Sample file
TRIGUN © 1998 YASUHIRO NIGHTOW / SHONEN GAHO-SHA, TOKUMA SHOTEN, JVC GUARDIANS OF ORDER and BESM are trademarks of GUARDIANS OF ORDER, INC. d20 System game material requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons®, Third Edition Core Books, published by Wizards of the Coast® 2-3 Introduction 4-99 Episode Summaries 100-130 Characters 100 Vash the Stampede 102 Meryl Stryfe 104 Milly Thompson 106 Nicholas D. Wolfwood 108 Millions Knives 110 Legato Bluesummers 112-130 Other Characters 131-144 The World of Trigun 145-174 d20 System Game Material 189 Index Sample file Written by Michelle Lyons, Edited by Lucien Soulban, Designed by Jeff Mackintosh, Editing Assistance by Mark C. MacKinnon and Meredith Katz, Production Assistance by Karen A. McLarney
TRIGUN © 1998 YASUHIRO NIGHTOW / SHONEN GAHO-SHA, TOKUMA SHOTEN, JVC GUARDIANS OF ORDER and TRI-STAT SYSTEM are trademarks of GUARDIANS OF ORDER, INC. Copyright © 2003 GUARDIANS OF ORDER, INC. / Pioneer Entertainment USA, Inc. 'D20 SYSTEM' and the 'D20 SYSTEM' logo are Trademarks owned by WIZARDS OF THE COAST and are used according to the terms of the D20 System License version 5.0. A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® and WIZARDS OF THE COAST® are Registered Trademarks of WIZARDS OF THE COAST, and are used with Permission. All rights reserved under international law. No part of this book may be reproduced in part or in whole, in any form or by any means, without permission from the publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews. Version 1.0 — September 2004
GUARDIANS OF ORDER, INC. P.O. Box 25016 370 Stone Road Guelph, Ontario CANADA N1G 4T4 Phone: 519-821-7174 Fax: 519-821-7635 [email protected] Print Edition — ISBN 1-894938-44-5 http://www.guardiansorder.com Product Number 02-671 T RIGUN S ETTING
Introduction Trigun is a 26-episode television series first released by Victor Company of Japan. Dubbed and subtitled versions were produced for North America in 1998 by Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P. Trigun is based on the manga (comic book) series Trigun and Trigun Maximum, the latter published by the Shonen Gaho Publishing. The opening theme is an instrumental electric guitar rock piece, called “H.T,” composed and performed by Tsuneo Imahori (who also provided the remaining music for the series). Trigun follows the misadventures of Vash the Stampede, also known as “The Humanoid Typhoon.” Vash is considered a fugitive and a criminal, wanted by the Feds for the destruction of over 300 towns. The series recounts him through the eyes of Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, disaster investigators for the Bernadelli Insurance Society, who are assigned to find and follow Vash the Stampede, and prevent further claims against their employer if possible. Trigun derives its name from the three guns the main character carries: a revolver, a cybernetic gun, and the Angel Arm artifact. The animation production company, Mad House, produced the series while Yasuhiro Nightow developed the initial concept for Trigun through the manga series Trigun (published originally in Shonen Captain Comics by the Tokuma Publishing Company). During that period, Victor Company of Japan secured the rights for the Japanese anime. Originally, Trigun was virtually unknown. It aired in a late-night slot on Japanese television. It eventually caught on, however, developing a cult popularity that overcame its programming difficulties. The Trigun series has inspired countless fan sites and even a line of toys by a prominent U.S. manufacturer. The first four episodes devote themselves to light-hearted character development and slapstick humour, introducing the characters of Vash, Milly, and
Meryl, and building their relationshipSample through a series of largelyfile unrelated stories. Beginning at the fifth episode, a story arc slowly takes shape, introducing more serious themes. This continues throughout the first half of the series until episode 12. There, Trigun introduces the first of the major antagonists in a lead-in for the second half of the series. The second 13 episodes are much darker thematically than the first 13. The first episode (#14), “Little Arcadia,” is a transitional story. It deals primarily with Meryl and Milly, and does not really touch on the larger issues of the series’ story arc. It is far more like the stories from the show’s first half. The remaining episodes, however, deal with the over-arcing story line involving Vash, his brother Knives, and the Gung-Ho Guns. The themes for the series as a