Product Description

The wild gun-crazy action of Trigun gets collected in a new eight-volume DVD boxed set featuring 26 episodes of brand-new art from Takahiro Yoshimatsu, the character designer of Trigun.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8130 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-11-20
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 8
• Running time: 30 minutes

Amazon.com
Who and what is Vash the Stampede, a.k.a. "The Humanoid Typhoon"? To bounty hunters, he's an outlaw with 60,000,000,000 Double Dollars on his head. To Meryl Stryfe and Millie Thompson of the Bernardelli Insurance Society, he's a walking disaster area who's cost the company a fortune. To otaku, he's one of the most popular characters in anime. Based on Yasuhiro Nightow's manga, this comic adventure takes place in the distant future on a desert planet that looks like the American Old West. Vash wanders from town to town, unsuccessfully pursuing peace, doughnuts, and "the mayfly known as love." Meryl and Millie follow him, trying to minimize the destruction, but Vash's only real friend is the gun-totin' preacher Nicholas Wolfwood. Despite their grudging affection, Wolfwood articulates the other characters' thoughts when he tells Vash, "When you're around, things always seem to get worse!"

Anime heroes tend to be either cold-blooded warriors who kill for honor (the Gundam Wing pilots) or unlikely nerds who grow into the role of warrior when it's thrust upon them (Shinji Ikari in Evangelion). Sometimes comic and kooky, sometimes gentle and earnest, Vash reveres life and agonizes over the bloodshed he inadvertently causes. He'd rather eat than demonstrate his amazing marksmanship: he doesn't fire a shot until the fifth episode, although one of his arms is actually a gun. Voice actor Johnny Yong Bosh articulates both Vash's suffering and adolescent exuberance whenever he sees a pretty girl with exceptional panache. The runaway popularity of Trigun seems to have surprised the filmmakers. Although no plans have been announced for additional animation, a new manga series has appeared, Trigun Maximum. It seems unlikely that the artists would prematurely end the adventures of a figure with so much potential--and so many fans. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Hysterical and action-packed...a great anime series!
He's prone to whining, crying and throwing tantrums, but Vash still manages to get the job done! Since I was introduced to Cowboy Bebop a little over a year ago, I've seen many different Anime, and I have to say flat out that Trigun is my favorite. Ironic, considering that Vash the Stampede is the epitome of everything I couldn't stand about Anime before I became a fan, but I actually find Vash to be completely hysterical, and one my favorite anime characters.

Its Wild West meets futuristic Sci-Fi in this anime about a man with names like 'The Humanoid Typhoon' and 'The 60 Billion Double Dollar Man'. Beleived to be the cause of mass destruction wherever he goes, Vash is actually a misunderstood, friendly and peace-loving individual...who is armed to the teeth, with superhuman strength and speed, the sharpest eye on the planet, and a 60 Billion Double Dollar bounty on his head that many are just itching to get their hands on. He hates violence and won't bring himself to kill anyone...and he has his reasons.

The overall plot of the show is great, but only loosely follows the Manga, since the anime is very different towards the end. Every episode is a continuation in the overall story. The first few episodes are mostly comical, but as the series progresses, Vash's true enemies reveal themselves and the show begins taking a darker tone. Many revelations about Vash's mysterious origins are revealed, and at about the middle of the show there is an origin episode that explains it a bit moe. That said, this anime is both completely hysterical and filled with great action. Vash's ridiculous behavior, stupid facial expressions and whining and screaming add a whole dimension to the character. Half the time when I watched this show, I was laughing. Sometimes it was so funny I was doubled over and tearing from the comedy aspect.

Side characters Meryl and Millie are also good characters...Millie's rather stupid but resourceful personality make her one of the funniest characters on the show (and one of my favorites). A gun-toting priest priest known as Nicholas D. Wolfwood shows up, inadvertantly forming a friendship and partnership with Vash, which leads to more hysterical situations. When the main cast of villains begin to get introduced to the show, it really takes off. Some of these villains, namely Legato Bluesummers (one of my all time favorite anime characters), are among the most sinister and evil characters I've seen yet in Anime.

Trigun happens to be my favorite Anime. The overall series has its fair share of comedy, alot of action, but also alot of emotion, particularly towards the end of the show. Combined with great character development, excellent animation, and a very good soundtrack, Trigun stands as one of the best anime to come out in recent years. As the second anime I got into after Bebop, I found it to be very entertaining and easy to get into. While the manga differs a bit from the anime, Trigun is definitely a great show and is worth the watch for any anime fan. Chances are that if you liked Bebop, you'll like Trigun.

Trigun - An amazing work of Animation
Trigun...

