IMPRESSIONS: TRIGUN STAMPEDE Episode 3 is a Fantastic Horror Anime
This article contains spoilers for TRIGUN STAMPEDE Episode 3: Bright Light, Shine through the Darkness
The introduction of a story’s antagonist is a critical point in a narrative. For every silly, big-hearted protagonist there’s an intriguing foil to cause major conflict. In the case of TRIGUN STAMPEDE, that introduction comes courtesy of Millions Knives, Vash’s brother who’s such an imposing presence the only thing our happy-go-lucky protagonist can do is tell everyone to run.
Compared to the first episode where Vash oops all berries himself into dangerous situations, Episode 3 raises the stakes in a way where the tone suddenly feels like a horror novella. Knives is treated like a “slow and steady wins the race” slasher icon in this episode, one who makes you question if you locked all the doors in your house. Do bullets even work on him? Probably not, as he sits down and plays his own theme music.
All of this feels like a stark contrast to the first two episodes of TRIGUN STAMPEDE. Out of nowhere, Knives is here bringing about bloodshed and chaos. But as a veteran “hide behind my pillow” horror fan, it all felt like the beautifully scripted, highly anticipated reveal of the story’s antagonist.
The Slow Burn
Like any good horror reveal, it’s all about the build-up.
When TRIGUN STAMPEDE begins, we see the brothers Vash and Knives (Nai) escaping from an explosion. The woman they see as their mother, Rem, sacrifices herself so they can get away. After that, it’s pretty much a lighthearted space western. There’s a Humanoid Typhoon two reporters, Roberto De Niro and Meryl Strife, are trying to get the scoop on, and it turns out that typhoon is a wholesome, bumbling sweetheart named Vash.
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Vash is nothing like the wanted posters make him out to be. He means well and he’s got a big heart, but trouble seems to follow him everywhere he goes. That doesn’t stop him from wanting to protect others, including the people who want the bounty on his head. When you look up “power of friendship” in the dictionary, Vash is present and accounted for.
That said, Vash’s attempts to save the day often come off as accidental blunders into success. He’s skilled with a gun but forgets to check if it’s loaded. He chases after a bullet like a Looney Tunes character after tearfully asking someone to toss him an extra one. He dodges vicious attacks by spinning around like a ballerina and has topsy-turvy chase scenes like a friendly neighborhood something or rather.
This can’t be the menace of legend, right?
Look Behind You
It’s all fun and games until the third episode in an anime series, and TRIGUN STAMPEDE relishes in ripping away those feel-good vibes in favor of a chilling turn in the story. In a way, Vash’s relationship with Knives is like the horror protagonist who knows they’re cursed. When hints of that curse come into play, everything about the protagonist’s demeanor changes. Despite the serious circumstances of the first two episodes, Vash still had room to be comedic, but all of that slips away when he hears someone playing the piano.
Vash is immediately on guard and tries to get everyone to leave. There’s no humor, no hesitation. Knives is that much of a menace.
From there come some fairly gruesome moments. The splatter of blood that erupts from the closed doors as the music increases, the armless silhouette of E.G. Bomber (sorry, E.G. the Mine) as Vash approaches to take in the damage, Knives just… closing the piano as if he didn’t just rip a man’s arms off.
Every shot of Knives in his introduction is brilliantly unsettling.
There’s a moment when Nebraska is on the steps, trying to pursue Knives, but he’s lost sight of him. Suddenly, there’s a creeping shot of the blades behind Nebraska as Vash, once again, yells for him to run. Nebraska’s breaths are unsteady, and while we don’t get the full image of how massive Knives’ blades are, we do hear the slice of metal into skin and Nebraska’s scream as his arm flies into the air and lands at Vash’s feet.
Yeah, this is now a horror anime.
And like any good horror anime, you need the moment of the big reveal. Just how terrifying are those millions of knives? We get another tease as one of the women with Rosa is dragged into the fog, followed by the anime giving us the ultimate nightmare fuel of Rosa trying to save someone who is ensnared by several bladed pieces. Rosa’s holding on to her friend, only for said friend to be dissected, leaving Rosa with her arm and nothing else.
You can’t spell horror without trauma, especially when Knives goes on to destroy the entire town.
The Aftermath
As a fan of the ‘90s anime, I knew the moment would come when we would be fully introduced to Knives, but I didn’t expect it to be illustrated like this. I came in already knowing why Vash was so fearful of Knives but studio Orange has taken that terror and made it a beautifully horrific moment that completely changes the scope of TRIGUN STAMPEDE. How many times will Vash and the others run into this threat? Is any town safe as long as Knives is out there?
Is it even possible to stop him?
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But Knives isn’t some faceless being terrorizing our protagonists. While we don’t learn more about his backstory until later in the series, just a few blips of him and Vash as children clue us into the fact that they were both cared for by the same person. So then the question becomes how did Knives go in the complete opposite direction of Vash? Why is he asking Vash whose side he’s on? Why is he saying the plants belong to both of them?
What’s his endgame, here? What reveals await us as we discover Knives’ trajectory? More importantly, the next time he appears, will I need to hug my pillow to keep my heart rate down?
Watch TRIGUN STAMPEDE on Crunchyroll now!
Briana Lawrence is the Senior EN Features Editor here at Crunchyroll. When she’s not writing she’s taking care of her three butthead cats and playing Hades for the 100th time. You can check out her writings and her book series over at her website and give her a shout over on Twitter.
