Back Arrow (Bakku Arō) – Collaboration with Lita Kino

Morning all!

I’m excited to share another collaboration – this time on Back Arrow, where Lita Kino and I ask each other about the first three episodes. (Spoilers – we think you should check it out :D)

Thanks to Lita for diving in to Back Arrow with me too! If you haven’t already (or even if you have) you should visit Lita here at Anime Corner 🙂

Lita: Thank you Ash for the opportunity to collab with you. Even though our first idea went to pot. I really hope people give Back Arrow a try because I think it’s a great first time show for people who don’t watch mecha or wish to try to because it’s so less serious and more emphasis on fun with itself.

Ash’s Questions

1. What were you expecting before going in to ‘Back Arrow’?

The only expectation I had was a strong western setting terms of the background terrain, costumes etc. There was nothing I would ask for. I wanted to watch this not just because it’s mecha and I love it. Reminded me so much of Gun x Sword while the western settings are similar for me, Back Arrow is a curveball thrower. This series portrays itself as primarily fun majority of the time, this is something distinct within the first three episodes, it establishes. Introduction of the main protagonist Back Arrow arising from Rakuho, suffering amnesia with only memory of coming from beyond the wall.

Instead of this moment drawing on Back Arrow’s unfortunate circumstances with strong emotional emphasis. Back Arrow decides to go beyond the wall, without worrying about anything else. All the people from Edgar village staring at this strange man, butt naked. You feel like you are following an idiot of a protagonist and it works brilliantly for this series. It’s hysterical the first three episodes have been. I love series that serve up from what you expect like this, Back Arrow doesn’t pretend to be anything else.

2. I was curious about how you’re responding to Shu after these first 3 episodes? Definitely feels like he’s holding the most back.

Shu is just full of mystery but he is an amusing man. Making a copy of the royal records had me laughing, but he is a man of science. That instinct and drive to do what it takes to grasp his goals. There is an underlying motive here but damn he is amusing.

3. How are you finding the designs of the suits? (I’m getting a slight Power Rangers feel, which is fun.)

I LOVE this series concept regarding it’s mecha suits known as Briheight’s. The design of them reminds me of Gridman’s from SSS.Gridman but with a funky take. Concept of wielding these mechas based on your conviction is cool, each Briheight I’ve seen so far, really reflects the pilot as a person and personality. Mixture of conviction and becoming a pilot’s reflection, these mecha’s are definitely unique. This is another realm into the connection between man and machine.

Lita’s Questions

1. We have a tradition of the main protagonist who has amnesia at the start. Normally there has been a strong emphasis and heartfelt plea at the start, also determination to discover who they are again. But we have a very lax protagonist who is just taking everything in hindsight as it comes. It’s this a refreshing approach to this protagonist tradition?

I think so, yeah. There’s sort of a refusal of the Call to Adventure – Arrow just wants to get on with own quest for the Wall and I’ve found that interesting. It feels like he’ll soften over time, but kicking off with an amnesiac who doesn’t seem to be very worried about that memory loss is interesting. Instead, he just dives into any situation with blind faith. Or conviction 😀

2. I have yet to complete Back Arrow yet but the western centre reminds me so much of Gun x Sword. Been a long time since a western themed mecha has appeared. I think the outskirts of rocky and dune sand, the bright western costume designs look great. Do you think the western feel is there for Back Arrow?

It reminds me of Gun x Sword too, which makes me pretty happy. (In fact, the moment I saw Elsha and Atlee, I felt like two halves of Wendy had appeared onscreen :D).

Agree! It feels like it’s been quite a while since a mecha show featured the western setting and isn’t it perfect for allowing the colours of the Briheights to pop too? I love the tropes I’ve seen so far, the village in distress, the stranger arriving to help etc. Really hoping they continue and that there’s a focus on stand-offs and duels.

3. I looked on MyAnimeList and this series has been rated 5 out of 10. I wonder if this is because people were expecting a series western here but the plot is pretty loose and so are the characters. This series is about fun 80% of the time, not what anyone was expecting. Do you like the loose fun factor here and the plot is throwing curveballs of absurdity as to where it may go?

I wondered about that too. If I think about something similar in tone from Kazuki Nakashima, like TTGL perhaps, then that show’s already 14 years old – that’s pretty much an entire generation ago, I guess.

And so maybe significant portions of current audiences just aren’t used to a show like Back Arrow?

