Theatrical Review: “Trigun Badlands Rumble”
The Trigun series has been a favorite anime and manga of mine for years. It seems almost for an equally long time I’ve waited to see new material. Fans at the Anime Expo in 2010 got the chance to see a subtitled version of the Badlands Rumble, and that same year, American distributor, FUNimation, was announced as licensing the title for later in 2011. This year, FUNimation held a private press screening where I was finally able to see the new English dub. Long have I anticipated the chance to see the adventures of Vash The Stampede back onscreen again, but more so, to have actor Johnny Yong Bosch once again play the peace loving gunman. It seems the anime gods have finally answered my prayers.
Key members of the staff and crew from the TV series have returned for this new feature length follow-up including director Satoshi Nishimura, character designer Takahiro Yoshimatsu, and the impeccable composer Tsuneo Imahori. Writer Yasuko Kobayashi wrote the screenplay from a story developed by Nishimura and the original Trigun and Trigun Maximum manga-ka, Yasuhiro Nightow. The staff ultimately opted for a standalone story set in the timeline of the 1990’s TV series for Trigun. The show looks to take place before Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson started accompanying the humanoid typhoon and before Vash was pursued by the Gung Ho Guns, Legato, and his brother Knives. One could call this a light-hearted filler tale, but that doesn’t make it bad.
In this story, the prologue starts twenty years before the action of the main story. Vash (Bosch) gets mixed up in a bank robbery involving the extremely serious bank robber, Gasback (John Swasey). Gasback’s cohorts however betray him, but Vash intervenes in order to prevent anyone from dying due to his pacifist nature and belief that no one should be killed or murdered. Gasback ultimately escapes. Twenty years later, Gasback has put a long-gestating plan of vengeance into action. Gasback’s former partners have become rich and influential over the years, and one has even become mayor of a thriving city. Gasback intends to cause some trouble and possibly steal the city’s expensive statue which is being insured by the Bernardelli Insurance Agency who send their top employees Meryl Stryfe (Luci Christian) and Milly Thompson (Trina Nishimura) on the case to make sure nothing goes sour. The mayor has also conscripted countless mercenaries and bounty hunters to protect himself and his heirlooms. A situation like this cannot keep a personality like Vash away. Vash meets up with a mysterious and gorgeous bounty hunter by the name of Amelia (Colleen Clinkenbeard) who has a seemingly personal stake in Gasback’s capture or possibly death.
I loved seeing this group of characters together again with new, updated animation. The characters generally look as the same as the TV series counterparts but slightly tweaked. Since this is basically like an extended episode of the TV series it is still very much set in the unique sort of western, steampunk-esque world of Planet Gunsmoke. The animation quality is top notch and the CG visuals and mechanics are well integrated into the picture and story. The gargantuan plants which power the desert cities of Gunsmoke look much better and drawn out.
Bosch has not lost a beat as Vash and reinforces why Bosch’s portrayal of Vash is one of my personal favorites. Unfortunately, he is the only voice actor among the English cast form the TV series to reprise their role for the new movie. Luci Christian actually does well in matching the attitude and character of Meryl similar to Dorothy Melendrez who I also liked. I think Lia Sargent left a better impression as Milly in the TV series. Brad Hawkins is the new English voice of Wolfwood. He does the character OK, but he just lacks the strong and deep base of Jeff Nimoy so much that I really missed the original voice actor. Swasey is strong as Gasback, a character not too unlike Brilliant Dynamite Neon from the TV series.
The good news is that the movie will also be getting a limited theatrical release in the US with the help of Eleven Arts. The visuals and soundtrack are definitely something work checking out on a big screen if given the chance. Imahori does a nice little remix of the show’s original theme song, “H.T.,” but the original “The Wind Blows To The Future” by AKIMA and NEOS was well missed. Movies such as Trigun: Badlands Rumble most certainly proves that traditional animation is far from a dead medium in feature storytelling. It simply needs the right people and story given the opportunity to do something special.
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