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Trigun
トライガン (Toraigan)
Demographic	Seinen, Shōnen
Genre	Action, Adventure; Sci-fi Western, Space Western historical steampunk
Manga: Trigun
Author	Yasuhiro Nightow
Publisher	Tokuma Shoten
Other publishers: Panini Comics Carlsen Glénat
Serialized in	Shōnen Captain
Original run	February 1995 – 1997
Volumes	3 (originally), 2 (current)
Manga: Trigun Maximum
Author	Yasuhiro Nightow
Publisher	Shōnen Gahōsha
Other publishers: Dark Horse Comics Carlsen Glénat
Serialized in	Young King Ours
Original run	1998 – 2007
Volumes	14 with 102 chapters (in Japan)
TV anime: Trigun
Director	Satoshi Nishimura
Studio	Madhouse
Network	TV Tokyo
Other networks: GMA 7 Cartoon Network Cartoon Network, PlayTV A+ MTV Italia SIC Radical G4techTV Panini Comics K3 AXN
Original run	April 4, 1998 – September 30, 1998
Episodes	26

Trigun (トライガン, Toraigan^?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow with an anime adaptation. Madhouse produced the 26 anime episodes for Trigun. As of April 2007, Trigun has ended in Japan, currently spanning 102 chapters and 14 tankōbon volumes.

Screen capture of the sixty-billion double-dollar bounty poster for Vash the Stampede (from the opening credits)

The story, known for its Science fiction Western theme, follows the life of "The Humanoid Typhoon" and two insurance company employees who are ordered to follow him to minimize the damage caused by his activities. Much of the damage attributed to "Vash" is caused by the activities of bounty hunters who are after the "60,000,000,000$$" (sixty billion "double dollars") reward on Vash's head for the destruction of a city called July. Vash does not clearly remember the destruction of July, and only wants "love and peace", as he puts it; though he is a gunfighter of inhuman skill, he uses his weapons only to save lives wherever he can.

As the series progresses, more is gradually learned about Vash's mysterious history and the history of the human civilization on Gunsmoke, the desert planet the series is set on. The series is often humorous in tone, but at the same time it involves very serious character development and especially in later episodes it becomes quite emotionally intense. Vash is occasionally joined by a priest, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who is almost as good a gunfighter as Vash himself, and later is targeted by a band of assassins known as the Gung-Ho Guns for reasons which are mysterious at first.

Trigun evolves into a very serious discussion of the nature of morality, posing questions such as: What is the nature of morality? Can we judge different moral codes? If a person is forced to betray their moral code, does that betrayal invalidate that moral code, and can the person still try to live up to that moral code? Can the person find redemption from their wrongs, and if so, how?

See also: List of Trigun media#Manga

After leaving college, Yasuhiro Nightow had gone to work selling apartments for the housing corporation Sekisui House, but struggled to keep up with his manga drawing hobby. Reassured by some successes, including a one-shot manga based on the popular video game franchise Samurai Spirits, he quit his job to draw full time. With the help of a publisher friend, he submitted a Trigun story for the February 1995 issue of the Tokuma Shoten magazine Shōnen Captain, and began regular serialisation two months later in April.

However, Shōnen Captain was cancelled early in 1997, and when Nightow was approached by the magazine Young King Ours, published by Shōnen Gahōsha, they were interested in him beginning a new work. He was however troubled^[1] by the idea of leaving Trigun incomplete, and requested to be allowed to finish the series. The publishers were sympathetic, and the manga resumed in 1998 as Trigun Maximum (トライガンマキシマム, Toraigan Makishimamu^?). The story jumps forward two years with the start of Maximum, and takes on a slightly more serious tone, perhaps due to the switch from a shōnen to a seinen magazine. Despite this, Nightow has stated^[2] that the new title was purely down to the change of publishers, and rather than being a sequel it should be seen as a continuation of the same series. The 12th tankōbon was published on July 26, 2006.

