Well, the synopsis is enough to tell you the basics of the series. I'm the one that wrote the synopsis, as I felt the standard Trigun one is garbage. Vash the Stampede is our main protagonist, with a huge bounty on his head. All the nasties of the world want a piece of the bounty. The rest of the world wants nothing to do with him, as he's rumoured to be one of the most dangerous men ever.

STORY

To me, it is a unique story for an anime series. A bunch of people living on a desert planet, barely eeking out an existence. People use guns as weapons, but rely on mysterious ancient technology to scrape a living out of the infertile world.

The series begins humourously, to say the least. It is entirely an action/comedy for most of the first third of the series. It thoroughly entertains and delivers laughs, and the action is top notch. Watching Vash the Stampede deal with what we'll call "situations" is always very cool, but brings up the question of "How can this man be *that* good?". This is where the rest of the series comes in. As time goes by, you realise there's more to this series, and you learn more about what makes Vash tick.

The main flow of the story begins in your typical Villain-of-the-Week style. Basically, a villain is encountered and defeated in the same episode. Many times, the villain learns something from the encounter (or perhaps one of the main characters do). As the reason for Vash's wandering becomes more apparent, the major plot points slowly unfold. This is where the series takes a serious twist. It takes our humourous and lovable characters into darker and harsher times.

This darker side of the series is truly powerful, and the real draw of plot. Over time, the situations get worse and worse. The characters are forced into many emotional moments and make decisions they don't want to make. The morals of the characters are questioned, not to mention their goals.

What we get is a series that starts you off with laugher, and it finishes with powerful, nail-biting drama.

CHARACTERS

The characters are what make this series great. When a character feels an emotion, I feel it too. They begin as simply characters in an anime... At the end they are like friends or family, they are people that we don't want to see hurt.

Each character is important to the story, and to the development of the other characters. They all learn various things from each other and evolve as a result. Sometimes you feel like someone may not be as important to the story, but by the end you realise that without them, many lessons would not have been learned.

AESTHETICS

Visually and musically, the series is a little rusty. This series came out in 1998, and we've seen many other series from that time (or even before) with much better production. Cowboy Bebop came out the same year... for comparison. This series relies on the story telling to make it great, not on fancy animation or music.

Still, the series does very well with what it has. I'm sure many companies with a larger budget couldn't have done as well as was done with Trigun. The series maintains a constant and unique style throughout. The animation could be more fluid, but is never lacking (the action is always great). The music is sometimes repetitive, but always apropriate and sets the mood perfectly.

OVERALL

In the end, this series is one of the greats. A story that is interesting that makes you want to watch more. Characters that are truly alive and that make you really care for them. What more could you ask for? To put it simply, this is a series that has drawn tears from me, that is the power it wields. I feel it is something that nearly any anime lover (and even some non anime fans) will enjoy.