Vash’s decision

warnings: long post, spoiler Trigun Stampede episodes 3-12, Trigun Maximum chapter 10.

One of the most important differences in Trigun Stampede about Vash is his lack of…something although we still can see his characteristic sensitivity and empathy as in the manga.

Thanks to Sakura-Con 2023, we know that this series set before the city of July was lost, so Stampede Vash is more like a imperfect Vash and it was made more naive on purpose.

Naive? Vash has been always naive, in the manga and ´98 anime. He always thinks the best of humans…

Can he be more naive than that? How?

And that’s when it hit me: He is like an immature Vash. All of him, his emotions, his thoughts…even his hair.

We can see him nostalgic and there is sadness in his eyes.

It’s like he always goes back to the moment when he released Nai’s true intentions and thinks about that loop where he doesn’t want to do anything again his brother and the other plants being a plant himself…but he can’t go against human life either, which is Rem(his mother)’s teachings.

He is stuck in this for 150 years. Confused, alone, looking for answers while he is escaping from his brother, escaping from that past, escaping from that future that comes full speed to him and he begs it never arrives…

Because he is afraid too.

Afraid of loosing another dear one, afraid of his brother’s plans…and afraid of making a decision.

Even Roberto, Nebraska Father and also Nai asked which side is he on.

And his doubt is obvious through all the series, even more on episode 3, because he really doesn’t know yet…and it’s clear he doesn’t want to make a decision yet.

But when his hesitation involves Meryl and Roberto, he knows that he can’t delay the confrontation anymore.

BUT instead of choose a side, he tries to convence Nai. Expecting him to change his mind…

This reminds me Rollo’s death, when Vash is denying Wolfwood’s reasons to kill Rollo, letting us know that he is struggling with something inside him that he can’t explain himself either. In his anger he doesn’t try to understand Wolfwood’s point of view.

Even more, it is like he hasn’t consider the idea of others having a different way of thinking.

As a teenager who still wants everybody to fit in his beliefs.

In a moment, it’s almost like Vash is trying to force Wolfwood to change his beliefs. Instead of explain his ideas calmly as in Trigun Maximum chapter 10 where he at first is mad at Wolfwood killing the samurai but after a few moments he is not angry anymore. He is sad about his decision, but not angry.

This is similar to Knives, acting with no respect for Vash’s will, like in the manga.

And Stampede Vash doesn’t understand Knives’ reasons either. He doesn’t even try. He just know that they’re different from his own.

It is until Knives brings Vash back to his childhood, to a place where he doesn’t have to choose a side, that even in that situation a part of him still wonders about humans…

And that’s when he sees the answer deep inside himself, the answer that has been always there since the beginning and he didn’t want to see.

Because it doesn’t just mean he’s running towards his own path…but also running away from Knives too, who begs him to stay by his side.

At first, I thought he was is crying because he listens to Rem’s voice again thanking him to fight for her ideas and I felt this as a farewell

“Thanks for fighting for my beliefs…now, fight for YOURS”

but with that words, without doubts, he finally chooses a path for his own…away from Knives, his dear brother.

And when he is back, it is new birth to him indeed.

The change is clearly in ALL OF HIM: his hair, his color palette, his lack of hesitation at shooting his brother.

Because, as he explains himself: HE HAS MADE A DECISION.

And he is attacking with all he’s got: all his plant powers to stop Knives and all his Love and Peace towards humanity to protect them and being by their side even knowing that they could hunt him after all.

And yes, it can be a contradiction.

But now he accepts that.

He accepts that maybe they’re people who don’t want to be saved.

It really is an awakening.

He accepts that the world isn’t ideal and it’s not what he thought…and now he knows he can’t force Knives to change his mind. Because Knives chose his path more than 150 years ago just as he has done now and he can’t change that.

He realized Knives is just too different from himself…

Something that Knives still doesn’t want to accept.

And yes, maybe plants and humans can’t live together as Vash wants to.

But even knowing that, he is going to do his best to fight for it.

Because he is Vash The Stampede.

not beating the cat boy allegations

My contribution to the @robertozine ! Straightforward: A Roberto de Niro Zine 🥃🚬

The Hermit card represents the search for truth and enlightenment, introspection, withdrawal, and isolation. Roberto as a character is highly observant and often capable of seeing through people's masks, but also keeps them at arm's length, holding himself back from deep connections with others.

OMG

Inktober day 10: Journal

I made my own murder board meme for this. It was a challenge to have the answer and go backward to make all the evidence and the question. Perhaps this is why I have yet to write a mystery novel. Making a mystery is hard. For this prompt, I went with Meryl trying to piece together just what is Vash the Stampede. I thought it’d be funny if she had found a bunch of records and local legends of Vash dating back a significant amount of time. I added some stuff about the worms in there to throw her off just enough that she wouldn’t be able to figure it out. Wolfwood’s introduction would make her tear her hair out. Her questions and reason for seeking him out would be much more… not interesting because it’s already an extremely compelling story, but perhaps more humorous and conspiratorial. It would definitely be a completely different vibe. If anyone wants to write this idea please do! Send it to me and I will read it!! I’m begging!!!