Shōnen Gahōsha later bought the rights to the original three volume manga series and reissued it as two enlarged volumes. In October 2003 the US publisher Dark Horse Comics released the expanded first volume translated into English, keeping the original right-to-left format rather than mirroring the pages. With the anime series already well known in the US, the first print run of 30,000 sold out^[3] shortly after release. The second volume concluded the original series early the next year, and went on to be the top earning^[4] graphic novel of 2004. Trigun Maximum followed quickly, and as of January 2007 eleven volumes have been released. Translations into German, French, Italian,Portuguese and Spanish have also been released.

See also: List of Trigun media#Anime

Trigun was animated by Madhouse, broadcasted on TV Tokyo, produced by Victor Company of Japan (JVC) in 1998 and directed by Satoshi Nishimura with scripts by Yosuke Kuroda, character designs by Takahiro Yoshimatsu, mechanical designs by Noriyuki Jinguji and music by Tsuneo Imahori. It is licensed in the United States by Pioneer USA (now Geneon). In 2003, Trigun began broadcast as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. Despite the hopes of many fans, Nightow has stated^[5] that due to the finality of the anime ending, it is unlikely any continuation will be made.

The October 2005 issue of Neo magazine (A UK Anime magazine) includes an interview with Madhouse's founder and series planner, Masao Maruyama. In it, he says the studio is working on a Trigun Movie that should be released in a "couple of years". The November issue of Anime Insider also confirms this news.

In May 2007 Nightow confirmed at the Anime Central Convention that the Trigun movie was in the early stages of preproduction with the script near completion, though he did not divulge any plot information.

Main article: Trigun characters

The title of Trigun is said to pertain to Vash^{[citation needed]}, who has three primary weapons, each of which is a type of gun: his long barrel revolver, his false arm (revealed during Monev's attack), and, most importantly, his Angel Arm. However, the name can also be seen to apply to other characters who have an arsenal of three unique guns, a "Trigun"^{[citation needed]}. The two most prominent examples are the men who join Vash as his partner in arms, Nicholas D. Wolfwood and Livio the Double Fang (as well as his other personality, Razlo). Wolfwood handles three kinds of guns: his pistols, the Machine Gun end of the Cross Punisher, and the same weapon's rocket launcher. Livio, if taken as a whole with Razlo, also handles three types of ammo, being the Double Fang machine guns and the two modes of the Cross Punisher. Razlo (also "Lazlo") on his own, also - and perhaps most blatantly - meets the title, as he handles three Cross Punishers simultaneously, earning his title of "Trip of Death" ("Trip", or "Tri-P", is only later in the series revealed to be short for "Tri-Punisher"). The title becomes a reflection of the arsenals for each of these protagonists^{[citation needed]}.

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Vash's revolver appears to be loosely based on the Mateba Autorevolver^{[citation needed]}, although the gun uses the break-open feature of the Smith & Wesson Model 3^{[citation needed]} revolver produced in 1874. The Mateba cylinder swings to the left for reloading. Despite a seeming conflict between the release date of the Trigun manga (1995) and the date of the Mateba entering full production (1997), it is entirely possible that Vash's weapon was influenced by the Mateba, as the Italian firearm had been in its design stages since the 1980s. The gun can also fuse with Vash's arm into a giant lazer weapon capable of putting a crater on the moon. ^[6]

Milly's stun gun is modeled after a minigun, a type of machine gun or automatic cannon that uses an external source of power, rather than recoil, to cycle the weapon. Instead of bullets, Milly's stun gun fires a large expandable device. This device unfolds into an X shape, striking the opponent with enough power to knock them off their feet or render them unconscious.

For self-defense, Meryl keeps dozens of derringers^[7] hidden inside her coat. These pocket pistols fire two shots of what appears to be .32 ACP and while they are not ideal for duels, but at a very close range (such as at a casino or saloon card table) they could easily deliver a fatal blow.

The Cross gun is used by several characters throughout the series, including Vash. It is usualy a slightly different version each person uses with Wolfwood's having a machine gun fire out the long barrel and pistols stored in the T. Another gun ho gun fires missile out of the shortest part of the cross.

Further information: List of Trigun media

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Trigun

• Shōnen Gahōsha page on Trigun (Japanese)
• Trigun anime at Adult Swim
• Trigun (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Trigun (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Trigun at AnimeNfo.com
• Trigun Maximum Notes