Review of Trigun

Preface: This will be less of a Review and more of a Defense against the common criticisms this Anime sees. To make it clear. Trigun is one of my All-Time Favorite Shows. And so explaining what exactly made it stick out for me can be a tad difficult at times without delving into the Themes. For one, it is a Sci-Fi Western Classic that blew up back when it aired on the Toonami Block, overseas. But it can be said to be a whole lot more than that. The Majority of the Criticism for this Show comes from People who don't either understand the purpose of theHumor of the First Half of the Series or they simply don't find it funny.

1. For those that don't find it funny, I refuse to believe that they watched the English Dub, because it is known to excel in the Dubbed Version. If they did watch the English Dub and did not laugh then the only possible explanation is that they don't have a sense of humor. If you don’t find Johnny Young Bosch stuffing donuts in his face to be funny, then can you really laugh at anything all?
2. For those that found the humor breaking the tone of the Series for them greatly misunderstand Vash's (& Wolfwood's) character and the relationship between the humor of the characters and the prevailing theme of Idealism that surrounds almost the entirety of the show. To put it simply, the comedic faces Vash and Wolfwood put up are the "Ideal", and their cryptic past is their "Reality". That is the way the comedy functions for the characters.
If this were a simple Juvenile Comedy Drama, it would not reach the levels of Depth that it does in the second half and the characters would not change and develop as much as they do. The purpose of the first half is to make the viewer assume that he/she's watching a simple juvenile comedy drama when the truth is far from it. And it's not like the gritty serious story of the Second Half isn't foreshadowed. We are told of it as early as Episode 6. In the same way that Berserk foreshadows the Fantasy Elements through Zod, Trigun foreshadows it through the fate of July. And the creeping dark past of Vash keeps building up through the usage of vague flashbacks in each episode by the time we reach Episode 9.
After minutes of comedy between Vash and Wolfwood, we not only get a touching scene of Wolfwood showing kindness to kids on the bus with Vash smiling gazing at them just to be hit by Wolfood putting it bluntly
"You were always smiling, you seemed real friendly, but the way you smiled was so empty it hurt to watch you"
Mind you, this is the introduction of Wolfwood and we already get prophetic gems like this. What's important here is not only the fact that Wolfwood sees through Vash's entire facade, it is incredibly important in establishing Vash as an Idealist who wants people to think of him as a goofball, no matter how much pain and torment he might actually be in. Trigun so brilliantly exceeds at show-don't-tell that people actually think its comedy is out-of-place when that is precisely the point. Even in the second half, the little comedy we do get is so morbidly hilarious yet sad that it damn near feels like Welcome to the NHK at points. With Meryl and Milly seeing Vash's body covered in wounds and him comedically trying to hide it. It's not for no reason. It establishes the light-hearted nature of the man against his cruel environment. Vash acts like a goofball to protect others around him, Wolfwood acts cheerful for the sake of protecting himself.
3. Others who don't find the comedy much appealing tend to criticize Meryll and Milly for being one-dimensional, while ignoring much of their function in the story. And I don't mean their significance in the Plot. I mean their relation to Vash and Wolfwood's struggle towards higher meaning. What makes the dark parts of the duo's story hit IS the lighter parts with them goofing around with the Girls (Meryll and Milly) from the Insurance Society. If there wasn't that form of lighthearted hope, quite simply, what would both of them be fighting for?
Around the final 6 Episodes this becomes clearly apparent as the comedy is nowhere to be seen for most of it and the Milly and Meryll come to represent a genuine connection that Vash and Wolfwood come to relate to. This is important for making clear what exactly IS at stake in the story. If Meryll didn't exist, Vash wouldn't have recovered from [Big Spoiler in Episode 24]. If Milly didn't exist, Wolfwood wouldn't have found some form of peace for his actions of [Spoiler in Episode 22]. Ironically the last glimmer of hope that Vash receives is a heroic act from Meryll which reminds him of his Purpose. Meryll and Milly despite being fairly simple are effective and likeable. They give the audience a bystander's viewpoint, which provides perspective on the show's conflict from the way a normal friend would observe another's turmoil. The amount of hate these two characters get for no reason is honestly baffling.

