Trigun Stampede 09

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

In the past, Knives witnesses all of the Plants in a Plant room die as the human survivors overtasked them. Vash arrives, and Knives slaughters several of the humans and vows to replace the humans on the planet with Plants. Luida shows up, so Knives starts strangling her. In anger, Vash’s arm opens a “gate”, which begins sucking material into it. As such, Knives slices Vash’s arm off.

Luida goes to help Vash, only to be warned off by Knives. Vash pulls a gun on Knives to defend her. As such, Knives and a scientist leave. Knives vows to transform the planet in 100 year.

In the present on Ship 3, an older Brad repairs the arm he made for Vash. Wolfwood, Roberto, and Meryl reunite with him. The older Luida explains their situation. She shows them the ship’s arboretum. Meryl is astonished by the green and flowers. Luida explains that flora can be spread across the planet, lessening the need for Plants. Roberto scoffs at the idea.

Back in Vash’s room, Wolfwood tells Vash that eventually he’ll have to choose between humans, Plants, and Knives. This amuses Brad, who used to think this way. Luida shows up, stating a swarm of insect worms kidnapped Meryl and Roberto. Wolfwood recognizes Zazie. The worm-kid takes them to JuLai, a crashed Plant carrier.

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Zazie notes that the planet Noman’s Land is at a crossroads. As such, he’s wondering if the worms should side with the Plants or with humanity. He reveals all of the Red Plants in containers. Dr. Conner arrives, upset that Zazie brought Meryl and Roberto there. He refuses to say why Knives has the Red Plants. Zazie states he will reveal it if the humans tell him if they or the Plants would be better for the planet.

Thoughts/Review

There’s no doubt that Trigun Stampede 09 is an interesting episode, providing a bit more backstory for Vash, and potentially setting up the endgame.

No Man’s Land

I don’t remember if the planet’s name of No Man’s Land came up before Trigun Stampede 09, but I did note it here. In the OG anime, I think the planet was called Gunsmoke, after the old TV show. But I believe in the source manga, the planet was called No Man’s Land. I don’t know why the official subs went with “Noman’s Land”, but then again, why “JuLai” and not “July”? After all, the other cities on this planet are named after months of the year. But crappy adaptations are just that, whether it is the ignorance of the translator/adapter, or the stupidity of their bosses.

That aside, I’m glad Ship 3 wasn’t under Knives’ control. I honestly thought that would be the case. So I was relieved when the much older Brad and Luida showed up. This episode also answered a question of mine regarding Ship 5. I guess there is mostly no crew awake to run the ship.

We learned how Vash lost his arm in this episode. I think in the OG anime or manga, Vash shot Knives, so Knives cut off his arm. But here, Vash opens some kind of portal, so Knives had to cut off the arm, lest they all get sucked in. No doubt, based on a previous episode, this portal thing will come up again.

Finally, Zazie became a more interesting character. He seems genuinely considering whether to back Knives and Plants, or humanity. I can’t help but wonder if seeing Ship 3’s greenhouse and hearing Luida’s plans caused Zazie to reconsider his relationship with Knives.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Thanks everyone for your patience as it is very difficult to get these reviews out in a timely matter. That aside, I did find Trigun Stampede 09 to be interesting and entertaining. But the CGI character movements still go into the uncanny valley too often for my tastes.