Trigun
|
|
Trigun_manga.jpg
Trigun (トライガン) is a sci-fi manga series with a steampunk Wild West theme created by Yasuhiro Nightow in 1995, and adapted into a 26 episode anime series in 1998 by Madhouse. It is the story of Vash the Stampede, a.k.a. The Humanoid Typhoon, and the two Bernardelli Insurance Society employees, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, who were ordered to follow him and minimize the damage that seems to follow Vash everywhere he goes. Like Himura Kenshin from the manga/anime series Rurouni Kenshin, Vash flips personalities between harmless idiot and unstoppable warrior, but is always staunchly pacifist.
| Contents |
Storyline
Much of the damage attributed to "Vash" is caused by the activities of the bounty hunters who are after the $$60,000,000,000 ($$ = double dollar) reward on Vash's head for the destruction of a city called July (which, amazingly, resulted in no direct loss of life to the city's inhabitants). Vash does not clearly remember the destruction of July, and only wants "love and peace," as he puts it; though he is a gunfighter of near god-like skill, he uses his weapons only to save lives wherever he can (even the lives of those who try to kill him).
As the series progresses, more is gradually learned about Vash's mysterious history and the history of human civilization on Gunsmoke, the alien desert planet the series is set on. The series is often humorous in tone, but at the same time it involves very serious character development and especially in later episodes it becomes quite emotionally intense. Vash is occasionally joined by the preacher Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who is almost as good a gunfighter as Vash himself, and later is targeted by a band of assassins known as the Gung-Ho Guns for reasons which are mysterious at first.
Trigun evolves into a very serious discussion of the nature of morality, posing questions such as: What is the nature of morality? Can we judge different moral codes? If a person is forced to betray their moral code, does that betrayal invalidate that moral code, and can the person still try to live up to that moral code? Can the person find redemption from their wrongs, and if so, how?
Manga
The Trigun manga began serialisation in March 1995 in Shōnen Captain, published by Tokuma Shoten, however the magazine was cancelled early in 1997. Nightow switched to the publisher Shōnen Gahōsha, and Trigun resumed in 1998 in Young King Ours, under the new name Trigun Maximum (トライガンマキシマム). Despite the two year gap in the story before the start of Maximum and slightly more serious tone, Nightow has statedTemplate:Ref that the new title was purely down to the change of publishers, and rather than being a sequel it should be seen as a continuation of the same series. Volume 11 was published at the end of 2004.
Shōnen Gahōsha later bought the rights to the original three volume manga series and reissued it as two enlarged volumes. In October 2003 the American publisher Dark Horse Comics released the expanded first volume translated into English, keeping the original right-to-left format rather than mirroring the pages. With the anime version already well known in the US, the first print run of 30,000 sold outTemplate:Ref shortly after release. The second volume concluded the original series early the next year, and went on to be the top earningTemplate:Ref graphic novel of 2004. On the back of this success, Trigun Maximum followed quickly, and Volume 6 is due to be published August 2005.
Like many other series, Trigun is the subject of a lot of yaoi fanfiction, due to the number of bishonen characters.
See also Trigun manga releases information.
Anime
Trigun was created by the animation studio Madhouse Production and directed by Satoshi Nishimura. It is licensed in the United States by Pioneer USA (now Geneon). In 2003, Trigun began broadcast as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. Despite the hopes of many fans, Nightow has statedTemplate:Ref that due to the finality of the anime ending, it is unlikey any continuation will be made.
See also Trigun anime episode list.
Characters
See the Trigun characters page.
Differences between manga and anime
Story, Events and Details
- The manga begins at episode 5 of the series.
- In the manga the bounty on Vash the Stampede is called off because he is designated as a human disaster, and a bounty can't be collected on something like an earthquake, tornado etc. The bounty is actually called off before the start of the manga, which the townsfolk in Trigun #1 don't know until Millie and Meryl announce it.
- In the manga, Grimreaper Bostalk is killed in his duel with the bearded fella.
