Anime NYC 2022

Trigun Stampede Special Panel

ANN's coverage of Anime NYC sponsored by Yen Press!

Arguably the most anticipated anime premiere of Anime NYC 2022 was the first episode of Trigun Stampede, over a month before its January 2023 debut on Crunchyroll. Before the premiere, the con hosted a panel that included trailers, concept art, and discussion with producers Kiyotaka Waki from Studio Orange and Katsuhiro Takei from TOHO animation. Yoshihiro Watanabe, another producer at Orange, provided English translation while occasionally chiming in with his thoughts. The pre-premiere section of the panel was made available via streaming.

Upon entering the panel, attendees received “boarding passes” to Project SEEDS. The panel started with a screening of the second trailer. Waki said he's “marveled” by how much energy American fans have. Speaking of “marvel,” Takei noted that manga-ka Yasuhiro Nightow forced them to watch every single Marvel movie, and so he was thinking a lot about Daredevil while staying at a hotel in Hell's Kitchen. Takei joked that while New York is a “cool” city, “it's very hot in here.”

Marvel and DC's regular rebooting of their superhero characters was one of Takei's inspirations for how to make a new adaptation of Trigun. He was inspired to do this reboot because Vash the Stampede is his personal hero, akin to how others might view Batman or Spider-Man. As passionate as Takei is, he said, “I think everyone at Orange right now has the same level of passion,” which Waki confirmed was true.

The pitch documents for Trigun Stampede included concept art illustrating the conclusion of Trigun Maximum, which was shown at the panel. This was to emphasize that this new anime will be able to adapt the entire manga plotline, unlike the 1998 anime, which was made while the manga was still in progress.

Takei gave a one-sentence summary of Stampede, designed to get Trigun manga fans excited without spoiling anything about it to newcomers: “It's a story about heading to a city called July.” The panel debuted two pieces of concept art for July, eliciting gasps from the audience. Waki said that one of the most interesting aspects of the manga is how much of the world isn't shown, which gave freedom for the concept artists and writers to elaborate upon this world.

One image from the panel of which no photographs were allowed was an original draft of the set-up written by Takehiko Okishi. Okishi was initially asked to join the project based on only vague NDA-friendly descriptions but instantly guessed it was “that project.” Takei says this extensive development of concepts not directly shown in the anime itself but informing it was something new for Japanese animation.

Though Orange makes everything in CGI, hand-drawn facial expression references were used as a foundation to share the vision of the characters among the team. Several reference drawings were shown, the clear audience favorite being one of Vash crying.

The streamed portion of the panel concluded with a new trailer explicitly made for Anime NYC, revealing some of the villains of the anime: Legato, Zazie, and William. Discussing the series' main antagonist, Knives, Waki said, “Trigun is about Vash, but there's another key person here who is Knives, the brother of Vash. Director Kenji Mutō wanted to understand how emotion works with Knives.

"If you really simply put it, they're villains, but it's actually not that simple. There are far more things to understand about them.” Takei added, “There are two brothers; there are two sides to things.”

Then it was time to watch the world premiere. And it was excellent! Right from the start, it distinguished itself from the old anime by immediately getting into Vash and Knives' backstory. The opening scene of the brothers as children facing a horrific disaster aboard the SEEDS spaceship is directed like something straight out of Star Wars (the opening shot of the ship is a direct homage). The episode is bookended with more information about Knives and the promise of a more intense story and character development from the get-go, while still allowing for the fun episodic space-western adventures that defined early Trigun.

Also distinguishing Stampede is Orange's exceptional CG animation. Though some might miss the designs of the hand-drawn series, the basic fact is this is a much higher quality work of CG animation compared to the old show's traditional animation. With Land of the Lustrous and BEASTARS, Orange set the standard for how to do computer animation well on a TV budget (Watanabe says he often finds himself asking “Why are you doing this much quality? This doesn't make sense as a TV show!”). This is Orange's first show where the main characters are human (or visually indistinguishable from humans), and these are by far the most expressive, fluidly moving CG humans in any TV anime.

If there are any quibbles I can make with the animation, it's that at times it almost feels over- animated. The common problem with CG character animation is being too stiff; Stampede sometimes goes the opposite direction where characters gesticulate so much that it feels unnatural. Yet, I hesitate to describe this as a weakness so much as something that takes getting used to. Certainly, the hyperactive movement helped sell a lot of Mery's comedic moments, as well as the most jaw-dropping sections of the episode's big climactic gun duel.

Offering parting words after the screening, Waki told the audience, “We want to continue to betray people's expectations, go beyond that, and keep on raising the bar throughout the entire season.” Takei thanked the audience for its warm reception, and addressed its appeal to multiple generations of fans: “Isn't it great that there are new Trigun fans? I hope you give them a warm welcome. For those who've been loving Trigun for years, there are still many surprises in the show.” The event concluded with the producers taking photographs of the adoring crowd.