Trigun Stampede

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 :)

The original Trigun is one of my favorite anime, so these crafty businessmen have figured out I'll watch anything new with the word Trigun in it, to see if it captures the same magic.

As is usually the case with reboots, this reboot rarely succeeds in recapturing that magic. Sometimes there are moments where it does, but for the most part, it's not nearly as well done as the original, in my opinion.

It has everything you'd expect in a reboot and takes no chances. The CGI isn't great compared to the premium animation of the original. The characters are kind of annoying. Moreso than in the original (Vash the Stampede was always a bit annoying). The dialogue seems stilted at times.

It's not all bad, though. There are a few bright moments. They did a good job on making the villains menacing. The story could use some clarity on the objectives and stakes, but the action elements are good.

This reboot just seems a little bit off on everything even though it did some things right. I still enjoy it enough to watch, though, so I give it a 6.

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 or first 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 this they took out the whole air of intrigue and mystery and imply all of the intriguing 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'll start by saying that this Trigun is simply a feast for the eyes, the animation and the effects of modern cinema really give a unique atmosphere to each episode, although I can end here with the positive section of the series.

Now, an incredible animation is not the same as a work full of life, in this case it is a product lacking soul if we compare it with the classic series.

All the goofy expressions of our friendly protagonist have been eliminated and everything that made each character stand out too, instead they feel like Mad Max survivors who simply come together thanks to the magic of the script.

The music is something redeemable, it is quite good.

The 25th anniversary of the beloved original just passed as did the finale of this new prequel / remake (pre-make?), taking its spin on the old established universe of the 1998 original series with the facelift of modern 3D animation technology. We follow the early days of Vash the Stampede, a wanted outlaw known for roaming town to town in a futuristic western wasteland, complete with apocalyptic vehicles, robo-cyber tech, and large guns. I personally don't love the newer 3D CG animation style the series uses, but I must say this series used it well enough. I didn't love the character redesigns (or replacements), however the original was definitely extreme and cheesy in its 1990s way and this new one has all the cheesy tropes and lean towards ridiculousness I commonly see in these modern anime. They do cut one of my favourite characters from this season, which hurt me deeply, but the voice acting is generally fine and the character dynamics are believable enough. Unfortunately the lore and world building is where we get to the unbelievability, the series makes a much larger emphasis on Vash, the world, and their intertwining backstories than does the original series. I quite liked the slower paced, subdued beginning of the original, with the world lore being a backdrop through most of its run, however this new series dives right into it, revealing much of what took the original 20+ episodes is divulged by episode 2. They certainly do a better job at this story telling than did the original, given the original got very silly very quickly, but at only 12 episodes much is left unanswered and even more teased for a new season 2 to come. I'm unsure if I'd give it a go when it comes around, but I can see why others liked it. I'd still recommend the original over this remake, and warn that this new series will spoil many parts of the original, but its not bad, just a little too all over the place for me.