tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520528486728008071.post2188832780691828205..comments2024-03-22T17:14:36.551-04:00Comments on Wasteland And Sky: The Difference: Anime EditionJD Cowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03548340507655076198noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520528486728008071.post-41352577314708921162016-04-06T23:04:17.806-04:002016-04-06T23:04:17.806-04:00Thank you for your post, sir!
Trigun had a sort o...Thank you for your post, sir!<br /><br />Trigun had a sort of lightning-in-a-bottle combination of talent that has made it stick so well over the years. The original manga by Yasuhiro Nightow (Blood Blockade Battlefront), the direction by Satoshi Nishimura (Ushio & Tora), and the head writing by Yousuke Kuroda (My Hero Academia) all combined together to make a distinctly Christian story into a full blown tale of saving sinners from damnation, discovering mercy and justice are two sides of the same coin, and that the truth is in the Cross, all while the Lord follows alongside the characters.<br /><br />Did you ever notice, for instance, that throughout Trigun the two suns are always staring down at the world like two eyes watching everything? That's not coincidental. The very first time they are distinctly shone is in the first episode right after a random character dismisses everyone being saved as "a miracle without God's help" and the camera pans from Vash and lingers on the suns. Every time they are shown afterwards it is in a moment of reflection for a character or just after something horrific has occurred. The way they look like they are blurry and crying after Legato essentially kills himself as very striking. I couldn't believe how much care was put into the series when I realized all of this.<br /><br />The way it references so much biblical material from the Fall to Cain and Abel to the Cross saving the damned, all while still telling a ripping yarn about a gunslinger is one of the most impressive storytelling tricks I've come across. It's not message fiction, you can miss all of it and still enjoy the story to an immense degree, but what's there under the surface is truly remarkable. When I realized years later no longer watching from agnostic eyes, I finally understood why it stuck with me for so long.<br /><br />That's a long way of saying I agree with you, but I am a bit batty for Trigun. With MacBeth, the Hobbit, and the Outsiders, it is the work of fiction that made me want to try my hand at this whole storytelling thing.<br /><br />As for their other works, Blood Blockade Battlefront in so intensely Catholic I'm surprised it came from Japan. Even putting aside the fact that they fight with blood, the final confrontation with the final enemy is not something you see every day.<br /><br />Ushio & Tora is Buddhist, but in the traditional way where Good and Evil are things that exist in direct opposition to each other and Good actually will win in the end (as opposed to the modern way where good is basically evil with a lamer jacket so, you know, a pox on both their houses) and has a good Superversive bent to it.<br /><br />My Hero Academia is a superhero show where the main character risks life and limb to save people, and lives in a world where superheroes are so common they're taken for granted. I'm a big fan of the manga, so I can only imagine what the writer behind Trigun can do.<br /><br />I'm not sure what stars aligned to allow all three of them to have new shows out at the same time, and great ones at that, but I definitely won't be complaining about it. Anime has needed this for some time now.JD Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03548340507655076198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520528486728008071.post-26466009550760283492016-04-06T22:01:09.874-04:002016-04-06T22:01:09.874-04:00Bravo, Mr. Cowan. You've elegantly summed up t...Bravo, Mr. Cowan. You've elegantly summed up the main reasons for my own aversion to post-1990s anime. It's good to know that the creators of Trigun are still in the game. I'll have to sample their new stuff.<br /><br />Somewhat tangential: I've long had a theory that Trigun--the anime; not the manga--is a thinly veiled retelling of the Gospel in an SF setting.<br /><br />Thoughts?Brian Niemeierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15276948258089365826noreply@blogger.com