Recently, upon entering my local Suncoast, I was approached by one of the store clerks. He and I had talked anime in the past. After asking him if any new anime had arrived since I was last there, and if any of them were any good, he replied, "Oh, well, Trigun is new. People like it, from what I hear. It's supposed to be a real riot. I would know more if...I had...any money." Ah, the anime junky, poor but content. Amazing how I had joined their ranks. His "compelling" words were enough enticement to convince me that Trigun was worth viewing. Sure, typically I prefer sci-fi or thriller anime, but why not give it a try? Plus, the cover looked neat.

So my best friend (She bought Fushigi Yûgi) and I headed back to my place and popped it into the VCR. We sat back with soda and popcorn ready to view a decent, but by no means phenomenal, anime. Boy were we wrong. From the first second to last, I absolutely loved Trigun. The introduction was both cool and funny, and the opening theme was just so perfectly matched to this anime. Sure, at first I had no idea what was going on, but I picked that up quickly enough. Trigun unfolds into a relatively easy to follow and amusing tale.

Trigun: The $$60,000,000 Man tells of the adventures...er...misadventures of Vash the Stampede, the most dangerous man to ever walk the Earth. Wherever Vash travels, he is pursued by hoards of money grubbing bounty hunters. As the film begins, a simple saloon is torn to pieces by the guns of bandits searching for the elusive Vash. What they uncover is a clumsy dork of a gunman. Tripping over his own feet and forgetting to load his very cool gun, the bandits are unsure if this oaf could possibly be the legendary Vash the Stampede. Vash is later accompanied...followed by a pair of insurance selling, gun toting girls. Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson continue encountering the odd but likeable Vash in a variety of humorous situations.

An odd facial expression? Yes, but nevertheless, strangely fitting considering the predicament Vash had blundered into.	The insurance agent duo, Meryl and Milly, on the trail of the one man wrecking crew, Vash the Stampede.

In terms of plot, Trigun executes it’s story in a very nice fashion. The story progresses at a swift, but not too quick pace. For a futuristic old west action adventure comedy (Heck of a genre, huh?), Trigun is fantastic. Trigun was easily better and funnier than any action adventure movie I had personally ever seen. Trigun is extremely well written and executed.

The character designs in Trigun are both cool, amusing, and beautiful. The character of Vash can go from a calm gun wielding killer (or so it seems) to a bumbling idiot. No character seems out of place on the fantastic backgrounds, although some of the minor characters were a little too cartoony for my personal liking. The designs were very well planned and perfectly suited for this particular anime.

From the intro to the ending track, Trigun’s musical score is very catchy and plain out fun to listen to. A common theme in all of the songs was an odd mix of old western saloon music and rock. Every track from this anime helped move the story along, and add to the fun and cool atmosphere. My personal favorite was when Trigun would leave for a "commercial break". A catchy little tune plays, then about ten seconds later plays backwards when Trigun "comes back from commercial." Though Trigun’s music was good, it was not the factor that made this anime, but neither did it hurt it.

The animation in Trigun is absolutely beautiful. Characters move fluidly and just plain out look good. Personally, I could have done without some of the odd faces which were used to express certain emotions (What the heck is the cat face supposed to mean?). After straining for a few minutes, I can think of one instance where a frame was used twice. If I hadn’t been watching the anime (Second time through) to try and find little things like that, I never would have noticed it. The frame fits in both scenes in which it's used, so it doesn’t stick out much. Occasionally a still shot of a characters face (With mouth moving) would bug me, but these were very rare. The little details like that could never touch the fact that Trigun is simply amazing animation. Overall the animation quality is stunning and crisp. I tip my hat to the animators.

As I watched Trigun, I could mentally keep track of it as it climbed up the ranks of my personal favorite anime. As a comedy anime, it took number one, and as an anime in general, it took third (Macross Plus and Perfect Blue beat it). Unlike some series (Slayers!), I found myself hungering to find out what happens next to Vash the Stampede and the amusing duo, Meryl and Milly. Pioneer has a winner on it’s hands, and I am hooked.

Distributor: Pioneer
Creator: Yasuhiro Nightow, Studio Madhouse
Released: 1998

Plot: A+
Character Design: A
Animation Quality: A
Music: A-
Overall: A