- In the manga when the sheriff is going to kill Vash and the hostages, Vash reveals his hidden gun and shoots up the police officers in what sounds like one shot. He then shoots the sheriff in the shoulder after the sheriff tried shooting him; in the anime, Vash tackles the bearded man and Meryl shoots the guns out of the police's hands, then the sheriff surrenders. During this incident in the manga, Meryl and Millie weren't present.
- The events of episode 14: Little Arcadia happened at the end of Trigun #1, before Vash's first confrontation with Legato; During the anime, that would have been before episode 12 and after episode 11.
- Unlike the anime, in the manga Legato makes it clear that he works for Knives during his first confrontation with Vash, and Vash reveals that Knives killed Rem.
- In the manga, Dominique commited suicide after losing to Vash.
- In the manga during the Lost July incident, Vash's angel arm blast killed everyone in the city, where's nobody died in the anime.
- In the manga, the Gung-Ho Guns are often shown collaborating and/or talking amongst themselves, showing "slices of life" which are almost completely absent in the anime.
- Vash loses his mechanical arm during the fight with Monev the Gale and doesn't get it back until after he puts a hole in the moon.
- The result of using the Angel Arm for a second time used so much of Vash's energy that part of his hair turned black. We later find out that if a plant's hair turns 100% black he/she will die.
- Vash defeats Rai-Dei the Blade in the Manga.
- In the manga, during his fight with Leonoff, Vash kills a girl, thinking that she was a puppet.
- In the manga, Hoppered the Gauntlet wasn't present during the battles in Vash's "home."
Character Differences
- In the manga, Millie's hair is blonde; in the anime, it's brown.
- In the manga Legato is shown exhibiting human emotions like anger, frustration, confusion; it's after being confined in his chamber for so long that turns him into the "crazy" Legato we know from the anime, as implied by Hoppered when Midvalley tries to kill him.
- Unlike the anime, In the manga Midvalley strongly dislikes Legato, and in fact tries to kill him. He also expresses his confliction with what it is that he has to do as a Gung-Ho Gun (in the manga).
The Fifth moon incident
- The Fifth moon incident occurs shortly after Vash's fight with Dominique in the manga; in the anime it occurs during his fight with Rai-Dei.
- Knives emerges from the plant he was in to heal his body and personally causes Vash to activate his Angel Arm, not Legato.
- Knives crushes Legato for ordering the Gung-ho Guns to kill Vash during the 5th moon incident. Afterwards Legato is confined in a coffin-like chamber for the rest of his life.
The Gung-ho Guns
| Format | Gung-Ho Gun | # | Battled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manga | Monev the Gale | 1 | First |
| Anime | ? | First | |
| Manga | E. G. Mine | 2 | Second |
| Anime | 5 | Third | |
| Manga | Dominique the Cyclops | 3 | Third |
| Anime | 2 | Second | |
| Manga | Rai-Dei the Blade | 9 | Fourth |
| Anime | 9 | Fourth | |
| Manga | Leonof the Puppet-master | 4 | 5th/6th |
| Anime | ? | 5th/6th/7th | |
| Manga | Gray the Ninelives | ? | 5th/6th |
| Anime | ? | 5th/6th/7th | |
| Manga | Hoppered the Gauntlet | 6 | Seventh |
| Anime | 3 | 5th/6th/7th | |
| Manga | Chapel the Evergreen | ? | |
| Anime | ? | 8th/9th | |
| Anime | Caine the Longshot | ? | 8th/9th |
| Manga | Zazie the Beast | 12 | |
| Anime | 4 | Tenth | |
| Manga | Midvalley the Hornfreak | ? | |
| Anime | 11 | Eleventh | |
| Manga | Elindira the Crimsonnail | ? |
- Composition of the Gung-ho Guns differs slightly between the manga and the anime (see table).
- It's made clear fairly early on in the manga that Wolfwood is a Gung-ho Gun when he goes up to a chapel and joins the remaining group. His title is "Chapel the Evergreen."
