Trigun: Stampede will be coming out in 2023. Animated by the Japanese studio Orange, this is going to be a reboot of the classic anime Trigun, one that promises to be more faithful to the manga it is based off of. While may fans are looking forward to the new series, it has garnered special attention for the animation style. Rather than traditional hand-drawn animation, the series will be made using CGI that will emulate cel shading as opposed to using more traditional methods.
Why is this though? Is there a special reason why this incarnation of Trigun is going to be using CGI animation? Well, there may just be a good reason this is happening. A few good reasons, actually, and we’re going to discuss them in this article.
The Original Trigun
The original Trigun manga was written and drawn by Yasuhiro Nightow. The series was not a success in Japan and was actually canceled before continuing later on as a new series called Trigun Maximum. The anime adaptation was equally unpopular in Japan; it was canceled after a single season while the manga continued to be published. To say that neither of these products made much of a dent in the Japanese market is a huge understatement.
The mixture of science fiction and western didn’t appeal to Japanese audiences, and having a pacifist protagonist wasn’t exactly a new or novel concept for Japanese viewers. Though those who watched and read it probably didn’t hate it, it’s clear that it didn’t ‘click’ with the majority of viewers. At least, not enough to jump start a franchise. Thankfully, there is at least one market that DID embrace the series!
Trigun is Hailed as an Instant Classic America
Despite the series flopping in Japan, it instantly gained a cult following in America. There are a variety of reasons why (please see the article link at the end of this piece), but a key reason was that the style of the series was much more in line with American sensibilities than Japanese ones. Vash was considered to be a breath of fresh air for American audiences who weren’t used to their heroes who had guns not want to use them.
When the series aired as part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim on March 31, 2003, a new audience discovered it, making the series even more popular in America. So popular was the franchise that a feature film – Trigun: Badlands Rumble – was primarily made due to the series success in the American market. While it hasn’t been stated outright, by many of the decisions made behind the scenes, it appears the creators are banking on the success of the franchise in America to make Trigun: Stampede a success.
The Reason for the Animation Change
As stated above, Orange is the studio behind the new Trigun series. If that name sounds familiar, it is because they produce another anime that is more popular in America than it is in Japan: Beastars. That series was commissioned by Netflix, who wanted a unique adult animated series for their platform. The production staff at Orange was open to the fact that they used computer animation primarily to appeal to the American market while still keeping the anime ascetics in the art style.
Likewise, one of the co-producers of Trigun: Stampede is Crunchyroll, who not only announced the show but hosted a panel detailing what the series would consist of at Anime Expo first. Crunchyroll has also had box office success with Dragon Ball Super: Super Movie, which was the first Dragon Ball movie to be made completely using CGI. Text and word balloons were originally animated in English, suggesting that overseas market potential was a factor in that film as well. Trigun: Stampede will be released in Japan, however it is clear that the series is being groomed for success in America.
The animation style is one that is much more embraced by Americans than Japanese, and social media users on Twitter are more excited about the series than social media users are on LINE (for those unaware, LINE is the Japanese equivalent of Twitter). There is nothing wrong with the new animation style. It may take some time to get used to, but it truly does mean that the reboot will be a fresh take on the franchise regardless what it ends up being like.