whole are brought to the surface in the latter half, dealing with such topics as the horror of genocide, exploitation, violence and its prevalence in society, the sanctity of life, and self-love, among others. It pits the rights of the individual against society’s rights, as embodied by Knives and his struggle against humanity, as well as by Wolfwood’s internal struggle with Vash’s belief system. Space Cowboy Shonen Trigun is a relatively new derivative of shonen (young boy) anime. Set on a sparsely populated desert planet with two suns, it evokes the Wild West of the United States in the late 1800’s, with its drifters, unruly towns, and reliance on rural law enforcement. At the same time, the series is obviously futuristic, with space travel, nuclear energy, and other mysterious technologies often no longer understood by the people who rely on them for survival. This style of anime differs from traditional shonen stories in that it draws heavily from historical Western sources. It is a cross between typical shonen sword-and-sorcery fare and the samurai or ninja action genre, substituting the Old West for the fantasy element. This approach makes a refreshing change from more traditional forms, and is slowly gaining popularity. Currently there are only a few examples of this type to choose from, making too small a sampling to be called a genre of its own. Other popular examples include the Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star series. With the growing interest in this genre, however, and the popularity that Western influences are enjoying in Japan, it is likely that more anime will develope in this vein.
P AGE 2 Planned by Shigeki Komatsu T RIGUN O PENING C REDITS Masao Maruyama
Based on the comic by Yasuhiro Nightow serialized in “Young King Hours” (Shonen Gaho Publishing) Shonen Captain Comics (Takuma Publishing Company)
Produced by Shigeru Kitayama
Series Story Editor Yosuke Uroda
Character Design by Takahiro Yoshimatsu
Mechanical Design by Noriyuki Jinnguji
Art Director Hidetoshi Kaneko
Director of Photography Hisao Shirai
Audio Supervisor Yasunori Honda
Music Tsuneo Imahori
Music Produced by Yukako Inoue (Victor Entertainment) Sample file Opening Theme “H.T”-Composed and Performed by Tsuneo Imahori Opening Animation Storyboard Satoshi Nishimura Unit Director Shigetoshi Takayanagi Animation Director Takahiro Yoshimatsu
Animation Produced by Mad House
Animation Producer Masao Marosawa
Directed by Satoshi Nishimura
Presented by Victor Company of Japan, LTD.
P AGE 3 The $$60,000,000,000 Man E PISODE S UMMARIES
Trigun takes place sometime in the far future, though exactly when is never specified. The stories are set on a desert planet that looks remarkably like the southwestern United States in the 1880s. The planet has twin suns and is possibly named Stantal (though StantalSample might also befile a geographic, and not planetary, indicator). While there is a use it or how it worked significant amount of advanced technology, most (if, in fact, they knew to of the people on the planet have forgotten how to begin with). Areas off the beaten paths are dangerous, with abandoned ruins or outlaws waiting to snare unwary travellers. The $$60,000,000,000 Man EPISODE SUMMARY EPISODE: 01
Vash stays put, however, untouched by the hail of bullets. He draws his silver customized long-barrel Colt-45.... Meanwhile, in the ruins of Dankin Town, the sheriff stands in what is left of Episode One: The $$60,000,000,000 Man his office, talking to a tall blond man with a large rifle, grey coat and hat. The In an unnamed saloon in the middle of the sheriff claims Vash the Stampede caused the destruction, and describes him as a desert, a tall man with spiky blond hair and a long short-legged, earringed giant dressed in red. The man in grey nods and sets out red duster-style coat drinks alone at the bar. to find the person responsible for the Known as Vash, or Vash the Stampede,Sample he has a filedestruction of Dankin Town. Meanwhile, two women walk into a sixty billion double-dollar bounty on his head for seedy diner outside a city called Felnarl, the destruction of over 300 cities. just as the radio broadcasts news of Dankin’s destruction. The first, Milly Thompson, is as tall as most men, with
Without warning, a group of men lead by Descartes, a giant cyborg, attack the bar. Descartes (dressed in red with enormous pierced ears, a metal arm, and a green mohawk) decapitates the building with his giant bladed boomerang while his men open fire, destroying the saloon and sending the other patrons running for their lives.