| Trigun (The Ballad of Vash the Stampede) | |
Trigun manga, volume 1 (English version) |
|
| トライガン (Toraigan) |
|
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure, Weird Western |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Yasuhiro Nightow |
| Published by | Tokuma Shoten |
| English publisher | Madman Entertainment Dark Horse Comics Chuang Yi |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Magazine | Monthly Shōnen Captain |
| Original run | February 1996 – February 1997 |
| Volumes | 3 |
| Manga | |
| Trigun Maximum | |
| Written by | Yasuhiro Nightow |
| Published by | Shōnen Gahōsha |
| English publisher | Madman Entertainment Dark Horse Comics |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Young King OURs |
| Original run | 1998 – 2008 |
| Volumes | 14 |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Satoshi Nishimura |
| Studio | Madhouse |
| Licensed by | Madman Entertainment Funimation Entertainment MVM Films |
| Network | Animax TV Tokyo |
| English network | Adult Swim G4techTV Canada 2x2 |
| Original run | April 1, 1998 – September 30, 1998 |
| Episodes | 26 |
| Anime film | |
| Trigun: Badlands Rumble | |
| Directed by | Satoshi Nishimura |
| Written by | Yasuko Kobayashi |
| Studio | Madhouse |
| Licensed by | Funimation Entertainment |
| Released | April 24, 2010 |
| Runtime | 90 minutes |
| Game | |
| Trigun: The Planet Gunsmoke | |
| Developer | Red Entertainment |
| Publisher | Sega |
| Genre | MMORPG |
| Platform | PS2 |
Trigun (トライガン Toraigan) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow, published from 1996 to 2008 and spanning 17 (3+14) collected volumes.
The manga was serialized in Tokuma Shoten's Shōnen Captain from the series debut in 1996 until the magazine's demise in 1997. The series continued in Shōnen Gahosha's Young King Ours magazine, under the title Trigun Maximum (トライガンマキシマム Toraigan Makishimamu), where it remained until finishing in 2008.
Trigun was adapted into an animated television series in 1998. The Madhouse Studios production aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 1998 to September 30, 1998, totaling 26 episodes. An animated feature film was released in April 2010.[1]
Contents |
Known for its Space Western theme, Trigun is about a man named "Vash the Stampede" and the two Bernardelli Insurance Society employees who follow him around in order to minimize the damages inevitably caused by his appearance. Most of the damage attributed to Vash is actually caused by bounty hunters in pursuit of the "60,000,000,000$$" (sixty billion "double dollars") bounty on Vash's head for the destruction of the city of July. However, he cannot remember the incident clearly due to his amnesia. Throughout his travels, Vash tries to save lives using non-lethal force. He is occasionally joined by a priest, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who, like Vash, is a superb gunfighter with a mysterious past.
As the series progresses, we learn more about Vash's mysterious history and the history of human civilization on the planet Gunsmoke. The series often employs comic relief and is mostly light-hearted although its tone shifts toward darker and more dramatic situations as the series draws to a conclusion. The story line also involves moral conflict pertaining to the morality of killing other living things.
Vash the Stampede is a very lighthearted, expert marksman that tries to promote love and peace as he personally said in several episodes. He appears to be a very merry person that dislikes seriousness, but is actually very deep and serious as can be seen in the situations he finds himself in. He usually presents a smiling façade, which Wolfwood is prone to call a "false smile." Beneath this smile lies a lot of pain and the burdens that Vash has chosen to carry. Also known as The Humanoid Typhoon, he is a wandering gunman with a 60 billion double dollar bounty on his head. Every town he passes through either labels him "an act of God" or "a human disaster."
Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson are two Bernardelli Insurance agents sent to evaluate claims regarding the Humanoid Typhoon. Initially, they dismiss the idea that the real Vash is the legendary Humanoid Typhoon (partially due to the lack of an introduction), but the two eventually learn (much to the contradiction to what Meryl wants to think) that this is the person they are assigned to track.
Nicholas D. Wolfwood A superb gunman, almost equal to Vash himself, and arguably the most skilled human being with a pistol in the series, Wolfwood is a priest who wields an enormous cross "to carry his sins", however, the cross contains a machine gun and a rack of automatic pistols. Wolfwood and Vash get into many conflicts over the morality of murder. According to Wolfwood's mentor "... we are sometimes driven to become the devil himself." Wolfwood is a tragic figure in that his redemption comes at a terrible cost.
Knives Millions The main antagonist, and Vash's brother. Like Vash, he is a sentient plant created by humans but unlike him, he is a cruel mass murderer that intends to wipe out the entire human race, considering them unfit for this world. Most of the situations Vash ends up in are, in one way or another, connected to Knives.
Rem Saverem Vash's mentor and childhood friend, who taught him the value of life. It is mostly because of Rem that Vash is the hero he is. Vash constantly finds himself asking what Rem would do in his situation. When this happens, Vash enters a peaceful "dream world" when he asks Rem for help
Gung-Ho Guns A group of superhuman assassins(which consists of Monev the Gale,Dominique the Cyclops,E.G. Mine,Rai-Dei the Blade,Leonof the Puppet-Master,Gray the Ninelives,Hoppered the Gauntlet,Zazie the Beast,Midvalley the Hornfreak,Caine the Longshot,Chapel the Evergreen,Nicholas D. Wolfwood (former),Elendira the Crimsonnail,Livio the Double Fang, and Razlo the Tri-Punisher Of Death.) with extraordinary abilities and equipment. Their leader is Legato Bluesummers, a fanatical henchman of Knives who shares his nihilistic philosophy and possesses telepathic powers, who sends them out to attack Vash and cause him as much suffering as possible. The group's lineup differs slightly between the anime and manga versions of Trigun, with some characters appearing in one but not the other.
