Hanime on Anime’s Character of the Month of November: Vash the Stampede

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!  This week I will be unveiling November’s Character of the Month.  And like many characters that have come to pass, this one was no contest.  Now, I know that normally I do Character of the Month right around the end of the month, but you may notice that it’s not even the end of the month-at least not until next week.  I will explain this at the end of the post.  But in the meantime, let’s talk about this month’s Character of the Month: Vash the Stampede from Trigun.

Trigun is an early 2000’s anime that follows Vash the Stampede, a wandering, blonde, spiky-haired man who is sought out by bounty-hunters far and wide in order to obtain the $$60,000,000,000.00 bounty on his head.  That, in general is the basic plot of Trigun, and just one aspect to the character’s story.  However, throughout the show, we get glimpses of Vash’s backstory.  And by the end we find the truth.  Vash’s life started out as being a man-made energy source-or more commonly referred to as a power plant- living on a space ship.  On the ship, he, along with his twin brother Knives-who later becomes the primary antagonist for the show later on- are cared for by a team of humans.  After Knives turns the humans against each other and destroys the ship that he and Vash lived on, they crash onto a desert planet.  The two live together for ten years, but after a falling out between the two, Vash leaves an injured Knives behind and takes the two guns that Knives made with him.  It’s not until eighty years of wandering and searching for their former caretaker Rem Saverem that Vash and Knives are reunited.  However, this ends ugly when Knives causes Vash to activate one of the guns which incapacitates Knives and wipes out the town of July.  Eventually, Vash resolves the issues of his past as the series progresses.  It all finally comes to an end in a reunion/duel with Knives.

One of the biggest reasons why Vash came to mind for Character of the Month was the depth that he has as a character.  As I said in my review of Trigun, “he plays three major roles at the same time.”  On the one hand, he’s the wise, tough, gun-slinging protagonist.  On another hand, he’s also the goofy comic relief character.  And on the other hand after that one, he’s the lecherous playboy who goes after any pretty girl he sees.  Vash is certainly a dynamic character by all means, and this is certainly a rarity.  There is also the fact that the main conflict of the series focuses on Vash’s past and him eventually coming to terms with it.  It also shows that Vash carries a lot of baggage, both physical -he has a cybernetic arm that serves as a gun, and also has the ability to activiate a super weapon within the gun he currently carries-and emotioinal-obviously, his past.  Oh, and let’s not forget, ladies, this guy is a hunk.  With the many roles he plays and his significance to the show, he certainly was a good choice.  So go spread the word of love and peace and grab you a box of donuts along the way, Vash, because you’re this month’s Hanime on Anime’s Character of the Month.

Now, I said earlier in this post that I had a reason for doing Character of the Month early.  Next week, I am going to take some time to make some very important announcements concerning Hanime on Anime.  I will say no more than that until next week.  But in any case, until that time comes around, stay tuned for more, and look out for my announcement post!

-Hanime on Anime

P.S.: And F.Y.I., if any hardcore otakus haven’t noticed, but this month’s reviews have something in common.  The main protagonists for the two shows I’ve reviewed-Vash from Trigun and Ichigo from Bleach-are both voiced by the legendary anime voice actor Johnny Yong Bosch.  I have to admit, it was intentional.  You could say November was unofficially “Johnny Yong Bosch Month.”  I thought that would be something interesting to share!