Trigun Stampede

Episode 11

What is anybody really supposed to say to Knives in response to any of the points that he brings up in this episode? In the original series, Knives wasn't much more than a one-note sociopath. In STAMPEDE, though, the show really goes out of its way to give him every reason he needs to just not think highly of humanity. Not only do we go through the typical routine of condemning humanity for constantly starting wars and destroying our precious planet, but it turns out humans did something to the previous independent that was born before Vash and Knives.

I have to say that the scene where we see them dismantled in the test tubes with the monitor saying that they were still technically alive was pretty haunting and I was constantly wondering what Vash was going to say to counter all of Knives' arguments. But that's the problem—that moment never really came. The most he could do was comment on how there are some good humans in this world like Rem, who looked after them like a mother, and I do like that Knives did seem to care about her to an extent.

My problem is that we don't really see that much of Rem in the show to establish exactly how strong of a bond she had with Knives and Vash. Similar to the previous episode, I feel like there were beats here that would've hit harder if we had a more fleshed-out flashback sequence of what these two were like when they were kids. Instead, this episode tries to balance the emotional weight of this brotherly dispute with a shit ton of lore dumping on what the plants are and what Knives' plan actually is.

Ok, so let me make sure I've got this straight. The plants are creatures from another dimension, but most of them don't possess souls, which is why they just give off energy without any rhyme or reason. However, there is a core power source in another dimension that has the ability to give plants souls by having them be birthed by other plants. These plants are called independents, which is what Vash and Knives are. So Knives' plan is to use Vash's special ability to connect to this alternate dimension in order to impregnate all of the plants on earth to have them live as independents. The downside is that plants won't be able to be used as power sources anymore, and this would definitely lead to the end of humanity. I wonder if the girl that we saw in previous episodes was created this way. Remember, the one who had all that buildup by being called an angel only to contribute very little to the story?

There's a lot about this that I am curious about, but that's about it. The show has me intrigued and curious, but it doesn't really grip my attention beyond that. I'm so curious to know what Vash's answers for all of this are. I really hope we're not approaching some definitive conclusion because I'm not sure how we could possibly wrap all of this up in a satisfying way.

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Trigun Stampede is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.