Trigun Bookclub: makima-s-most-smile: Trigun Maximum Volume 4: Part 2

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Original Tumblr Post: Trigun Maximum 4.2

Trigun Maximum 4.2

Why am I so slow? Here are my thoughts to the latter half of Trimax 4. And damn, why couldn’t we have more hospital yuri? It got dark. :C I mean I love it, but…

04: Den of evil

Poor Milly! I love Wolfwood’s reaction of: “Shit! She’s sad that we ditched her!” Also, is that WooWoo-meal Nr. 3 that got messed up by stuff happening due to Vash? Let Wolfwood eat!

For what happened and where she woke up, Meryl is extremely put together. I wouldn’t be.

In the last chapter it looked like Meryl was yeeted by a swarm of mosquitos (worms), but Midvalley’s assumption and that Meryl literally coughs up a worm makes me think our poor girl got controlled. Also, he? Well, I don’t think Zazie cares.

But why doesn’t Zazie do it with Vash or Wolfwood? Why use Meryl as bait? Is Zazie unable to possess their bodies? Why?

Holy shit, Hoppered goes wild! Just the idea of Meryl being Vash’s “follower” makes him act out like this! Shit! Follower is also pretty demeaning. It says that Meryl is not an equal to Vash. But he kinda hits the spot with that Vash didn’t even tell her “that much”.

It is nice that it protects Meryl right now, but Vash not letting her close is starting to bite him and their relationship.

And Wolfwood goes the revenge route. They dare to take one of them and Wolfwood reacts how he knows to. Saying this may be comfort for him. It also shows that even though he has put a big distance between himself and the insurance women, he truly cares for them. Vash stays silent. And, man, Milly! I wanna hug her Q_Q

I just LOVE Zazie’s jumpscare and how our boys react. Those two surprised pikachu faces. Perfect.

Second floor and they just randomly hover in front of the window!

I love how they were able to SNEAK into the city with their big ass transportation worm. No panic, nothing! Just the big worm in the streets!

And Vash acts impulsive again. What did he think he could accomplish? I like that Zazie points out how different he is to Knives even by these little actions. And it hints that Zazie has another agenda going on. Which I like. Not everything goes to Knives’ plan and it shouldn’t!

You honour, they are both married, divorced and idiots.

The establishing shots of the dragon’s nest district kinda remind me of the establishing shots of home. But while Home gave us a feeling of vastness, space and unsettling emptyness, dragon’s nest seems cramped, tight and lived in. Poor people live here, poor people without anywhere else to go.

“The lower and upper class all cramped together.” I know they want to stress that these are the worst fighting grounds for Vash’ and Wolfwood’s ideals (respectively: “No kill.” and “No innocents.”) But… guys, WHERE IS THE UPPER CLASS?! Am I blind?

Cool that Wolfwood has Vash’ back, but damn, does he looks ominous. Mr. Death Omen himself. Why does that pose look so good? Confident in his fighting powress.

But taking in Wolfwood’s expression in the next panel… Wolfwood hates that he has to fight, the blood on his hands is itching. His face looks so bitter. He has resigned himself to killing their attackers for kidnapping Meryl, for protecting her. Vash and Wolfwood do not talk about it, but Wolfwood seems to answer something Vash is saying with his look. “That’s what I do.” There is no discussing it. There is no way away from Wolfwood killing their attackers.

Wolfwood wants to preserve Milly’s innocence, in a sense, he wants to keep her from needing to bloody her hands. He wants to protect her from the reality that he is living in. It… can be read as chauvinistic, but in all honesty, this does not read as ill intended machismo, this reads for me as Wolfwood being very aware of their different upbringing and wanting to protect her. There is no right decision here, not really. I understand wanting to protect innocent people from shitty things, but moreso Milly has the right to her agency, to make her own decisions.

It, still, is Wolfwood trying to decide over Milly what is best for her and I love that Milly stands up to him and straightens his head. More importantly Vash agrees with her. I do not agree with him still keeping stuff from her, but she will tag along and she will be able to decide on her own with the info she gets through this. And Vash is right that they do not know where or when the enemies will attack or where Milly would be safe.

