THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

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I realized when I saw this title card at the end of the last episode. This is just the end of the beginning. But it still finishes a chapter of maybe a bigger story, or a chapter that will just stay alone.

I think the best way to describe Trigun is that it’s emotional. Emotional in its tone and emotional in its characters, a story of two brothers who even at the very end never were able to come to terms with each other.

And I think in this regard it hits just right, especially considering this relationship we have between Vash and Nai. They love each other but are ultimately different. They want to make the world the best place it can be with all their strength but ultimately envision a world different from the other. They are unable to convince the other to abandon his goals, but can’t stray down from the path they set for themselves. It’s ultimately a story of love and desperation, and I think especially in the last episode the anime just nailed it.

Studio Orange also went with a strong dramatic approach, amping up the flood of emotions to the maximum with strong direction and great 3D animation, capturing facial expressions and subtle demeanor well. I don’t think any other studio could’ve adapted this better. Visually I think the models could use improvement, and some more textures could be nice (it often looks so clean, too clean) but this is nitpicking really. It's already great quality for TV anime.

There are gripes I have with this anime, for example, I think the storytelling somewhere in the middle could’ve been better, as it sets up great emotional moments without proper stakes as context is given only later on. It also neglected other aspects like worldbuilding to focus on the themes and the characters, which is fine but I expected a bit more after the first episode.

In the end, Nai’s and Vash’s conflict is resolved in a way. They never saw eye to eye but Vash chose humanity over Nai. The end is open, and as I said at the beginning of this review, it might just be the end of the beginning. Vash will move forward, certainly. He won’t stop trying to save humans and plants.

Overall, Trigun Stampede did a great job at introducing us to the characters and hit some right tones emotionally. It’s certainly flawed, and I must admit my expectations were higher than what it was, but it was still good. And I certainly don’t mind seeing more, maybe a sequel.