Chopsbloggy

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

LOVE and PEACE


"Shoot a gun, and people die. But then, if you don't pick one up... You can't protect yourself against one. I wanted to hold a gun and never kill anyone. In order to do that, I was prepared to do anything. And so, I did everything. Everything I possibly could do. That was how I lived."

After more than ten years and 102 chapters, the manga series Trigun has come to a close.

Easily my favorite manga (yes, that does mean comic, Jeremy), the series, written and drawn by Yasuhiro Nightow, details the trials of Vash the Stampede.

Unlike the other gunslingers on desolate planet Gunsmoke, Vash sees human life as sacred, and refuses to kill even the most viscous opponents. Utilizing his alien speed and endurance, he gets by with wounding his opponents.

Vash's partner through most of the series is the chain smoking Wolfwood, who has no problem killing when needed. Despite their differences, both are guided by a strong sense of honor, and the need to protect the innocent. Obviously, their different viewpoints generate a good deal of conflict.

Outside of the characters, what drew me into the book are the strong pro-freedom aspects of the story. Both Vash has a massive bounty on his head and operates outside the law, both he and Wolfwood generally ignore what passes for police. Both of them enjoy whiskey and hang out in bars quite often, actually getting hammered. Individual action-and responsibility for those actions- are always foremost.

But the big thing was the firearms aspect. While there are numerous depictions of criminal acts using guns, the solution is positively shown to be guns in the hands of the good guys.

Meryl, one of Vash's pals, thinks back to her training days: "...Y'know, a little girl as powerless as you has to carry one. One bullet can even the odds between you and the strongest man. It may be small. But it's power is sufficient."

Thankfully, Trigun does not contain the 'fan service' found in most other series. I heavily recommend the manga over the anime version, as the anime over-emphasizes the comedic aspects of the original manga to the detriment of the story, and is rather poorly drawn as well.

Probably a disappointing post, no mention of evil govt or cops, and probably horrible grammar. Jeremy won't cream himself, that's for sure.

1 Comments:

At 9:46 PM, Blogger Insurgent said...

Eh, I'll cream myself later!

Well-written post, though. While I may not find a personal interest in the subject matter, I always enjoy reading good writing and ideas.

 

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