Another thing people criticize is the Episodic Structure, but that's only an issue if you ignore how the episodes play into each other. The First 4 Episodes wonderfully establish Vash as a Goofball who hides his true face. Those Episodes are the sole reason for the buildup that makes Episode 5 & 6 work properly. Episodes 7-11 show us villains, enemies and conflicts that are not morally simple, which works excellently for building up to the fan-favorite "Episode 12: Diablo". Even Episode 14 which seems to break away from the Plot is funnily enough important for establishing the world of stakes for Vash's final confrontation in the Last Episode. It is world-building that adds a layer of intrigue for the planet. It also ties back into Episode 5 from Earlier.
Episode 15-26 are not in the slightest episodic and are 12 of some of the best Episodes put to TV. It ties all of the previous episodes into a thrilling story of tragedy and redemption.

The Worst Criticism I have seen, by far, is calling the Show: "black and white" in its Morality, when it is FAR from it. Trigun succeeds at putting Nihlism and Pacifism in direct opposition to each other in ways that put most other Philosophical Shows to shame. And the way that this is presented is neither dogmatic nor relative. It is in no way made "black and white". Each of the Characters represents one side of his philosophy, but they are multi-layered characters that are given interesting reasons for their beliefs and do in fact function in exploring the grey area where murder - may be justified or if it should even be viewed as preferred. And yet the show doesn't knock you over the head with it either. It shows you how that plays out once Vash is [Spoiler in Episode 24] and Wolfwood tries to repent of [Episode 22] by [Spoiler in Episode 23]. And this doesn't just come out of Left-Field. Ideas of Grey Area in Morality is thoroughly explored episodes in advance. Case in Point: Introduction of Legato Bluesummers in "Episode 12: Diablo" and Vash and Wolfwood's conversations all the way from "Episode 9" to the final few episodes. Even Episode 7-8 provide us with a Conflict that deals with a victim that uses immoral means and a villain that has principles. Trigun actually gives us a minor villain that has rules.
Coming back to Episode 12, Legato Bluesummers is one of the most fascinating villains in Anime. Think of Johann from Monster, but Legato does the same thing in half as much time in the story with 10 times the impact. Johann was never able to break Tenma's Morals in any significant way throughout the runtime of Monster. Legato with the Gung-Ho Guns did this with just 12 episodes. Not only did he do this in the plot, he also broke the themes of Idealism indefinitely just through mere dialogue alone. Creating circumstances where Nihlism was not only the best option, it was the only option. Anyone who thinks that the show was simple in its morality wasn't paying attention to Legato Bluesummers at all. And Knives being comparatively simpler, was still far better than most villains in most stories. "Saving the Butterflies by Killing the Spiders" was such an effective and easy way to sum up the character that it seems almost like a miracle how they made that entire episode play out. Creating an extremely effective villain for the final confrontation. The show entirely focuses around 5 key-characters and their ideas in relation to the people they are themselves. Wolfwood, Vash, Rem, Knives and Legato's Ideals coming in conflict with each other is what made this show a Classic.

Other terrible nitpicks include decrying the Animation for being "dated" or talking shit about the music. To put it bluntly, Trigun has one of the best Soundtracks I've ever heard. And it's completely unique in its composition and also fits extremely well with the setting and feel of the show. Filled to the brim with guitar strings and the electronic flute solos, rem's song, etc. there's so many memorable tracks from it.
As far as the Animation goes, while it is true, other shows such as Bebop and Outlaw Star pulled a better budget, I could not for the life of me see a single animation error, frame rate issue or lack of detail in either the action and drama or a lack of fluidity in the slapstick comedy. The worst thing you could say about the Animation is that it looks a little rough or older compared to other works from its time and that's understandable because of its limited budget. A lot of it could also be due to the fact that Trigun never got a Blu-Ray Remaster or something similar of the sort. Whereas Bebop and Outlaw Star are available in HD. This seems to be the only explanation for this criticism. If you've ever seen Vash's fight in the final Episode, it looks gorgeous. And this is only one of these fights. Most fights with the Gun-ho Guns and the ones with enemies earlier all look pretty good. They are animated quite well.

So with Action and Animation holding up decent, despite being produced on a low budget, the Soundtrack and the English Dub being Top-Notch and downright Masterful, Characters written with depth and precision, Themes that touch on more Truth than 90% of all shows and A Sci-Fi story that is instantly intriguing, What else would you get other than an All-Time Classic Show? It's no wonder that Trigun got the praise it did. It seems to me like the people who decry it, do so, in the spirit of - the hipster who doesn't like things for being either popular or old.