Trigun

60,000,000,000$ man who is a pacifist. Even that brief sentence encapsulates everything. But why would someone like him be worth so much? Well, it's for you, the reader, to discover.
Manga Trigun blends elements of the future and the Wild West.
The story behind it is quite compelling, although it can sometimes be confusing. When you finally piece everything together, it may not be as perfect as it could be, but it's still worth your time.
The art is somewhat lacking; during action scenes with Vash, it's sometimes hard to tell what's happening. Additionally, the artwork isn't extraordinary, but this doesn't significantly detract from the experience.
Now we come to the pride of Trigun: the characters introduced in the manga. Every significant character is portrayed so vividly that they almost seem real. Vash, the main protagonist, is depicted far more intricately than characters in other series. He possesses human emotions and thoughts, which he often tries to conceal from others.
Finally, enjoyment!
Trigun is well-balanced, offering both sad moments and uplifting ones. You rarely have time to be bored because each story reveals more about the 60,000,000,000$ bounty, Vash the Stampede.
In summary, Trigun is nearly a must-have on your manga (or anime) list. If you haven't at least tried reading or watching it, now is your chance.

Trigun is a remarkable story, unique and unlike anything else you'll find. However, it's worth noting that it has a very rough start. (light spoilers)

This initial roughness spans roughly the first 1-3 volumes, with the anime diverging from the manga around chapter 7 of volume 3. A word of caution: the mangaka isn't particularly focused on lore. Some elements will be left unexplained, especially in these early sections.

Trigun Maximum refines the earlier elements introduced in the manga, culminating in an explosive finale. If you're coming from the anime and want to delve deeper, I highly recommend Trigun/Trigun Maximum. As the series progresses, the art evolves from its primitive, rough beginnings into something more polished, providing context even for side characters and their environments. Trigun Maximum tackles some heavy themes and dark thoughts, which are only hinted at in the final chapters of Trigun. The tone of the manga is vastly different from the anime.

The best way to describe the manga is a dreadful, pathetic wasteland with a glimmer of hope. Vash’s philosophy is continually challenged throughout the story, so if you at least liked this beginning portion, I urge you to continue forward.

General weaknesses:

Incoherent art and lack of flow. Especially in the early parts, the art is rough until nearing the end. Trigun Maximum arguably has better art.

Poor translations; Dark Horse does an...okay job. I recommend Trigun Overhaul. Stay away from scanlations.

The plot line is the main focus, with minor and major details explained, but if you're looking for cohesive world-building, it falls short in that department.

I truly wanted to love this manga; I really did. The anime is among my all-time favorites, and reading snippets from the Wiki only fueled my eagerness to dive into the manga...

However, there's a significant problem: it's nearly impossible to read.

Yasuhiro Nightow can undoubtedly draw, but he seems to struggle with creating readable illustrations, especially during action scenes. There's no smooth transition between panels, and many times, I genuinely cannot decipher what they're supposed to depict. Occasionally, I can make out a distorted figure or spot a gun, but that's insufficient for me to understand what's happening.

The story is enjoyable when you can actually comprehend the artwork, which usually happens during non-action sequences. The manga delves deeper into the lore than the anime does, and I particularly enjoy learning about Vash's past... provided I can actually discern what's going on.

Rating 4/10

For BOTH Trigun and Maximum.

Trigun is a disappointment. The manga keeps letting itself down at every turn. Here's why:

Setting:

Trigun's setting is similar to Cowboy Bebop, with mankind having populated another planet far away from the ruined earth. However, Trigun does absolutely *nothing* with this environment. The planet is a sand-ridden landscape and gives off a wild west feeling, and is intentionally designed to look uninhabitable for story reasons, but it makes everything look the same, bland, and boring. Not only that, but Trigun never stops to explain locations or simply walk around and take in the sights. Every single location has only one purpose, to set the backdrop of whatever fight happens there. There is practically no explanation behind the social structure of the world, the people living and working there, and what kind of troubles they encounter on this hazardous planet. I'm pretty sure we don't even know the planet's population size, the planet's size itself, how many moons and suns it has, and just where exactly the planet is in the universe. Trigun just doesn't respect its setting, and completely ruins the intrigue by ignoring the basics of environmental storytelling. Unlike media set in our present reality, media set in fictional settings NEED to explain how they work. Because there is no prior knowledge going into this unlike how we know how our present earth functions. There are a few great shots of vistas, but the fact that Trigun ignores them completely alienates me from the world.

