Every Gun Makes Its Own Tune, And So Does Vash the Stampede in ‘Trigun Stargaze’

When you think of Westerns you think of tumbleweeds rolling away across the sands, “wanted” posters displaying hardened faces and with large bounties, and swinging saloon doors where patrons watch with bated breath as gunslingers face off in a quick draw match.  

Now think of all that set in space.  

Spaces Westerns are a very interesting genre, blending sci-fi tech with the gritty Wild West. And when it comes to anime-manga, Trigun is the quintessential Space Western.  

Trigun follows Vash the Stampede as he journeys across the barren, scorching planet known as No Man’s Land. Vash’s reputation precedes him:, known as the Humanoid Typhon, he has a staggering $$60 billion double dollar (Trigun’s currency) bounty on his head. Although in Vash’s defence, he didn’t mean to level a city, it was an honest accident.  

Vash isn’t your stereotypical Western protagonist.  

He’s an incredibly skilled gunman who loathes violence and preaches pacifism. In fact, it’s often his pacifism which has violent consequences and terrible collateral. Vash sees the good through the bad and the ugly, choosing to save the inhabitants of his world, cruel and harsh though they may be. He wants to spare everyone, even his enemies. This is in stark contrast to his twin brother Knives, who is his opposite in every way.  

There are three iterations of Trigun: the manga which ran from 1997 to 2007, the 1998 anime adaptation and the 2023 anime adaptation, Trigun Stampede, followed now by its direct sequel in 2026, Trigun Stargaze. Every version of Trigun is inherently different except for the basic plot outline and its characters, especially Vash whose ideals and motivations remain constant.  

The original Trigun anime aired in tandem with the ongoing manga, which meant that the plot had to diverge from the source to fit the airing season. Up to a certain point, the anime and the manga remain the same, but once the anime caught up to the manga, there was a significant departure in story beats. It was also much lighter in tone than the manga’s darker storyline due to the restrictions on what could be aired at the time. Westerns are gritty, harsh, violent and bloody. Space Westerns like the Trigun manga are the same, so the anime had to censor a lot of what was happening in the manga. There was also a lot of self-contained filler material inserted to pad up the story which made it feel more like a slow burn. The animation was clunky at times due to the technological constraints, but there’s something charming and oddly fitting about having a rough style for a story like Trigun. However, visually the original anime follows the manga’s character designs to the letter.  

Trigun Stampede and Stargaze is essentially a reimagining of the manga’s events. The characters are aged down for one. At their core they are the same, but the journey to get there is different. Compared to the 1998 anime, Stampede and Stargaze follow the plot more faithfully, even though the timeline has been altered. It is darker, more befitting of the manga, and doesn’t shy from blood, gore or violence. For one, Vash is more naïve, handling things differently than he does in the manga because he’s still growing as a character. The new anime also raises the stakes by revealing the major players of the story in advance to better encapsulate the manga’s mammoth of a plot. It also has a lot of scenes adapted directly from the manga and cuts off the frills that the anime added in 1998 . Both Stampede and Stargaze do a good job of characterising Vash’s struggle with guilt and loneliness than the original anime did. The trajectory of the story is bittersweet, much like the manga.  

The biggest departure from the manga and the original anime is the aesthetic and visuals.  

Stargaze, like its predecessor Stampede, employs the use of CGI as opposed to the more traditional art style of the manga. Studio Orange, responsible for animating the show, uses a technique called limited frame animation wherein the framerate is lower than the standard framerate for 3D animation, saving time and money. An anime like Trigun is action-heavy with a lot of angular perspectives, intense fight scenes and intricate weaponry. The CGI allows certain character designs as well as attacks to be rendered more fluidly.  

The range of emotions that play out on the characters’ faces is also given a bigger focus. From dead-eyed vacant stares to wide-eyed bewilderment, the minute shifts in temperament make them feel all the more expressive. The choreography in the action scenes stand out. The CGI lends itself much better to fluid movements and highly stylized cinematography, letting the new anime really push the boundaries of aesthetics.  

No version of Trigun is going to be the same. The 1998 anime proved that you can honor the source material while bringing something entirely new to the table by retaining characterizations and the core storyline. Stargaze strives to do the same, this time presenting a retelling that is strong enough to make new fans understand why Trigun is so beloved and leave old fans guessing about what happens next. Stargaze is what remakes need to be: keep what works best and make it better.    

Watch on Crunchyroll.