so far as to describe Trigun as tragedy of epic proportions that when it finally concludes leaves you with something of a puzzled look on your face…but more of that later…
The time is some point in the distant future, the place a planet somewhere out in the reaches of space. As events unfold you come to learn that humanity has only been on this planet for around a century and bit, so it’s been fairly short as far as historical reckoning goes. In terms of technology and fashion things seem to be a mixture of the Wild West, Mad Max and contemporary fashion styles. And here and there can be found remnants of the technology that originally allowed humans to migrate from their homeworld to this new planet, some of it still works and in a lot of cases provides power to the various communities. The Plants are giant light bulb like structures that can be found in most cities and major towns; they provide electricity and other power so that life can live in some relative comfort.
But there is more to the Plants then meets the eye, it seems that they are more than just mere constructs and in fact they have had an important impact on the very fortunes of the planet right from the get go. These facts though only become apparent as the story is well into its final stages. So just what the heck is Trigun all about then, what is going on in this series? Well it all quite literally revolves around the central character, an individual called Vash the Stampede, the most wanted man on the face of the entire planet. With a reward of sixty billion double dollars placed on his head Vash is viewed by many as a prize catch, after all with money like that even if you had to split it with others would still guarantee a life of relative ease.
So what has Vash done to warrant having such a high bounty placed on his head? Apparently he destroyed an entire city; the city of July and that is but one amongst his many crimes. Wherever he goes catastrophe, carnage and chaos follow in his wake, so much so that he has been labelled the Humanoid Typhoon. A mere mention of his name in any community, outpost or township is enough to cause people to grab their essentials and head for the hills, so much fear does his existence cause. Truth as they say though is stranger than fiction…even though his name is known far and wide no one actually knows what Vash looks like…and certainly no one knows the kind of person he really is.
As I mentioned earlier this entire series completely revolves around Vash not just because he’s the primary protagonist but also because he is a pivotal element in the plot, although that isn’t apparent until the later half o the series. Structure wise as things begin we find insurance agents Meryl Strife and Milly Thompson assigned by their employer the Bernardelli Insurance Society to track down and observe Vash. Only problem is they have no idea what he looks like and neither it seems does anyone else. There role in finding and observing Vash is risk minimisation, with some like Vash running loose insurance claims rising higher and faster than ever before and the company is no doubt hard pressed to meet the claims.
What Meryl and Milly find for all their efforts is something far more puzzling than what they expected, rather than some fierce wild eyed gunslinger clad in leathers they discover a blonde spiky haired doofus wearing a red coat and having a major hankering for donuts. Not the image they had in their minds of the legendary outlaw, yet this doofus is in fact Vash the Stampede. In fact the only actual frightening things about Vash are his past…and the fact that he isn’t human, at least in origin. Vash is a plant, yep a humanoid plant, one of the light bulb constructs that provide power to the various towns, cities and villages scattered across the face of the planet. For some reason he has taken on humanoid form and for all intents and purposes appears just like an ordinary person, but his abilities are far superior to those of an average human. And as for his past being frightening…well he isn’t the only humanoid plant, he has a ‘brother’ called Knives Millions.
Unlike Vash Knives is what a clinical psychologist would no doubt label a sociopath or perhaps someone with sociopathic tendencies. Myself I’d categorise Knives as a black hearted villain through and through, he is a total nihilist who feels that humanity has no intrinsic value and deserves to be wiped from the universe like any other hostile and dangerous organism. Consequently he has been behind much of the carnage that has haunted Vash from earliest of days, in fact it is all due to the actions of Knives that their exists human settlement although he hadn’t intended that in his calculations.
A shadowy figure for most of the series Knives doesn’t really make a significant appearance until the final episode where he is finally confronted by his ‘brother’, Vash. What takes place is somewhat problematic not so much in its conclusion but in its rationale, in fact if anything the whole rationale that Vash takes with him into the fight against Knives seems to be destined to only bring about further tragedy. It seemed to echo the old saying; the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Still when the dust finally settled Trigun is a truly good series well worth tracking down and spending a few days watching…you will laugh, you will cry and you will gasp at the action. Perhaps tragi-comic space western might be a better description of Trigun Remastered Collection…regardless though of how it’s labelled it’s definitely a classic viewing experience.
