Trigun Stampede

Trigun Stampede follows a genial guy with freakishly quick reflexes as he travels through a wasteland dealing with various weird antagonists. It's an engagingly told story with good but unexceptional CGI animation and weak character development.

That would be my basic review of the series if I had not seen the original Trigun. But if you've seen the first adaptation of the manga, then you can't help but spend your time considering the ways in which it was more effective than this version.

In the original Trigun anime, Vash is basically an inept, bumbling idiot in sci-fi Western setting. He's a silly, comical character. But then, when danger arises, he is suddenly supernaturally skilled. One of the first things that drew me into the series was, how does this make sense? Who is this guy? What's his story?

Trigun Stampede tosses the mystery. We start with who Vash is, so there's little mystery involved. Vash is also no longer a buffoon. In his introduction, he does make a comical mistake, but that's the only time it happens. Basically he's just a pleasant pacifist with incredible gun skills. And while this still takes place in a desert wasteland, the Western tropes have been mainly stripped out.

So, Trigun Stampede's Vash is less funny, less mysterious, and more tortured. But that is not inherently bad, even if it's not as fun. But by the time one reaches the end of the season, the problem becomes clear - the changes have created a Vash who is hard to care about. He's so innocuous that in spite of his tragic backstory and ongoing struggles, I found myself in the final battle not really caring much about how it would turn out.

The original animation's characters were broad but compelling. As the mystery of Vash was slowly revealed, one got a sense of how much pain there was behind the goofball mask. This made the show, at times, heartbreaking.

None of this makes Trigun Stampede a bad series. I would absolutely recommend it. But not as much as I would recommend watching the original, which is one of my all-time favorite anime series.

To everyone who is discouraged by the bad reviews - don't let them drive you away of this show. I love the original Trigun and I love the Trigun story. This show is obviously a kind of prequel. The character of Milly isn't replaced and all the characters are a bit different because we see them in different time then it was in the 98 series.

I really kept my expectations low, because I was afraid of the CGI and new art style, but the show didn't disappoint me. On the contrary I am eager to see another season and I very much hope that there will be more than one. Trigun as a story masterpiece deserves this new look and its story told in more depth.

Also regarding the manga, there is so much more to cover than the original series could do. I can only be exited for more seasons! (I had to submit my first review for this :D )

First of: The obvious review bombing for the show is insane! Im 100% sure some people dont even give this a single(!) fair chance and go "3D bad!!"+"The OG Trigun rules" and give it an unreasonable low score. My first impression on the other hand is actually very positive! I have rarely seen an anime with such an kinetic style. The action is plenty, the camera goes wild, great sound design and the characters show so much emotion in their expressions and movements. This show is directed skillfully, just like Studio Orange's Land of the Lusterous. The criticism I have is that it basically tells you a lot of stuff in the beginning that could have made for good reveals. You should give at least the first episode a fair chance. Just dont expect the old Trigun. The first episode alone is such a blast!

So don't get me wrong here. Im not a hater off the bat, I don't mind the new art style much, the animation is smooth....but even in the character re-design my main critique of the whole reboot comes in. . . This series in it's attempts to tell the story in a new light fails to realize what made the original so good; firstly the key plot points are slowly revealed over the course of many interactions between characters in the original. For example: In the original we do not find out Vash has a bionic arm and get the first clue that Vash is more than an oddball pretending to not be a skilled gunman until quite a few episodes in.....in changing this they took out the whole air of intrigue and mystery by implying all of the developmental plot points right in the beginning of the show. His Bionic arm in plain sight, no attempt to hide his mysterious odd connections really. It's just weak storytelling. The animation is sadly pretty impressive but the pacing and progression that it is all tied to in my opinion just feels underwhelming, half baked, and overall a much less impressive compositional mix than first. Would have been better off as a stand alone cyber punk style story and not tying Trigun to it imo. All of the characters just feel like shallower versions of their original concepts. It was nice to see a little more about Knives and Vash's mom but the incredibly direct way it is all spoon fed to you just never felt super surprising or exciting. I guess it might be pretty decent if you never watched the original and were forced to compare them though.

I have seen a lot of reviews of the show blaming the og fans for not being happy with the reboot. I've first watched Trigun about 10 years ago or so, so I guess you can call me an og fan. But, I really tried to enjoy the show. Honestly, there's nothing better for an og fan than to return to their favorite characters and story. However, I believe that most of the og fans are frustrated with the show because of the quality and not because they wanted a carbon copy of the '98 show.

To be fair to the show, as said countless times before, it's a beautiful show. The new animation style gives a lot of life to the world. It makes action look dynamic. A lot of the scenes look and feel cinematic. They did an amazing job with it.

Another compliment I have is - I actually liked the ideas they added to expand the world and the story. I liked the new characters, I think they contribute a lot to the world building. (I can't say much about it without spoiling the show)

However, I struggled to finish the show. Every couple of episodes I would have to convince myself to continue. And it made me very sad. I do think the creators tried to make an enjoyable show.

However, the show struggles with its storytelling. And here's where comparison comes in. The og show was a great character driven story with memorable characters (sorry for the repetition). Hell, I watched it 10 years ago and the main thing I remember are characters. The reboot looses the sight of characters completely. They forgot that to make us believe in the bonds the characters develop with each other, we need to see them bond. We are not just here for the action or the story progression, we need to see character arcs. Especially, for Vash. He carries the story, his struggle with his morality in a harsh world, with humanity and humility and overcoming constant challenges associated with that is basically what the story is, I think at least. Every single character is so surface level it hurts.

But my main issue with the show, what made me want to rage quit every other episode, is the exposition dumps. Every single episode we have someone explain in a lengthy monologue what the viewer needs to know. And I hate that. Especially because in certain episodes, mainly flashbacks, we get to see things happen and not hear about it. Probably, my favorite episode is the one with the silent movie styled flashback. It does show that the creators were capable of telling a story in a visual medium in a compelling and effective way. And btw, I think it was brilliant. So much of the exposition could have been done through interacting with the world, rather than describing it. And the last few episodes suffer the most with it.

Pacing is another huge issue and is intertwined with my previous point. You can cut so much fat off (much of which are the exposition dumps) and show so much more. I understand that the 12 episode season doesn't present the luxury of the original in terms of time. But, just the fact that we spend the first three episodes in one town is insane. It's slow, it doesn't develop characters much, we don't see much of the world at all. And then all of a sudden we're at a breakneck pace to episode 8 where we come to a sluggish pace again full of exposition dumps. Why?

Also, short one - it lacks humour. I like the darker tones they take with certain elements, but we also need to breathe. Just a touch of lightheartedness would do wonders, I think.

Just for the sake of it, after finishing the reboot I went back and rewatched just the first episode of the original '98 show. And I was bewildered with how effectively the og used the 20 minutes. We get the main premise, a great very distinctive introduction to the main characters, glimpse at the world and the conflict. The first episode of the reboot just left me confused.

I can ramble on and on about my frustrations with the reboot, but I would still watch season 2. It probably doesn't seem like it, from how much I complained about the reboot, but I think it introduced enough of intriguing new ideas I would like to see explored. Plus, there's always a chance for the second season to right a lot of wrongs of the first, so I'm hopeful.

And I would recommend this show if the exposition dumps don't bother you much. I think anything is worth exploring and seeing for yourself whether you like it or not :)