Trigun
More Cowboy in its left pinky than the whole Bebop
Review by: M.H. "It's okay if you kill a couple guys BONANZA!" Torringjan
Length: 26 episodes (make more, dammit!)
Genre: Western Scifi
Watched: the whole shebang, subbed
Yee-haw, varmints! Git up'n here an' round up the quantum particles for another wagon-train to Sheboygen! Or something like that. It's not working, is it? Well, this series, which tries to do something very similar to what I just portrayed (only with a *bit* more tact), makes it work much, much better. Perhaps because, as are most of the series that I like, this series is more character-driven than action-driven. It's not about a hoot'nanny down on old Planet Gunsmoke (a name which, incidentally enough, is never used in the anime), it's about one man's efforts to save his brother from himself while trying desperately to stay true to what he knows is best for him and everyone around him.
Plot synopsis: Vash the Stampede is wanted across the planet for destroying lots of things. Well, he didn't do it, mostly. As is demonstrated fairly quickly, the damage that he's wanted for is caused by the people who're trying to catch him. To prove this, the Bernardelli Insurance Agency sends Meryl Strife and Millie Thompson to investigate the Vash-related disasters. Unfortunately, nobody knows what he looks like. Well, this doesn't stop them, and they eventually find him. As they travel with him, they find out more and more that he has a mysterious past, like just about everybody and their grandmother in anime, involving the power-supplying Plants around the planet and a series of disappearances of cities and people.
Artwork: This series has some pretty darned above-standard artwork, from character design to technology design. I know what you're thinking. It's set on a desert planet, how much work does it take to draw sand? Well, I can tell you, it takes a fair amount. And it takes even more to make it look good. Although the landscapes are rather barren, the main focus of the art is the characters. The characters you'll find in this series are some of the most unique that I've seen in a long time, as evidenced by such colorful personalities as Brilliant Dynamite Neon and the Nebraska Family. Take one look at Monev the Gale and tell me they didn't work on this one.
Music: You know, it's hard to describe this soundtrack without sounding like you're confused. It jumps pretty much all over the place, but it leans mainly towards a distinctly Western sound. And by Western sound, I mean, of course, south of the border. This is about as close to salsa/Mexicano/mid-south-western as you can comfortably get without the music sounding like crap (of course, some of my might still think it crap, but that's just a personal problem more than anything else).
Then, it has the fuzz-guitar pieces and the stand-out Legato's Theme, "Perfect Night," which has no beat, no tune, and isn't really a song. It's more random noise that's strung together to *sound like* music than anything else. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Characters: The characters in this show are really some of the most unique characters I've seen in their own ways. Vash is a hero who *doesn't* want to kill people (compare to Spike, who pulls more triggers in one episode of Bebop than were pulled in the entire Godfather series). Wolfwood's a priest who kills people (well, sure, you've got Alexander from Hellsing, but not many other priests'll pump a trigger more than a pulpit). Vash not only doesn't want to kill people, but he's a good shot. Vash tries to play hero for the stricken people of Planet Gunsmoke while dealing with his own demons, which no one else ever knows about. He hides his seriousness and angst behind a mask of zaniness that he seems to try to use to convince people of his side of the 
disagreement. Milly is the slow-witted wise big gal who grew up on a farm in a big family. She hangs out with Meryl, her superior at their job, and calls her "sempai," even though she shows brief flashes of surpassing wisdom at times. Meryl's an extremely business-like woman who thinks of Vash initially as a job, and one that she'd love to get the pink slip for. Her view is slowly changed by finding more out about Vash and by talking with Milly. Wolfwood is a priest who grows up knowing only the utility of murder, and eventually learns a life lesson (tm) from Vash's ways of fighting. Throw in a bunch of minor characters and an evil twin brother, and you've got a nice Western Sci-fi Soap opera. Heat on low for 20 minutes, serves five.
Plot: Well, I'll give them this, what they had was worth watching. The basic plot was a familiar thing in anime. I might even go as far as calling the whole evil twin brother thing cliché. However, it gets carried by the quality of the characters, artwork, music, etc. I might even call it slightly episodic at the beginning (which it is, I mean, elements of the overarching plot aren't introduced very much until episode 12). Once it gets going, though, it hits you fast and hard, only pausing for an episode and a half of a massive, involved flashback. Now, *that's* where it moves slightly out of the whole cliché situation and into something original. It's definitely worth the time taken to actually get to the plot. Although there were some things that I thought they could have elaborated on a bit better.
Chicks!! This series doesn't have any chicks per se to speak of. When I was first watching it through, I thought it was as barren a wasteland of chicks as the setting was of water. Then, it happened. Near the end of the series, I fell for Meryl. Once she gets past her own stuck-up demeanor and starts to act like she really feels, this gal could get any guy she wanted in no time flat! Her figure's unimportant in the issue in my mind, although if you really must know, it's a decent compliment to her personality, in that it isn't too flagrant while still reminding you that yes, she is, in fact, a woman.
Overall: This series picks you up with the upbeat pace of the first few episodes and keeps you there with the drama and the constantly evolving characters. The ending, I thought, was psychologically satisfying in and of itself. In other words, it worked well as *an* ending, but not as *the* ending. They could have done at least a bit more with the series and still kept it fresh. Of course, I say that about a lot of things. Anyway, the series is solid, and even though I may have downplayed it a bit, I really think this is one of the best series I've seen. Definitely put it on the "To Watch" list for some period in the future, the sooner the better.
In a nutshell:
+ Evolving characters
+ Humordramascifiwesternexpialidocious
+/- The soundtrack defines "eclectic."
- Series could go on longer!
- Shortage on chicks
- Soap-opera plot's been done before.
Overall rating: 9.5/10
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