Plot Overview: I’m afraid of giving too much away. Vash is a man who’s wanted for 6 billion dollars for the destruction of July city. Even though people say he destroyed July, no one was killed.
There’s a lot of philosophy and morals. Plus, this is one anime that has strong Christian beliefs. If you like to have to really work to figure out a character’s psychology in order to learn why a character behaves the way he or she does, then this is for you! However, it doesn’t do it in a tricky way, like, say Paranoia Agent or Serial Experiments Lain. It’s an action-packed show that doesn’t rely solely on watching our protagonist invent new fighting moves to win the day.
Artwork: The artwork is okay. There’s a lot better in other anime, but that shouldn’t discourage you from watching this. The character designs are great; especially Legato’s. The only problem is that sometimes it doesn't look as great as it could. Vash's design is great, and it's easy to pick him out amongst the hoard of other anime protagonists, and our two insurance ladies are pretty good as well, but some of the villains are just pathetic.
Animation: Our spoiled brain would consider the animation to be subpar. There are some very good-looking scenes - most of them fight scenes. Still, some of the animation looks a little choppy. It's an amazing story that unfortunately didn't seem to animated with the quality that a lot of anime that came out surrounding it did.
Action: The thing that I found really neat about this anime is the sudden change in style around episode 12. Until then, the action is very one-sided, and you always know that Vash is going to come out on top. Everything is exaggerated and slap-stick during the fighting. However, once the show begins to pick up and Vash’s dark side becomes more visible, the action becomes much more intense and psychologically demanding. It’s a nice turn-around, and I really enjoyed the action; you could count on some in every episode, even if that episode was turned towards character development.
Music: If you’re into western tunes, then this is definitely for you. I don’t care for it too much, but there’s still some great tunes. I like the track where the flute plays softly in the background and there’s no trace of western stuff. It sounds kind of like Suikoden music, actually. Plus, "Sound Life" is a great song! It gets really long after a while, but it has a lot of meaning; at least in the Japanese version it does.
Character Development: Pretty much every character in this show has at least some development. The drunk, the outlaw, and other not-well-known character from the very first episodes at a lot of development, considering they’ll only have a part in one episode only.
Meryl and Milly lack development, which is a slight disappointment, considering they’re main characters, but we still see a glimpse into their lives.
Vash has a lot of character development, because he has so many different personalities. I can only describe Vash as being everything: Funny, kind, compassionate, downright stubborn, dark, troubled, concerned, and a lot more. Basically, he has a bunch of different personalities. We first see him as a donut-eating man who wins all his victories through sheer luck. However, we notice that, while he acts like an idiot, he really knows what he’s doing, but for some reason won’t let anyone see that. Then, we see that he’s sad for some reason. He lives in a kind of melancholy state, making up for it by acting like a loon. Of course, then there’s the dark side. When he’s mad enough, he’ll turn into a monster.
The bad guys aren’t developed a lot, so you really have to work at their psychology to figure it out. It isn’t plainly given away in flashbacks, so you have to do some thinking. In fact, after you finally work out Knives’ psychology, you’ll actually sympathize for him! Of course, it isn’t laid right in front of you’re face; you have to figure it out for yourself.
Tone: This series starts off very slap-stick-like. It has no seriousness in it at all, but then the tone will change drastically and bring you into a more dramatic and intense atmosphere. You’ll notice that it’s a lot like Rurouni Kenshin, but I think that the transition from comedy to drama is done much better in Trigun. It just works better.
Pacing: Okay, after watching the first DVD, I wanted to turn it off, but I bought the others to see if it gets better – it does, but it takes a while. Once the plot started to kick up, I couldn’t turn it off! The episodes are done just right so that you want to see what’s going to happen next; especially after the episode where we see just how Vash destroyed July City by using the Angel Arms. It will keep you hooked and you won’t guess what happens.
Dubbing: Terrible! Not only do the character voices stink, but the dialogue is really bad. I’m going to go through the characters and complain about their dubbing. I actually never watched the entire series dubbed because I was too busy yelling at the TV whenever they made a mistake, and the Cartoon Network version is even worse!
Language and Content: There’s quite a bit of swearing, especially for an anime that deals with pacifism. There’s also a few seconds of nudity and some disturbing things said. There’s also a lot of violence in it, on that note. The swearing is nothing you've never heard before, although some the characters who swear will take you by suprise until more is revealed about them later (can't say more...too many spoilers).
Villains: If you really spend time working out the psychology of some of the villains, you’ll find that they actually have reasons for doing what they’re doing. I only wish that they would’ve developed some of the Gun-Ho-Guns better. Dominique the Cyclops was developed okay, and so was the guy from Diablo, but most of the others just showed up. Knives is in the lead, with a dark past and psychology much different from Vash (you may sympathize for him if you really work at it), and Legato is under him, and the Gung-Ho-Guns are under Legato’s command.
Recommended? Definitely! This anime is both funny and moving, action-packed and relaxing, and full of morals and challenging issues.
Yes, this was another one of my insanely old reviews.
I found the complete series for an actually affordable price to boot!
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