Director: Satoshi Nishimura
Script by: Yosuke Kuroda
Producer: Shigeru Kitayama & Masao Morosawa
Starring: Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash), Jeff Nimoy (Nicholas D Wolfwood), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (Meryl Strife), Lia Sargent (Milly Thompson), Bo Williams (Knives Millions), Richard Cansino (Legato Bluesummers) & Bridget Hoffman (Rem Saverem)
Produced by: Mad House
English Language Version by: Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 650 minutes Rating: M
This one is an anime classic, the kind of show that anime geek boys & girls in the western world no doubt drool over and no doubt expound about their favourite moments or episodes with great vigour and authority at conventions. Billed as an action comedy and space western this remastered collection of the Trigun anime consists of the entire series spread over four discs. On the surface it certainly seems as if Trigun is a space western action comedy but frankly those terms are at the end of the day only really skin deep, if anything one could go so far as to describe Trigun as tragedy of epic proportions that when it finally concludes leaves you with something of a puzzled look on your face…but more of that later…
The time is some point in the distant future, the place a planet somewhere out in the reaches of space. As events unfold you come to learn that humanity has only been on this planet for around a century and bit, so it’s been fairly short as far as historical reckoning goes. In terms of technology and fashion things seem to be a mixture of the Wild West, Mad Max and contemporary fashion styles. And here and there can be found remnants of the technology that originally allowed humans to migrate from their homeworld to this new planet, some of it still works and in a lot of cases provides power to the various communities. The Plants are giant light bulb like structures that can be found in most cities and major towns; they provide electricity and other power so that life can live in some relative comfort.
So what has Vash done to warrant having such a high bounty placed on his head? Apparently he destroyed an entire city; the city of July and that is but one amongst his many crimes. Wherever he goes catastrophe, carnage and chaos follow in his wake, so much so that he has been labelled the Humanoid Typhoon. A mere mention of his name in any community, outpost or township is enough to cause people to grab their essentials and head for the hills, so much fear does his existence cause. Truth as they say though is stranger than fiction…even though his name is known far and wide no one actually knows what Vash looks like…and certainly no one knows the kind of person he really is.
As I mentioned earlier this entire series completely revolves around Vash not just because he’s the primary protagonist but also because he is a pivotal element in the plot, although that isn’t apparent until the later half o the series. Structure wise as things begin we find insurance agents Meryl Strife and Milly Thompson assigned by their employer the Bernardelli Insurance Society to track down and observe Vash. Only problem is they have no idea what he looks like and neither it seems does anyone else. There role in finding and observing Vash is risk minimisation, with some like Vash running loose insurance claims rising higher and faster than ever before and the company is no doubt hard pressed to meet the claims.
What Meryl and Milly find for all their efforts is something far more puzzling than what they expected, rather than some fierce wild eyed gunslinger clad in leathers they discover a blonde spiky haired doofus wearing a red coat and having a major hankering for donuts. Not the image they had in their minds of the legendary outlaw, yet this doofus is in fact Vash the Stampede. In fact the only actual frightening things about Vash are his past…and the fact that he isn’t human, at least in origin. Vash is a plant, yep a humanoid plant, one of the light bulb constructs that provide power to the various towns, cities and villages scattered across the face of the planet. For some reason he has taken on humanoid form and for all intents and purposes appears just like an ordinary person, but his abilities are far superior to those of an average human. And as for his past being frightening…well he isn’t the only humanoid plant, he has a ‘brother’ called Knives Millions.
Unlike Vash Knives is what a clinical psychologist would no doubt label a sociopath or perhaps someone with sociopathic tendencies. Myself I’d categorise Knives as a black hearted villain through and through, he is a total nihilist who feels that humanity has no intrinsic value and deserves to be wiped from the universe like any other hostile and dangerous organism. Consequently he has been behind much of the carnage that has haunted Vash from earliest of days, in fact it is all due to the actions of Knives that their exists human settlement although he hadn’t intended that in his calculations.
A shadowy figure for most of the series Knives doesn’t really make a significant appearance until the final episode where he is finally confronted by his ‘brother’, Vash. What takes place is somewhat problematic not so much in its conclusion but in its rationale, in fact if anything the whole rationale that Vash takes with him into the fight against Knives seems to be destined to only bring about further tragedy. It seemed to echo the old saying; the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Still when the dust finally settled Trigun is a truly good series well worth tracking down and spending a few days watching…you will laugh, you will cry and you will gasp at the action. Perhaps tragi-comic space western might be a better description of Trigun Remastered Collection…regardless though of how it’s labelled it’s definitely a classic viewing experience.
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