Loose and fun is a pretty perfect description, yeah and maybe people did want something different? For me, I’m loving every second of how over the top it can be and I’m really looking forward to more curveballs, yes! For one, (I’m very curious about the Granedger and wonder what surprises it’ll hold in store.)

So, folks – tell us, are you watching Back Arrow? Planning to perhaps?

If you’re already watching it, how are you finding it so far? (Beyond the first three episodes the show continues to do more absurdist stuff and raise the stakes on the action too, I’m still enjoying it a lot for sure :D)

Trigun (Toraigan) – Gallery Post

Trigun (Toraigan) (1998)

So, I took a fair few screenshots and wanted to share some that I didn’t include before… just because, I guess 😀

Hopefully I don’t accidentally double up, but these are just meant to be shots or moments I found interesting in one way or another – if I have the energy I might add a few captions or comments here and there too.

Below, a shot from episode 4 which is actually where the manga starts, from memory.

Lots of dramatic, deep red and orange sunsets in Trigun.

Kuroneko Sama here appearing as she sometimes does, on a poster or a label etc, instead of in-person.

Below that, green, headless birds? 😀

Here is another (somewhat) rare shot of a city-scape that suggests the level of technology in the past/some parts of Gunsmoke is a fair bit more developed than most of what we see during the series.

Feels like the smoke below could almost read “SOS”.

Switch between power being the thing that hides clear view of Vash’s eyes and then his glasses:

Another costume/hair change for Vash.

For the two above, sometimes I forget the twin suns, obviously having some impact on how arid the setting can be.

I’ve always wondered who wrote this – sinister as it is, I can’t recall if Knives is supposed to be out and about at this point?

And done!

In the future, I might like to do this sorta thing again – have a series of posts for one show – and see how many I can build up. They tend to take a really long time though, so it might be a while.

Next time it could be Cowboy Bebop, or FMA or Neon Genesis or Samurai Champloo perhaps… not sure yet!

Trigun (Toraigan) – The Final Shoot Out Arc, Episodes 24-26

Trigun (Toraigan) (1998)

The final shoot-out!

While hardly so divisive as the ending to Neon Genesis, there are a fair few disappointed folks out there when it comes to Trigun’s conclusion.

It’s not an unfinished series, and it’s not the discontent from “it’s not like the manga” that I’m throwing out here in this post either, but something I guess somewhat different… but more on that below.

[Spoilers of varying degrees from this point onward]

So, the leading episodes first.

Wolfwood is quite the scene-stealer and I think you could argue that he does this in the final arc, as his exit during the previous episode hits pretty hard. It’s a bitter end to Vash and Wolfwood’s friendship, to the influence they have on each other too, and the ramifications continue into this arc.

You could certainly argue that his death is in service to Vash’s character development but it obviously functions within his own storyline too.

I say that because, like many other deaths or injustices in the series, they seem to operate (not only) as justification for Vash to finally, directly take a life. Legato and Knives have pushed Vash so close to the edge that, when he must chose to save Meryl and Milly by killing, he does so – and the pain that act causes is a neat, cruel time-bomb left by Knives.

But again, I think of it as necessary in order for the audience to accept Vash’s action, after all the pain he bore to save lives and prevent death in the preceding 20-odd episodes.

Okay, to the ending itself finally.

As I said before, I think the conclusion to Trigun is inevitable and it’s also very clearly set up. That doesn’t mean I found it entirely satisfying, but I don’t think the anime could have ended any other way – Vash was always going to save Knives, rather than take revenge.

Here’s why I think that:

Vash is shown to be a pacifist, often and convincingly.
Rem is kind of Angel-like and her memory functions as a paragon, and one Vash has been striving to live up to for over one hundred years.
Rem charged him with “taking care” of Knives, which doubtless means not just protecting, but redeeming his brother somehow.
When Vash kills Legato, we see that even killing an enemy has quite the impact on him (and the storyline paused to show us that with episode 25) making it clear that he’d never be able to do something similar to his own brother.

Okay, so, having made that list, I definitely wish that Knives had experienced a different consequence for his sociopathic reign.

It did not feel to me that he’d earned forgiveness, nor Vash’s almost infinite patience, and so the final shoot out between them, while impressive, had less of a visceral impact for me. In fact, I think the final flashback (of their years together after the crash) ended up being more compelling.

