Review of Trigun

Trigun is an iconic shounen anime that sets precedence to the shounen genre as a whole, almost. For this review, I will be talking about what makes Trigun such a classic, and then discuss some of its “anime sins,” plot or narrative devices that don’t quite work and I find personally unforgivable. Trigun aired in 1998 (started being published as a manga in 1995) which is well after some of the major shounen anime like Dragon Ball and Rurouni Kenshin. The formula for a shounen had already been pretty well established. However, Trigun does not only use this formula correctly, but it also goes aboveand beyond what anyone would expect from the genre. While keeping a lighthearted atmosphere and increasing the power level of the bad guys at every step, Trigun manages to squeeze in perhaps the best story in a hardcore shounen to date, if not, at least of its time. Sadly, I can’t talk about it too much since the story isn’t unveiled until episode 16. All I can say is that it’s a story about perseverance, forgiveness, and redemption. I know those are the stock shounen themes, but I challenge you to find me a shounen character with a richer backstory than Vash.

Trigun’s characters (except Vash) are stereotypically shallow, yet manage to be vivid, colorful, and relevant. No characters outside of Vash and Knives have any kind of backstory whatsoever. They are simply who they are when you meet them. They’re also very simple characters, as in: they lack complexity. They have simple motivations and act predictably. Vash, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. He’s basically a better version of the main series Kenshin. Vash has Battlestar Galactica-like beginnings, Kenshin-like convictions, but is tragically helpless for a shounen main character. This contrast of futility and shounen style invincibility is quite unique, and I would argue is the highlight of the series.

So why do I keep giving praise in relation to the shounen genre? Because Trigun does things that are standard and to be expected from a shounen anime that bother the ever-living crap out of me. And I know that a lot of these tropes are parodied in Trigun, but that still does not excuse all the times it uses them seriously. What am I talking about? 1) I hate the stereotypical bad character that comes in, gives an introduction, is pure evil, and continues to fight with some completely unrealistic signature fighting style with “moves” that require him screaming the name of. My suspension of disbelief does indeed have limits. 2) I hate “out there” deus ex machina. This is tolerable below a certain percentage. Like, if it has a one in a million chance of happening and working, and it only happens once, twice at most in something this length. Tolerable is Luke Skywalker making those laser shots that destroyed the Death Star without his aiming system. Not tolerable is Vash getting saved by some ungodly one in a trillion circumstance every other episode. That’s just lazy writing. The level of skill and power that Vash exhibits at certain points in time is sufficient to absolutely smoke every single character in Trigun. The fact that he struggles so much at inconsistent levels of difficulty to the point that he needs to be saved via deus ex machina is unforgivable. 3) No too forced, lazy, unnecessary plot twists. They write a beautiful awe-inspiring story in there without them, so why use them at all? I’m not gonna name them, but there are some cheap plot twists in Trigun that are embarrassing considering how great the main plot is with 0 plot twists. Alright, that’s enough, you get the point.

Ranting aside, I deeply enjoyed Trigun. Trigun is a timeless classic that deserves and has earned that title. I apologize for simply stating that the story is great without providing many details, but Trigun doesn’t give you any story before episode 16 so I would feel like I’m spoiling things if I talked too much about it. Hopefully, I’ve said enough good things to convince you to watch without saying enough bad things to dissuade you. These “shounen sins” are committed by every single action anime ever made, if you liked any of those, you’ll love Trigun.