--TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA--
1/5/01
Word has it that Midvalley the Hornfreak, killer sax player of the Gung-Ho-Guns, has his real-life origins in one Atsushi Yanaka, who plays baritone sax with the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. His name, written with kanji meaning "valley" and "middle," is a dead giveaway, and based on the pictures at the official website above, they're not entirely dissimilar visually, either. (The photo of Yanaka on his profile page looks an awful lot like anime Midvalley.) And in a seeming case of life imitating art, in 2000, you could have caught TSPO on their "Gunslingers" tour. Although knowing what happens whenever Midvalley plays, maybe you wouldn't want to.
1/21/01
Last time, I told you that Midvalley the Hornfreak was based on Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra baritone sax player Atsushi Yanaka; now I've uncovered evidence that Midvalley's old bandmates (Trigun Maximum Vol. 4) are based on Yanaka's fellow TSPO members Tatsuyuki Hiyamuta and (maybe) Yuichi Oki (as Midvalley's guitarist and drummer, respectively; in real life, they play alto sax and keyboards). The case for Oki is still pretty shaky--about all he has in common with the drummer is some facial hair--but put him between Yanaka and Hiyamuta and he looks sort of familiar.
I have not yet spotted any of the other six TSPO members within the pages of Trigun.