“Trigun” (April 1998, Madhouse) is an anime that is recognized as a cult classic. It has been referenced in many forms of media and has been in recent thought with the re-introduction of the IP due to the recent “Trigun Stampede” (January 2023, Orange.)

This show follows a variety of characters: Vash the Stampede (voiced by Masaya Onosaka), a gunslinger advocating for love and peace; Meryl Stryfe (Hiromi Tsuru) and Milly Thompson (Satsuki Yukino) who work for an insurance company and are ordered to keep an eye on Vash; and finally Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Sho Hayami) a wandering priest that the group bumps into often. 

Now when the group of characters are all together the show tends to not take itself very seriously within the first part of the series. They’re always getting into mischief or bantering with each other in a way that feels very homey. It does this so well that the viewer even feels like they’re one with the crew even if they aren’t in the show.

The art is definitely a testament of the times, back in 1998 the style was very unique and can hold up to many titles of today. The anime just had a way of switching from very light hearted to being grungy and dreary while still being recognized as the same style.

In that same sort of sense that also leads to the character designs being very unique, like Vash being “needle noggin” due to the way his hair spikes up unnaturally, or Milly with her tall build and ditzy personality. This can even be seen in other characters that are not of the main cast, like the Nebraska family, or the leader of the Bad Lad Gang.

Something that is still talked about to this day is the show’s music, the use of so many different instruments composed together to make the desert planet really feel alien to the viewer. The scenes with ancient technology from before the crash, like plants, use music that is much more alien than what a watcher was used to.

There are some other songs that have a way that just pulls at a viewers’ heart strings or even make them laugh, like when Vash is being pinned to the ground by a bunch of joyous kids. Overall, the anime’s music is something that can be talked about and analyzed for hours due to how incredibly it is used.

Now the hard part, talking about what’s not so great about the show.

Due to it being made before the standard of viewing anime being 16:9, the show uses a box format of 4:3. It’s not a bad thing, however, it’s just something current viewers of anime may not enjoy. Another thing some viewers may not enjoy is Vash’s hypocrisy, he is both a gunslinger and an arbiter of love and peace.

During the latter half of the series, it makes a tonal shift where the jokey nature of the show is put on the back burner for the more disturbing content, like topics of life and death, suicidal ideation, and the truth of Vash.

Now then, the show is fantastic, it’s an absolute much-watch for those who haven’t got the opportunity to watch it or for those who want to revisit it. Of course, if some of the topics discussed earlier aren’t appealing then this show might not be for them.