Yasuhiro Nightow

I've become a bit jaded with manga in recent years, as evidenced by the fact that I quit the last long term series that I was working on (even though it had beautiful art) and barely gave the last set a try, but delving back into Trigun was a fun romp. The post-apocalyptic(ish), western setting is definitely not my norm for content, but something about the red-jacketed gunslinger makes me want to know his story. Nightow is really just starting to set the stage for his story in this first show more volume, throwing all kinds of random conflict Vash's direction, but some of the major themes are already starting to emerge. We see Vash's lonely nature being eroded by the insurance girls and the wild west themes about settlement, competition for resources, and the importance of the environment are taking the forefront. What is Vash trying to accomplish on this wayward planet is still a mystery, but we'll join the caravan (or steamship in Vash's case) for a while to find out. show less

The man in the red duster is back and we're in for more deep space planet future gun action. The whole gang is back: Wolfwood the priest, the two lesbians from the Bernardelli insurance agency, and even Knives.

Will Vash the Stampede cause even more mayhem? Will he blast the moon or devastate more cities while trying to not hurt anybody? You betcha!

Trigun is still my favorite manga/anime of all time and this first volume of Maximum is no disappointment. Picks up where Trigun left off.

One of the first anime I ever watched was Trigun. Soon after I bought a few volumes of Trigun Maximum, which have been sitting on my shelf for close to ten years. Of course, Trigun Maximum is not the start of the series, something I hadn’t realized at the time. Finally, finally, I’ve read the actual beginning of the series: Trigun Omnibus by Yasuhiro Nightow. It took long enough, I know. And I am very happy I finally got around to reading this.

Trigun is a science fiction, wild-west show more styled manga that takes place on the faraway planet of Gunsmoke. Vash the Stampede is a wanted man. With sixty billion double-dollars hanging over his head, every gunslinger on the planet is hunting him. Vash, is an avowed pacifist, however, not wanting to fight, but not willing to go down without one either. Because when he does fight, the damage is catastrophic. Not massive collateral damage and hundreds dead catastrophic. More like hole punched through the planet, millions dead catastrophic.

This is a fast paced action story with roots in science fiction and gunslinger westerns. Vash is a likeable character, one surrounded by mystery and seeming contradictions. He is a pacifist, but carries a bounty in the tens of billions. He doesn’t wish to fight anyone, but is quite skilled in fighting nonetheless.

The story takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of a struggling planet. Society survives in run down cities with vast swaths of desert in between. Technology seems to be the only thing keeping humanity going, but this very saving grace also seems to be something which, at least in part, has been lost to time. Vash’s backstory along with overall world building are relayed in part, both unfolding slowly as the story progresses. What is shown is intriguing. The blanks aren’t all filled in yet, leaving room for growth as Trigun Maximum, the next part of the saga, unfolds.

Character designs are, at times, over the top. Villains appear less human and more grotesque. They are larger than life, or else smaller than normal. The art overall, was quite enjoyable. Some cells were a bit hard to discern, however. Certain fights got a bit muddled between character movement, physical fighting, and gun fighting. It was difficult to figure out what exactly was going on at certain points – who was fighting who, how they were fighting, and who was winning.

In this respect, I’m glad I watched the anime. If I hadn’t, I expect that I would have been much more confused in certain scenes than I was. Some background, quieter moments between characters, and chances for more overt character development were lacking, the story jumping quickly from one action-packed adventure to another. I do wish that the manga took a bit more time to delve into some of that. Without watching the anime I wouldn’t have understood the inclusion of Meryl and Millie, nor would I have found myself caring about either one very deeply. Perhaps they were never meant to be quite as large as a tour de force as they were in the anime, but the, why include them at all?

The manga did hit a few major issues. The main one being not everything was translated. Sure, chat bubbles were translated. So were inner thoughts and explanations on character and setting. However, all onomatopoeia’s, those giant Bams! and Kabooms! we are so used to, were left in Japanese.

I understand leaving the individual cells as is. Changing these to English would not only be a massive undertaking, but would change the original art as well. This isn’t something I would recommend in many cases, but a translation should exist nonetheless. The vast majority of other manga I have read have the translation between the borders of one cell and the next using an asterisk followed by the word in English. I don’t know why this was completely ignored in the Trigun Omnibus.

I can’t help but feel I missed quite a bit by not being able to read everything on the page.

Another issue I had was the use of honorifics. Admittedly, this does encroach on personal pet peeve, but I do believe the issue is more pervasive than that. I don’t think that using the Japanese honorifics in a fully translated work is necessary. Most of the time these honorifics aren’t integral to things like plot or the subtle explanation of character relationships. When they are, workarounds are never terribly difficult, especially with a touch of creativity. Keeping them in the supposedly fully translated work is simply lazy.

Needless to say, if you have watched the anime adaptation of Trigun, events do differ. This is particularly prevalent at the end of the omnibus as this story is wrapping up and Trigun Maximum begins. If you are mainly a watcher of anime and tend to pick up a series at the point the anime leaves off, this is probably one series you don’t want to do this with. While volume one of the omnibus is much the same as the anime, events do differ in volume two.

Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow is a fun story of action and adventure with a likable main character. While this manga felt a bit ‘monster of the week’ the story does lead towards a much larger overarching plot toward the end. Questions were left unanswered, but with promise of being answered in the future. I already own the first two omnibuses of Trigun Maximum and will certainly be reading them soon.

This review and more can be found at Looking Glass Reads. show less

I wish I liked this volume, because it's got some of the better art in the series and Wolfwood is in it, and his relationship with Vash is rather cute. There's also just a lot of panels made to admire Vash's body, which is fun. And Knives' introduce is pretty decent. But unfortunately the volume compensates by upping Vash's sexism, which, while typical of 90s shounen, is still just as bad now as it was back then.

I'm still not a general fan of the character designs or ridiculous Very 90s show more costuming, but I do respect the artistry in the fight scenes and posing. The story also isn't very good. The sense of place and time isn't clear, and a good chunk of the story is "Meanwhile, Legato is up to no good", and the climax was... unfulfilling.

Milly is still my favorite character, but Wolfwood is up there, now. Legato and Vash are fun, and Knives is interesting.

All in all, if you want a classic shonen from the 90s... well I can't say I exactly recommend this, but if you really like "s-CRY-ed", "Cowboy Bebop", "Outlaw Star", "Marchen Awakens Romance", "Flame of Recca", or that kind of thing, this might be for you. If you like "Trigun: Stampede", there will be a number of elements here that you can see I the anime, but a lot was changed. show less