And I’ve always wondered, actually, what would the final episode be like if we saw the shoot-out first and then the long stretch of their past together?

… and there it is, six posts on one of my favourites 🙂 If you’ve never seen Trigun and it’s already on your list then I think you’re in for a fun ride. It’s one of those shows that feels like it has stood the test of time pretty well – and coming up on 25 years old soon!

But before I finish up (for now) I’ll quickly mention a few quick things like usual:

I’ve always wondered whether the narrative ‘punishes’ Wolfwood and rewards Vash for their respective lifestyles.
Poor Milly!
(I forgot this last post, but ‘Empty Smile’ guitar piece from the OST seems usually to be directed at Vash but its obviously aimed at Wolfwood instead during #23).
Animation quality goes up here in the last few eps.
Of course, as with many villains, Knives is deeply hypocritical – he still uses Plants himself for example.
…and finally, Milly’s laugh after the boulder is pretty great.

I think I will do a gallery/extra bits and pieces post tomorrow for fun – so one more Trigun post coming tomorrow sometime!

Trigun (Toraigan) – The ‘Doubts’ Arc, Episodes 18-23

Trigun (Toraigan) (1998)

Post number five for Trigun – this time it’s a span of episodes that I’ve called something simple, just ‘Doubts’ as I reckon it suits fairly well.

To contrast with the excitement at seeing everyone together again (not right away), there’s an undercurrent of unease here, of impending doom. Part of that feeling for me is fed by the ongoing tension between Vash and Wolfwood’s respective approaches to life.

Opening up with ‘Eriks’ I’m always struck by the sadness that’s pushing forward now – Vash is doing his best to protect everyone by hiding away, but of course he can’t help but form bonds with the people he meets, bonds which we all know are going to be broken. (The use of ‘Not An Angel’ in the OST here always gets me too).

And more, while Wolfwood sort of brings the gang back together there’s a cost – once again, to those Vash loves.

Especially in the ‘Flying Ship/Out of Time’ episodes, as more Gung-Ho Guns attack and interrupt those important memories connected to Vash’s past. To me, it feels like a few bits might even be overplayed but on the other hand, it’s all building to something. The narrative really, really wrings Vash out here, forcing him to absorb more grief on behalf of the promise he’s trying to keep for Rem.

Of course, even the fearsome Vash the Stampede has a limit. And while we don’t see him reach it in these episodes, he gets plenty of trauma to nudge him further toward Wolfwood’s way of life. It’s trauma the narrative needs to show the audience, I reckon, in order to have them accept something that’s due to happen later.

And Nicholas himself is still pushing Vash too. Maybe he can’t accept that someone could ‘permit’ the suffering of many by a refusal to commit violence, while clearly also wanting to prevent it. I guess it’s another facet of the tension between Vash and his world view and so many others upon Gunsmoke. (Actually, maybe that’s a bit simplistic of me).

I guess you could argue that it’s an extension of the ‘outsider’ trope, a classic one that Vash fits really well, not just via his character design with the red coat and blonde hair, but of course his pacifism. Which kinda sets him up as an underdog too, which is another way to manipulate an audience… but I’m always happy to go along with it.

And Vash has the contradiction of being a gunslinger but one who doesn’t want to draw blood – at times he’s covered in the imagery, poses, props and conventions of violence as equivalent to ‘cool’, but the goofy side, the gentle side both add that internal tension to his character.

So, getting back to the arc itself again, toward the end of this stretch of episodes is where Wolfwood confronts his own reluctance to commit a certain act (that I won’t spoil just in case). And I’ve always found it striking that he tells Vash “don’t tell me your dream in a place like this” here, another quote that always leaps out at me.

Some more quick observations:

Milly being late to work 20 times, I think it was
The rare costume change in ‘Hang Fire’ (#19) for Vash
I always thought the puppet master/dolls are creepy designs that double as good ‘fodder’ for Vash and Wolfwood – allowing the heroes to do some damage, and give the audience that outlet, without murdering
Chapel is a pretty memorable character, maybe a bit under-utilized perhaps
Finally we get to learn the sad truth about Plants

Well, it seems that the next and final* post is suddenly right around the corner – the ‘Final Shootout‘ with episodes 24 – 26!

(yep, I had to use a Western trope for the title of this arc).

*Well, there might be a gallery style post too 😀

Trigun (Toraigan) – The Gung-Ho Guns Arc, Episodes 12-17

Trigun (Toraigan) (1998)

Fourth in this short series of posts about Trigun – time for the Gung-Ho Guns Arc.

