All the Announcements from Otakon 2024

Trigun Stampede Pays Respect To The Original Anime, Manga

Studio Orange pulled out all the stops to realize the world of Trigun Stampede in glorious 3D. At Otakon 2024, producers Yoshihiro Watanabe and Kiyotaka Waki and CG director Akihiko Orikasa made it a point to break down how every decision is dedicated to creating something that fully manifests as the world of Trigun. Despite not being a direct adaptation of the original manga, Stampede's animation pays tribute to the source material alongside the original anime from 1998. As someone who grew up watching the original MADHOUSE anime and loved it, part of me was a bit skeptical about the direction of Trigun Stampede. However, after this panel and the thorough animation breakdown, I have a stronger appreciation for the team's choices.

Studio Orange showcased two Trigun Stampede scenes. Both shots seemed only to last a few seconds, but they took up to a couple of weeks to finish. Orange wanted to push the boundaries of what you can accomplish with 3D animation. Both cuts were played alongside the voiceover recorded before the animation process. During production, they asked the actors to imagine the scene and then did their best to bring the audio to life.

The first scene was Vash dodging bullets while jumping across rooftops. This scene featured a rather ambitious 3D camera effect that tracked around Vash's body from top to bottom as he was flipping over to dodge the bullets, screaming his head off every step of the way. The staff joked that Vash's scream was how they felt working on this cut for so long. The first step was to render this scene using a 3D model composed strictly of cubes. This was the easiest way to get a rough idea of the character's positions and movements. After that was settled, they would then use a simplified render of the character model with limited character expressions. Then, they would add more details to the background, such as the cityscape that Vash was jumping around in and subtle animations of Vash's 3D model, like hair motions and jacket ruffles. Then, they would add 2D effects like bullet ricochets to the 3D environments. They said they wanted to make the animation feel playful as a reference to the 1998 anime, which often had scenes portraying Vash dodging bullets as a form of comedy and foreshadowing.

On top of unique animation, the staff also made note of facial animations and how the character's facial position would determine how they would need to exaggerate the face. A 3D model of a character's face does not stay stagnant, especially if the studio wants to get a specific shot. We saw a comparison shot of Vash's face from the side versus how it would look straight on. Similar to what you see in some video game animations, Vash's face looked funny when looking at it dead on, but from the assigned angle, things looked much better. All of this is done to make the world of Trigun look more natural and lived despite the sometimes cartoony animated avatars.

However, these techniques don't just apply to the big and bombastic scenes but also to some of the quieter moments. Another example is during a scene involving Rem in episode one, in which she says goodbye to Vash and Knives. There isn't nearly as much action in the scene, but the same general techniques still apply.

Here, they explained that Stampede is not a direct adaptation of the manga, and they were not trying to adapt scenes right off the page. The idea is to create something Yasuhiro Nightow might create today using this technology. They will look at the manga as a reference and sometimes have the character artist draw their reference. Considering the Trigun Stampede's success and the strong fan anticipation for its continuation, I think all of these details helped create a product loved on all fronts!