7. meryl stryfe

(I fell asleep before I could work on & post this yesterday rip)

tiny doodle of a tiny girl

5. guilt

I feel like Meryl’s guilt isn’t talked about enough. When it all started, she thought it would just be an assignment on an infamous outlaw. Only it ends with one kid losing an arm and her own mentor being killed because of her need to know the truth.

I LOVE THEM YOUR HONOR AAAA!! I HOPE THEY KISS IN TRISTAMP S2 😭

I’m too lazy to color them so I used the watercolor brushes, never disappoint.

Edit: updated this one bc I feel like Meryl look a bit weird in the previous doodle, also added a bit of shadows and highlights.

some VashMeryl wips I’ve got in my stash

nuts reading in jp 11 - wrap up for vol 2 + i can talk about TriStamp undertaker wolfwood a little!!! whooo!!!

its been hella weird to read trigun in japanese since my first read was in english. i think i dug out a few extra stuff i didnt know existed in the work during this little journey. (thank you for joining in on my rambles!)

no real translation word related stuff today. mostly culture stuff dump.

but man i was right on the money when i said vash was stressed in #10. i forget he actually falls unconscious after dominique quits the narrative. yay~

me after i finish these posts at 5am every time

and then, him.

listen. this guy. this fucking guy is, personally, the funniest guy in the entirety of trigun. for that line above in the 98 anime, and also for some stuff he represents. ...and it's not for larping reasons. ill get into that another day, please look forward to it. (i say this knowing his backstory was rough.)

anyway its time.... for Wolfwood's 'job change'.

in the manga he introduces himself as a tradesman Priest. it doesnt make much sense to outsiders but despite people getting confused, it mostly gets hand waved off as the guy being a little eccentric. and also prideful.

we then get more information about that being a cover for him being one of the Gung Ho Guns, Chapel. he can fight, hes an assassin, his job is to somehow get at Vash while being technically employed by Knives.

this wolfwood has absolutely no struggle with himself as a Priest specifically. heck, its even giving him some confidence bc he actually knows his stuff and can get by with those priestly things alone. at least, i assume so, bc otherwise the pride thing would be very misplaced as he is revealed that he really wants out of the insane GHG business, and wants nothing to do with his coworkers, as it were.

but TriStamp Wolfwood is... different in that pride regard

this version of wolfwood introduces himself as an Undertaker. he's technically a Priest, but he clearly lacks so much pride that he chooses to be an Undertaker.

the narrative tracks since he's the guide to send Vash to hell in tristamp, but theres at least 1 more layer to this.

so, Shinto! Shinto has played a very big part in Japanese culture and history since idk the beginning of Japanese history, affecting society and culture and governance.

key thing for this post: Shinto has a concept named Kegare/Defilement, which you can think of as an accumulation of evil energy. bad energy. bad enough to attract misfortune, evil spirits, and evil evil evil bad bad bad. (ive actually written about this in video game context before if you wanna read it here)

Kegare is generated upon death, blood, menstruation, and all that. in some modern media, Kegare can also be depicted to be generated by an accumulation of negative emotions from people. but for the longest time, it was mainly Death. (oh and somewhat also women with the whole uh.... you know, menstruation, childbirth, and stillbirths etc.)

but: Kegare is NOT sin, and should not be seen as such.

old japan governance also used Caste System. so combine that with shinto, and society and here's the not fun stuff: we now have a discriminated class of people who did all of society's very necessary but deemed dirty jobs. these are the Butchers, Leatherworkers, Executioners, and Undertakers. (which is wild. a society would not be able to function without them.)

they are shunned, deemed too dirty, too tainted, too polluted to ever have a hope of having a better life. since social mobility wasnt a thing with Caste System. and coming too close to them means pollution on the self too.

the Caste System got abolished, and today the descendants are called Burakumin 部落民. they are still being discriminated against to this day. the remnants of the dirtiness with certain jobs still remain, especially with jobs that involves the dead. its also possible to know who is a descendant of one through family names, which can be used to trace family registry and sus out old residences etc.

feel free to watch the above video for a clearer explanation by a japanese man instead of just taking my word for it >_>

back to wolfwood.

studio orange making him go from Priest to Undertaker is likely rooted in a logic associated with this. that TriStamp wolfwood lacks the confidence to have a strong identity outside of GHG, whereas manga wolfwood has. that TriStamp wolfwood really does think of himself as trash and worthless even before outsiders' judgement, whereas manga wolfwood's struggle is more about an internal struggle of being lost.

manga wolfwood is also never truly free from his identity as Chapel until the very end.

but TriStamp wolfwood gets a full contract saying that hes free from Chapel (i assume!)

i think theres also additional implications but im losing braincells by the minute. the change makes so much sense and tracks so well that apart from the confidence thing, everything is more or less intact.