This single word signifies the epic series that changed my view of Japanese Anime in nearly a heartbeat. Up until I was subjected to the story portrayed in said series, I was aware of only a handful of extremely wonderful Japanese Anime programs, specifically Ranma ½ and Dragon Ball Z, to name a few.

Considering that my view of Japanese Anime is limited to more-or-less the aforementioned series, I was a little unprepared for what lay ahead in the 26 episode mini-saga of Trigun.

For those not in the know, Trigun was released in 1998, was originally created by Yasuhiro Nightow (manga) and is directed by Satoshi Nishimura (Anime). It is the story of Vash the Stampede (Johnny Young) and his struggle to come to terms with his tortured past. Becoming involved along the way with the misguided Humanoid Typhoon are Milly Thompson (Lia Sargent) and Meryl Strife (Dorothy Melendrez) of the Bernadelli Insurance Agency, who were assigned to Vash in an attempt to avert the damage he may cause in his future exploits.

Also drawn into Vash's destiny is Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a traveling priest who carries a massive cross that carries an amazing secret. Trying to escape a sordid past of his own, Vash and Wolfwood are fast friends.

These are the four main characters of the story. Along the way they come across some pretty colorful characters, ranging from crazy drunks to crazy puppet masters. It's madness!

As I said before, the story involves Vash the Stampede and his endless struggle to come to terms with his horrid past and a shadowy figure that haunts him throughout his life. Vash is a pacifist to the extreme. Despite his reputation as a horrid, womanizing destroyer of towns, Vash would rather kick back and enjoy a nice plate of donuts than fight an opponent. This is demonstrated time and again through the series. However, his motives are sometimes questionable, his actions even more so.

Now, I'll stop there. Any more and I could ruin storyline for anyone who hasn't seen the series or read the manga. However, I will comment on the form of the series for those not in the known. A warning, if you will.

Trigun is intense. The first three episodes I saw on a friend's computer. They were in their original Japanese and I found them to be quite comical. I did a bit of research and read an article that said the series pulls a 180 a little less than halfway in.

This friend and I wound of going and renting the first five volumes. Episodes 1-16. I've finally seen episodes 17-26 and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Trigun is one of the darkest Anime series I've seen thus far. The article was in no way lying. I never expected the subject matter to take such a swift, dark turn.

The characters can be quite vulgar and violent. There's no way around it. The story gets depressing. If you grow to love these characters, grow to feel the struggle they encounter, grow to want to see them succeed... Then you can't help but want to cry for these people.

In fact, if you do grow to love these characters, you will probably bawl like babies in the last four episodes... especially an episode involving a very touching scene between Milly and Wolfwood...

The series defiantly connects with me on a lot of different emotional levels. To quote Meryl, "Everyone who has become involved with him, has somehow gained an emotion they had once lost." This is quite true, even for myself. Seeing these characters in action is an emotional roller coaster.

Trigun is an amazing work of Animation done correctly. The only true flaw is the ending... it titters off, leaving too many questions and not enough answers. It'd lead one to believe that another series were in the works. With luck, "Trigun: Maximum" will become an Anime soon enough and hit American shores, because the story of Vash the Stampede simply isn't done.

A perfect display of how voice acting and animation can be quite effective in pulling on emotionl heart strings. I suggest this series to any Anime fan.

TRIGUN's a masterpiece, unique & ultimately brilliant anime
I started to get the TRIGUN series of anime after reviews on the net and various other sources recommended it. After getting the first DVD entitled The $$60,000,000,000 Man, I was hooked. TRIGUN features some of the strongest characters I have seen in Japanese animation. The stories are individual but build into the entire development of each character and especially the strange hero, Vash the Stampede. I won't ruin it for you by revealing any of the plot. This series is absolutely brilliant, each story is carefully thoughout and contains an enormous amount of humour (sometimes adult in theme) but the hero himself is a beautiful character that is superbly drawn. This hero is a bit like Clint Eastwood's The Man With No Name from the Dollars Spaghetti westerns. He enters towns as a drifter and is the ultimate in cool, but what sets him aside from other heroes is he acts like an idiot and does some really crazy stuff along the way. I love the English dub to this series, one of the finest and carefully put together dubs ever and it is probably even better than the Japanese soundtrack because it is so funny. The producers couldn't have found a better voice actor for the hero. The music to this series is excellent, from spanish guitars to heavy metal guitars, it never ceases to be cool. A superb soundtrack with many interesting instruments and styles sets mood and emotions.

This series is the ultimate anime treat, I have started to collect the series on DVD but now I'm just going to get the DVD box set instead.

This series works on so many levels and is a highly intelligent, thought provoking series with a high level of comedy.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.