Trigun Bookclub: deludedfantasy: Trigun Maximum Volume 4: Chapter 1-3

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Original Tumblr Post: Trimax Vol. 4 Ch 1-3

Trimax Vol. 4 Ch 1-3

I’m splitting my thoughts up for this volume because I have a feeling I have A LOT to say for just these three chapters, so it’s probably only gonna get longer from here. Things are starting to get real serious though…

I’ve always had a particular love for the parts of stories that deal with the aftermath of a big battle. What are our characters doing? How are they coping? What have they learned and how have they changed? So, I really liked this chapter on my first read because it gave us a really interesting look into the characters and Home as a setting. Plus, Jessica’s opening is a good laugh.

Ch1

Wolfwood, my guy, why do you assume Vash is insulting you? He just wants to show you around!!
The look of awe on Wolfwood’s face when he sees the transmitter…it’s so good! Something about a man without hope suddenly finding it again, just for a moment.
Oh god, coupled with his prayer…he wants to hope! That’s all he’s asking for, not even to be saved. But not even for himself, he’s asking for the children, for the future. He’s absent from his own prayers. It absolutely kills me, because he doesn’t even see himself in that future.
And then…Wolfwood’s prayer is answered! A message from Earth and the possibility of help! Good things do happen!
Vash and Wolfwood, both standing apart from the action and celebration, but quietly celebrating together…they are so similar in so many ways, honestly. Also, must comment on the handshake/high-five. Love them so much. They’re growing and developing.
Yes, Meryl and Milly!! Drag them into the party. Let them be a part of humanity.
I just got jumpscared by Knives.
Which is a great way to initiate a tone shift, I will say.
Vash goes from being dead asleep to wide awake just feeling his brother’s power. Very similar to what happened at Fifth Moon when Knives was resurrected. Like the level of connection between the twins and the sheer power for that to happen is insane.
Whoa, Knives has his own angel arm now! Did he somehow intercept the satellite communication with his powers? Was that what he was doing in his brief appearance in the last chapter?
Hang on, is Vash trying to leave without letting anyone know? Including Meryl, Milly, and Wolfwood? Oh my God. I know he’s like this but also it’s so rude. These people care about him and he won’t let them know what’s going on with him at all!
“It’s okay. I’ll come back. Eventually…”
Vash, that isn’t reassuring in the slightest considering you disappeared for over a decade last time. For all his love and care for humanity, he really doesn’t think he deserves any of that same feeling back and it drives me nuts.
But hey, Wolfwood knows his tricks and isn’t letting him off so easy! (Which is kinda his job, but still)

Ch2

My enduring fascination with the backstories of the Gung Ho Guns is being fed so well here. Midvalley especially is so interesting. He sees Knives’s evil, he even calls it the work of the devil, but he’s still working for him. He’s another man who’s stuck between a rock and a hard place, and chooses to play the devil. He’s certainly not good, he was obviously an assassin even before his association with the Gung Ho Guns, but he’s conflicted. He’s not good, but he doesn’t want to be evil.
“I’m a collector of knives. Sharp ones, ready and capable of genocide.” Knives…really said that, huh.
It’s interesting that in the page where we see a group shot of the Gung Ho Guns, Wolfwood is mostly out of frame. Only his arm and Punisher are visible. He is and he isn’t one of them.
Legato is sooooo upset that Knives isn’t telling him everything. And that Wolfwood is ruining his plans to kill Vash. Even though he’s still working under Knives’s orders. He’s so, so unhinged.
Also, Knives has finally abandoned his BDSM suit, so I can stop giggling every time he’s on page.
And now we return to our regularly scheduled Vash and Wolfwood shenanigans.
Vash is such a drama queen, I love it. Face down on the ground, calling out to Rem because he’s tired and pretending to be dying, and then immediately awake when he hears a car. What a guy.
Meryl and Milly are so right to drive past them. Serves Vash right for leaving without saying goodbye.

Ch3

Hang on, did those two set out across the desert without enough food and water? To the point that they needed to be rescued by Meryl and Milly, and taken to the hospital?? For two supposedly dangerous and smart men, they are incredibly stupid.
Go Meryl and Milly!! I love it when the girls get to be badasses too.
“It may be small but its power is sufficient.” Meryl’s dad is right not just about her guns, but about her. It’s been interesting watching Meryl, someone who is truly only human, try to keep up with and deal with basically supernatural beings. I wonder if what she’s considering at this moment is if what her father said was really true. Can she keep up with Vash? Does she have the power to help him with his quest?
Wolfwood sometimes manages to be caring in the rudest way possible. He’s talking about ditching the girls like they’re hangers on, but he’s really worried that they’re going to get hurt or killed.
Vash, as usual, calling Wolfwood out on it, too. Wolfwood isn’t sure that he wants to do that! Besides, Vash is right. The girls went in with their eyes wide open. As much as Vash likes to not give the whole truth to protect people and keep them from following him, the girls know what they’re getting into. He doesn’t have that excuse anymore, and he can’t keep them away without disregarding their autonomy completely.
Hoppred and Midvalley might be my favorite Gung Ho Guns. They’re so complicated! Midvalley is there because he doesn’t have a choice; it was either join Knives or die, but he knows he’s going to die at the end of this either way. Hoppred is here for revenge and once he gets that, his purpose for living is gone, so it doesn’t matter if he dies anyway. They were pushed onto this dark path and they don’t see a way out of it; they don’t see a future outside of the darkness. There’s a theme somewhere in here but I can’t quite grasp it. Honestly, I just loved everything about their conversation here.
Oh no, Meryl’s been kidnapped! If I remember my volumes correctly, this is the one where things get really dark. I don’t know if I’m ready for the rest of this…

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