‘Trigun Stargaze’ Episode 4 review: “From Order to Chaos”

Despite struggling to recapture the staggering quality of its first season, Trigun Stargaze Episode 4 offers up its own visual splendor. And, conversely, one of the most shocking displays of gruesome violence the show has demonstrated so far. But there’s a lingering sense that they’re rushing the plot in “From Order to Chaos.” So much so that it feels it’s speeding through fundamental pieces of character growth and necessary interaction to get to the next big clash. While undoubtedly effective with the anchor of the indomitable spirit of our protagonist, it’s a shame that the pacing adapts to such a sprint. Because the softer moments of contemplation are just as riveting as the moments of inevitable action.

Most of “From Order to Chaos” splits between two camps. And both, in their own way, are led up by the pair of brothers – Vash  (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka)  and Knives (Junya Ikeda/Ryūji Satō). In both narratives, running concurrently as the Knives team chases down Vash and co., the story suggests deeper, more probing themes that, with 12 episodes, the season surely won’t be able to deliver on.

So much to dig into, so little time.

At least, not to the extent that they deserve. A reinterpretation of the classic story by Yasuhiro Nightow, there are layers and layers of subtext, a beautiful sense of melancholic longing that blankets the production.

That overwhelming atmosphere urges us to want the story to luxuriate a bit in the tone it’s crafted. To give us something more akin to Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. Something meditative in its contemplations, rather than offering piecemeal fragments of thought-provoking. But that’s not the type of story Studio Orange is intent on. And it’s not that it’s wholly ineffective. A lot of this boils down to the greed of a fan who adores the world created and the tragic, enigmatic protagonist at its center. But the pacing chafes against so much of what the story is trying to accomplish.

The parallels between Vash and Knives grow even more striking – and tragic.

This is evident in the entire plot surrounding Knives. Knives, who, interestingly, is becoming an echo of the carnage he wrought in Season 1. He, too, no longer possesses his autonomy, as he had tried to strip Vash of his. Yes, his body is healing at a faster rate thanks to Legato (Koki Uchiyama) and Elendira (Ayumu Murase), but at what cost? For a villain who prioritizes the health and vitality of Plants over humanity, his two followers sacrificing other plants to graft their body parts to speed up Knives’s regeneration is a sticky, moral quandary for the antagonist to have to face – if he ever has to.

The theft of these plants goes against everything Knives stood for. Something that’s heightened when, through the process, we see him begin to dream about Telsa, whose adolescence mirrored his and Vash’s but with distinctive differences that lead to abuse and manipulation. Trigun Stargaze Episode 4 wallows in this murkiness as it follows Knives and co., including the most recent addition, Midvalley the Hornfreak (Shin-ichiro Miki).

Through his perspective, we watch one of the most inhumane acts of brutality the show has delivered so far, as Legato indulges in a particularly violent display of suffering, killing an entire group of people who’d been stationed to protect a plant. Plant or human, Legato and Elendira have little respect for either.

A moment of peace soon to be interrupted.

This builds an engaging undercurrent that connects the antagonists and protagonists. Legato and Elendira are purely self-serving. Knives who see plants as superior beings, looking to eradicate human life. And then, Vash, who wants nothing more than peace and love and a world that accepts him as he is, an independent plant seeking the embrace of humanity. It’s all coming to a head as Legato steers his crew in the direction of Ship Three to steal more plants to speed up Knives’ healing further.

Ship Three, which is where Trigun Stargaze Episode 4 finds moments of earned tranquility. There are so few moments when Vash is allowed to be still (which aligns with his Stampede moniker), which makes these smaller interactions stand out. From sharing a meal to finally chopping off his depression locks (and returning us to his original hairstyle) to the small hints of genuine friendship and camaraderie between him, Wolfwood (Yoshimasa Hosoya), and Meryl (Sakura Ando), these scenes give the story greater depth because it’s no longer just about Vash trying to maintain his pacifism. It’s about what he stands to lose if he can’t manage to pull the trigger to stop the destructive, world-leveling pursuits of his brother.

Striking an iconic pose when Wolfwood returns his gun to him after it was lost in July, the framing depicts the crux of the series. A pacifist with a gun, with no desire to aim it.

Trigun Stargaze Episode 4 shows signs of narrative strain.

Vash and friends know that Knives, if he’s alive, isn’t going to wait for the second colony fleet to arrive. What they don’t realize is that the attack is premature, already on the horizon. This leaves Trigun Stargaze Episode 4 on a critical cliffhanger. Wolfwood charges ahead to meet the threat as Vash has his prosthetic arm repaired, and the stakes are dire, the tension taut, even though we’ve seen them battle other major threats before. But this is the endgame of this interpretation, and it’s hard not to worry about this ragtag group of journalists, conmen priests, and endlessly wandering souls.

The animation still isn’t quite as striking as the tactility of Season 1. But the landscapes and details help alleviate the character movements that read flatter this time around. The plants themselves remain a haunting portrait of contained life, and the scene in which Midvalley plays his saxophone across the expansive desert is a wonderful use of surreal fantasy imagery. It’s so weird, so unnecessarily over-the-top with its Mad Max likeness of arty sci-fi, that it escapes succumbing to simply silliness. Bizarre but captivating.

Trigun Stargaze Episode 4 shows signs of strain as it tries to fit in all the elements that make the story memorable while hurtling through major plot points. It remains transfixing as the threat looms overhead. The only issue is that, with the talent on board and the rich narrative at its disposal, it feels like it could accomplish so much more.

Trigun Stargaze Episode 4 is available now on Crunchyroll. 

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Images courtesy of Studio Orange.