‘Trigun Stampede’ Episode 5 review: “Child of Blessing” brings further humanity to our hero

Themes of toxic positivity aren’t new. But that doesn’t make the better takes on the idea any less potent. This is evident in Trigun Stampede, “Child of Blessing.” While Vash’s (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) pacifism has thus far read as endearing, if not a little naive, Trigun Stampede Episode 5 demonstrates the faults that lie within blind optimism in the face of unruly danger, as well as the rage and ego of men. He promised to save a child despite not grasping the full horror he was facing and failed to deliver. The bad guys won, and the peace the child received was twenty years too late and found in death. A man-made monster of whim put down and out of his subjected misery. 

Read More | Trigun Stampede: Anime Roundtable [Podcast]

It’s interesting that, despite the episodic nature and how many times the ragtag group nearly runs over some poor pedestrian standing against the vast nothingness of a desert, Trigun Stampede has maintained an undercurrent of tragedy that ties the series thematically. There are hijinks and character designs that lean into over-the-top flourishes, accentuating the fantastical, sci-fi, and western inspirations. But at the center of it all is a man seeking his right path while trying to save anyone and everyone, no matter their predicament. He wants bloodless scenery in a world that’s twice burned over.

This dichotomy makes for a more dynamic character, as Vash is no longer just the good-doer savior whose non-violent beliefs place him on a pedestal, looking down on the rest of society, but also a figure whose own stubborn ideologies leave him open to error. He preaches and saves. Despite this, kids face harm and death in just the first five episodes, no matter his attempts. It’s not his fault, not exactly, but to see him twice fail – either his expectations or those of others – makes for a fallible, intriguing character. He isn’t the hero who comes to impart his wisdom to others, but someone who is in the throes of figuring it out, often while running for his life.

There’s no escaping the horror and dread of Trigun Stampede Episode 5.

The horror of the episode comes from the boy Vash met years ago, Rollo. He grew up in a devoutly religious village where children were sacrificed to satisfy their Gods to bring wind to the village. He was abducted and experimented on. The result is a Frankenstein monster of weaponry and flesh.

Rollo, as we meet him, is not as rage-filled as the monster who faces down Vash and Wolfwood later. It’s the episode’s ability to splice the two timelines together so that we realize the character is the same that makes it such a gut punch.

As with the series leading up to now, the visuals are largely superb, especially in Vash’s animation, the crumbling of his hope towards the end, and the action sequences. Wolfwood’s character shines here as he did in the last episode, aided by a showstopping weapon in the form of his cross-shaped machine gun. Watching the two tear through the streets of this abandoned town, dust clouds rising above them as the machine races behind them, exemplifies the show’s kinetic animation at its best.

Vash and the many ghosts behind him.

Meryl and Roberto continue to be the least interesting characters, too confined to their roles as human foils to Vash and as characters there to react to the larger-than-life personalities. The viewer inserts, if you will. The two have been the greatest struggle for the entire series so far, though. Hopefully, as the pieces assemble and the main group comes together, their inclusion in the series, both stylistically and narratively, will be more seamless.

Their discoveries in the flashback also open the plot up (especially for those of us not privy to the original Trigun series) to a deeper mystery. We see a picture of Vash with a baby Rollo twenty-some-odd years ago. There was never any doubt he was more than he seemed. That was abundantly clear in his design and the entire existence of Knives and cohorts. But this creates even greater intrigue as we look to unravel the threads as we progress.

While better than last week’s set-up episode, it still doesn’t hit the heights they themselves set with episode three, but what will? If episodes one through four were the series prologue and chapter one, the fifth is when the story really gets going, as Vash begins to see the world through the eyes of those around him. With that comes some of the series’s most haunting imagery as, after lessons learned and suffering endured, the lights of the little town, their backs to the wall, come alive, the wind having returned due to Rollo’s decade-spanning sacrifice having commenced. In a series of wild highs and exaggerated animation, it’s a telling sign of the writer’s and artist’s prowess that such a revelation is handled with such delicacy—yet another sign of the ghosts left in Vash’s wake.

Trigun Stampede is available to stream now on Crunchyroll.

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Featured Image Courtesy of Crunchyroll / ©2023 Yasuhiro Nightow, SHONENGAHOSHA / TRIGUN STAMPEDE Project