‘Trigun Stampede’ Episode 6 review: “Once Upon a Time in Hopeland” asks what’s up with Wolfwood

 

On a recent episode of Rookie Pirate Radio discussing Trigun Stampede, I expressed my feeling that the series was on the edge of early anime of the year talk. Trigun Stampede Episode 6, “Once Upon a Time in Hopeland,” pushes that line ever closer. Departing from its holding patterns in both visuals and story structure, this episode starts to assemble the disparate pieces of the past several episodes to escalate the real conflict in Noman’s Land and the damage Millions Knives has inflicted.

Much like the last episode, a flashback juxtaposes with present-day action sequences. However, the look at Wolfwood’s childhood and its abrupt ending departs significantly from the animation we’ve seen so far in Trigun Stampede. Things are returned to a more traditional animation style for the scenes featuring Wolfwood’s past. Framing his finding a friend at an orphanage this way creates a picture-book vibe, reinforced by removing the dialogue in favor of silent film-style text cards.

This stark contrast hits even harder when the illusion breaks, and we see that Wolfwood’s gruesome act from the last episode was far more personal than he let on in his talk about “mercy.” The picturesque memories give way to a horrific montage symbolizing the experimentation that Wolfwood and others endure. The entire sequence is beautiful and unsettling at once and does a great job of communicating Wolfwood’s forced metamorphosis.

Wolfwood’s storyline is the major, devastating pull. 

That only covers half of the episode – the rest sees Vash once again running from another after his head, this time the hunter is Wolfwood’s close friend from the orphanage. Compared to how he treated Rollo, his hesitation is clearly meant to be hypocritical. However, this setup is also a weakness. A lot about the situation is extremely similar to the previous Stampede episode, even though that one’s purpose was to tell more about Vash than “Once Upon a Time in Hopeland.”

Setting the action on a moving sandcrawler and adding elements like authorities and civilians keeps that familiarity from setting in too hard. But the more you think about it, the more it feels like an episode between these two would have been a bit more natural.

The reporter duo can’t quite manage the same level of intrigue. 

Additionally, our intrepid reporter sidekicks remain a weak link. Meryl and Roberto depart this episode willingly, with Roberto thinking the information they found about Vash has officially taken things beyond their scope. That’s not a bad direction for conflict between the seasoned Roberto and the greenhorn Meryl. But it takes them far away from events, only to imply they’ll be pulled back in by forces beyond their control and not directly connected to the Vash vs. Knives conflict. We’ll have to see if that vibe is right next episode.

But it is weird to keep seeing reporters dragged along for a story that should be compelling enough for them to invest in on principle. This next turn of events is the push Meryl needs to win over Roberto. However, like the similar setups with Vash and Wolfwood, it feels like we’ve done this.

Even with these lingering weaknesses, the episode as a whole is plenty strong enough to overcome them. Beginning to pay off Wolfwood’s mysteries so soon and moving the narrative further are far more important. We also don’t resolve things before credits, which hasn’t happened since the cliffhanger taking us into Episode 3. “Once Upon a Time in Hopeland” is another bold episode that is keeping me hooked on Trigun Stampede. Bring on what’s next, Orange.

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