Review: TRIGUN

 Let's wrap this month up with a series that's had a recent resurgence, but how does its original source material hold up?

TRIGUN (Toraigan), by Yasuhiro Nightow.  First published in 1995 and first published in North America in 2003.

PLOT:

Vash the Stampede is a legend.  He's the Human Typhoon, a man with a 60 billion dollar bounty on his head for bringing unimaginable amounts of damage to the world of Gunsmoke.  Every cut-rate bandit and bounty hunter wants Vash dead, while Meryl and Milly of the Bernadino Insurance Company simply want to find him to keep his damage (and their premiums) to a minimum.  When they do find him, he's not a monster but instead a goofy, donut-loving man who wants to avoid violence instead of creating it.  Unfortunately for Vash, trouble is determined to find him and he's the only one who can stop it.

STORY:

Once again I have to deal with reviewing a classic manga without just constantly comparing and contrasting it with its popular, well-known anime adaptation (as well as the more recent and liberal take on the story).  It's doubly hard in the case of Trigun because while the events of this manga line up fairly well with the first 8 episodes of that original 90s anime, the manga can feel a little lacking in comparison.

This is not because of how the manga handles Vash, thank goodness.  From the start, he was always the loveable goofball we all know and love.  If anything, his tragic past is more upfront here as we get more information right away about his relationship with his foster mother Rem and the fact that Vash is not quite human.  Of course, the downside to being more up-front with that information is that the Trigun manga is somewhat lacking in some of the mystery of its anime counterpart.  Still, it's clear that Nightow had a strong idea of who Vash was as a character right from the beginning and he almost single-handedly carries this manga.

It's a shame you can't say the same for the insurance girls.  While the anime versions of Meryl and Milly were fairly distinct, their manga predecessors are far more underdeveloped.  It's almost like they're the same character, just in Small and Extra Large sizes.  The villains are broad, cackling weirdos who make a splash but disappear after two or three chapters.  It's a fun adventure, but if you're interested in the real story you'll have to read its sequel to find it.

ART:

Nightow's art is one of a kind, even if it's not always brilliant.  His character designs are strange even for the time this manga was made, with lots of broad shoulders and jutting chins.  Nonetheless, there's a lot of variety and I kind of like how visually outrageous he gets with the villains.  The action scenes aren't always coherently put together but he always punctuates them with really strong poses.  Most of the time the expressions are big and broad, but there are times when he demonstrates some nuance when characters start monologuing to themselves.  The backgrounds are sparsely drawn, but that has to be expected to some degree in a manga set on a desert planet.  Basically, this manga is very much a land of contrasts.

RATING:

The Trigun manga might not be quite as refined and cohesive as its animated counterparts but it's got a lot of good and interesting things going for it.  It's perhaps not essential reading, but I do hope that all those newfound and born-again fans take advantage of the new re-release to check out the manga that started it all.

This series is published by Dark Horse Comics.  This series is complete in Japan with 3 volumes available.  All 3 have been published in omnibus form and are currently in print.