Trigun anime review (Spoiler-Free)

Related image

Rightstuf synopsis:


Oddly enough, for such an infamous fugitive, there’s no proof that he’s ever taken a life. In fact, he’s a pacifist with a doughnut obsession who’s more doofus than desperado. There’s a whole lot more to him than his reputation lets on – Vash the Stampede definitely ain’t your typical outlaw.

Please donate to help my website to expand:

Vash is loved in the US

Imagine yourself as a kid again and watching Toonami after school. Some of you grew up watching classic anime as soon as you get home and watched shows like Dragon Ball, YuYu Hakusho, Gundam and Sailor Moon. There was another anime where the protagonist don red clothing. No, I am not talking about Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin. I hope nobody forgot about the anime Trigun. Trigun was created as a manga and made by Yasuhiro Nightow who is well known for designing the game Gungrave and he also created the manga series Blood Blockade Battlefront. According to Wikipedia, Trigun started off in the manga with three volumes and then later continuation called Trigun: Maximum. The manga got an anime adaptation in 1998 and then later premiered in the US TVs on 2003 in Cartoon Network’s Toonami. The anime ran only twenty-six episodes. Unfortunately, in Japan, the series didn’t get  highest ratings, however, it got a lot of praised in the United States. In results to Japan’s ratings, the anime didn’t continue for another season or series. In 2010, we Trigun came back with a movie called Trigun: Badlands Rumble.

To be honest, I never really got into Trigun and I was one of the kids who was mostly stuck in shows like Dragon Ball and YuYu Hakusho, One of my Twitter friends and then also blogger friend Shay mentioned that Trigun is a recommended anime with a good English Dub cast and likable characters. Shout out to Twitter friend Hunter @wicked_ninja for recommending me this anime.

Story: Make love, not violence!

The story takes place in a fictional western world where people collect bounties from wanted men and rely on technology to live. The main character is Vash, a tall spikey hair man with red clothes who wants to live in a peaceful world. He goes around the lands to find peace and also stop violence. It turns out in the anime that Vash has a bounty on his head and he goes by the name by others “Vash the Stampede”. Throughout the lands, he is described as a dangerous man for creating destruction in the past; however, he does not fully remember his past and suffers slight amnesia. As he tries to live a normal life, he is constantly followed by two insurance workers named Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson. These two girls are following him in order to minimize any damage led by Vash. As Vash and his friends travel through the lands, he meets people who later becomes his friend like Nicholas D. Wolfwood and the mysterious enemies from the group Gung-Ho Guns.

Characters: A story about a man who does not want to kill.

Like previously mentioned, Vash is the main protagonist of the series. Vash first appears as the comedy relief who likes to settle disputes with kindness. Even in gun point, he will do anything to avoid bloodshed even if it means embarrassing himself. However, when provoked such as seeing innocent people get hurt, he is willing to fight serious. Vash is sharp shooter who can kill, but won’t take a life. The girls Meryl and Milly also play some roles in the anime. Meryl is the tough girl who puts business first before her life, but she also has soft spot for her friends including Vash. Milly is Meryl partner in the job who acts like a gentle giant. She is taller than her and carries a huge weapon used for cage people or objects. Unlike Meryl who appears tough and assertive, Milly is the opposite who acts innocent like a child. She cares about people and she sees Vash a silly friend. Joining their adventures later, we have Nicholas D. Wolfwood. Wolfwood is a preacher who collects money and tries to help orphans. He carries a huge cross with him which is actually a gun. Wolfwood is not like Vash, but he can be silly at some points and he even tries to use Vash for hilarious moments such as setting him up on a contest for shooting.

Review: A Diamond in the Rough?

Is Trigun worth watching? Personally, yes! I feel like this anime does an exceptional job on characters and world building. I really like the characters in this anime; I watched this anime in the English Dub and I personally think Johnny Yong Bosch nailed at being Vash. I really like how Vash and be silly guy who loves eating donuts and also try to stop conflict with embarrassing moments and then later be a clam and serious man who can kill but chooses not to. I am not going to spoil, but his pacifist motives are later tested in the anime and this causes suspense for the story. I also like the girls Meryl and Milly. At first, I didn’t really care about them and I saw them as comedy relief. I saw them as Team Rocket from the anime Pokemon because they always followed the main character. However, as the anime progresses, they changed from obsessive followers to Vash’s trusted friends in which I thought it was cool to see. The setting of this anime is pretty unique. I like how the anime is focused in a world where it has western influences and a cyberpunk vibe. The bad guys Vash encounters are very bizarre and intriguing characters. If you think villains like One Piece and Rurouni Kenshin were crazy looking, you should definitely see the bad guys and their weird arsenal of weapons. The action in this anime is top notched. The way Vash fights and pinpoints the enemies weakness is eye candy. Going back to the Western theme, the intro song of this anime rocks and it is a pleasure to hear the guitar pump me up for the next episode. The only thing I can mostly think about is the pacing of the anime I do want to talk about. When you first start the anime, this anime’s pacing is very slow and predictable. We mostly see Vash encounter new bad guys in the ten episodes and then see him try to show that death is not needed to solve a problem. The tone and pacing the anime changes later on when it’s no longer Vash against B-Ranked criminals and it’s about him against his morals and bloodthirsty villains. Overall, the pacing is pretty slow, but in a way it can be good because it helps us understand characters like Vash and see how he interacts with people and the world.


Is Trigun worth watching? Personally yes. As someone who appreciate the classics and the old traditions of anime, I think Trigun is something shouldn’t be overlooked. This anime reminds me of Rurouni Kenshin but set in a Western world. The main character Vash is probably the most awesome and funniest protagonist in anime. It’s nice to see Vash try to solve problems without bloodshed and what makes the story interesting is how far is he willing to keep his world in violence. Besides Vash, the other characters are much as interesting as him even if it’s minimal. Characters like Meryl, Milly and Wolfwood can help make the story humorous or intense when getting involved with Vash’s adventures. The anime starts off slow but it helps you understand the characters and Vash’s personal struggles. The villains in the beginning of the episodes can be goofy looking and I will admit, I pretty much didn’t care about them. Once the anime reached the later half, the villains got serious because they tested Vash’s philosophy and this made me on the edge of my seat. Overall, Trigun is another good classic anime with likable characters with a good amount pacing. Do you like this anime? Comment down below?

6 thoughts on “Trigun anime review (Spoiler-Free)

  1. I definitely enjoyed this anime a lot. I like how this one starts of in a totally different tone, and then changes gears at the midway point and becomes really dark at times. The setting is unique and the character of Vash is just awesome. Goes to show that classic anime is still well worth checking out! Great post! 😊

    • Yeah I agree with you 😄. This anime goes through a lot if changes and it’s interesting to see how characters like Vash handles it. I think Vash is an awesome character and he really made this story quite interesting with his humor.

  2. I really love Trigun. It took me a few goes to get into it as it starts off feeling like a goofy comedy, however once I finally got past the first few episodes I was totally hooked and I love the ending of the series. Definitely one worth watching.

    • Yeah that’s how I got into to it too. At first, I felt like it was going stay goofy halfway through the anime. After being patient, this anime got serious and I wanted more action. I’m glad to see it. It’s a classic anime I think everyone should see at least once.

  3. Great series. Has its flaws, of course, but it’s just highly entertaining with great characters. Hoped that Badlands Rumble would lead to more Trigun, but alas, it didn’t. 😦

Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s