Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to check back in on the evolving drama of Trigun Stampede, after our last episode revealed the tumultuous childhood of Vash and his brother Knives. As ambiguous creations with the form of humans yet the genealogy of power-generating plants, it was the pair’s caretaker Rem who taught Vash the fundamentals of true humanity, and his companions at Home who showed him that life is a continuous cycle, and that hope can spring from even the most barren of soil.

As long-living children of the stars, Vash and Knives are destined to experience many cycles of human existence, with all the good and bad that entails. But it is up to them to decide the meaning of such an existence, whether it leads them to the megalomania of Knives, the despair of Vash’s early years, or the hope he now carries for the next turn of the wheel. Can Vash’s faith in our better nature survive the endless deprivations of No Man’s Land, wherein the fragility of life so often forces us to be our worst possible selves? More so than his physical power, it seems that faith might be his greatest strength – for just as Vash’s surrogate parents taught him to treat others with compassion and dignity, so might his own ethos foster such fragile, precious values in the world at large.

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the dusty ruin of No Man’s Land, as we explore a fresh episode of Trigun Stampede. When we last left off, the team was racing to prevent a massive sand steamer from crashing through Wolfwood’s hometown, and destroying the orphanage that even his former handlers recognize as his sanctuary, his connection to humanity. With their backs against the wall, every member of our crew pulled off some desperate acts of heroism, culminating in Vash directly communicating with the living plant at the steamer’s core.

In terms of its overt action drama, that episode served as an impressive celebration of Orange’s advances in CG animation. Combining dynamic cinematography with careful design and texture work, it called towards the wild highlights of Land of the Lustrous while retaining a grittiness of aesthetic that is essential for Trigun’s overall effect. At the same time, the urgency and specificity of this trial is pushing all of our leads to reexamine their philosophies – the consequences of Vash’s unerring pacifism, the limits of Wolfwood’s alleged pragmatism, and even the responsibility of Meryl as not just chronicler, but active participant in these violent escapades. Stampede continues to embody all that is most compelling about Trigun, and I’m eager to see what new moral wrinkles this adventure will offer. Let’s get to it!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to Trigun Stampede in a moment of crisis, as the Sand Steamer carrying our heroes to JuLai has come under attack from both  Wolfwood’s old companion Livio and a small army of bandits. Confronted with this shadow of the boy he once sought to protect, Wolfwood’s alleged cynicism has been put to the test, as he struggles to uphold the same cutthroat critiques he has leveled at Vash’s idealism.

So yes, we are currently deep in The Good Stuff, matching this production’s most complex action tableau with its most urgent contrast of Vash and Wolfwood’s ideals. Both of them are fundamentally humanists, and both of them are also to some extent hypocrites; Vash’s pacifist values require him to often ignore the second-order effects of his actions, while Wolfwood’s callous odes to self-reliance hide an underlying desire to protect those who cannot protect themselves. But it is neither Vash nor Wolfwood who is truly wrong; these are all simply the consequences of maintaining compassion in a fallen world, where human existence is so fragile that the better angels of our nature must fight to overcome pragmatism and hopelessness at every turn. Whatever shields our leads must develop to maintain that humanist hope, whether it’s Vash’s selective perspective or Wolfwood’s fatalistic facade, it is far better to find peace with hypocrisy than to genuinely harden our hearts. Peaceful coexistence might be an impossible dream, but we must seek it all the same; ultimately, it is only when we lose faith in each other that we are truly lost.

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d journey back to No Man’s Land, and see how things are faring in Trigun Stampede. Our last episode offered a ruthless demonstration of life’s brutality here in this desolate place, as we were introduced to a young boy named Rollo suffering from a debilitating illness, and that same boy as a man who had been monstrously transformed by Knives and his associates. Vash’s promise to this boy was proven hollow; while he could do nothing but offer tears and apologies, it fell to Wolfwood to provide Rollo’s last rites.

The episode offered a tidy summation of Vash’s ambiguous role here in No Man’s Land. His motives are pure; he simply wants to help people where he can, and refuses to raise a hand in anger. He is understandably afraid of his own god-like power, and wishes at all costs to avoid becoming a self-assigned arbiter like Knives, the one who unilaterally chooses who lives and who dies.

However, in a world as harsh as No Man’s Land, simple kindness is often not enough to ensure a positive outcome. Saving Rollo would have required dismantling the society that chose to sacrifice him – similarly, saving many others could have been achieved simply by executing one or another murder-happy bandit, an act of arbitration that most would agree is worth the cost. Equipped with infinite power yet unwilling to use it for even the most obviously righteous reasons, it’s understandable that someone like Wolfwood would call Vash a hypocrite; even if pacifism is a noble pursuit, it is a philosophy unequipped to handle the cutthroat moral calculus of life on the barren frontier.

What good is a superman who never interferes, who offers moral support or stands in judgment, but will not lift a hand to change the world? I imagine these questions are weighing on Vash as well as we return to Trigun Stampede!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to descend to the sand-swept wastes of No Man’s Land, as we check back in on Vash and his companions for another episode of Trigun Stampede. When last we left off, the team had just barely survived a horror-themed outing in the belly of a giant sand worm, where a mysterious, youthful assassin known as Zazie the Beast nearly got the whole group digested. Fortunately, they were aided in their escape by Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a so-called priest wielding a giant gun in the shape of a cross.

