Assuming you somehow missed out on Trigun when it aired 20+ years ago, the quick rundown of the original story is that on a desert-like planet, people are trying to survive against monsters both real and human. Vash is a wanted man who is known for leaving ruin and destruction in his wake causing him to consistently wander the world from place to place for reasons we won’t spoil. Obviously, he is joined by other characters as he goes about his journey and that basically sums up the idea behind Trigun, a sci-fi western through and through.

Trigun Stampede is about the same—so far at least—but with a clear emphasis on exploring Vash’s reasons for being a pacifist in combat despite having a wicked level of fighting experience. After several episodes, we also noticed that Trigun Stampede isn’t trying to copy and paste the original ‘98 anime but is instead going for darker themes over some comedic and adventurous ones. This new theme is keeping us guessing where Trigun Stampede is going and that makes this truly exciting! We do miss Milly Thompson but her replacement in the form of Roberto isn’t too bad and you’ll come to appreciate this new drunken wise-cracking man.

One could assume that Trigun Stampede is a complete overhaul of the story due to the new look, visuals, and characters but oddly enough that isn’t the case. Trigun Stampede keeps close to the original manga source material and while things aren’t obviously exact clones of that manga we have noticed a more mature feel that does mirror the original manga. Various characters introduced like the Nebraska family and Vash’s brother, Million Knives and even some of the lesser characters all keep their tone found in the original anime to some degree but with more of a mature theme in comparison. Episode 3 though, shows just how ruthless they made Knives and we won’t deny we kind of dig his evil demeanor as it makes him a scary villain!

That’s right, readers, CGI, the animation style most anime fans/otaku hate is the main style used in Trigun Stampede and wow…this is the perfect CGI series without a doubt! From the wild fights to the comedic moments shared between characters like Vash and Meryl, Trigun Stampede should now be used as the baseline for how CGI should be done correctly! Episode 1 alone blew us away and episode 3 left us speechless as it was that incredible. CGI does often get a bad wrap for understandable reasons but Trigun Stampede proves that CGI can be done exceptionally well and that is thanks to Studio Orange!

Okay, obviously we can’t say Trigun Stampede has the best OST of 2023 as it’s a bit early in the year but wow…just wow. From the opening, done by Kvi Baba called Tombi to the music in each episode, Trigun Stampede sounds superb. The ending song is also pretty solid—despite a tone that kind of feels out of place—from Salyu x Haruka Nakamura Toy’s Factory called Stars a. Nevertheless, Trigun Stampede sounds so good we have already bought the opening song on iTunes and hope the soundtrack releases soon!