ANI-MOVIES, *Trigun: Badlands Rumble

Vash the Stampede rides again in this midquel, and all because the fans demanded it! Since Cowboy Bebop: The Movie did some decent business for its franchise as a midqual, mostly due to the strong American fanbase, one for Trigun was also made. Unfortunately, this movie came out about 12 years after the original anime ended, but it still managed to gain enough momentum from otaku on both sides of the Pacific to propel this space western into being made in the first place.

Beginning about 20 before the TV series began, the "Humanoid Typhoon" manages to stop a bank robbery by the large outlaw Gasback, who himself is betrayed by his own gang that make off with the loot. Fast-forward to sometime around the middle of the anime series(at least after Wolfwood first appeared), Gasback is still at large, and threatens to take out the members of his old gang who used their stolen money to become big shots, like the last one in his list Cain who became a city's mayor. Cain hires dozens of completely bombastic bounty hunters to try and stop Gasback, and all this noise attracts Vash to make sure things go down peacefully. Insurance agents Milly and Meryl show up too to deal with any damages caused by this grand shootout. Gasback finally arrives, but he's managed to rope Wolfwood in as his personal bodyguard for saving his life. Instead of trying to kill Cain, Gasback makes off with his city's giant lightbulb which powers it main generator. Meanwhile, the appearance of a sexy redhead named Amelia has spurned Vash's affections, and she seems to have a personal beef with Gasback that goes way beyond a large bounty.

As a movie, this fills in the bill for a standard Trigun story stretched out to 90 minutes. Obviously the quality of animation is a lot better, but still keeps the flavor of the 90s TV series. It acts a good stand-alone chapter, while at the same time works as a great intro to the Trigun universe. Badlands Rumble is definitely a fine look at what makes anime sci-fi truly awesome, so pick it up for your library today.