Trigun Bookclub: makima-s-most-smile: Trigun Maximum Volume 5: Part 1

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Original Tumblr Post: Trigun Maximum 5 Part 1

Trigun Maximum 5 Part 1

Slowly I stalk my prey (catching up to the current week of the trigunbookclub) and slowly I am gaining ground.

So many good Wolfwood panels!

01: The city and then the feast of hounds

Kids really know how to spot prey. Vash is the kiddos’ prey.

Apples? Yeah, apples of enlightenment to be… Vash being part of a little kid’s gang is cute. And they are loitering, but helping their elders. Aw. :3 This will end in tears, I know it.

There was a time when Vash felt safe enough to have something kinda steady! Even as a helper, this is a steady job. This isn’t Vash on the run. And while he is trying to sneak out of the people’s life after he has done his business, he has settled down somewhat, he made connections to people.

Also Count Vasquez! The guy Vash seemingly killed. Additionally to the whole city, but the wanted poster stressed his murder.

And through all of his emerging memories, the peril that Meryl is in keeps him on track. He cares for her, as much as he keeps her on a distance.

I know this is meant as body horror, but this panel made me laugh so hard. Zazie has eaten too much garlic and is annoying their peers with their bad breath. Or Zazie burping after drinking 2 litres of coke. That initial reaction aside, brrr, their whole body is filled with insects. It looks like releasing them takes a toll onto their host body. How… does Zazie get a host body, btw? Do they just take someone over? Is it corpses or living people? Do they have to take care of it?

And even though they have such power, they protect their host body with a gun. Maybe you need a gun to be part of the gun-ho-guns, even Rai-Dei had a gun-sword. And damn, Hoppered just tore their arm and shoulder off. Dayumm! The panels at the end look like Midvalley and Hoppered killed them together, but I cannot tell how Midvalley attacked? Did he tear the insects apart with his tooting?

I make jokes about Vash and Wolfwood’s: ”I know, he knows, that I know, that he knows, that… to the infinity”, but I feel like that is the whole makeup of the gun-ho-guns. Like Midvalley and Hoppered play fifth dimension chess, with how they suspect Zazie, how they decide to kill Vash, even though it kinda diminishes Midvalley’s chances of leaving alive and so on.

Oh, Midvalley helped Hoppered to sneak upon Zazie by undoing any soundwave Hoppered made with his saxophone. I wonder if I show that to my colleague with perfect pitch, if he hits me for suggesting he does the same.

Fuck yeah! No braincell Meryl to the rescue! Take that gun! I love how we see her come to a decision! Let that spite aid you! Shoot Midvalley in the dick!

02: Breakout Back to the past. This time, Hoppered. And, yeah, this world does not take kindly to the disabled. Vash has the privilege of his high-tech prosthesis, but others have not. Society does not take well to them, if they don’t have a loving community. It says much about Hoppered’s strength that he is able to take care of another person, too. And so respectfully! What happened to her? How are they related, if at all?

She means the world to Hoppered, that much is certain. But isn’t she to Hoppered like Rem is to Vash? She seems to be the reason for Hoppered’s hate and actions. Her loss makes him, like her presence made his world before. But even more so, she has no real agency. Like the assaulting dude said: She is like a doll. We don’t see her personality, her wishes, or anything. Hoppered idolises her! But he doesn’t reminisce about her personality, her feelings, their connection or anything. His memories are all about her being on a kind of throne, the centre of his world. Something so pure, he cannot even touch her. (While, yes, good for taking her triggers into account, but there are things like: Hey, my friend, may I hold your hand?) While we saw more of Rem, she is gone for so long by now, that even her wishes do not reach the presence anymore. Surely, we can surmise that she wanted the twins to have a good life and such, but in the present her existence has been perverted to Judas or Maria herself, respectively. Like the memory of the nameless woman idol, Rem is scarcely more herself to the twins.

As much as I love Wolfwood, he is an inhuman monster in regards to fights. Blinded, most likely partially deaf and having just barely scraped by death just now, he still finds his target. He is the bloodhound that was put on Vash’ trail, his perseverance and resilience is not normal. And now he is on the trail of Midvalley. Midvalley is rightfully scared of him! People more often think about how Vash is a weapon and how much about him is about the age old question of: Who is the guilty one? The weapon or who pulled the trigger? But Wolfwood is the same. This man is a weapon. The big difference is that Wolfwood somewhat chooses his target to protect others. But the question of his agency in his actions is still up in the air. Because for Wolfwood the question is not whether to shoot or not, it is where to shoot. In his world, there is no no shooting as an option.

Fuck yeah! Meryl! Tell him it is a trap!

Thanks for making the comparison of Wolfwood to a bloodhound even more obvious by having him lick his fucking lips, Nightow!

Fuck yeah, Milly! Fuck Midvalley up! Take this, Wolfwood! She is not a helpless damsel!

Wait… Did Midvalley cancel out every sound til now? So Vash could not even have heard Meryl warning him? Does this mean that Wolfwood was blind and practically completely deaf while marching on? Ö_____________Ö

Okay, and now they doing a ballerina ass stance. Why? Dunno. But looks awesome. I love the tilting of the panel.

This page just… *chef’s kiss* Nightow loves his standoffs.

03: Loss

It’s about the loss of July, isn’t it? Maybe even the loss of Meryl’s naivete towards Vash.

So, Midvalley knew? Maybe he met the real Chapel before? I love how it is Milly who puts who Wolfwood truly is into focus, by screaming his name. Having the last word “Chapel” and then Milly accidentally countering it with Wolfwood’s true name is just nice symbolism.