That said, I don’t agree with Milly being nothing but trouble for Meryl. Milly is Meryl’s biggest support! And has been for some time now!

05: Wild crying bullet

*stares and keeps spoiler to themselves* But something else, how do you know their names, Wolfy?

Good night, Wolfie! I feel kinda bad for what Wolfwood has to endure through the story. Ninelives already nearly tore him apart, now brain damage. Give this guy some rest. All for the safety of his peers. Midvalley said that his sonic waves can be focussed on different parts and such. So happy brain haemorrhage. Could his power be used medicinally? Like… get an MRT and pinpoint a tumour and just toot it away? Well, that is not fitting for the world they live in. Sad that everything will be used as a weapon first.

Midvalley kills Wolfwood so Hoppered can have his revenge. Nice… bromance moment.

Where does all the water come from? I see a barrel exploding when Hoppered attacks, but that would not leave such a big space flooded. Water is an important source, so… Hmmm…

Vash hears it! Midvalley’s toot hurts his ears but through all of it he hears Wolfwood’s scream of pain! I can only imagine that it is one of those guttural, highpitches ones.

Milly cannot move. At first I thought that Hoppered has modified himself to have something of a plantlike aura, but that is not it. She is scared for her life. Attack, freeze, run. Those are the three main reactions people have in that situation. And while Milly can deal with dangerous situations, Wolfwood was right in his assumption that she never dealt with that kind of fighting.

Her thoughts are kinda damning Wolfwood’s nonchalant attitude before. Surely, if she never fought those kinds of battles, the people who so readily go into them seem somewhat inhuman to her. But Vash counters it by putting their reasons to fight into perspective. He reminds Milly about the reason why Vash and Wolfwood are fighting (Meryl), something Milly’s memory of Wolfwood even says!

I am kinda a bit lost with the following fight. The way Nightow intercepts Vash/Milly’s fight with Wolfwood… uh… twisting up looks cool, but does not give me a clear read. Does Milly shoot at all? Or does Vash intercept Hoppered without even giving her a chance to act? Cool that Wolfwood only died for like two minutes. Why does he shoot his rocket launcher in the air? To stop Midvalley from joining Hoppered? I cannot parse his way of thinking. But then again, he just had massive head trauma. I don’t think there is much thought in him right now.

And, damn, Hoppered has Vash fully demonised in his head. Hoppered wants revenge, yes, but he is completely unable to grasp that Vash does not want to fight. It is easier to keep up your anger and hate if the person you are fighting is a monster. So he dehumanises Vash.

That I do not get exactly. Does Zazie mean like in a crush? What do they mean by excitement? Because I would be “excited” to know that my friends are on the way to get me out of this situation.

But instead of diving into Meryl’s emotional connection to Vash, Zazie is the one who finally does shed some light to who Vash is and what is happening in the background. Something Meryl needs direly.

Why would Zazie assume that Vash and Knives are the natural enemy of humanity? Well, Knives… Okay… But even that is not something natural. That is a misguided kid with trauma and too much power. Vash on the other hand tries his best for a form of symbiosis.

06: The Bystanders

Is Zazie truly a bystander? They are a new faction with their own interests. Sure, they decide to stay aside, but… that is an active decision. But I love the introduction. The falling ships, the explosions and completely unaffected the worms made sense of the new presence.

What… what is that Meryl face? Is it her ingrained reporter smelling a story? Is it a weird joke that just falls flat for me? Thanks for calling it out, Zazie. Zazie can read the emotions of all living things… Hm… I forgot that, but it also makes their confusion at humans a bit weird.

And back to Vash and Hoppered. Hoppered still is unable to see Vash as a person who tries to protect humans, when he vilified him so much. But there is our first hint as to why Hoppered hates Vash. July.

Black hole! Vash’ power is a black hole?

And damn, Hoppered seeing that must… damn… We readers already get a taste of what truly happened.

