JAINITUOS ANIME REVIEWS – TRIGUN – MY OWN IMPRESSIONS – ONE OF THE BEST WESTERN ANIME IN HISTORY

Trigun

Studio Madhouse

Genre: Space Western, Comedy, Drama

Hello my friends, Welcome to another entry of my blog.

First and foremost,… Congratulations Argentina – FIFA World Champion 2022.

They indeed deserve their victory, and our Argentine brothers really need this historical moment. Thank you so much for this, guys, thanks a lot for that… Messi

I feel so happy, to the point that I want to extend this happiness to all of you my friends, talking about one of my favourite anime, and for those who read my review of Outlaw Star, I think we all know which one am I talking about.

I mean… Trigun.

But before I start, I must ask you my friends the typical question:

Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?

If the answer is yes then I am happy. And if you wanted for Argentina to become champions in Qatar, then I am euphoric.

Now, wish me good luck to get the 60 billion double-dollar man in Trigun.

TRIGUN

Based on the manga written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow, creator of Gungrave and Blood Blockade Battlefront, Trigun gets us to the planet Gunsmoke, a place completely full of desert and a relentless sun every day, and cold nights. In this planet, there is a living legend, about a man who causes death, destruction, and madness wherever he goes, no one is safe, not the women, not the children, not the elderly, no one. Everything that crosses in his path… apparently dies.

That man is called… Vash the Stampede.

There is a reward of 60 billion double-dollar for his head. Furthermore, he is also called… The Humanoid Typhoon. Rumours and stories like these has been displacing and spreading around the planet Gunsmoke, which is why the Bernardelli Insurance Society sends two of its employees, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, to look after the damage supposedly caused by Vash the Stampede. Once they meet him, they both realise that Vash the Stampede is not what he looks like, because despite his reputation and superhuman abilities, he often displays a goofy attitude and a pacifist perspective toward life, refusing to kill his enemies.

Now, Vash, Meryl and Milly go around many locations of the planet Gunsmoke, meeting new people and discover the truth beneath the reputation of Vash the Stampede and an accident, in which a city was destroyed because of Vash, many years ago.

Yasuhiro Nightow started publishing Trigun from April 1995, first through Tokuma Shoten, until January 1997. But then, Nightow continued its publication in the Shonen Gahosha magazine, under the title of Trigun Maximum, from October 1997 to March 2007, bringing it a total of almost 19 volumes, with both magazines. Due to the success and popularity of the manga, Studio Madhouse produced a total of 26 episodes, which were broadcasted between April 1 to September 30, 1998.

Again… 1998. The year of the two beautiful Space Western anime that I love and cherish.

Outlaw Star & Cowboy Bebop

Moreover, the anime was written by Yosuke Kuroda, known for Excel Saga, Jormungand, Gungrave, and a personal favourite…

Sword Art Online: Alternative Gun Gale Online.

In addition, Trigun was produced by Shigeru Kitayama (Noir, Trigun: Badlands), and its perfect score was composed by Tsuneo Imahori (Wolf’s Rain), the latter being a member of The Seatbelts, the same band as Yoko Kanno, from… We all know.

With these fantastic, talented artists in charge… What can possibly go wrong?

For my viewpoint… Freaking nothing!!

STORY

Ok! Where to start?

Trigun is a fantastic mixture of drama, comedy, adventure, and the spirit of the Old West I almost grew up during the childhood, brought by the spaghetti westerns created by Sergio Leone…. Almost. Before I continue let me share with you a little anecdote.

It was 2006, and I was watching Cartoon Network – Latin America of course, and I remember finishing an episode of that anime, whose animation remember me a lot of Rurouni Kenshin, called Sakura Wars – I was knocked, and I enjoyed in a way, but then, shortly afterwards, I watched one anime that… reminded me of a very hilarious AMV, I think I got the link here…

Yes!!!

I really love that video.

