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Trigun
"Doesn't everyone deserve a chance to live?"
Episodes Reviewed: All but two, Adult Swim version
Overall Grade: B
*cowers in fear* Please don't hurt me! Definitely a good anime, with everything you could possibly want, but there were so many anime cliches that I was forced to give it a lower grade. And let's not forget the sheer predictability of it, as well as the fact that there aren't any returning supporting characters other than Wolfwood. Hell, man, even Pokemon had at least five of those!
Storyline: 9
Vash the Stampede has a $$60 Billion bounty on his head. Why? Well, that's an important plot element in itself, but something more to the point is that two insurance girls, Meryl Strife (no relation to Cloud) and Milly Thompson, are sent to find and watch over Vash (also known as the Humanoid Typhoon) to minimize the damage he deals. While watching a criminal that seems like he could be Vash, well, they get tied up in a fight between him and a bounty hunter, but they're soon rescued (sorta) by a man in a red coat. As the first episode nears its end, the criminal is proven to not be Vash the Stampede, and is defeated by the man in the red coat (who previously seemed to only be interested in eating donuts). Could this guy be Vash the Stampede? Meryl refuses to believe it even as he repeatedly displays his awesome skills (but it usually looks like an accident) and defeats multiple criminals claiming to be Vash. After it's proven that he is the Humanoid Typhoon himself, we get into the bigger story of Vash's origins, why he is the way he is, what it is he is looking for, and why trouble just loves to hang around him.
Type: Action/Comedy
Cartoon Network's favorite genre
Ch. Development: 8
Vash, Meryl, and Wolfwood are the three characters in which change is most noticable, as they learn from their experiences and accept new ideas that various characters help them learn. Of course, that kind of change can only come from more than ten episodes of dealing with it. That and there's also the ever-present theme of "is it ever okay to kill?" that accounts for most of the character development.
Sexuality: 5
There's only the stuff that's implied and the often-used lecherous advances seen all too much, sometimes out-of-place.
Romance: 6
There is slightly more romance than your average anime, but not enough to warrant a 7. There are times when it's a character's feelings for another that progress the story through some episodes, and even two-episode strings.
Drama: 8
There's a little too much near the end, but that can be kind of a good thing... things don't even pick up until the second half, where all the action and death is at, and that's when Vash and company get bombarded by bombshells, revelations, and multiple tragedies.
Action: 7
Don't worry, ya bloodthirsty pirates! There's plenty of gunplay! Of course, Vash has this thing about not killing, Milly uses a stun gun, and Meryl uses a full arsenal of derringers (about the equivalent of a BB gun).
Comedy: 7
There's plenty of comedy! The comedy here is sometimes like an uninvited guest, though, and it isn't always funny, but it at least gets you to feel the lightheartedness of the early part of the series.
Dub
Dub Voices: 8
There's something good to be said about these Pioneer VAs. Don't worry, ya get used to Vash's laugh.
Dub Music: N/A
Dub Lines: 10
Maybe it ain't 100%-accurate, but it gets the job done, and it doesn't sound horrible.
Censorship:
Well, there's always the intro and the full ending that gets cut, but at least they kept the eyecatches!
Trigun... I finally get to see what it's all about. Well, the action and comedy is great, though there isn't a gradual transition between the lightheartedness of the beginning of the series and the utter chaos of the final episodes, but what is done does its job. There's the standard romance between two main characters, the cool character, the evil twin, the collection of freaks the main character has to fight, and the theme about humanity. However, this theme is actually fairly easy to see. Unlike most action anime, this series' main character actually dwells on whether it is right to take someone's life. You don't see too many mech pilots think about the life of the enemy (unless it's an old friend or a relative), and that guy in Fist of the North Star doesn't even think twice before he kills. Of course, there are those anime with main characters who don't want to kill, but the question of killing is heavily emphasized here. Of course, those children I see all the time don't seem to care about deep stuff like this; they just wanna see the gunplay, the humor, Wolfwood's cross, and thinking "hey, I think Meryl and Vash like each other," which is the line of thought I just can't stand... shallow losers. Whoops, did I just make my approval rating drop down 30 points? Ah, who cares.
In short, Trigun's got plenty of everything you could ever want (except maybe martial arts, mechs, and loads of fanservice), but it rips off several other anime stereotypes, the focus shifts dramatically for little reason, and it seems better off as a longer manga. (Pray to your religious idol that there is a manga adaptation in the works)
That's my Story and I'm Sticking to it!
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