And finally something clicks for Meryl! His enigmatic past! His knowledge of the cold chamber! Vash is old, inhuman and a plant. A plant that does not need humans and a plant that humans cannot control. He is his own.

For Zazie it may look like apathy. The human race trying to survive, while the independents watch on without really interfering. At the same time, can Zazie as the bystanders really understand the struggle of an individual human? Or is it Vash and Knives that are the bystanders to the struggle of survival of humanity?

The warning is interesting. It reads to me that Vash needs to change to stop Knives. And Zazie does not see it. Sadly, I do not think the warning gets to Meryl, since she is still trying to grasp that Vash is an ageold being, something inhuman and that he caused the fifth moon. Zazie is a gun-ho-gun, but they are not on Knives’ side. Since they stress they are a bystander, they are also not on Vash’ side, but it looks like they harbour more good will towards Vash than towards Knives.

Oh, looks like Wolfwood’s rocket found its target. Nightow… That really did not get through. Also, HAHA! Your saxophone is kaputt! No a-note for Midvalley. So no distance attack?

Damn, Wolfy, stop being so condescending. We know it stems from a place of care, but damn, you sound like an arsehole right now.

Also, I just had a little epiphany. Wolfwood’s nicknames are different towards Vash and towards the insurance women. Needle noggin/ spikey, those are personal nicknames, something about Vash’ features. But he only calls Milly “big girl” and Meryl “short woman”. Those are so much more nondescript. I wrote earlier today that Wolfwood’s nicknaming as base of distance absolutely backfires with Vash, since a closeness develops through them, but with neither Milly nor Meryl it feels like closeness. The features he choses are nondescript, there is no personality in it. (though I like the difference between Meryl the leader being a woman and Milly the more soft being the girl) Towards them he successfully distances himself.

And Midvalley’s toot rattled Wolfwood’s brain enough that he cannot see right now. A light is shone at them, the Punisher is propped up right in front of Wolfwood, but Wolfwood has to feel his way in the water towards her. It is also shown in the way his eyes are drawn. I will come back to that in six volumes with a headcannon.

Milly zooms into Wolfwood being so hurt that he is temporaly blind. She must be shocked, too, that he still gets up to fight. It mirrors a bit what Meryl has to process, Vash’ inhumanity, while here Milly is confronted with how far gone Wolfwood is.

Only Knives knows that Wolfwood is Wolfwood. For everyone else he is still Chapel. But Zazie is right! Midvalley is too selfconfident here! When no one was around, he said that he underestimated him!

Who is encroaching?! Who does Zazie sense? My first instinct would be Knives, but dunno, Legato fits the unnerved expression, too. 😀 Who would be happy to see him?

07: Hopeless Sinner

And again, the person Vash is fighting, reflects him in some way. Leonof was his unhealthy clinging to the idea of the dead, specifically Rem. Hoppered is his sense for revenge above his own survival and selfcare. They mirror him in the worst way. We know that the person Hoppered has built up Vash to isn’t who Vash is, could the same be for Knives? Though what we, the readers, have already seen about Knives says that Vash is right. So is it Vash’ way to deal with his brother? His wish for revenge? Though there I have to say… While Vash wants revenge, he also takes so much time to avoid it! He jumps into every conflict he sees and thus meanders around. Wolfwood is the one who tries to keep him on track, but he fails at that. If Vash was truly so vengeful, it would be his whole mission, kinda like it is for Hoppered.

Damn, Wolfwood played dirty!

On the one hand… I understand why Wolfwood would do this. He wants to protect Milly. He knows she is not a battle monster like Vash or himself. On the other hand… It is her decision. And he took it from her. Dunno, this whole exchange makes my heart break.

“Even if this girl isn’t gettin’ involved… the other girl is still bein’ used as brait to drag us to hell.” If that doesn’t summarise Wolfwood’s perspective of human connection. Isn’t the wellbeing of his orphanage also something that is used to keep him fighting? Every connection to a, well, nonfighter is like that. He needs to protect them and in the process, his hands will be stained with more and more blood. But he still does it.

Jealous? What do you mean with jealous, Elendira?

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