Okay. On that time, I already got the spirit of Cowboy Bebop so ingrained that I thought perhaps nothing will ever surpass it, until I watched Samurai Champloo, but that’s another story, for another moment. I also watched this anime called… Trigun, I was 100% curious about who that blonde guy was? He looked like a nice guy, and then… Wow!!! He was extremely different from Spike, Jet, Faye, Ein and Ed – Goofy, clumsy, and extremely idiotic… And I love him. He was so full of energy and passion, I wanted to see more. Something different from the gloominess and existentialism of Cowboy Bebop. It was wonderful.

From there, I binge every episode of Trigun. Until the middle of the series, where the darker, most serious episodes take place, the part in which we know more about Vash the Stampede, and why he became so infamous. Those episodes almost shred me to tears, because again… I thought things will not end up well. Yet, I stayed until the end, despite the fear of being as depressed as I was with Cowboy Bebop. Those who watched the latter, will definitely know why?

Luckily, there is some happiness… some fantastic lessons almost at the end. And that was enough for me to consider Trigun, along with its animation, storytelling, and characters, one of the greatest anime of history, and one of the few that can actually… REALLY ACTUALLY… be as amazing as Cowboy Bebop, along with Outlaw Star.

That feeling of adventure, of uncertainty, of calm before the storm, of the relentless atmosphere of the cowboys, and at the same time, that beauty, that folklore, that sci-fi world that gets you for its thoughtfulness and vastness – all of these elements that make the world of Cowboy Bebop so immersive are indeed present in Trigun, but the latter does not copy the former. No. It gets better and more powerful despite being a little being simpler than with Cowboy Bebop or Outlaw Star. Yet, I am not making justice to this great feeling that I felt with the animation, the atmosphere, and the beauty of Trigun. In fact, I think it is something that you must experience by yourself, because trust me…

Very few western anime are able to get this sensations in a perfect fashion. I don’t think you will find something more intense, yet fascinating, and that is why I cherish Trigun the way I do.

Also, I must confess that I enjoy Trigun a little bit more than Cowboy Bebop, for a simple reason – Hope. It teaches you the meaning of hope; with every episode, you know there is hope, with every action of Vash, Meryl and Milly, there is a lesson to be learn, and also… comedy to enjoy.

For me, every episode is better than the previous one. Man!! This is not just an entry, it is a love letter to Trigun. I love westerns, the more action-packed, the better; the more creative, the better, and definitely Trigun is one of my most beloved ones.

Also, for me, the original score of Trigun is as memorable as the one of Cowboy Bebop. Why am I surprised? After all, their composers were in The Seatbelts. And the ending… Wow!!! Simply wow!!!

Anyway, I can keep talking and talking about how great Trigun is. First with some good comedy and adventure in the beginning, and then with thoughtful drama and tension, with the great balance and beauty as Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star.

Apologies for the constant comparisons, but I can’t avoid it. Just remember, watch Trigun and believe it.

CHARACTERS

Like I said, all the characters are great. Vash the Stampede is like Kenshin Himura, a laid-back, kind, friendly main character that hides great abilities and a very force to be reckoned with. Kenshin is always one of my favourite characters, and now Vash can compete with him in every aspect.

But… his design is incredible, and I apologise for those who are expecting Trigun Maximum in 2023, but…

This new design does not convince a lot.

Meryl is an excellent female counterpart for Vash, and even though Milly acts as a klutz, she is actually a very profound character, in fact, Milly is definitely the voice of reason for both Vash and Meryl. I have to admit that, aside from Vash, Milly was always my favourite character because the way she is, sometimes when she does something that we could consider stupid, then we see a moment of brilliance and poignancy. It is just wonderful.

And Millions Knives himself.

With that smile, he is definitely a charismatic, scary guy. Trust me, every time I saw Knives, Legato, or any of the Gung-ho Guns… Terrifying.

