Trigun Creator and ‘Stampede’ Staff Open Up About the Anime’s Big Reboot (Exclusive)

They say classics never die, and if that is the case, then Trigun is most definitely a classic. The thrilling anime is still popular with fans new and old all these years after its finale. This became clear when news broke Trigun was working on a comeback with help from the team at Studio Orange. Thanks to Trigun Stampede, a new era is coming for Vash the Stampede, and ComicBook got the chance to speak with the series’ creator and anime staff following its reboot’s trailer premiere!

As you can see below, ComicBook was able to speak with a host of creators about Trigun Stampede including Nightow himself. The creator was joined by Kiyotaka Waki (Studio Orange producer) as well as Katsuhiro Takei (Toho producer) to hype up fans for the comeback. And according to the staff, Trigun Stampede will challenge the franchise’s boundaries in the best way possible. 

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First, congratulations on Trigun Stampede. Its panel last night was so emotional, and the PV made me tear up. So, I want to know how you all feel now after seeing# fans’ responses to the footage?

Yasuhiro Nightow: It’s something that was being developed for a very long time. And really, yesterday was a significant day because of that. But also it’s just a start for all the things. I think it’s the start of something fantastic and something that a lot of people will like. So fan can just consider this as the start. It’s just the start.

During the panel, it was said Trigun Stampede has been in the works for five years at this point. Can anyone here speak to how this project got started? And how Studio Orange got involved?

Katsuhiro Takei: When I was first thinking of how we should do the project, it came down to how things lined up – howthe opportunities lined up. So first of all, I love Trigun. I wanted to do Trigun. And another thing that lined up was director Kenji Muto. I wanted to give him directorial debut somewhere, and Orange worked on Land of Lustrous and Beastars, so I wanted to work with them for a new project. Those three lined up naturally at that point. And on Orange’s part, the studio has wanted to illustrate humans for a while. So, in that sense, Trigun was a good match.

Based on the PV, Trigun Stampede seems like it will focus on new parts of Vash’s story with Rem and others. How was this story crafted behind the scenes? Can you comment on where this takes place timeline-wise?

Takei: There’s a lot of discussions that we had about what we wanted to do – what kind of Trigun we wanted to see. We haven’t revealed the script writers yet. But the script writer is a very excellent sci-fi script writer and a lot of the world settings in this Trigun is based on his ideas. He’s really excellent. If you look at the manga, we can see the grand scale of the world, and through his writings we find in the details of it.

Obviously, Trigun’s original anime had a very different aesthetic and style compared to what we have seen of Trigun Stampede so far. To our artists and producers here, did you have any challenges creating a CG framework for Trigun? 

Kiyotaka Waki: Everything started out with Nightow and then designing the concept art and character concepts. However, these designs are not something that we could use to use as a design for animation. So, director Muto, he took the time to understand and interpret the designs before having actual designers interpret the looks for animation.

Obviously, the original Trigun anime is considered a classic with fans. To Nightow-sensei, how do you feel this new series will standout from the first one?

Nightow: So when they were developing this Trigun, I saw that they were taking elements from my comic and expanding it, rearranging it, restructuring it, redesigning it, and adding depth to it. They’re trying to raise the quality of the show as well. I thought that there might some changes, but once they took all of the series in and started adapting it onto film, I felt that this is still Trigun. This is Trigun. I want the fans to know is that I really want them to watch this. And after watching, I think that you’ll feel the same way as me – that this in some way is also Trigun. 

And finally, to Nightow-sensei, the road to Trigun Stampede has been long. I want to know as the series’ creator, what are you most excited about when it comes to this new take on Vash?

Nightow: Rather than talking about myself from a viewer’s perspective, I want to speak from a creator’s standpoint. How do I create things? It is that I try to constantly challenge myself. So is this a combination I’ve ever done before? If so, I’ll try to do a combination I have not. I will try to do something that I’ve never illustrated before. So for myself, it’s a constant challenge to myself to do new things. So just watching this new Trigun, there’s so many new challenges that they put into this series. I’m really interested as a creator to see how all this will come together.