After leaving college, Yasuhiro Nightow had gone to work selling apartments for the housing corporation Sekisui House, but struggled to keep up with his manga drawing hobby. Reassured by some successes, including a one-shot manga based on the popular video game franchise Samurai Spirits, he quit his job to draw full time. With the help of a publisher friend, he submitted a Trigun story for the February 1996 issue of the Tokuma Shoten magazine Shōnen Captain, and began regular serialization two months later in April.
However, Shōnen Captain was canceled early in 1997, and when Nightow was approached by the magazine Young King Ours, published by Shōnen Gahōsha, they were interested in his beginning a new work. He was however troubled[2] by the idea of leaving Trigun incomplete, and requested to be allowed to finish the series. The publishers were sympathetic, and the manga resumed in 1998 as Trigun Maximum (トライガンマキシマム Toraigan Makishimamu). The story jumps forward two years with the start of Maximum, and takes on a slightly more serious tone, perhaps due to the switch from a shōnen to a seinen magazine. Despite this, Nightow has stated[3] 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. The 14th tankōbon was published on February 27, 2008.
Shōnen Gahōsha later bought the rights to the original three volume manga series and reissued it as two enlarged volumes. In October 2003 the US publisher Dark Horse Comics released the expanded first volume translated into English, keeping the original right-to-left format rather than mirroring the pages. Trigun Maximum followed quickly, and the entire 14-volume run was released over a five-year period from May 2004 to April 2009. Translations into French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish have also been released.
In 1998 Trigun was animated by Madhouse, broadcast on TV Tokyo, produced by Victor Company of Japan (JVC) and directed by Satoshi Nishimura with scripts by Yosuke Kuroda, character designs by Takahiro Yoshimatsu, mechanical designs by Noriyuki Jinguji and music by Tsuneo Imahori. It is currently licensed for DVD & Blu-ray[4] in the United States by Funimation Entertainment, who re-released it on DVD on October 27, 2010.[5]
The show initially failed to garner a large audience in Japan during its original showing in 1998, but gained a substantial fan base following its premier in America in early 2003. Trigun first appeared on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block and is currently broadcast by Cartoon Network in Latin America.[6]
Nightow has stated that due to the finality of the anime's ending, it is unlikely any continuation will be made.[7] However, that does not rule out the possibility of a reboot based on Trigun Maximum.
The October 2005 issue of NEO includes an interview with Masao Maruyama, Madhouse's founder and series planner. In the article he revealed that the studio has been working on a Trigun Movie that would be released in "a couple of years". The November 2005 issue of Anime Insider also confirmed this news.
In May 2007, Nightow confirmed at the Anime Central Convention that the Trigun movie was in the early stages of pre-production with a near-final script, although he did not divulge any plot information.
In February 2008, more details about the Trigun movie emerged on the cover of volume 14 of the Trigun Maximum manga, announcing that the movie was scheduled for 2009.[8] In October 2009, however, the movie's official website announced a new Japanese premiere set for Spring 2010.[1] The story of the movie, as depicted from the cover, was going to be about "Vash vs. Wolfwood", the two main characters of the manga.[8]
In July 2009, at The Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles, California, Yasuhiro Nightow and Satoshi Nishimura held a panel for the movie. Shigeru Kitayama and Noriyuki Jinguji also appeared to promote the movie. During the convention a trailer was shown depicting characters of the movie.[9]
The film was animated by the same company that animated the television show, Madhouse.[8]
The film is titled Trigun: Badlands Rumble and opened in theaters in Japan on April 24, 2010. The film was shown to an American audience first at the Sakura-Con 2010 in Seattle, Washington on Friday, April 2, 2010 at 5:00 PM, and the director held a 15-minute Q&A session before the movie, explaining the reasons it was not dubbed, subbed, and why it was premiered first at the convention, also explaining the new characters. The movie was shown again on Saturday and Sunday according to the schedule.[10] At Anime Expo 2010, Funimation announced that they have licensed the film as they have with the TV series and will plan to release it into theaters. Funimation later had a showing of a subbed version of the movie later during the same Anime Expo.[11]
A video game, called Trigun: The Planet Gunsmoke, based on the Trigun manga, was in development for the PlayStation 2 system. It was unveiled in 2002 in Sega's 2002 GameJam video. The unveiling consisted of a 20 second clip from the game. The clip showed multiple characters from the Trigun series. Since its unveiling, no word on development had come out by its developer Red Entertainment or publisher Sega. Sega has issued a "no comment" on the current status of the game's development. As of 2011, no new comments from Sega have been made in relation to the video game, and it has likely been cancelled.
The first manga volume run of 30,000 sold out[12] shortly after release. The second volume concluded the original series early the next year, and went on to be the top earning[13] graphic novel of 2004.