Here the series takes a bit of a turn again – a gradual darkening begins and then quickens, kicking off in dramatic fashion with ‘Diablo’. The appearance of Monev is fantastically menacing with those blues and reds, and his attack on the city definitely pushes Vash to the edge because once again, he’s not able to save everyone.

Earlier, Legato Bluesummers had already begun to torment Vash – kicking off a recurring theme from this point forward. Upon second viewing too, you definitely notice something re: his character design, but again, I’m trying to mostly avoid spoilers 😀

But what probably stands out most for me is that first glimpse of rage from Vash when imprisoned, and we sort of switch out of his POV for a moment, to experience that moment with the insurance girls and in theory, feel the same shock they do.

This block of episodes are also important because a vital character, Knives, is given a proper introduction with some flashbacks (in episode 17 ‘Rem Saverem’ especially). There, the way both Vash and Knives approach life is quickly established, as those formative experiences on SEEDS end up ricocheting through the rest of Trigun.

The theme or central conflict of pacifism coming up against more ‘survival of the fittest’ style beliefs are echoed all across Gunsmoke; in the characters and the ‘wild west’ setting itself too, and it’s obviously exemplified in one relationship by Vash and Knives.

Rem’s importance comes into focus in this arc too, as she urges Vash to “take care of Knives” – and based on how important she is to Vash, we know he’ll do everything he can to live up to her request – which leads to what I see as an inevitable ending… but more on that later!

At this point, the series still squeezes in a episodic storylines, a bit of a recap ep and more run-ins with the Gung-Ho Guns. Obviously ‘Fifth Moon’ is a huge moment but I think of Dominique’s episode as just as impactful due to maybe another big shift in tone (with that corpse pile) but also, it’s another point where Vash once again makes it clear to the viewer that he’s far more than he seems, far more than a “Broomhead” 😀

Vash also does his best to scare the girls away in this arc, kinda snapping at them, and of course he’s doing it in that hope of protecting them – and to some extent this works, as we don’t see the Meryl or Milly for a while.

Okay, some more fav moments gleaned from these episodes:

The mix between action and montage at the fountain, mixed in with the unsettling change in sound design, where the reverb drops over everything (In Diablo)
The string-bending little guitar phrasing here too
I always get a real ‘Judge Dredd’ vibe from Monev’s design, which I liked
And it should be this arc that features what feels like the very first use of green in the scenery, with the ‘Little Arcadia’ episode
Here is also a return for the Nebraska family
‘Vash Pack Horse’
Somehow, the cat survives that gunshot 😀
Feels like Meryl might be beginning to realise her feelings in #16, or at least more than before
Wolfwood’s motives are called into question in this arc, adding another layer of mystery on your first watch

And that’s about it for this time, next up I’m allocating the episodes 18 – 23 as the ‘Doubts’ arc, where ‘sins’ of the past and present start to come together.

Onward!

Trigun (Toraigan) – The Wolfwood Arc, Episodes 9-11

Trigun (Toraigan) (1998)

Time for the third Trigun post – the Wolfwood Arc. (These middle posts are probably going to be shorter than the first and last in the series, I reckon.)

Here, two things seem to be the main focus: introducing Wolfwood and having him slide neatly into the gang, while having Nicholas and the audience continue to wonder about who or what Vash truly is.

At least in the case of Wolfwood, he either knows exactly what Vash truly is or strongly suspects… due to ‘reasons’, reasons which I certainly won’t mention at this point due to spoilers. And while the team is still wandering across the desolate world of Gunsmoke, having Wolfwood join narrows the focus a bit.

This is my second favourite arc in the series too, in part due to something I mentioned in an OWLS post a while back (spoilers in that link), which is the huge impact Wolfwood has on old Needle Noggin’.

Over the course of Trigun Vash often struggles with Wolfwood’s approach to justice but we also see how they respect each other, despite differing methods. For the most part, they have common goals, which tends to ensure they work together well, and so there’s a fun buddy-cop thing that they have going and which kicks off in this arc with episode nine, ‘Murder Machine’.

To widen my scope for a tic, during the course of the series, Nicholas spends a fair amount of time sort of urging Vash toward violence. And of course, Vash always resists this and it takes a few big events to finally drive him to break his own moral code. Equally, I think Wolfwood tries to absolve Vash of some of the guilt he obviously feels at not being able to save everyone he meets, which is something invaluable.

