Trigun Stampede Anime Review

Date: 2023 January 06 17:05

Posted by Joe

Highly anticipated new anime series Trigun Stampede hits streaming service Cruchyroll from Saturday 7th January 2023. We were lucky to get a sneak peak of the series and watch the first episode before it's released. So is Vash the same? Is the CGI animation any good? Well read our spoiler free review to find out!

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©2023 Yasuhiro Nightow, SHONENGAHOSHA

Trigun Stampede is the latest anime offering from Orange. Based on the manga of Trigun, which in turn was adapted into an anime around 20 years ago, this new series is more of a remix and reboot than a straight up retelling of the original.

In keeping with Otaku News tradition this review is spoiler free.


©2023 Yasuhiro Nightow, SHONENGAHOSHA

The show gets off to an epic cinematic start with an epic scene in space and then switches pace to the Wild West like planet of No Man's Land. Hilarity, chaos and explosions then ensues as you'd expect if you're familiar with Trigun.

Naturally the question asked with Trigun being such a popular series, why is a reboot necessary? It does make sense to revisit and reinterpret the franchise that hasn't been endlessly redone unlike some (cough, cough Ghost in the Shell). Exploring a beloved franchise that hasn't been touched since a 2010 movie will give a whole new generation of fans the chance to discover the world of Vash The Stampede.


©2023 Yasuhiro Nightow, SHONENGAHOSHA

In its time, Vash cosplayers made frequent appearances at the anime con scene. Not only because the show was popular, but it also formed one of the go to costumes for tall lanky people who could muster up some spiky blonde hair, along with the rest of his costume. In Trigun Stampede, Vash's character design has been updated and he has more floppy hair and a buzz cut on the sides, although there are fun nods to his original character design. No doubt Vash cosplayers will again become more frequent as a result of this show. There's also less comedic "flipping" of his personality, it's there, but it's not as in your face as the original anime.

Orange are probably best known for the anime versions of Beastars and Land of the Lustrous. The studio uses 3D CGI giving their titles a distinct look and feel. I feel they've really mastered this. Often when you're watching an Orange title, you forget that this cell shaded show is 3D CGI. They've got tricks up their sleeves to make the characters look 2D from different viewing angles. The weight of character movement is right too, as often with 3D CGI from other studios the movement is too smooth or the characters are able to effortlessly lift stuff and move around, but again Orange have nailed this.


©2023 Yasuhiro Nightow, SHONENGAHOSHA

We've only seen the first episode, but it lays a solid foundation for what's ahead, it has some amazing fight scenes and perfectly captures the clumsy chaos that is Vash. We hope the show keeps up the pace and we're looking forward to seeing how the other characters are reinterpreted in this fresh new remix.

Trigun Stampede hits streaming service Cruchyroll from Saturday 7th January 2023.