TRIGUN STAMPEDE marked the 25th anniversary of the anime adaptation of Yasuhiro Nightow's Trigun manga, serving as a take on the work that is more faithful to the source material than the beloved 1998 anime. One of the most significant characters to the overall franchise is a recurring side character whose has immense influence over the narrative of Trigun.
Despite being deceased long before the narrative even comes into its own, Rem is a hugely important piece when it comes to the overall initiation and development of Trigun, and its protagonist, Vash The Stampede. Just who was Rem Saverem?
SEEDS
Voiced by legendary actress and singer Maaya Sakamoto (Kiss-Shot-Acerola-Orion-Heart-Under-Blade, Monogatari Series), Rem Saverem was a crew member of a special endeavour known as Project SEEDS, which was an attempt to colonize space after the collapse of Earth. During their mission, Rem and her crew discover two humanoid Plants, which her colleagues considered eliminating; however, Rem's caring personality inspired her to take them in and take care of the infants, Vash and Knives. The boys are clearly not normal as they grow to the size of adolescents within a year, have exceptional mental capabilities and are rapidly learning about human history. Around this time, Rem's crew is celebrating the discovery of the inhospitable planet desert Gunsmoke, which they hope to convert into a comfortable place for humanity to be established with the help of the Plants, mysterious beings who are used to produce energy.
During the year since Vash and Knives' discovery, Rem and the crew taught them about human values and the reasons why humanity had to leave Earth to find somewhere new to live. While Vash grew kinder and more curious about humanity, his brother Knives began to see human beings as a kind of plague or parasite that abuses resources and tries to subjugate everything. While TRIGUN STAMPEDE only recently began to explore the lives of Vash and Knives prior to the events of the series, the original anime took time to develop what would eventually become the central conflict that separates the brothers. While Vash grew fonder of humanity, Knives came to abhor it, all without anyone realizing it before it was too late.
Regal Guardian
In TRIGUN STAMPEDE, Rem is introduced in the very first episode of the series as the person aboard SEEDS Project Ship Number Five who is responsible for the twin children on board – Vash and Knives. The reboot series kills her off within the first few minutes of the first episode as their vessel falls apart. Despite reaching the escape pods in time, Rem opts to stay behind and perform a few last-ditch efforts to help increase the chances of the survival of the children, as well as the leagues of cryogenically frozen people aboard. Despite her efforts, the ship crashes into the desert world of Gunsmoke, leaving Vash and Knives as the only survivors from that ship. What TRIGUN STAMPEDE reveals from the beginning is that Knives is responsible for the ship's destruction, which Vash unknowingly helped Knives achieve. In the original anime, Knives slowly and sadistically erodes the bonds of trust between the crew members, leading to violence and murder upon the vessel. He also manages to set the entire fleet of SEEDS ships on a crash course with Gunsmoke, leading to the recurring image of Knives cackling as fire engulfs his and Vash's surroundings and objects come falling from the sky.
Rem's biggest contribution to the Trigun series is instilling Vash with his iconic pacifist mindset, as well as giving her life to reconfigure the trajectories of the other ships in the fleet. Knives intended to do away with the entire hope of humankind except for Rem; however, her last-ditch decision thwarts Knives' plan and enables people to populate and thrive somewhat on the hostile planet, using Plants to generate the energy they need to survive. Before leaving Knives and Vash to escape, Rem implores Vash to take care of his brother, words which stick with him forever. In many ways, Rem was like a mother to them both; however, Vash was closer to her and humanity in general than his brother was. Vash's pacifist mindset is imparted to him from Rem, and his continued desire to save everyone is also partly from the desire to maintain her legacy.
Save Them
Understanding Rem's significance to the Trigun plot is simple: without her, there would be no surviving humans on Gunsmoke, nor would Vash and Knives even be alive to begin with. The conflict between Vash and his brother is also hugely a Rem inspiration – the last thing she says to Vash sticks with him for his whole life, and in the over 100 years since their crash-landing on Gunsmoke, there hasn't been a single human being more significant to the overall journey of Vash the Stampede and Knives Millions than Rem Saverem. In the 1998 anime, Rem is also the reason why Vash wears his iconic red coat – the colour is inspired by Rem's favourite flower, the geranium, which in the language of flowers is thought to signify determination.
Vash's determination to avoid violence where he can, to maintain and support life, is a weight he carries out of love for his mother; however, the trauma surrounding the end of the peaceful days aboard the SEEDS ship has also caused him to cling to this ideal regardless of the situation. Rem was the kind of person who would stand in front of a loaded gun to save another without even thinking about it, and this behaviour, despite having dire consequences for Vash most of the time, is the one thing he values over everything else. The knowledge of this is the reason why in the original anime, Legato Bluesummers' ultimate injury to Vash wasn't physical but the mental agony of being forced to kill because it hit in the most painful place – right in the dogma instilled in him by the person he loved the most.