Enjoy this complimentary article, previously available exclusively for Popverse members. If you like what you see, consider becoming a Popverse member.

When you tell someone you’re a Trigun fan, the follow-up question is always, 'Which version?' There is the original manga by Yasuhiro Nightow, the 1998 anime adaptation by Madhouse, or the most recent anime, Trigun Stampede, by Orange to choose from, and each of them has radically different interpretations of Vash the Stampede’s journey. They all feel different, but they're all valid as long as they give us a Vash the Stampede we can recognize.

Something that has always made Trigun so interesting is that it Nightow, despite being the original creator of the series, has been remarkably chill about how wildly different both of the anime adaptations have been. He had limited involvement in the original 1998 anime, but would often refer to it when working on the manga, calling it his “lighthouse” when he struggled to figure out where to go with the manga, which didn’t finish its run until 2007. Then, with Trigun Stampede, he was more involved from the start but actively wanted the new anime to be “something entirely new.”

The risk of going in your own direction with a series like Trigun, which has many fans from multiple generations, but the key is always getting Vash the Stampede right. Vash is a man of contrasts. A man who cries over donuts and possesses the power to destroy a city all by himself. Someone who hesitates to draw his gun despite knowing it could make most of his problems go away. Vash sees the chaos and cruelty of humanity and still loves them enough to sacrifice his life to protect them.

Vash is good. Vash is kind. Vash is a hero who fights for love and peace. That is the core of Trigun, whether it is the original manga or one of the various anime adaptations.

“As I watched [Trigun] Stampede, I felt that it was a show that tried to reach for the stars,” Yasuhiro Nightow said during the Trigun Stargaze panel at New York Comic Con 2025. “And so many elements of it strongly represented Trigun, and I felt that the director really spent everything, every energy that he can to create the show. It was an amazing show.”

Nightow would go on to acknowledge how different his manga is from what is set up in Trigun Stampede, but didn’t feel it mattered as much because “it’s amazing how we can love such same but different Vashes.” Which is the whole point of an adaptation to me. I’ve argued on this very website that we should be encouraging anime studios to make something unique rather than try to create shot-for-shot remakes of the manga. Give us something unexpected. Something weird.

I watched the first two episodes of Trigun Stargaze at New York Comic Con 2025, and, despite how different Trigun Stampede was, it actually feels like this might end up being the most faithful adaptation of Nightow’s original work we’ve ever had. Sure, all the characters have very different backstories and abilities, but the appearance of a giant ship seemingly piloted by Knives and his followers in the opening sequence of Stargaze feels very similar to The Ark from the manga. Without giving too much away for fans who haven’t read the Trigun manga, this doesn’t bode well for humanity.

The best thing about adaptations like this, though, is that even someone like me, who has read the manga and has seen the anime multiple times, doesn’t know what is going to happen next. The future of Trigun Stargaze is a mystery that I’m waiting for as keenly as everyone else. Because you can change the people and places. You can change powers and stories. You can change almost everything about Trigun, and it will still be Trigun so long as you get Vash the Stampede right, and Orange always has.

So long as he is a silly, thoughtful, gentle man who fights for a world made of love and peace, he is Vash the Stampede. Maybe just not as we know him.

Here's how to watch Trigun in order.