Last year, studio Orange released Trigun Stampede, a retelling of the 1998 Trigun anime based on the manga that Yasuhiro Nightow created. And while this is a retelling of a familiar story, Stampede does more than enough to stand on its own legs.
A notable example can be seen in the choice of art style. Many popular animes, such as Attack on Titan, are presented in a 2-D animated art style, often reserving CGI for epic fight scenes. Trigun Stampede, on the other hand, relies heavily on using CGI for its primary art style.
It’s been a little more than a year since the series hit the small screen. Since then, studio Orange has been working on Season 2. Just recently, the official Trigun Stampede X/Twitter account announced that season two of the show will officially be called Trigun Stargaze.
During Anime Expo 2024, Katsuhiro Takei, a producer at TOHO who worked on Trigun Stampede, sat down with GameSpot for an interview to discuss the creative process behind bringing Trigun back to life, how the MCU helped inspire the show, and what scenes stood out to them.
©2023 Yasuhiro Nightow, SHONENGAHOSHA / TRIGUN STAMPEDE Project
GameSpot: What was the inspiration behind retelling Trigun?
Katsuhiro Takei: In the initial discussion with Nightow about how to adapt this new Trigun, there was a lot of discussion about what [he] loves, and one of the recommendations from [him] was the Marvel [Netflix shows].
Because it was when Marvel was first relaunching the original classic Marvel titles into modern adaptations, there was a lot of inspiration from there. From there, we learned that even if you change so much as long as there’s some respect for the original, it still feels like what the original property is. So that was very encouraging.
Can you share which Marvel properties helped inspire Trigun Stampede?
Takei: The first one was Netflix’s Daredevil. Then we saw the first Iron Man, [and] we started watching all [the MCU] movies.
Was there any fear that the retelling wouldn’t be as popular as the original anime?
Takei: Personally, I love the ’98 anime. So, of course, there was always a worry that it was not going to be as popular. But that uncertainty would drive me to face how this property is. So, if I didn’t have that uncertainty, I probably would have been arrogant to just think that my ideas are great.
What was behind the decision to change the original art style to CGI?
Takei: I mean, the ’98 Madhouse version was already complete. I mean it’s great, it’s the best. So, to do something with that similar magnitude, you had to do it with a different medium.
To piggyback off of that, were there any scenes that were partially difficult to animate because of the new art style? And were there ones that you’re really proud of?
Takei: I mean, there were some that were difficult. But what we think they were able to accomplish [due to the new art style] was Episode 1, where Vash is asking for the bullet. It’s a very difficult scene to do, and it’s everything that we wanted to do in this new series. It has the action, the characters, [and] his relationship with people. Everything that we wanted to do is in that scene.
©2023 Yasuhiro Nightow, SHONENGAHOSHA / TRIGUN STAMPEDE Project
Despite being in a desert world, it’s super vibrant and colorful. Can you talk about the philosophy behind making what would usually be a dull world colorful?
Takei: It’s strongly due to Muto (the director of Trigun Stampede). He really wanted this world to be fun and entertaining. Also, he likes it when colors have meaning.
Stampede doesn’t adapt all of the Trigun manga. Can you share some insight on the source material that you guys decided to put in versus what you held back?
Takei: We focus on the relationship between Vash and Knives and set the story so that it’s Vash’s journey to see Knives. So with that, it has a very strong but very simple structure. So that’s what we focused on. Based on that, there are things that were not included yet but we feel that was a very strong approach.
©2023 Yasuhiro Nightow, SHONENGAHOSHA / TRIGUN STAMPEDE Project
When casting for Stampede, was there any influence from the original anime that influenced who you looked for?
Takei: It’s something we put a lot of thought into. We already knew that we were going to change it because it’s physically impossible to bring the original cast because there’s someone who’s no longer here with us. Onosakasan (the original 98 voice of Vash) is the actualization of Vash. So it’s really hard to have someone match up to that.
A lot of thought was put into who the Vash was going to be. Even though we put a lot of thought into it, the cast [of Trigun Stampede] put everything they had with us. So they met our expectations.
Music is such a vital point in storytelling. Would you be able to share some insight on the decision to have Tatsuya Kato do the soundtrack?
Takei: It was definitely the director’s opinion that strongly influenced that. He wanted very strong [yet simple] music that shakes up people’s emotions. So, from those two aspects, we ended up with Kato-san.
From a production standpoint, what kind of lessons did you learn from Season 1 that will carry into Season 2?
Takei: It was a lot of work adapting Stampede. From a production standpoint, we always think that we put too much into it. But our creator always puts more, even though no matter what kind of restrictions we put, they put everything they have and more into the show. I don’t think there’s anything learned, really. It’s to continue to put much more into it. Which is a good thing and a bad thing.
Can you share any insight on how production on Season 2 is coming along and when fans might expect to see it?
Takei: Probably when [studio] Orange is satisfied with the quality.