But yeah, that aspect to their relationship hasn’t really kicked off at this early stage – it’s still fun with rivalry and cautious friendship 😀

All right, some more dot points – again, just various stuff I noticed across the episodes:

Linked to my point above, there’s a Wolfwood quote that always stands out, when he says that Vash is “hurtling like crazy and grinning to hide it”
The ‘portable confessional’ is a nice moment of levity
‘Quick Draw’ is one of my fav single episodes to chuck on sometimes when I just want to watch one ep
I think there are a few more hints about ‘Plants’ around here, which I recall really latching onto when I first watched Trigun

Done! Which means that the next arc will be The Gung-Ho Guns Arc and I’m including episodes 12 – 18 in that span, from memory.

Until tomorrow!

Trigun (Toraigan) – The Sand Steamer Arc, Episodes 6-8

Trigun (Toraigan) (1998)

Welcome back to more Trigun! Second post already, covering the introduction to the Sand Steamer:

So, in terms of the shift I mentioned last time, one is that from this point forward the girls are more or less on board with Vash, having pretty much accepted who he is. (Here also, Madhouse gets the chance to work on a connected storyline that spans more than one episode.)

I think it’s also a point where the tone shifts a little, considering villain Brilliant Dynamites Neon and our first flashback to “July”. These episodes certainly leave no more room for doubt that Vash is more than he seems. Despite revealing a bit of real pain for the first time here, he continues to defy expectations too.

Elsewhere, Milly’s ‘concussion gun’ provides more comic relief, along with Milly herself, especially when drunk or having “two stomachs”. Milly is one of my favourite characters in Trigun actually, and so it’s always sad to see her suffer – though we’re spared that for a fair while longer yet.

At this point, the tone is still overall somewhat ‘light’ as befitting the feel of adventure story, but tension is high with so many lives at stake on the runaway Sand-Steamer. And while I love the Steamer, there’s one example where it shows the age of the animation perhaps, contrasted with a similar night shot:

The action sequences in Trigun always feel great to me and I have seen criticisms around ‘off-model’ faces at times, which I assume exclude the moments it’s done purposefully, but I wouldn’t say Madhouse did a bad job – at all. Even if this is a show I watch primarily for the characters, storyline and world-building, everything still looks convincing for an action/comedy series.

Probably my favourite bit in the arc however, is not a shoot out or a laugh, it’s a pair of quieter moments. [Spoiler follows]

At one point both before and after Vash has outwitted plant engineer Elizabeth, the audience is given a glimpse of something unusual about Vash and his true nature, as he both grieves for and comforts the Plant, who is essentially a family member/sister imprisoned and drained for electricity.

Despite this injustice, Vash knows that many will die if the plant is ‘broken’ and so, in his utilitarian way, he restores her and the status quo. At this point, the audience doesn’t fully realise what’s going on but hopefully they’re still responding to his tenderness and obvious empathy.

Okay, now that I’ve explored a few things from the episodes I think it’s time to jump to a few quick dot points – this arc had some fun little bits and pieces I noticed:

Nightow’s neko (Kuroneko-sama) appears on a poster here instead of in the flesh
There’s an impressive instance of ‘super-deformed’
Vash has what I think is his first clash over pacifism with Kaite
BDN is voiced by one of my favs, Unshou Ishizuka

Next up is an arc I had a few names for but couldn’t really decide on – I settled on just the Wolfwood Arc but nearly went with ‘clues’ or Beneath the Surface Arc for episodes 9 -11, but it seemed easier to mention Nicholas instead.

Still, it’s a fun stretch of episodes since Wolfwood brings a lot to the table 😀

Trigun (Toraigan) – The Mysterious Man in Red Arc, Episodes 1-5

Trigun (Toraigan) (1998)

Here we go – the first of six posts where I ramble on and on (and on) about one of my favs: Trigun 😀

The first five episodes introduce Vash with a few lone gunman tropes but also carefully set up audience expectations around comedy and violence, as you learn pretty quickly that Vash will work extremely hard to preserve life.

It’s a fairly episodic stretch of the series while the world of Gunsmoke is established via long shots of desolate cities and dry hills and deserts, of saloons and townsfolk facing off against bandits, all the while offering little hints that the world is not wholly like Earth.

