Earlier this year, Studio Orange released a reboot of the Trigun anime tentitled Trigun Stamepede. The studio took an interesting angle, not quite presenting a prequel but a superimposition of familiar characters and events over a new timeline. The key concepts, however, remain the same. We have a humanity stranded on an alien planet (No Man’s Land) fighting for survival and quickly running dry the one resource that makes the environment habitable—plants. We have our main character, Vash, a hybrid being (an independent, both human and plant) at odds with basically the entire planet, including his twin brother(Nai/Knives). We have Meryl, an intelligent, headstrong, and compassionate investigator, who gets herself caught up in the action while trying to figure out what Vash is really all about.
I am a big fan of anime that pose big questions and that is very true of Trigun. What is it to be human? Do undeniably superior beings exist and what rights do they have? How can you be compassionate when all choices are accompanied by terrible consequences? Does an objective morality exist? In this anime, we follow Vash as he tackles a string of “trolley problem” scenarios at various scales. While there are many changes in their presentation, much of this ethical debate is still present in the reboot. I appreciated the updated animation style and the added focus on the character of Zazie the Beast and the Worms, a native species of this planet that add an extra layer to the ethical quandaries. We also receive more details about the plants, both in additional physical screentime and discussion about their function/composition, but this does not bring more answers as much as more questions. What do plants need? What is their ideal existence? How did they get to this dimension? Is Vash really helping them or just helping the humans use them more? These are things I didn’t question in the previous rendition.
While there were many changes in character, from the shuffling of backstory details to the outright creation of brand-new players, one shift in perspective that really rankled me was that of Meryl. I tried to accept that these events played out before the existence of the Meryl we meet in the original anime, but they took so much power from her. They have her floundering and helpless through every episode, being saved left and right by each male in turn, Roberto, Vash, and Nicholas, literally carried underarm and out of danger at the end of the season. It was difficult to reconcile this Meryl with who she should have been, even as a younger, more naïve version of herself. At this point, I cannot envision a believabletransformation that would take her from perpetual damsel in distress to the weapons wielding partner of the equally formidable Milly, both heroes in their own right.
I was also not impressed with the pacing of the new season, the dispensation of information. We know right away that Vashis different, not quite human, and we lose the power of legend behind him and his name. We also lose a lot of the lightheartedness that was layered into the original series. We are hit hard and fast with the big concepts, and they don’t really let up. This begged the question: do you have to be a serious character to accomplish serious goals? Vash’s motivations are also different. Whose side are you on, Nai frequently asks of him. But it was very clear to me that this Vash is not pro-life as we were previously led to believe, so much as pro-human. Wesee him witness the obliteration of hundreds of plants all at once and he still balks at the injury of even one extremely culpable human. He asks for time for the humans to find an alternativepower source—years, decades, centuries(?)—while plantkind ischronically siphoned and slaughtered. Where is the balance? It is hard to see how this iteration of Vash can become the one we came to know and love in the original Trigun. Who is Vash the Stampede? A Humanoid Typhoon? An Act of God? He appears here the technical (though unacknowledged) defender of humans, and antagonist to Nai, the only true advocate for plants.Neither hero or antihero, for all intents and purposes he is self-imposed martyr for a questionable cause.
A second season of Trigun Stampede has been confirmedand I am interested to see how the quandaries, both new and old, of No Man’s Land will be addressed. How will they bring justice and balance to this planet and its moral issues? Will they be able to write from the nonhuman perspective necessary to balance out the disaster of destruction culminated in the season finale, or will we continue to experience a humancentric interpretation of what is fair and right when it necessitates survival? While it is a difficult undertaking, I hope they are able deliver some strong semblance of successful closure for these characters and this world.
Melissa Nunez is a writer and homeschooling mother from South Texas. When not in the classroom or behind her computer, she is most likely to be found attempting to identify a local species of bird or plant or watching a really cool show (not always, but very probably, anime). She is contributor for The Daily Drunk Mag and Yellow Arrow, and staff writer for Alebrijes Review. Twitter: @MelissaKNunez