Trigun

DVD Pioneer Entertainment

Review based on disk 1 (episodes 1-4)

Reviewed by: Carla Land

What it’s (basically) all about: Vash the Stampede is a wanted man. He’s a legendary gunfighter who will take out a town and leave no soul alive. There’s a bounty of six billion double dollars on his head. His name alone scared the heck out of everyone. And he’s our hero. Vash is actually a good guy, in a Barney Fife meets James Bond sort of way, and he’s being trailed by two insurance claim adjusters bent on making him stop costing so much money. All leads to mayhem and comic madness.

Nitty Gritty: The story takes place in a futuristic world where water is as valuable as oil is to us today. As the title suggests, there’s a lot of gunplay in this. To say there is excessive use of guns in Trigun would be to say there are a few people living in Southern California. Interestingly enough, there is no gore and the violence is clearly less than it could have been.

The language in Trigun can be foul. “Sh*t” and “bitch” are the most offensive words heard in the first four episodes. There is no sex, but Vash can be easily swayed by members of the female persuasion and the insurance claim adjusters are both female. Characters smoke and drink, and Vash gets totally drunk in one episode. At one point Vash turns down the chance to spend the night with two prostitutes, so he can't be all bad.

Vash the Stampede is an interesting character. He is clearly not what the legends say, and even though he is an extremely gifted gunman he comes across as a bungling fool more often than not. Each episode shows him getting into trouble of some sort and saving a group of people as well as himself, making you believe he’s really the smartest character on the show.

The violence is the only thing in this show that is going to be an issue. People get maimed and killed, but there is no gore, and Vash seems to go out of his way to not kill people, start anything himself, or even use his gun.

The special features include character designs, an image gallery, DVD credits, and information about other titles available from Pioneer. There are no previews, but the other titles are organized together by rating and give a brief synopsis, cast and rating info for each.  

Survey says: In a world where parents fear (wrongly) that watching shows about guns will turn their children into murderers, this may get some feathers ruffled. However, the violence is only part of the story in Trigun. Vash the Stampede is just a guy, a nice one at that, who tries hard to NOT use violence but somehow always ends up in a bad situation. Teenagers should have no problems understanding this, so this should be fine for your YA patrons, maybe even your YA sections. To err on the side of caution though, I'd say this is better off in adult collections. The language and violence can sometimes be borderline, though I'd be willing to bet there are books in your YA sections that cross the line even more.

Personal Ad: I really like Trigun a lot. I think the character of Vash is a very well written one and I like that he’s a regular guy who can kick everyone’s butt, but tries not to.