Here, Vash wanders around helping whoever he encounters, usually trailed by two other main characters the ‘insurance girls’ Meryl and Milly, rather than travelling with them.

That’s because this early in Trigun, the girls don’t accept that he is really Vash – the very man they’re seeking – and so this is part of why I thought these episodes would be a good arc.

No-one really knows who Vash is and since his description varies, save for a few easily replicable details, criminals often use this to their advantage. And so a lot of the jokes around mistaken identity occur in this arc, in fact the whole first episode has a great stacking effect of such moments.

I really liked the way that the opening to the series drops in some exposition via the talk of strangers, building Vash up as the ‘humanoid typhoon’ and then comically contrasting the rumours with his gentle exterior.

I remember noting that the tone YA tone is established pretty early too – for instance, while there’s the unwanted sexual advances in the bar or the more overt sexual threat with Descartes the mutant, the slapstick and also the time episodes often take to show us things like henchmen surviving violence almost gives the show a PG-feel.

Of course, that’s not accurate really, but nor is director Satoshi Nishimura taking cues from more bloodbath-style Westerns; there’s a bit of an adventure feel instead.

And surely, Vash’s pacifism helps – I’ve always wondered to what extent any boundaries set by Shōnen Captain may have potentially impacted the show’s violence at a certain level, vs say Nightow’s beliefs?. (Wolfwood springs to mind here, but now that I’ve said that, I do want to mention that I don’t like to go too deep into possible biographical criticism due to its pitfalls).

Something else I noticed was how much these early episodes feature either Western or Samurai tropes. Obviously you have things like bandits and crooked sheriffs and wanted posters and fancy revolvers etc, but one of my fav moments here is the trashcan-lid moment in the shoot out between Vash and ‘Vash’.

Just as often, these conventions are subverted by Vash’s pacifism – especially when he solves situations that seem to demand killing, without actually shedding blood. These moments also provide great foreshadowing for the central moral and thematic conflict.

In this arc I also enjoyed the early hints that Vash is more than he seems – and so is the world itself wrapped in some mystery too.

There are touches of the anachronistic with the headphones early on… at least, on first viewing you might wonder about that, but aside from the Western + Steampunk feel, the setting is obviously more than it seems. This is driven home with the first appearance of the plant too – but, like most good storytelling, not every secret is revealed right away!

At this point the bigger storyline is yet to be revealed but enough hints are set out that I remember being hooked on the world (and Vash himself) upon that first viewing. I had so many unanswered questions that I didn’t need a ‘main’ plotline yet 🙂

Okay, so to wrap up at last, I thought quickly I’d note a few things as dot-points here at the end – otherwise I’ll go on for far, far too long:

First Cat-Face from Vash
First glamour-face from Vash too
First appearance of Nightow’s mysterious black cat
This fun line from Meryl: “He saved us but he’s embarrassing to watch”
The goofiness of the humour is established nicely via things like off-model faces or the crab walk or Vash having to ‘caterpillar’ his way across the floor
In terms of character design you will get a bit of ugly person = bad person
I’m pretty sure that it’s in the second episode that I noticed the first appearance of my fav piece from the OST: Stories to Tell

And done!

So, what’s next for these Trigun posts? The second one covers a much shorter group of episodes, just three for the The Sand Steamer Arc, but it’s one which introduces the first shift in tone perhaps.

GunxSword (Gan Sōdo)

GunxSword (Gan Sōdo) 2005

The taciturn hero* is certainly one of my favourite types, so having ‘Van of the Dawn’ fit that mould was nearly all I needed to confirm that I’d enjoy GunxSword – that, and this post from Scott at Mechanical Anime, which got me interested in the first place 🙂

This anime is one I missed when it was ‘current’, and it lands during what I think of as one big wave of anime popularity in the mid-2000s, back when things like Bleach and Naruto were dominating.

But this isn’t as neatly defined as those shows. GunxSword is hard (but fun) to categorise, and I’m not sure I’ll manage it fully but I think it combines action, mecha, western, science-fiction and comedy in a fairly wild, ‘try anything’ approach, with the episodes held together by a strong quest narrative.

Two main characters, unlikely duo Van and Wendy, are searching a semi-dystopian world, looking for ‘Claw’ – the silver-tongued manipulator and psychopathic villain. Van for revenge and for Wendy, it’s more of a doubt-filled search, as she struggles to learn why the shadowy Claw has abducted her brother.