Art/structure:

Trigun's art is fine, with some actually great art here and there. However, there is a massive problem with how the art is presented. Many, many times when reading the manga, there are panels where I need to stare at the art for a few seconds before actually noticing what has been drawn. Many double takes have happened due to the art's horrible composition; there's just simply too much going on and very poorly laid out on the page, causing confusion and making my eyes hurt. This is a problem with many manga with guns, but Trigun is unique in having this problem with a greater magnitude compared to something like Black Lagoon, which had a simpler art style with bolder lines and cleaner layouts. This is a 90's manga, so there's an endearing drawing style and emotes, with similar era humor. The character designs are top-notch for the most part, and actually have visual storytelling within them. Another issue with this manga is speech bubbles. Many times you just DON'T know who is supposed to be speaking, leading to even more confusion. One of the biggest issues with this manga is the official English release version I read. The official English version does NOT translate sound effects AT ALL, not even a little text box underneath the SFX explaining what it is; they don't even bother putting them below a panel or anything. This is extremely lazy, and while I DO know hiragana and katakana, Japanese is NOT my first language, and I'd much rather have the sound effects be in English. This issue must be even more apparent to people unlike me who DON'T know Japanese characters. This is inexcusable because the English version releases YEARS after Trigun ended, so there is absolutely no excuse for this lazy official version people pay for. (SPOILERS) There is also an issue with the main villain being the twin brother of the main character, so fights between them compound the previously mentioned issues even more (end of spoilers)

Story:

An absolute mess. It's a revenge story. But the main character is a pacifist. With a large overarching message about the value of human life. Pretty standard, however, the manga spends far too much of its time on story, constantly rushing along to the next plot beat or fight with no in-between time to worldbuild or even for exposition. Leading to a very empty narrative. The time skip is practically useless as nothing happens in between, unlike One Piece, everyone remains the same more or less. Take it out of the story and nothing would change. There is no character development, and when characters change, they don't do it because they had been built up, they do it for plot convenience. Leading to some of the biggest ass pulls in the manga. There are a few decent moments here and there, but for a manga that sacrifices everything else just to get the villains and heroes to collide as much as possible, as fast as possible, it's extremely bland, predictable, and cliche. There is also a humor issue, like Demon Slayer, where the tension is completely revoked, e.g., being a severely injured character in one panel having their face exaggerated when touched by someone, usually with "owowowowowow!" which takes away from their supposed injuries.

Overall:

This was one of the most boring manga I have ever read. It has some incredible character and gun designs, Vash in particular, however, the manga is let down by poor art composition, a cliche bland story, and forgettable characters with no natural development in a boring planet that's only there to provide a backdrop for the mediocre and boring fight scenes devoid of tension.

Ten years after initially falling in love with it, I find myself utterly disappointed upon rereading these volumes. Why? It feels as though Nightow had a concept he didn't fully understand and was merely experimenting, preparing for something else. Given that these two volumes span around 400 pages, this approach seems entirely unjustified. It's not just the chaotic action; everything from the characters to the plot points feels like it was thrown together without a coherent development plan. The only standout element is the main protagonist being a pacifist in what otherwise resembles a third-rate battle shonen set in a western setting, along with the occasional laugh. Beyond that, nothing here is particularly memorable. If I were you, I wouldn't waste money on this. Personally, I regret my purchase.

Trigun – Spoiler-Free Review – Not Recommended

TLDR
Story – 3/10 – 3 x 0.275 = 0.825
Art – 1/10 – 1 x 0.2 = 0.2
Characters – 2/10 – 2 x 0.225 = 0.45
Enjoyment – 2/10 – 2 x 0.3 = 0.6
Total: 2.075 -> 2

Disclaimer
This review focuses solely on the Trigun manga, NOT Trigun Maximum.

Story – 3/10
The manga is exceptionally brief, spanning just three volumes. Consequently, it lacks a satisfying conclusion and serves mainly as a prelude to Trigun Maximum. What little story there is feels mundane and unengaging at best. This is particularly disappointing given that the world-building seemed promising despite the poor art style.

Art – 1/10
The artwork is undoubtedly the weakest aspect of Trigun. It's abysmal, inefficient, confusing, and memorable only for its shortcomings. The surrealistic approach renders the narrative nearly incomprehensible. Action sequences, already challenging to illustrate, are particularly dreadful. Character designs, apart from Vash, are fundamentally flawed and perplexing. They occasionally seem inspired by Jojo but in the most negative way possible.

Characters – 2/10
Vash, the protagonist, is the sole character preventing an even lower rating due to his intriguing premise. Otherwise, the characters are forgettable at best and baffling at worst, largely because of the atrocious art style.

Enjoyment – 2/10
The enjoyment factor is severely hampered by the appalling artwork. There are numerous panels where understanding what’s happening is virtually impossible. While I acknowledge that the original Trigun is a precursor to Trigun Maximum, the experience was so unpleasant that it dissuaded me from reading the sequel. Vash and the world’s lore are the only positive aspects. I strongly advise against reading Trigun, and I doubt I will ever read Trigun Maximum – from what I've seen, it appears equally inelegant and incomprehensible.

I didn't watch much of the anime, but I can tell it's a good one from reading the manga. The original Trigun manga only has two volumes, which is a bit disappointing, but it continues in a series called Trigun Maximum. This manga series covers some of Vash's adventures that are also depicted in the anime.

The stories in volume one have some fantastic moments, most of which are humorous. However, in volume two, Vash becomes more serious, and there aren't as many funny moments. This takes away some of its charm. But the characters remain excellent at least.

If you enjoy the anime series, you might like the manga version or perhaps the Maximum version of the manga. Whatever you choose is up to you. Read it and see for yourself.