#stargaze

Stargaze

「夜についての詩には触れないでおく。たしかに美しい響きよ？ でも、どういうわけかいつも、ほんのちょっとだけお腹がすいてきちゃうのよね。」 ――アビゲール

I watched Trigun Stampede when that came out (why did they change the name to Trigun Stargaze? Why not just Stampede season two? Weird. Anyway…) and it didn’t really make an impact. I wasn’t a fan of the new character designs, I missed Milly (even though I did like Roberto far more than I had thought I would from the concept). They made some interesting changes, drawing from the manga more than the 98 anime (good choice!) while constructing a third, independent narrative from the same bricks and main beats, but that lack of real interest in Stampede is why it took me a while to get to Stargaze after it came out.

So finally on to Stargaze and oh! Here is my Trigun! Vash looks like Vash (shallow, I know, but important), Milly is here. All the character dynamics are up and rolling how they should be. We get the full Livio/Lazlo storyline (I refuse to call him Razlo 🤪). So many moments where I’m all ‘That's a panel from the manga!’ Wolfwood and his vials, Aunt Melanie and the orphanage kids throwing their paper for him, both in his mind and in reality. Vash infusing his Plant powers into his bullets.

The breakout from the Ark! The way they did that, with Wolfwood hanging out on the Ark all those months, insinuating himself with his old abusers while he waited for Legato to weaken, ouch. Vash’s decision to kill Legato. The fallibility of Rem, who tried so hard, but was always human, not the ideal created in Vash’s mind. Meryl convincing the hijacked Plants to take a side and making the most fervent of promises. Stargaze gave me the emotional feels!

I loved the Midvalley storyline – his character arc made sense, because he was only ever in it through fear and coercion; the Eye of Michael and the Gung Ho Guns were never his philosophy. Emilio I was less convinced by – he was an outlier child who made a very bad choice, and then was indoctrinated through decades. I imagine that would be considerably harder to come back from than Stargaze had time for. Once again, there was no real attempt to explain Legato, which is probably for the best XD

And Wolfwod gets to live, just this once. And Vash has all his people, refusing to let him brood, refusing to leave him, and they’ll all be fine ❤️❤️❤️

“We used to have these with Rem back on Ship Three,” said Vash, voice soft, glistening red lips curled into a small smile. His faraway gaze mirrored the color and vastness of the clear sky above them.

Wolfwood’s face scrunched up in confusion, mouth twisting and nose crinkling. “I thought you didn't need to eat.”

A moment passed before Vash reacted. He turned to Wolfwood who sat next to him on the grass and blinked a few times. “Oh, right,” he breathed out in a chuckle. “It's true, but I still enjoy it. Some foods taste really good, and others…” He looked down to the bowl in his hands and let out a sad little sigh. “Others bring back memories.”

Stargazing