Alongside the originally tougher Meryl Stryfe, Milly might have been sweet and calm unlike her friend—more akin to Vash—but that attitude quickly died out when danger arose. Milly was an avid cowgirl toting several weapons in the original Trigun but was mostly known for her iconic Gatling gun-like weapon. Milly would unleash hell on those who threatened her friends and it was a nice parallel to the Vash’s avoidance of fighting. In Trigun Stampede her replacement Roberto is armed with a small gun and isn’t afraid to fight if need be but he lacks the same drive that Milly had. The cowgirl presence in Trigun Stampede is definitely missing and it makes us pine harder for Milly.

Trigun Stampede is truly more like the darker manga version of the original anime and that can be felt in the reduced comedy and comedic characters from the original like Milly. Milly’s attitude and goofy demeanor were the subjects of many jokes and skits but in Trigun Stampede that role now falls to the darker-themed Nicholas D. Wolfwood and Vash when he isn’t brooding or stoic. Don’t misunderstand that we dislike the new direction Studio Orange took with Trigun Stampede but it can be a bit jarring to compare the original with this version as it feels like a different beast and as original fans, we do miss the comedy mixed with the drama/dark elements originally portrayed.

If not obvious, Meryl and Milly weren’t just coworkers but good friends and their attitudes toward one another felt genuine and gave Trigun a good female perspective. With Roberto, while Meryl does value her “senpai”, she doesn’t have that same friendship factor and feels more like a student to a drunk teacher which alters the atmosphere considerably. Equally, when the series included Wolfwood, it became very male-orientated compared to the kind of amicable split between men and women in the original Trigun. It was always comical to see Trigun lose to two women who clearly aren't pushovers and we really miss this female dynamic that is now lost in Trigun Stampede.

As of this article, there are 10 episodes of Trigun Stampede out with only a few more left to air as this is slated to be a 12-episode airing. This made us realize that if Milly would appear near the end, it could be quite jarring to be perfectly honest. Yes, fans like us here at Honey’s Anime and many OG Trigun viewers, would love to see her tall persona make an appearance as a cameo but would that be a bad move as she was basically removed from the new tale of Vash and his mission to take down Knives—his brother—which wasn’t a central focus of the original anime until later. Maybe if Milly would have shown up several episodes in, even for a brief appearance, we’d have been happy but now we think Milly needs to stay in our fond memories of Trigun original.