These twin threads pulled me through the episodic and the connected episodes alike. Hints and clues were spread out nicely, interwoven with character-building episodes, as the cast expanded quite steadily. And GunxSword becomes a real ensemble by the final confrontation too, which is something I loved because I like to see heroes bounce off those different character types.

Even though the story is ultimately serious and at times basically adult rather than aimed at teens perhaps, there’s a lot of oddball, even goofy stuff. More, the mix of mecha and gunslinger feel allows a heap of classic western/samurai tropes to sit along side the huge struggles of huge robots**.

I think of this especially with the range of characters that Van and co encounter on their travels, like Captain Kaiji, or the mafia don’s kid (and that car!), even Wendy’s turtle or Carmen99’s yoyo are small examples that would sell the idea of the show as a comedy – well, those and above all else, the moustache-fetish guys.

(But when you look at the relationship between the lead characters, the series is a bit more like a drama, and most folks are perhaps ruled by their doubts or their flaws, but somehow manage to pull together.)

Now, it’s hard for me to be certain of this, but fifteen years ago, it seemed that studios and other backers were a little happier to take risks on works that weren’t adaptations. Not sure if that’s a fault of my memory, or a lack of wide viewing habits on my part, but I don’t know if anything quite like GunxSword would get a twenty-six episode run today. (Maybe it’d be more of a single cour, a ‘see what happens before we commit further’ kinda thing?)

GunxSword is often compared to Trigun and there are definitely similarities in setting, and in the wandering, the episodic feel and at times goofy humour, but the tone and use of technology are certainly different here. (The OST is also more varied too).

So, is this one for you?

Hard to say… if you prefer dead-serious kinda mech anime then probably not, but if you’re after something fun, this might be worth chasing down.

4 Stars

* Having said that, Van can be a straight up jerk too, and it can take him a little long to see beyond his pursuit of revenge.

** On that note, I really liked the way Gorō Taniguchi revealed the scale of the robots/armour throughout too, especially via choice of angle and camera position in many of the battles.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble (Toraigan baddorando ranburu)

Trigun: Badlands Rumble (Toraigan baddorando ranburu) 2010

I’m sure I’ve led a review with something like the following statement before, but I imagine following up on a classic, even with the same team, must be both exciting and daunting. For me, I feel like Trigun: Badlands Rumble had a lot of the familiar elements I was hoping for, along with some fun new stuff too. Ultimately, it’s unfair to compare a single movie to a series but I imagine fans of the original will still enjoy Badlands Rumble without being necessarily over the moon about it – and I myself liked it plenty 😀

The film opens with a great, self-contained prologue that has tension, comedy and action in typical Trigun fashion. It works as a great reminder for (or introduction to) folks about the tone of the storytelling and the setting too – along with doing a great job highlighting Vash’s trademark goofball pacifism.

The story is essentially about catching a thief but there are a few players whose hands are not revealed too quickly, and a lot of competing interests which kept me guessing at times. I believe in the lead-up to release of the film there was some talk of the movie being ‘Vash vs Wolfwood’ but that’s not the meat of the story at all. It’s also still firmly a western but includes those sneaky sci-fi aspects too.

Obviously, as a feature film the budget and animation quality is higher than the TV series (which predated the movie by 12 years) and it’s a welcome update for sure, but the characters were the main draw for me going in.

In terms of character, when I saw Badlands it was a lot like that ‘meeting up with old friends’ cliché and so it was hard to untangle nostalgia from the experience. But still, Wolfwood’s appearance is a great little surprise, and while I’m always craving more time for he and Vash to interact, the film widens the scope beyond the usual team to give thief Gasback (one of the main antagonists) and bounty hunter Amelia more screen time, which I really enjoyed because it expanded the world of Gunsmoke nicely.

One thing I wanted to also quickly mention was the ‘sympathy for the devil’ trope that’s pretty popular across all entertainment mediums – I always consider it a bit manipulative on the part of the writers, since it makes it easy to forget that the character it refers to is actually a bad chap or chapette. Of course, it’s also a sign of more nuanced characters so that’s always a plus.

It was also really nice to have Tsuneo Imahori responsible for the OST again, as I really loved Sandstorm for one, but it’s equally gratifying to see the original voice cast reunited too – as ever, I reckon Masaya Onosaka kills it as Vash. (Oh, and for an idea of the increase in production values check out the saloon rumble!)

4 Stars