But…. The best is definitely Nicholas D. Wolfwood, the priest with the great gun, who is a very effective foil for Vash, at least in my personal opinion. Cool, wise, compassionate, but, at the same time, complex. I love him.

Someone said that a hero is as good as his/her villains, well… I say… for Trigun, a male protagonist is as good as its foil, and that is Nicholas D. Wolfwood.

CONCLUSION

There you go… My honest, everlasting thoughts about Trigun. One of the most perfect, sweet, cool, entertaining, wonderful, enjoyable, and well-balanced masterpieces of anime of all time.

Nothing else to say.

I know this conclusion is really short, but I hope it’s enough to share the honesty for the masterpiece that is Trigun.

Till next time…

See you again, Space Cowboy.

JAINITUOS NON-ANIME REVIEWS – NETFLIX’S COWBOY BEBOP – NO MAN’S HEART

Cowboy Bebop (2021 TV series) a.k.a. Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop

Genre: Space western, action.

Hello my friends, welcome to another entry of my blog.

(sigh) Trust me. I don’t even know if I am crazy or just impulsive, let alone if I am doing the right thing. Why am I saying this? Because first I should be talking about one of the greatest, most precious anime of history, I think one of the greatest pieces of fiction of humankind…

…and then giving my opinion about the interpretation of Netflix, especially because I haven’t actually watch all the ten episodes produced by this streaming service. But, on the other hand…

Cowboy Bebop is Cowboy Bebop

And of course, for such a wonderful masterpiece, one entry of my blog is not enough. And yes… I am still working on the second part of Komi-san, and I will bring it when the time comes.So this is what I will do. I will use this pages to review Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop, and then I will give the original anime of Cowboy Bebop its respective space.

With that said…

But before I go on with this one hell of the experience, I must ask you guys the typical question:

Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?

If the answer is yes, then I am happy.

And now… time to see you again space cowboy. This is Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop.

PREMISE

Just to let you know… SPOILER ALERT!

Also, after reviewing the fantastic series of SAO – Alternative: Gun Gale Online, reviewing Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop feels like going backwards.

Anyway, we got three bounty hunters, Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, and Faye Valentine, who travels around space on board of The Bebop, catching criminals, collecting bounties, and survive in the rough world of crime, all of them trying to escape or overcome a dark past. Spike is a former associate of the Red Dragon Syndicate with outstanding fighting and marksmanship skills. Jet is the captain of the Bebop, but he worked for the Intra Solar System Police (ISSP) but quitted after losing his arm, and Faye is an amnesiac femme fatale who uses her body to seduce men and get what she wants. But I will talk about her later.

For those who watched the 1998 anime, know what I am talking about.

And speaking about the original anime, the story run for 26 episodes, the Netflix version has ten episodes, whose runtime varies between 39 and 56 minutes, being filmed in New Zealand from 2019 to 2021, and having the stars of John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda and Alex Hassell as Spike, Jet, Faye and Vicious respectively.

Finally, Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop was produced by Tomorrow Studios, along with Sunrise Inc, which is the original Japanese studio that brought us the original anime, and distributed by… Who else? Netflix. All of the episodes were released on Netflix on November 19, 2021.

All the music was composed by Yoko Kanno, the composer of the 1998 anime.

STORY

Alright. This GIF of Jay Sherman represent my own feelings.

Ok. Jokes apart. First a little realisation of this series before answering whether is good or not.

Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop is absolutely one of the best live-action adaptations of an anime the company has ever done.

Relax. Take it easy. I never say it was good. Furthermore there is a valid reason of me to say that. The lack of competition… inside the Netflix originals. Because, on one hand, we have a soulless, rushed and incoherent adaptation of Saint Seiya, done with Uncanny Valley…

Yes. This sh$t exists.

…and on the other, we have, in my opinion, the WORST, GOSH-AWFUL ADAPTATION OF AN ANIME DONE BY A WESTERN COMPANY, EVEN WORSE THAN DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION. I mean…

And now, the big question, although I indirectly answered it. Is Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop good? In short terms…

NO!!! NO FREAKING WAY!!