Traitor can mean so many things here. Who is Wolfwood betraying exactly? Doesn’t look like it is about Ninelives or Leonof. But Midvalley does not care about Knives, he is betraying him right now himself. Would be pretty hypocritical for him to call Wolfwood out on it. Or did he put two and two together and knows that Wolfwood is there to betray Vash in the end? Why would Midvalley care? He doesn’t care for humanity or Knives or Vash. He just wants to survive. I would say Midvalley gets that Wolfwood is a loyal and softhearted person, who is able to do gruesome things for his close ones. Since they are fighting each other, it is only one person who comes out alive. So Midvalley tries every trick in his repertoire to get an upper hand, like aggravating Wolfwood to make him slip up.

I would be more scared right now, Midvalley. But could Midvalley hear that Wolfwood is not Chapel by his breaths? Maybe even his heartbeat when he lied to Legato?

Holy mother of dog. Yeah, Wolfwood is inhuman. Also, isn’t this the first time the Punisher is used that obviously as a shield? FINALLY! That is my favourite use of her! (later chapter, Zard, then you can gush). Wolfwood is not truly an attacker. While he attacks people, he doesn’t do it without provocation. His first and foremost function is being a protector, to the orphanage, to Vash and to the people he cares ever so slightly about. And he cares about Milly and Meryl!

Hehe, get it? Because of WOLFwood.

And… They are going to blow up the whole of dragon’s nest district. How are they better than the monster that blew up July? Especially Hoppered. Is he so far gone to his revenge that he is unable to understand that there may be someone like him and more so like his friend in the district? Does he care at all?

Vash floofs up! Feathers to the rescue! Is he still conscious? It is a subconscious defence mechanism, but when and how does it go off?

Why… does Hoppered have a cross on his nasal bridge?

Okay, so touching the feathers makes people share Vash’ thoughts? Memories? Can he control it? Or is it about stuff that is on his mind?

Hi, Knives! You beverage boy! Do we ever see him eat? Nightow mentioned that he liked to draw his characters eating for the homely feeling. But Knives does not seem to eat. Only drink. Is he like Stampede Knives and does not need to eat? Only drink? Or is it just pleasure? Doing the sippy. Maybe gifting Knives some really good hot chocolate with whipped cream would have stopped him from going genocidal.

“You are being rude.” Proceeds to cut up his brother. Is Vash rude? Maybe for a delusional, emotional, geriatric cactus like Knives.

Ewewewewew! Medical malpractice. That makes me feel icky as hell. Knives is… Another reader called it pushy to stay polite, but how can Knives not see what he does is monstrous? He is abusing his brother to such a degree and all in the search for power. He seems to have gone through the same, since Vasquez is able to compare him to Vash. Moreso, he is unlocking this power for Vash. How would Vash even be able to gain any control over it? He hasn’t got any! We’ve seen it in January Rock. And honestly that is Knives fault.

Interesting that Knives first idea of anyone having so much power is assuming that everyone would want the person with power dead. That’s him projecting his own fears onto humanity. If it wasn’t Vash bearing that power but, for example, Midvalley, Knives would have killed him off without a second thought. But Vash and Knives are the same, they are brothers, so Vash has to be on his side in the end. That’s why Knives does not harm him, as in doesn’t kill him.

And now poor Meryl gets a first seat for memory lane, too. She does not even get to see what made Vash unlock this power. She is only confronted with the results, with Vash fearing his own body and Knives being Knives. She doesn’t deserve any of this. She should know the truth, but not like this.

Why does it sound so dirty?!? XDD Holy! Contained in their seeds! An amazing feel of release! Blows away all reason! I laughed out loud. It fits how far beyond reasoning Knives is in his hunger for power. This is not something logical, this is just a feral need.

Knives is so hypocritical. We all already said that. But hot damn he is unable to reflect on any of his actions. How many times has Knives hurt Vash? How many times did he betray Vash? He is shocked at the scars? But how many of them are a direct result of Knives meddling? What can and should be said about humanity as a whole, can be said about Knives! But what is even more damning, for every shitty human Vash also meets good humans. Linas, Docs, Luidas and so on. Where is the good Knives? Knives is right that Vash is a walking contradiction. But Knives is one, too. And back to Rem again. Rem, Vash’ Maria and Knives’ devil. Knives completely disconnects from his own actions. All of Vash’ “bad” parts are due to Rem or humans and it is upon Knives to cut them off until only the “good” parts remain. Knives is imagining a perfect brother that never was and Vash has to suffer by that image.

Well, fuck you, Knives. You deserve it. But Vash does not. I… am not sure if Vash chose to shoot. He surely chose where to point the gun and his power, but did he choose to “release” the power? Had he so much control over it? Like a mirror to Fifth Moon Knives took control over him and his power (only in Fifth Moon he has learned that maybe he should stay away from where the gun can be pointed), he is assaulting Vash, taking control over his body and power. Knives wants Vash to release it. He is the one who makes it go out of control. I just do not see a conscious decision in Vash to let it go. It is truly a loss. A loss of July and a loss of Vash’ control, power and agency.

Weird that we do not get more Meryl insights. The panels regularly flicker back to Hoppered, but Meryl is also part of the feather blob. She is sharing those memories, too. She is experiencing the assault and the loss, too. Why don’t we get more from her? She is a much more important character than Hoppered, even though Hoppered is the foil to Vash in this fight.

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