"I meditate diligently every morning. The subjects are life and love. I quit after three seconds." - Vash

Trigun is an anime and manga series about a man named Vash the Stampede, a pacifist who traveled the world and always seemed to find himself in the middle of trouble wherever he went. He had a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head and was always in danger because of that and the rumors surrounding him. Two insurance workers named Meryl and Milly were sent to investigate him and prevent any further damages caused by his involvement, and ended up getting swept up in his crazy life. Despite Vash's painful past and the fact that he always had to be on the lookout to protect himself and others against bounty hunters, rivals, and his brother (who not only threatened his life but also the absolute ideals he lived by), he was usually able to do it with some amount of humor and assuredness.

This was the very first anime that we ever saw and we thoroughly enjoyed all 26 episodes of this series. The characters were all extremely well developed and I was curious to learn about their backstories, their motivations, and watching them change as they learned more about each other and had their preconceptions and long held beliefs challenged. Each episode built on the one before it and the whole series was a nice mix of both comedy and drama (of which it sometimes reached extremes of either one or the other). I really felt like I got to know the characters as we saw them experience some pivotal revelations, personal losses, and fight to find the strength within themselves to continue on even when all seemed hopeless. I felt the series really picked up when Wolfwood arrived, and I completely enjoyed the scenes where he and Vash were totally in synch with one another. Their friendship was very gratifying to watch unfold. Even if some motivations were not clear at the beginning, and they differed in their value systems, they ended up being very real and true friends. The insurance girls also proved to be dedicated friends that Vash could rely on to get him through some of his hardest times. The Gung-Ho Guns could sometimes be somewhat forgettable villains, but since they were part of an overarching storyline it really came to a satisfying and dramatic climax near the end of the series.

In addition to the characters and the compelling story, I also really enjoyed the animation style and the voice acting. Johnny Yong Bosch especially did an amazing job - Vash was a very complex character and I was impressed by how believable Johnny was able to make him come across. After we finished Trigun we got back into Power Rangers and also started working through Johnny's catalogue of anime voice work and found some great other shows. We were pretty disappointed in the Trigun movie because not only did it have a weak story, but it also had different actors playing all the main characters except for Vash. It just didn't capture the charm of the main series in our opinion. I fully enjoyed the original Trigun story and the thought provoking issues and questions it brought up, the memorable scenes between the characters, and how full and varied the series turned out to be.

Favorites

	Liz	Jen
Character	Vash, Wolfwood	Vash, Wolfwood
Episode	Murder Machine, Hang Fire	Murder Machine, Live Through, Truth of Mistake
Relationship	Vash/Wolfwood, Vash/Meryl, Meryl and Milly	Vash/Wolfwood, Vash/Meryl