Just because I think Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop is the best adaptation of an anime done by Netflix, does not mean I find it good. In fact, is all the opposite. But well. Let me start talking about the good points, which are practically counted with the fingers of one hand.

First and foremost… the soundtrack. And with all good reason, because it was composed by Yoko Kanno, like I said, the original composer. And that is the way, because nothing related to Cowboy Bebop can work without the music of Yoko Kanno. It is like doing a Star Wars movie, cartoon or TV series without the score of John Williams, or its essence. It is a crime. Also, John Cho as Spike Spiegel looks decent.

Obviously Cho’s age plays against him. He definitely does not like a 27-year-old bounty hunter, but somehow Cho compensates that with his acting, and I can forgive everything else. Also, the production design is really good on the space scenes, in fact, I will go far to say that is «Galactically Supernovistic», trust me, if you see the episodes, spot the space scenes, you will love them (I repeat myself… IF You see them.)

Finally, the opening credits are really fantastic, I would dare to say that it the best part of this adaptation. Well-done guys.

And now… the bad stuff.

Just like in some parts, the production design looks fantastic, in others it looks terrible, mostly in the urban areas, one example is on episode one, where the Bebop arrives to Tijuana colony. It really looks cheap, And I remember there is a scene from 2019 Alita: Battle Angel, where the background looks similar, but better. 1000 times better. And that is not the only example. Check this out.

I hope I am not the only one show thinks that the backgrounds look cheap. And this is not acceptable; I have seen many fan films who put more effort on the production design than this, and since this is all done by Netflix, is pretty sad.

Another big problem is that the fight scenes aren’t that exciting either, especially in comparison with the anime, and the movie for that matter. And the thing is that with animation, you have more freedom to transmit and polish the feeling of an action scene, and unfortunately the production of Netflix is unable to fully adapt that. Sometimes they attempt to make the action identical to the Taken and the John Wick franchises. But still, they do not succeed.

Finally… Is it just me, or this series is trying so hard to copy Quentin Tarantino in style and aesthetics? That could be consider a cute approach… if this was a fan series. But it isn’t! The key work here is… COPY. Not influenced, not referenced… A blatant copy, and with someone as Tarantino, that is so lame.

Moreover… Who told Netflix that forcing social commentary about big companies in Cowboy Bebop was a good idea? I mean… in the first episode, the criminal, I already forgot his name, tells about how he lost his job due to the «big companies», and that pushes him to hold a Casino at gunpoint. And of course, both Jet and Spike seizes him. But I ended up wondering… Was that background relevant to the story? NO! Was ever mentioned again? NO! Did that strengthen something like world-building? I’ll say NO! Then why did Netflix included it? Because is part of their political agenda. Simple as that.

Of course, those changes to the story appear to be the order of the day. But I will talk about that in a second. Because Netflix changes so many things to the story, that I don’t even know where to start, and those changes, far from improving the lore of Cowboy Bebop, they bastardises it. Case in point… Mama Matsumoto.

In the original anime, Whitney Hagas Matsumoto was a con artist who pretended to love Faye, but in the end, he dropped her massive debts; just to re-appear three years later and try to scam her once more, which motivated Faye to discard him and distrust people at all.

And what did Netflix do in its series?

Source: Watchmojo

Matsumoto was changed for a woman.

Look, If I hated Netflix’s guts, I would think this was done due to political correctness. No. I will go too far and say that Netflix executives said this:

«A man exploiting a defenseless woman? No! That’s sexist. If we include this, we are sexist. And let’s change this dickhead for a woman. Yeah! We are inclusive.«

And trust me, this is one example. My point is that, when you think Netflix adapted the story properly, it is accompanied by a forced change that ruins the story and the characters; trust me when I say they appear to be the order of the day; and when I speak of the characters, I will go into more detail. Speaking of Faye… What is that generic costume of hers?

