I have a mental illness called TRIGUN STAMPEDE and y'all are so unready for when I drop the essay on how ep 12 did a great job of depicting the loss of female coded innocence in Vash and the fact that it was a deflowering scene. I was an OG Trigun fan for at least a decade btw
I’m writing a long series of essays concerning Trigun stampede and I’m just very excited about it and to share it with the fandom! it tells a story of the exploitation of women so tragically and in good faith
TLDR: I have some academic takes on why Vash is coded as a woman and Tristam explores rape and the female experience since the birth of Eve
Post-July, Wolfwood tracks down Amnesiac!Vash living as Eriks and says ‘you know what, fuck it, this is fine’ and just settles down in the town as the local undertaker/holy man (he’s terrible at it, but it’s a small enough town that no one can afford to be terribly picky about these things) to keep an eye out for any bounty hunters who might get funny ideas and interrupt the only peace Vash has probably had in the last 150 years.
It’s the first time Wolfwood’s had anything close to a 'normal’ life since he left the orphanage, even if he insists it’s just a job (that he assigned himself, with no pay, and no end in sight), and it’s… actually kind of nice. Maybe. Boring, but he’s gone long enough without having to chug a vial of the serum that he can almost forget what it tasted like, and the kids here are kinda cute and not too spooked by the preacher man in black, and when Eriks smiles it looks real.
Everything is fine.
Bonus: Vash actually does start to remember who he is, but keeps it under wraps because he doesn’t want to disrupt Wolfwood’s peace.
ok but like. he was absolutely by himself when he did it. and it’s something He himself did. alone. he decided to do it and did it, without help, amidst everything. probably in the bathroom of some shitty inn with horrible lighting, really late at night, when he just could not fucking relax. and it was something he wanted to do for awhile but, in that instant, actually doing it was a spur of the moment thing. he had the stuff on hand— not the BEST tools to use but like, fuck it. the pain was fleeting but his hands were steady. it was something that was his. always grounding to look at and remember. it’s something that will be there forever and hurt but it was something HE did. for himself. and that’s relieving. comforting. it’s his. and he can look in the mirror and see it. knowing that. whatever
Gonna say, my absolute favorite Wolfwood moment in Stampede is that one scene where he gets grumpy at Vash softly calling him “Wolfwood..” and spits “I’m Nicholas the Punisher” to hide his humanity behind the role of monster he was forcibly attributed.
And-
And then, this fucking show immediatly follows it with the title card “Wolfwood” which instantly shatters the indifferent mask he desperatly tries to hide behind.
If this isn’t peak cinema, I don’t know what it is.