Both the worm and its master provided a natural opportunity to expound on Trigun’s moral philosophy, as Vash questioned Wolfwood’s conception of “monstrousness,” as well as his pragmatic view of survival. Vash is a martyr forever seeking his own destruction, seemingly finding it easier to sacrifice himself for others than to defend the worth of his own life. To Wolfwood, such a view is self-defeating and ridiculous; life is obviously its own reward, and clinging to it by whatever means necessary is the only directive worth following, particularly in a world as cutthroat as No Man’s Land.

The two work as well here as in the original Trigun because they are actually quite alike, and are simply coming at a perspective of world-weary humanism from opposing directions – Vash from a refusal to harm others, and Wolfwood from a willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure others survive. Their similarities and differences alike are summed up in their approach to the dead worm – Wolfwood demanding that Meryl eat the beast he has slain, the burden he has taken himself, versus Vash quietly attesting that he too deserves to eat and laugh like anyone.

Furthermore, our stinger revealed that Wolfwood is actually in cahoots with Zazie, a fellow assassin looking to manipulate Vash and his companions. Like the origins of Vash’s nature, the original Trigun only revealed this information at the end, basically after the point it could in any way inform our understanding of his character, so I’m intrigued to see how this new structure will impact the show’s portrayal of his journey. Let’s get to it!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to the sand-blasted wastes of Trigun Stampede, as our reluctant hero and his companions suffer the fallout of Knives’ calamitous appearance. The two brothers are opposing reflections; Vash sees himself as no more than a rootless drifter, but cannot help cherish and protect the lives of those he meets, while Knives sees himself as a new god, and the humans of this planet as no more than supplicants and sacrifices. Even while falling from heaven, we can always make a choice; while Vash has become a reluctant savior, Knives has clearly decided it’s better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.

I’m intrigued to see both how this metaphor is carried forward, and also simply how the main cast interact in the wake of these revelations regarding Vash’s nature. Additionally, having munched through the entire original Trigun adaptation in the time between Stampede viewings, I’m all the more curious to explore this rendition’s twists on the original formula. The two shows are so different that they basically fall into distinct subgenres; the original Trigun was far more episodic, and actually revealed even less of Vash and Knives’ history in its entire run than this version has in the first three episodes. That means whatever’s coming down the line will still be new to me, and given how generous this production’s been so far, I can’t wait to greet it. Let’s get back planetside!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to return to Trigun Stampede, and see how Vash and his companions are faring. It certainly hasn’t been an easy road for them; although Vash possesses tremendous destructive power, he is loath to use his abilities to harm others, even if those others have every intention of harming him. This has made for a difficult trek across this sand-blasted planet, as every mercenary and their mother is intent on capturing him, to which he can generally just offer a lopsided “can’t we just be friends?”

Descending from the heavens alongside his twin and shadow, Vash is clearly being framed as a messianic figure, a savior whose infinite charity might counterbalance the selfishness and violence of mankind. But in a cruel world, there is often little choice but to be cruel ourselves; though Vash possesses the strength to stand by his pacifist philosophy, he cannot single-handedly save this world, cannot transform it into a place where the necessities of life are so plentiful as to facilitate such effortless charity among the rest of us. Of course, this is all assigning him a thematic significance I’m sure he’d find lofty and embarrassing; as a person in his own right, he seems mostly concerned with not becoming the “weapon” that others see him as, a tool whose only purpose is destruction. The contrast of these two perspectives, alongside the inherent thrills and charm of this lushly appointed production, have made for a thoroughly satisfying meal so far. Let’s get back to it!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d return to the action-packed Trigun Stampede, for the simple reason that I greatly enjoyed the first episode and am hungry for another one. The always-reliable Studio Orange are outdoing themselves in terms of this production’s energetic storyboarding and expressive faces, and the underlying material has so far offered a confident blend of scifi trappings and western drama. I may have missed the original Trigun during its heyday, but I’m happy to be getting a second swing at this beloved universe.

So far, we’ve received an intriguing mix of narrative variables, with the ambiguous idol of scientific progress appearing central to the story’s thematic ambitions. Scraping by in the ruins of a futuristic empire, the humans of Noman’s Land find what relief they can in the fragments of the old world, with Vash and Knives descending like angels offering either salvation or damnation. I’m intrigued to see how far this “mythology of science” thread stretches, and also on a more basic level eager for more goofy Meryl faces. Let’s see what new hazards await us in Trigun Stampede!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re embarking on a brand new adventure, although technically it’s a refurbished rendition of a beloved ‘90s classic. Yep, we’re checking out Trigun Stampede, and seeing what those talented folks over at Studio Orange have cooked up for our boy Vash.

I’ll admit, I don’t have the most extensive experience with Trigun. I caught snippets of it back on Adult Swim when I was first falling in love with FLCL and Cowboy Bebop, but Trigun’s comedy didn’t quite seem like my thing, and I never saw enough to get a grip on its universe. Obviously “cowboys in space” has proven itself a robust genre niche, and my experience with Blood Blockade Battlefront has more than demonstrated mangaka Yasuhiro Nightow’s creative abilities, so I’m looking forward to examining the story with fresh eyes.

Beyond the source material, I’m also intrigued to see how Studio Orange realizes Nightow’s world. I always associated Trigun with an aesthetic of dust and grime that seems inherently hostile to CG recreation, but Orange’s team have impressed me at every turn, and director Kenji Muto seems like an excellent match for a rip-roaring adventure. A resume comprising Rage of Bahamut, Garo, Punchline, and Land of the Lustrous is basically an ideal education for Trigun; I can see why he was picked for this project, and look forward to admiring the result. Let’s get to it!

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