Trigun: Badlands Rumble (2011)

Thanks for the memories!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Blistering performances.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Trigun is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow (Gungrave, Kekkai Sensen). The manga was serialized in 'Tokuma Shoten's Shounen Captain' in 1995, with three collected volumes when the magazine was discontinued in 1997. The series continued in 'Shounen Gahosha's Young King Ours' magazine, under the title 'Trigun Maximum', where it remained until finishing in 2008. Both manga were adapted into an anime television series in 1998. Madhouse animated the TV series, which aired on TV Tokyo between April 1, 1998 and September 30, 1998, totaling 26 episodes. An animated film called 'Trigun: Badlands Rumble' was released in April 2010.Vash the Stampede, a gunfighter with a giant bounty on his head, always wearing his favorite red-colored trench coat, is back. Scary as it may sound, he is actually a very nice guy that values the life a lot. Twenty years ago, Vash saves Gasback, who is the world's number 1 wanted criminal. Almost. However, twenty years later he finds himself in a town, where, for reason, many bounty hunters are gathered. Among them, there is also a young lady, who wants to kill Gasback really badly. Why does Vash try to save Gasback's life?Visually speaking, this is the best that Vash and his friends have ever looked onscreen. The animation is, of course, new, but what is interesting is that it is still similar to what it was back in 1998. The animator team paid attention to every detail starting with Vash's coat and ending with bar brawls. What is more, the action scenes are just marvelous. Sound wise, both English and Japanese dubs are equally good; you are free to watch this movie in whatever language you wish. There are also many not only guitar tunes, but also some gentle tunes, when the dramatic side of the movie is shown. Character wise, the movie has some awesome characters. There are three main characters and three supporting characters (who are manly Vash's old friends). Gasback is the main antagonist of the movie. He has a 300 million bounty on his head for robberies, but he also follows his own code of conduct for a perfect robbery. Vash is the second protagonist of the movie. For those who still have not seen the original TV series, I am just going to say that he is a very nice guy that values the life of people a lot. The last main character of the movie is Amelia Ann McFly. She is an extremely beautiful young lady that can fight for her own hand. Not much is known about her, but she, for some reason, wants to kill Gasback. There are also three supporting characters, including: Stryfe Meryl, Thompson Milly and Wolfwood Nicholas D, whom you should know already. All in all, Trigun, just like Gintama, knows how to balance different genres. It knows how to make the viewer laugh, it knows when to show drama, and it knows when to show action. Of course, it might be difficult for you to understand what this movie is about, so it is highly recommended to watch the original TV series first. However, if you are one of these 'picky about old animation viewers', you are free to skip the TV series; you will still understand the main idea of the movie. Enough with that. I give this movie a 9/10 for being extremely entertaining. A great thanks to the author for this wonderful 'goodbye' for all the fans of Trigun.P.S. Also check Gungrave. It is a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

This was a good movie: Even when the plot feels pretty much like a extended episode of the original series (More exactly, one of the first 11 episodes, before things start to turn more dramatic and serious) I think it was entertaining enough, having some of my favorite elements of "Trigun", such as the good balance of comedy, adventure and seriousness and very likable characters.The animation from this movie was excellent, showing a huge improvement in comparison with the original anime. The same goes for the art and the designs, which keep the same style from the television show.Without being as great as the last episodes of the " Trigun" anime series, this movie worked very well for me as a very enjoyable and well made animated flick.

Trigun Badlands Rumble is a very good movie, with some nice nostalgia for Trigun fans.It's in the style of the first half of the series, Vash wandering around getting into trouble and helping people out. He runs into our cool heroine of the movie, Amelia, and she's quite likable. Of course, Meryl, Millie, and Wolfwood are in the house as well.The story here is not black and white with good guys and bad guys, it's interesting in that the villains of this movie aren't all that evil, and overall the movie has a more laid-back feel than you might expect.One cool aspect is how they incorporate Vash's past and how old he is, by tying in a flashback from 20 years prior into the current events. We have some nice fun dialogue, great slapstick humor, a crazy bar brawl, lots of action, and a bit of drama to give it some weight. The animation is the most flawless aspect of the movie, the art is detailed and it's lushly done. There's a lot of great detail, and all the wacky background characters have a lot of care put into them.Overall, though the plot takes a couple clever turns, the movie is just a nicely done, very straightforward light action romp, done well. I enjoyed the ending especially, which had a nice way of commenting on Vash's ideals. And of course, this movie is even better for letting us hang out with those classic Trigun characters for another hour and a half. Check it out!

I wish I could write about spoilers. But I can't. And I won't out of principle. But more on that later.I got to see Badlands Rumble during its world premier run at Sakura-Con 2010 in Seattle. This was almost a year after seeing the world premier of the trailer and the panel at Anime Expo in 2009. I had been excited about this since the rumors started, and the at the panel I was given a taste of what the movie could be.By the time I finally saw it I didn't care that it was raw and I couldn't understand more than just a couple of passing phrases. It was Trigun. It was a movie. It had the original cast. It was SHINY. And oh yeah. Wolfwood was back. I sat in a fangirl stupor enjoying the pretty on the screen. So that's why I really can't write about spoilers - I suppose I could try and give something away via analyzing the animation, but I could be very, very wrong.Chronologically speaking, Badlands Rumble takes place somewhere in the middle of the series. Hence Wolfwood still being alive. The prologue is dated about twenty years (I think) before the start of the series, but the bulk of the movie takes place in the middle of the series. In addition to fan favorite characters returning (including Wolfwood, but you should know this already), there are a handful of new characters created just for the movie. In terms of animation, it's much sharper and cleaner than the TV series - basically it's what the TV series would look like if they made it today. It should be noted, however, that despite the ten year gap in production between the series and the movie, the character designs are the same. No radical make-overs, they just look cleaner and sharper. Seriously, visually speaking, the movie is a treat.A major coup for the movie is the return of the four original cast members. No word on if it will cross over into the dub or not (if Funimation is smart, they'll have the four main actors return). Another coup is Tsuneo Imahori returning for the music. While it's not the exact same tracks from the series, the spirit of the music is the same, all while keeping an independent feeling unique to the movie.Big Damn Movie, indeed! As my friends and I exited the auditorium, Satoshi Nishimura thanked everyone who attended at the door. My friends and I enjoyed ourselves so much we actually bowed and thanked him for the honor of allowing us to attend one of the first screenings of the movie. He got all embarrassed and I swear he blushed. But seriously. Well deserved praise, Nishimura-san.It should be noted that the first time a recognizable character appeared on screen, the whole room went up in cheers and whoops of joy. Even when Kuroneko-sama appeared. Actually, every time Kuroneko-sama appeared. I think it goes to show just how much the American audience loves Trigun, and the fact that even ten years later it could get its very own Big Damn Movie. I have no idea what its reception at Anime Expo was this year (as it had finally been subtitled at that point), but I can imagine that it was just as enthusiastic as it was at Sakura-con, especially given how packed the Trigun movie panel was the year before.I cannot wait until this movie comes out on DVD. I was completely blown away by watching it raw, I'm sure that feeling will be ramped up to eleven when I can finally understand what they're saying.