is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow. It was first serialized in Tokuma Shoten's manga magazine ' from March 1995 to December 1996, at which time the magazine ceased publication. Its chapters were collected in three volumes. The series continued its publication in Shōnen Gahosha's manga magazine Young King OURs, under the title , from October 1997 to March 2007. Shōnen Gahosha republished the Trigun chapters in two volumes and collected the Trigun Maximum chapters in fourteen volumes. Set on the fictional planet known as No Man's Land, the plot follows Vash the Stampede, a famous gunman constantly fighting bounty hunters seeking the immense bounty on his head. Trigun originated from Nightow's fascination with Western movies with Vash standing out due to his pacifist nature.
Trigun was adapted into a 26-episode anime television series by Madhouse that aired on TV Tokyo from April to October 1998. An anime feature film, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, premiered in Japan in April 2010. Orange created a reboot titled Trigun Stampede in 2023, which was followed by a sequel, Trigun Stargaze, in 2026. In North America, both manga series have been licensed by Dark Horse Comics.
In 2009, Trigun Maximum won the Best Comic category at the 40th Seiun Awards. Critical response to the manga has been generally positive, with praise for Vash and his friends' actions and relationships as well as the handling of action scenes. However, criticism has been directed to the art that sometimes make it hard to distinguish what is going on while reading it.
Plot
In a distant future, a man known as Vash the Stampede has earned a bounty of $$60 billion ("double dollar") on his head and the nickname after accidentally destroying a city with his supernatural powers. However, whenever he is attacked, Vash displays a pacifist personality, as noted by two Bernardelli Insurance Society employees, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, who follow him around to minimize the damages inevitably caused by his appearance. Most of the damage attributed to Vash is actually caused by bounty hunters in pursuit of his bounty. However, he cannot remember the incident due to retrograde amnesia, being able to recall only fragments of the destroyed city and memories of his childhood. Throughout his travels, Vash tries to save lives using non-lethal force. He is occasionally joined by a priest, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who, like Vash, is a superb gunfighter with a mysterious past. As the series progresses, more about Vash's past and the history of human civilization on the planet is revealed.
Vash and his twin brother Knives were originally two children with a slow-aging process found in a spaceship who escaped from Earth after mankind had exhausted all its resources. Rem raised them, but Knives became nihilistic and had most of the people in the ship disposed of. As a result, Vash lives to find his twin and have revenge. Vash is targeted by Legato Bluesummers from the Gung-ho Guns assassins who are followers of Knives. Vash and Knives both possess the Angel Arm, which Knives forced Vash to use to destroy the city of July, ending the Trigun manga in a cliffhanger as the true nature behind Vash's identity is questioned by Wolfwood after seeing the power.
In Trigun Maximum, Wolfwood finds the missing Vash and both continue their fight against the Gung-go Guns, which often causes the two clash with each other over Vash's obsession with pacifism. Hoppered the Gauntlet, a survivor of July, seeks revenge on Vash, but is killed by his partners as Knives ordered them not to kill their target but tormenting him. Vash eventually fights Knives, but is defeated. However, Wolfwood, revealed to be one of Knives' subordinates, betrays him and saves Vash. In the aftermath, Wolfwood dies after using a drug while fighting one of the Gung-Hos; his friend, Livio, joins Vash's cause while grieving for his friend's death. As Knives approaches the city with the Ark, a floating ship designed to leave humans without any resources and end life on the planet, Knives begins dueling with Vash. Following his past battles that required him to use the Angel's Arm, Vash has transformed into a regular human, as signified by his blond hair turning black. Vash breaks his pacifist vow by killing Legato to protect Livio. Knives also starts losing the powers he stored with the Ark through Vash's actions. Vash then saves his brother from the vengeful ships from Earth. Following his defeat, Knives uses his remaining power to help his weakened brother by creating a small fruit tree to feed him. After his brother's death, Vash continues his travels on the planet with Meryl and Milly.
Production
thumb|left|Yasuhiro Nightow, writer and illustrator of Trigun|alt=A black haired Japanese man wearing glasses
After leaving college, Yasuhiro Nightow worked selling apartments for the housing corporation Sekisui House, but struggled to keep up with his manga drawing hobby. Reassured by some successes, including a serialized manga based on the popular video game franchise Samurai Spirits for Family Computer Magazine, he quit his job to draw full-time. released on January 26, 1995.
The series was conceptualized as a mix of the Western and science fiction genres, as Nightow realized it was a previously unseen combination of genres in Japan. To distinguish Vash from the typical heroes in action films, Nightow portrayed him as a pacifist since he did not want his lead character to be a murderer. As such, throughout the story, Vash avoids killing enemies by disarming them and avoids inflicting mortal wounds during combat. His cheerful personality was used to highlight this trait.<!-- Multiple Wild West films inspired the anime including Django (1966) and Clint Eastwood's work in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) Other elements of the manga were based on real life. For example, Wolfwood's name was taken from the lead singer as his image for the priest. He is also modeled on Tortoise Matsumoto from the band Ulfuls. In order to create "warm" environments, Nightow drew several eating scenes.
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