The intro of Trigun, an anime from 1998, shows a badass guy with spiky blond hair on a distant, deserted planet, walking around in a cool red coat and slinging a massive gun. As soon as the show begins, however, all of the macho-action vibes fade away.
We see Vash helplessly running away from bandits trying to cash in on the 60 billion double-dollar bounty on his head. We see him chasing after girls and stuffing his face with donuts. And the more we get to know the dorky, child-loving, friendly, couldn’t-hurt-a-fly Vash, the more we wonder: Is anything ever going to happen in this show? Of course, it eventually does—because with such a fat price tag on him, bounty hunters of all shapes and sizes can never resist targeting Vash for too long.
Soon, we learn that Vash is actually rather powerful. In fact, he can deal with almost any adversary in seconds. For some reason, however, he usually chooses not to. Vash only steps in when someone’s about to get hurt, and, most of the time, the day ends with everyone home safe and sound. Here is a guy who could wipe out entire towns yet constantly talks about “love and peace!”
Naturally, the people Vash befriends throughout the show are puzzled by his behavior. The two ladies from the insurance company tasked with tracking him down, for example, mistake him for someone else throughout several encounters until realizing they actually have found Vash. “The humanoid typhoon? A donut-loving guy like this? No way!”
One of Vash’s friends in particular, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a former bounty hunter—and also a priest with a huge cross for a gun—cannot parse Vash’s attitudes to life. Wolfwood is used to shooting bad people in order to protect those he deems good. Seeing Vash refuse to do the same, even when life gets really, really dangerous, makes him question our hero’s ideals, and not just in his head.
In the end, however, there is one trait above all that allows Vash to move everyone, first in their hearts and then to his side: stubbornness. Vash is so pigheaded, so unrelenting in his insistence on love, peace, and happiness, that, sooner or later, all of his friends come around—if only for being so annoyed by his persistence, they throw up their arms and say, “Fine, we’ll do it your way!” That’s both inspiring and, when someone aspires to ideals like Vash’s, worth emulating.
Trigun is a fun pastime but also a complex show that asks many questions about ethics, philosophy, and morality. It holds many a good lesson one can learn, but for me, the most memorable one was this: When you know you’re on the right side of history, do what the humanoid typhoon would do, and stick to your guns. Sooner or later, the world will come around—and even if they don’t, at least you’ll have stuck your neck out for what’s right.