Trigun Stampede 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

With more lost tech mini-cube droids attaching themselves to townspeople, Roberto identifies the culprit as Ethan Gilbert Hamilton, a notorious bomber with the nickname Easy (E.G.) Bomber. Vash spots him in an elevated location and shoots.  The cyborg flees and goes after the town’s good Plant. Vash gives chase, but is unable to stop E.G. Meanwhile, a figure walks in from the desert and ignores the warnings about the town.

Meanwhile, with bombs going off at random, killing people, Meryl and Roberto grab E.G. Roberto’s droid is about to explode, so E.G. gives up and allows Vash to disarm the droids. He stops Father Nebraska from murdering E.G., causing Nebraska to ask who’s side Vash is on. Vash sees his brother, Million Knives, in the town and screams for people to flee. E.G. takes advantage of the situation and flees to Knives, only to be slaughtered.

Knives mocks Vash for his behavior. He touches Vash’s gun and sends his mind to another realm, where he’s a kid. Knives leaves, where Nebraska confronts him. Knives easily absorbs an RPG round, then removes Nebraska’s hand. Vash regains himself and comes to assist. Meanwhile, a giant, transport vehicle arrives, ejecting a giant robot. A Doctor and a girl like Vash help get the Plant, while the women of the town attempt to stop Knives. Only Rosa is left alive.

Knives takes the dying plant and destroys Jeneora Rock. Knives leaves, asking Vash who’s side he’s on. Gofsef is somehow alive, as is Nebraska. Rosa demands Vash leave since his presence is clearly what brought his brother Knives to the place. Vash leaves to go to JuLai, where “he” is.

Thoughts/Review

On the surface, Trigun Stampede 03 seems massively good. But then when one steps back, one starts to realize that there’s a ton of flash here, but not a lot of substance. And for some, that’s all they need.

Trigun Maximum?

I laugh when I see so many people orgasmically say, “Oh! Trigun Stampede 03 is just like the Trigun Maximum manga! It is so awesomely awesome!” And then these same people have to admit that the story presented in this episode is in fact an anime original. Nevertheless, this new anime is pure Trigun Maximum, yes sir! Just because this anime is doing its own thing means nothing!

So on a whim, I took the time to check into the first three volumes of that manga. I have to say, what I read had no comparison to Trigun Stampede. It felt more like the later half of the OG Trigun anime, only with less Meryl and Milly. Granted, there are fourteen volumes in Trigun Stampede, so maybe this similarity happens later in that manga.

Because the Trigun Stampede manga starts on a  two year time jump, I went and read the last volume of the Trigun manga. Interestingly enough, Jeneora Rock is there, and Vash confronts Knives. But the Knives there is vastly different from the Knives in Trigun Stampede. Further, Knives attempts to make Vash destroy Jeneora Rock, rather than Knives doing it on his own volition. But Vash does major damage to the moon instead.

Vash the Impotent

That brings me to another topic — Vash the Impotent. I mentioned in my previous episode review that Vash was a beta male, unlike his OG anime counterpart. That aspect didn’t change in Trigun Stampede 03. Sadly, Vash went from just beta to beta and impotent. That came after showing a tiny bit of backbone, when Vash shot at E.G. Bomber, forcing this cyborg creation to move, I applauded. But when E.G. stole the good Plant, all Vash did was plead with E.G. Completely beta and impotent. Indeed, it took a plan from the child-like Meryl to stop E.G. Vash didn’t do jack.

When Vash saw Knives, I had no problem with him being worried and even scared. In the final chapter of the Trigun manga, he’s concerned there too. But Vash isn’t beta. He gets Milly and Meryl to leave him. In their manga conflict, one could say that Vash was impotent. However, that was more about Knives activating Vash’s weapon than anything.

That aside, in this current anime episode, Vash remains impotent throughout, while Knives carries out his plans. People are either viciously slaughtered, or viciously wounded. Then after Vash is helpless to stop Knives from leaving, Vash meekly leaves after Rosa demands it.

But that’s not the Vash of the source manga, even if you want to ignore the OG anime adaptation. Even in moments where Vash is at a severe disadvantage, he still comes off as heroic and strong. In Trigun Stampede, Vash just comes off as pathetic, impotent, and weak.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Trigun Stampede 03 with some final thoughts.

• I do like the Nebraskas 2.0. Father Nebraska going out for revenge over the preserved death of his son felt real to me. And I’m glad that he and Gofsef  are somehow still alive, though I don’t understand why. But unfortunately, this “turnaround” on their part doesn’t square with the fact that they were wanted murderers who escaped prison.
• If Knives hates humanity and wants the Plants back, why hasn’t he already accomplished this? After all, he took two Plants without any real effort. He destroyed a town as if he were Doctor Octopus, who’d evolved to his final form. So what’s he waiting on? Just kill the humans and recover the Plants already!
• I previously complained at how it took the strong, smarter than smart, fearless, and stunningly brave women of the town to take down Vash. Well, outside of Rosa, these woman met a gruesome end. I guess even Orange felt slaughtering Rosa was a bridge too far. Besides, they needed to guilt trip beta Vash.
• Who is this “Doctor” and strange little girl with their giant robot?

In the end, Trigun Stampede 03 looks amazing. And on the surface, it seems like a good episode. But stepping back a few paces, I see we are getting a lot of flash, but not a lot of substance.