- In the manga, the Gung ho Guns introduce themselves as, "Gung ho Guns, number _"; in the anime, they introduce themselves as "the _st/nd/rd/th Gung ho Gun."
- In the anime Grey the Ninelives is an andriod; in the anime, Grey is a "creature(?)" with 12 small man-like creatures inside of it, which control "him."
- There is a Gung-ho Gun exclusively in the Anime called "Caine the Longshot."
- There is a Gung-ho Gun exclusively in the Anime called "Chapel the Evergreen" who is Wolfwood's mentor; in the manga, Wolfwood is Chapel the Evergreen.
- There is a Gung-ho Gun exclusively in the Manga called "Elendira the Crimsonnail," who is a transsexual.
- There is a backstory of Leonoff in the manga, which explains that Vash once knew him as a child named "Emilio" who was in love with a girl named Isabell, who became one of his puppets.
"Mixed" Differences
- The "boss" in the first episode of the anime makes his first (and only) appearance in the beginning of Trigun Maximum 2 when the police took him from prison to kill Midvalley and Gray the Ninelives; he nails Graywith a boomerang, but Gray ends up impaling him with it while it's still through his own chest.
- In the manga there is a part where Midvalley pulls out a pistol and tries to kill Legato, to which Legato responds by forcing Midvalleys body to bend backwards into a painful position -- this closely resembles the scene in episode 24 of the Anime when Chapel the Evergreen tried to kill Legato, though, Midvalley never tried to kill Legato in the anime.
- When Monev first attacks Vash in the anime, Millie shoots at him, which results in Vash's locks being destroyed and Vash then runs off; In the manga, Vash reveals his hidden gun and shoots Monevs arm, rendering it useless, then it's Monev who runs off.
- Vash's "Home" (the ship in the sky in the anime) is not in the sky in the manga. It's in a "sea of sand" (I'm guessing quicksand) that is only able to stay afloat because of the 'gravity plant' that is inside the ship. Also, "Doc" and Brad visit Vash in town and deliver his new coat (which looks quite different from the anime version) and new gun arm.
- In the manga, after being defeated by Vash the Stampede, Rai-Dei the Blade attempts to shoot his blade at Vash, (?) but is shot to death by Wolfwood. Vash punches Wolfwood, and the two argue briefly about whether he should have killed him or not. Although Wolfwood kills Rai-Dei in the anime as well (without Vash present), this account is somewhat synonomous to the scene in the anime when Wolfwood kills Zazie the Beast.
- In the anime there is a scene in episode 16 where Vash shouts, "My name is... Vash the Stampeeeeeede!" to scare away the townspeople, which took place shortly before his fight with Rai-Dei the Blade. In the manga, Vash does the same thing, but in what would have taken place on episode 19 of the anime when Vash is going into the sandsteamer that was hijacked. Unlike the anime, this takes place after 5th moon incident.
- More?
Media Info
See the Trigun media page.
References
- Template:NoteSummary of discussion panel with Nightow (http://uranime.nekomusume.net/anime-conventions/ax2000/nightow_panel.iphtml) at Anime Expo 2000, in Anaheim, California.
- Template:Note ANN news article (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=4294) on first print run of Trigun Volume 1 selling out.
- Template:Note ANN news article (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=5953) on top selling graphic novels of 2004.
External links
- Shōnen Gahōsha page on Trigun manga (http://www.shonengahosha.co.jp/ours/trigun/) (Japanese)
- ANN page on manga (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=31)
- Adult Swim page on Trigun anime (http://www.adultswim.com/shows/trigun/index.html)
- ANN page on anime (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=88)
- Extensive Trigun fansite (http://www.geocities.com/sumirechan/tri-index.html)de:Trigun
fr:Trigun it:Trigun he:טריגאן ja:トライガン pl:Trigun
Categories: Manga | Anime | Steampunk | Trigun