Trigun is the title of an original manga written and drawn by Yasuhiro Nightow. It ran from 1997 to 2007, with a total of 14 volumes published during that time. While the manga is certainly a great read, what made it possible for this series to reach its global audience and inevitably become a cult classic was its 1998 anime adaptation.
Despite its massive popularity, however, there’s no sign of sequels to the first season of the anime. That is until more than a decade later, specifically in 2010, we got a new anime movie called Trigun: Badlands Rumble. After that, the silence continued for another decade. Thankfully, 2022 comes along, and we received news that there will be a new Trigun anime in Winter 2023. The name of the new anime adaptation is Trigun Stampede, and here’s everything that you need to know about it.
The Story
The 1998’s Trigun is an iconic anime that has become a part of fond childhood memories for so many people around the world. However, there’s a major problem with this adaptation. As you might’ve probably noticed, this adaptation came at the beginning of the original manga’s life cycle. As such, there’s only so much material that they can cover, so they end up taking some liberties on the progression of the story. And that is pretty much the biggest difference between the 1998 anime with the new 2023 adaptation.
You see, the story of Trigun is always centered around a carefree gunman named Vash The Stampede. He is the man with the highest bounty in the world, and is rumored to be the one that caused the massive crater on the moon. Throughout the story, we’ll follow Vash as he visits different places within the Space Western settings of Trigun. He will fight against bad guys who want to claim his bounty, and also against the authorities who wish to lock him up forever. As the story progresses, we will also get to know more about Vash and his mysterious past.
That premise is true for both the 1998 anime, and the new one as well. What makes the 2023’s anime different, however, is the fact that the production team now knows how the story of Vash unfolds from start to finish. Therefore, they can craft a story that is quite faithful to the origin of the character. After all, this anime would be the first introduction of Trigun to the younger generations, so a faithful adaptation is crucial in order to convey the spirit of the original manga. Furthermore, they also intend to tell a brand-new saga so that those who are already familiar with Trigun would have something to look forward to.
That being said, the production team, along with the original creator of Trigun (Yasuhiro Nightow), has been rather tight-lipped about the details of the story for Trigun Stampede. What they have talked about, however, is their intention to focus on Vash’s past and his personal relationship. Particularly the reasons why he decided to be a pacifist despite wielding such an enormous power in his hand.
Adapted by Orange
Trigun Stampede is produced by Orange, a Japanese animation studio that specializes in 3D CGI animation. Their past works include groundbreaking CG anime like Land of the Lustrous and Beastars, among other titles. Orange pride themselves in creating CG anime that could showcase highly dynamic action sequences while still presenting a genuine expression and emotion of the characters.
Trigun Stampede will be their biggest and most ambitious project thus far. And judging from the three teaser trailers that they have released, the visuals are simply stellar. The animation, the visual effects, and the new character design, all of them look crisp and fantastic. A lot of anime fans seem to be a bit adamant to see CG anime. However, this one clearly looks promising, so whether you’re a fan of Trigun or not, you should give this new series a try.
The Staff
Trigun Stampede will be directed by Kenji Mutou from Orange. He has worked on the storyboard for Beastars and as an episode director for Terror in Resonance before, but Trigun Stampede will be his first Directorial debut.
So we can expect something new and fresh from him. Other notable people are Kouji Tajima (Gantz:O, Herlock: Space Pirate) who is responsible for the character designs and also as a concept artist, Tatsuya Kato (Dr. Stone, Food Wars!) on music, and then there’s also Tatsuro Inamoto (One Punch Man, Lupin III: Part IV) who is responsible for the script.
Release Date
As mentioned before, Trigun Stampede will be part of the Winter 2023 anime. As a matter of fact, it will be one of the few series that we’ll get to see at the beginning of the new year. After all, Trigun Stampede is scheduled to be released on January 7. For those of you who live outside of Asia, you’ll be able to stream this series through Crunchyroll. So be sure to mark your calendar for this special occasion.