(worth possibly nothing also, I think TriStamp wolfwood isnt fully checking boxes of uhhh Normality in japanese context. hes dressed in a mess, hes not clean shaven, his skin is kinda dark and not fair, he speaks in non-standard japanese. but ymmv, he will be ok in kansai at least, but not fully fitting in in Capital Tokyo nor ex-Capital Kyoto.)

i also, admittedly, dont know much about the culture surrounding death and undertakers within the states or europe so i cant comment much on that aspect. im aware i must have missed something. on that front, sorry D:

anyway thats all i got for now! thanks for reading this long ass post!

I’m obsessed with these photos hahaha!

Meryl is @ Jinsews on Instagram

Photographer is @ yoonerds on Instagram

Reunion

So they goof'd, as goof in twain

Had the essence but in one;

Two distincts, division none:

Number there in goofs was slain.

nuts reading trigun in japanese 5 - vash is. super good with kids

disclaimer: more triangulation purposes etc etc

so i mentioned before in my part 3 that the japanese language has an inbuilt hierarchy quirk to it. and i kind of noticed this nuance getting somewhat lost in the english translation, either because again i have skill issues with english, or that EN inherently doesnt come with the same quirk.

elaborating a bit more: this hierarchy of position/standing can be determined by age, profession, occupation, and experience. in terms of hard priority, age and profession tends to take precedence over everything else.

this means effectively, vash being over 150 should be top dog and given respect in JP/Asian context (respect your elders! or else!!), but because he 1) looks 24, 2) uses very immature speech with strangers, 3) uses boku, hes effectively keeping his head down and posing as a dumbass schmuck.

so schmucky that he has no problems handling children. in fact, in the JP version during his departure on the sand steamer, the kids call him Big Bro Vash. twice! so he's earned their adoration in no time flat.

leaving the translation like that ^ wouldnt flow well in english, so rip. also. cute scene.

and yet his meeting with Kaite is chaotically bad to say the least. i mean, he even gets drugged and knocked out. Kaite does not respect the guy who gave him food at all and plans to seemingly feed him 3 meals for the entire trip. so how? well.

once Brilliant Dynamites Neon comes in and turns things serious, Vash's starts doing a few interesting things.

skipping forward this and that. after getting almost blown off the sand steamer, vash holds onto kaite and they both cling on for dear life:

added romanji and color to highlight how vash is repeating phrases in his line. the そーか　そーか souka souka and 行こう 行こう ikou ikou repeats are there as if to 1) make himself sound immature, and 2) to reassure kaite that things are under control.

only touching on the bottom right panel. another possible reading of that line:

he's chiding kaite and doing the very asian adult thing of teaching the youngin manners in terms of tone. but in a stern funny way no offense taken way bc, as you might have noticed...

vash is deliberately putting himself on the same level as a kid. in tone in standing in speech. hes not being condescending. hes not lording his status as an adult over a child. (something something christ like but in the context of jp... hehe.)

this is ultimately what gets tough nut kaite to trust vash to get down to business to defeat The Neon. even without the words hes visually getting himself to be on the same (eye) level with kaite. i think its so good alsdjfdsa

kaite starts crying after thinking of his dad and regretting what he's done, gets caught in a regret reflection loop, but vash brings him back to reality. like this:

another reading of this "What the hell are getting all sentimental for now ya brat?!" line might be "What. Good. Is. It. To. Lose. Your. Grip. On. Yourself. Now. You. Dummy?!"

with this he puts kaite's head back into reality and readjusts both their priority.

so again. vash just. is good with kids. his emotional intelligence is through the fucking roof as proven by all the other moments throughout tristamp

idk its warms me bc. the asian confucius hierarchy is so... yuck. im technically of chinese descent so i know how fucked it is. so. vash is really cool with this slightly extra japanese asian hierarchy context.

i think this aspect of vash is something i dont see in english fanworks a lot, and not in the same tone. on the other hand, i do see this a lot in the jp fanworks. so idk exactly what factors or if im looking in the wrong places, but yeah. vash is good with kids. just like wolfwood.

again, studio orange understood the assignment and gave some of that dynamic here to Tonnis.

are they called studio orange bc im meant to squeeze stampede for all its worth or what. stampede is actually incredible to me im in awe.

bonus:

the jp version of the left text says roughly:

"I'm cursed!! I must be! By either the reaper or a god of misfortune and or more!!"

yeah he specifically says Shinigami and Binbougami. i dont think that would translate well in en bc this kinda throws the catholicsm theme into a bit of a tailspin LMAO. (also. the Ore here. note the context.)