Some genres just don’t work well together. Take the science fiction and western genres for example. Despite starring the likes of Kevin Kline, Will Smith, and Salma Hayek, Wild Wild West was a travesty of celluloid film that few can forget. It should come as no surprise that since then, the science fiction and western genre haven’t been paired up again. And with good reason. Introducing blaster guns, mechanical monstrosities, and other high-tech future gadgetry into a world of cowboys, six shooters, and saloon sipping whiskey can prove quite a challenge. What you may or may not know, is that a year before Wild Wild West was tainting silver screens across the nation in 1999, another sci-fi/western mashup had been created.

That show of course, is Trigun. Unlike Wild Wild West, the conglomeration of new and old works here, with Trigun’s setting taking place on the far off world of planet Gunsmoke, a world not unlike the wild west but with robots, strange power plants resembling giant light bulbs, and crashed spaceships. Trigun does an excellent job of establishing its world and creating a rich culture behind it. As the story progresses, we find out why this technology exists, how it came to be there, and who brought it.

In a sea of giant robot and high school hi-jinx anime, Trigun comes as a breath of fresh air with its originality and its setting. It’s rare that an anime has a “message” or “theme”, but Trigun has just that with a distinctive philosophy that only its lead character could convey. While not a necessity with every anime, it’s nice to have a show from time to time that does this and Trigun is one of those.

Without spoiling too much, Trigun tells the story of Vash the Stampede, an outlaw with a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head (double dollars being the planet’s currency) as well as Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, two agents of the Bernardelli Insurance Society who are sent to investigate the insurance liability that is Vash the Stampede. Rumors fly abound about Vash, nicknamed the “humanoid typhoon“, who’s infamous for leveling entire cities. All that is known about this mystery man is that he’s a blonde man, who wears a long red coat, and is a horrible womanizer. Meryl and Milly soon encounter a man fitting that exact description but when he proves to be a drunken bafoon, the two refuse to believe he could be Vash and continue on in their search. As the story progresses, the three cross paths numerous times and the question as to whether he could really be Vash the Stampede is brought up time and time again. Who is Vash the Stampede? What is he? And where did he come from are questions that are all answered as the story unfolds. What’s interesting about Trigun is that the first and second half are quite different. While the first half is more light-hearted and humorous, the second half is notably darker and more serious. That’s not to say there aren’t some enjoyable gunfights in the first half but there’s definitely more hi-jinx abound.

Besides setting and story, Trigun’s true strength lies in its characters. Whether it’s Vash, Meryl, Milly or gun-toting man of the cloth Nicholas D. Wolfwood, each character is well fleshed out. Each have their own hopes and dreams as well as doubts and fears. This is also true for some of the major villains of the series as well. Besides the episodic villains Vash must deal with early on, he later does battle with the Gung-Ho Guns, a group of assassin’s dedicated to making Vash suffer as much as possible. While some members are admittedly less fleshed out than others, viewers nonetheless will have their own favorite member and there are some interesting and original ideas behind each one. Of course, the looming question is just who is the leader of this mysterious group of assassins and what’s their beef with Vash? This is answered in due time and once it’s revealed, the lead-up to the climactic showdown will be more than enough reason to continue watching.

Being over ten years old now, Trigun isn’t exactly “cutting edge” in the animation department. Despite that, the show holds up well and is well animated with entertaining gun shootouts and battle scenes. Also, if you’re one to watch anime with english voice-overs rather than read subtitles, you’ll be happy to know this is one anime that doesn’t have horrendous english dubbing so you can watch Trigun in english to your heart’s content. Purists will still argue that the Japanese version is better but after watching both versions myself, I can honestly say both are good. So if you’re one of those people who don’t like reading (and you know who you are), then this is the anime for you.

It’s not often that an anime comes along that hits most if not all the right marks. An engaging and original story, a charming and diverse cast of characters, and even a decent and watch-able english dub but Trigun has all of that and then some. If you haven’t seen Trigun since its release way back when in 1998, you really owe it to yourself to give it a watch. Whether that means moving it to the top of your netflix queue, finding somewhere to watch it online, or just going out and buying it, this is one anime that you need to see.