Trigun

Original Title: トライガン
Romanized: Trigun
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

On a dusty, backwater planet that looks remarkably like the Old West, one name is feared above all others: Vash The Stampede. The Humanoid Typhoon. A man so dangerous, so destructive, so unstoppable, that there's a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head. He's also such a total dork that nobody'd ever guess who he really was until the shooting starts. He tries to do good, but good things just never seem to happen around him, and he refuses to stop moving until he's reached his goal... but what might that be?

Quick Review

Rating: 4 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-08-02

Trigun starts out a rollicking action-comedy on the dusty streets of a sci-fi western world. Populated by colorful and likable characters--the dorky yet principled "Jesus with a six-shooter" Vash at the center of them--and loaded with enough semi-goofy gunfighting to keep anybody happy, that alone would be enough to make the series worthwhile. But in its second half it delves into an increasingly serious and utterly unforgiving examination of what "Thou shalt not kill" really means, and how being a pacifist means more than just not pulling the trigger. It's not a "smart" series, nor a technically impressive one, but its earnest heart and brutal unwillingness to let the hard choices work out cleanly in the end makes it truly memorable.

Funny comedy, an ongoing story that is anything but funny, and a gripping conclusion laden with serious, powerful, and thought provoking subject matter--Trigun has a little of everything. Best of all, the themes are comfortably compartmentalized, so it all fits together into a thoroughly enjoyable series with a message that sticks with you after it's over.

US DVD Review

The DVDs have the minor disadvantage of being in Pioneer's older standard 3-episode-per-disc format (with 4-episode 1st and last discs), so the set is 8 discs long, but otherwise they're very solid. As with most Pioneer releases, the video is sufficiently crisp and shows no significant artifacts (though there is just a bit of edge shimmer/rainbow halo), and the 2-channel audio is good in both languages. The mid-episode eyecatches (a cool little guitar flourish with a picture of Vash) are included, and the episodes are divided nicely, with the credits and previews on separate chapters. The fun animated menus (they look like various pieces of Western paraphernalia, and some are quite creative) have a chapter index and audio/subtitle controls, plus a variety of character sketches and other images (like the covers from the Japanese laserdisc releases) spread out through the series. There are only two minor annoyances: The dub actors aren't matched with their roles, and the originally unique openings are replaced by the one from the first episode throughout the series.

There is also a two-box-set limited edition that improves on this; they feature the original episode-specific openings, 5.1 audio in both languages, and a collection of design-related extras. Six individual DVDs with these improvements are available as "Trigun Remix."

Content Guide

Trigun generally implies more than it shows, so Pioneer's 13-up rating is appropriate, although the last episodes do feature very strong emotional content.

Violence: 3 - Few people die onscreen, and there is very little gore, but there are some brutal scenes toward the end.

Nudity: 1 - Essentially nothing.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - There is a bit of innuendo and some mature themes, but nothing is ever shown.

Language: 2 - Generally clean, although there is a bit of swearing.

Notes and Trivia

Trigun is based on a manga series by Yasuhiro Nightow. The manga version originally started publication in 1995 with the title Trigun, but after changing publishers in 1998 was renamed Trigun Maximum, which it is now generally known as to distinguish it from the TV series. It is available in English from Dark Horse on 10 volumes under the Trigun Maximum title.

The opening theme of each episode of the series is accompanied by a different set of images highlighting the characters from that particular episode. On the Pioneer 8 volume releases (both the original and Signature Series DVDs and VHS versions) the opening for the first episode was used for the entire series. The Collector's Edition and "Remix" releases restore the original unique openings.

There is one major error in Pioneer's translation, and it's particularly glaring because it's in a pivotal line in the next to last episode. Since the mistranslation itself is bad because it's a spoiler, do not read this if you haven't seen the series yet. The error is related to Rem's last words to Vash, which are translated as "Take care of Knives." The actual line is "Knives wo..."; due to the word order in Japanese the verb is missing, so it's not clear what she asked Vash to do to/with him--it could have been anything. The "Take care of Knives." translation works well enough, since it is fairly ambiguous (it could mean kill him, stop him, or care for him). The error is in the closing moments of episode 25 when Vash decides what he must do. In the original dialogue the verb is left off of his statement as it was with Rem's, leaving what it is he's decided to do equally ambiguous. The translation, however, is specific, thereby giving away the drama of exactly what he's going to do, when just repeating her words would've worked.

Availability

Available in the US from Geneon on two bilingual 3-disc "Collector's Edition" box sets or 6 individual "Trigun Remix" volumes. Was previously available on 8 individual bilingual DVDs (re-released at some point as the "Signature Series"). Was originally also available on 8 subtitled or dubbed VHS tapes.

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