Trigun Box Set [DVD]

Okay, so you actually need to have seen the series to get the joke of the title.
What to say about Trigun? Well I guess there are three points to make.
The first is to assess Trigun from a technical view. In this respect it is mixed. The quality of the animation veers wildly from the exceptional to the downright awful. The shoestring budget often shows. On the plus side though in the most important moments the the artwork, which details the characters facial expressions, is excellent and apposite, giving you a full appreciation of both the humour and the not infrequent inner turmoil. The Voice acting fares much better being solid through out with only the occasional extra bringing down the quality. (Dub, or sub? Each is good in it's own way but, heresy though it maybe to some, I prefer the dub in Trigun) The score is fascinating, ensuing lush orchestration in favour of a much sparser sound design, which includes not just the guitar heavy opening theme, but some sequences which appear to be cleverly constructed industrial noise (however it was done the theme for Bluesummers is both striking and really creepy).
As a fun watch Trigun is a rather difficult thing to assess as its range is broad and it has a tendency to flip in a moment from full on slapstick comedy, through heroic action, to creepy horror, all the while musing on quite serious moral dilemmas. However, it seldom loses its innate interested and likeability. Maybe because the moral dilemmas posed are not preached to the audience and are not put to us in simple choices between absolute good or evil (though make no mistake some of the events portrayed are seriously nasty). Added to which the action sequences and the plot are often strange enough to keep you wandering what will happen next right up till the end.
Where the show stands up tall though is the characters and principally Vash the Stampede our principal protagonist. Vash is complex, funny, likeable and occasionally scary as hell. His story keeps you intrigued all the way through the 26 episode run. There are maybe four episodes where Vash is not the main focus of the show and they fall fairly flat by comparison to the rest of the material. It's not that the other characters are written or acted poorly, it's just they, like the plot and the world itself, are defined by their relationship to Vash. The only character who you feel could bear watching without Vash is Nicholas D. Wolfwood, so it's just as well the show spends so much time exploring his somewhat antagonistic view, almost as much as it does relaying the central plot. In the end though it is his relationship with and reaction to Vash which becomes the focus of his character's arc. All the others are shown in various states of enmity or friendship to our hero and as such becomes rather cyphers to his story. They're well written and well played but never really achieve a life of their own
This is why along with the problematic finale, which fails to properly explore the ramifications of Vash's ultimate moral choice (though if it is as it appears to be, it's a serious cop out), that the show doesn't quite manage greatness.
Trigun is a hell of a lot of fun, it has some moments which are hilarious and as many which are strikingly horrific and memorable. Even if it fails to reach its true potential for the reasons I've outlined above, it's still a wonderful ride while you're watching it.

Very good product & delivered quickly & for an excellent price. The box set is good quality & the seies a boon. Very good buy.