Is A Life Worth Three Hundred Million Double Dollars? - Trigun: Badlands Rumble

So after posting my ideas about Trigun I decided to watch the movie made in 2010, called Badlands Rumble. I had been meaning to watch it for a while but I thought I should rewatch Trigun first to get a feel for everything again. It is set seemingly somewhere in the middle of TV series but I don't know quite where, I have heard it is probably between eps 9 and 11. It is about the revenge of the notorious thief Gasback, who was betrayed by his accomplices and before he was killed by them saved by Vash. Anyway when I was watching I noticed how well the overlying conflict of the series (this being whether or not it is ever right to kill someone) is played over again. Again it is in the forefront and combined with many other topic, revenge, the value of family and even incorporates some new ideas, such as theft. Vash is as he always is, fumbling around and saving everyone's live despite his reputation as the coldest killer around. But one good thing about it is (because the main story with Amelia and Gasback is set up by Vash saving Gasback 20 years ago), that the writers are able to give the idea of redemption and a clean slate more of a thorough look without just speaking about it. We can see whether it worked, but more on this later.

Trigun wasn't an ugly anime by any means but it has dated, like anything. The new look animation was super hype. 

Just as Vash stays the same (he does add some points, like his philosophy is not religious, implying it is more common sense or above religion), Amelia is the new Wolfwood. Wolfwood does appear but he is not hugely relevnat for this talk (although he does say that his killing is nothing personal, just his job - interseting as a reason we are told not to kill is because everyone has a family and has someone to remember them). She will come round to Vash's way of thinking, but this time not after the two have a huge fight, this time is it a moment of clarity, where she realises what she has been doing is wrong and now gets what she should be doing. This happens when she returns to the town after she thinks Vash has died. She overhears a mom crying about how her boy will die without power, due to an illness, and Amelia remembers how she also broke the powerplant lightbulb thing when trying to shoot Gasback. She realises she could have killed the boy and seemingly also realises all killing is wrong. This is eventually shown when she decides not to show Gasback in the final fight scene.

Amelia with a photo of the man she wants to kill, Gasbcak the notorious thief. 

Amelia is also used to show off some of the deeper parts of the philosophy presented in the Trigun series. Firstly she is a representation of revenge. She wants revenge for her mother and wants to kill Gasback. However, the fact she can let this go shows she realises revenge is not a reason to kill someone. Secondly her rather emotional backstory shows how valuable life is and how painful is it for family-members to lose a loved one. She is the family member left behind who must bare with the grief.  And lastly she is the reason to spare people. (Spoiler alert she is Gasback's daughter) So if Vash had not saved Gasback, at the start set twenty years in the past, she would not exist. She symbolises the good things that can come about if life is not snuffed out. 

Another piece of fanart (by the person who did the Rem picture from my last post. http://solidgrafi.deviantart.com/art/Trigun-Badlands-Rumble-Amelia-286516276

Anyway one of the new ideas about killing comes from the character Gasback, the notorious thief. He thinks of everything in terms of personal gain and loss and sees life just as something to be valued along side property and possessions. He thinks everyone is out for themselves and their own gain, so to do this we need to steal and stuff. Basically I help myself by hurting others. He asks why should others get things (to keep their lives) for free. He thinks he will be better off with others dead as he will have comparatively more stuff. Killing seems like just another thing to steal (but yet he never actually kills anyone which is wierd). When he talks to Vash about this concept of life Vash uses this to his (philosophical) advantage by implying stealing is never right, so because killing is a form of stealing, killing is never right either. Also Gasback does bring up the idea of redemption (and its plausibility and possibility) by confronting his enemy and calling him irredeemable. 

Gasback with his signature weapon thing that can do all kinds of crazy shit.

One last point I want to mention is the idea of killing and risk. This was inherent in the Trigun series. It was either kill your enemy (or the person who is going to kill others) and save them for certain, or let them live and risk losing your own life or that of your friends. Wolfwood appropriately (because this is all his ground in the TV series) is the one that mulls this over. Others, such as Wolfwood, do not like risking their lives in the hope that the other person with a gun will kill. But Vash is willing to take this risk again and again. Ultimately he succeeds but there is always a risk. The image and metaphor is used on several occassions with this idea. In a way this all adds onto and sort of clarifies the idea it is kill or be killed. It shows there is no certainty if you let live that there will be other deaths. There is risk, like rolling a dice, for sure but the odds could go in your favour and all you can do is hope. 

Ok so another reason for writing this was to show off more cool fanart. http://srokaml.deviantart.com/art/Trigun-113362277

The Trigun series had one of the most thought out and repeated messages I have seen in a TV series. I thought the movie was just going to be a fun revival of the characters, action movie, like what One Piece movies are, just problem problem problem then fighting and solution (but with shounen characters you love from TV). But it was more than that. The writers were able to continue and expand on the ideas of the mortality of killing in the movie and I was pleased by this.