Alright. I agree that female characters need as much development, writing and care as male characters in fiction, not just breasts and butts. But in the case of Faye, her sexy figure was justified, because her body was a weapon against gangsters and murderers, who fall for her and do her bidding. But no. Again… Let’s change that and do Faye a hooligan, with a sailor mouth because… Superficial empowerment.

WHEE!!! ALL MEN ARE GARBAGE.

And what really enrages me is that the costume designer admits she wasn’t feeling comfortable adapting Faye like this? Here is the link for you to check out.

<https://www.insider.com/cowboy-bebop-costume-designer-resistant-faye-valentine-overtly-sexualized-2021-11&gt;

And I ask… Woman… Why the heck did you take this job in the first place? If you were to do things horribly just to be more… realistic, then quit and leave it to someone who was do to this properly. Also because… it feels so lazy.

And most likely, some people who read my entry will call me – sexist, chauvinistic, retrograde, woman-hater, fascist for thinking like that. But… I don’t care. I am not going to lie just for make a bunch of SJW dickheads who are not going to even watch Cowboy Bebop happy.

Like I said, the story is not that well-adapted, and indeed, many of the fans will feel disappointed, myself included.

CHARACTERS

Also, the characters are not that engaging either.

John Cho looks decent, but Daniella Pineda looks awful, and the fact that she openly mocks and trolls those who disagree with her does not help het at all.

But she is not the only one.

I have nothing against Mustafa Shakir. As as matter of fact, I love him. He is a fantastic actor, especially as Jet Black. But in the physical part, he does not convince me, and it is not his fault.

Every time I think of Jet Black, I think on his imposing man of almost two meters.

But… just look

And I do not know if it is because he is not that tall, or he is not that built. But Mustafa Shakir does not complete the role of Jet, however… it is not his fault.

And it is not as sad as with Vicious… Good Grief!!! What they did to Vicious.

All the fans of Cowboy Bebop know that Vicious is simply one of the greatest villains in all anime – he is unpredictable, intelligent, sadistic and manipulative, and the fact that he is like that under that gangster, along with his actions, makes him more terrifying and dangerous.

And what did Netflix do to him? Just look.

What, in everything good and decent of this world, is this? A white wig and a bad cosplay of a NPC from Bloodborne. You know what I think? I think he looks less than Vicious and more than the white haired companion of Frank, you know, the talking dog from Men In Black.

And all that badassery is replaced with some spoiled brat attitude that looks awful, always at the servitude of Julia. Oh!!! Before I forgot to mention… Julia is the villain. Yeah… You heard it right. There is a plot twist in the final episode, in which Julia shoots Spike, and makes him fall through the Church Glass, just like in the iconic scene of the Ballad of the Fallen Angels.

JULIA IS THE VILLAIN. THE ONE WHO TAKES OVER THE RED DRAGON SYNDICATE. NOT VICIOUS.

Julia… that beautiful woman who represents the most human side of both Spike and the world of Cowboy Bebop. The one Spike hold on to feel Hope. But now… she is the main villain, worse still… she imprisons and tortures Vicious at the end.

Honestly… calling this a huge disrespect and travesty is an understatement. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

CONCLUSION

It’s no wonder why Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop is a failure toward fans. Leaving the huge impossibility to adapt the beloved 1998 anime in a perfect fashion aside, there are too many changes for the worse, and a more than notorious lack of passion and soul on this project.

The action is not that exciting, there are so many fillers, our beloved characters are mere stereotypes, and is boring… excruciatingly boring. And yet… I think is the best anime adaptation from Netflix. How bad is that?

All I can say is that… stick with the 1998 anime, and the subsequent movie. Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop is not as bad as Netflix’s Death Note, but definitely is still bad.

And since I already gave my opinion of it, when the time, I will give my opinion of Netflix’s Death Note, and trust me… I will save countless lives.