dee61 - 2017-02-04 13:55:35

Trigun: Badlands Rumble boasts strong production values, quirky characters, and plenty of action. Obvious plot elements and a focus on the dramatic in the second half drag it down.

The production values here are enormous, which is obvious from the get-go. Everything is detailed, polished, and bright, in contrast to the serious that has a tad darker pallet and an undeniable coarseness. The animation matches the lighter tone of the movie when compared with the series. The character designs are some of the most interesting and best I’ve seen in a movie. Each character was lovingly, painstakingly formed - you can tell - with a unique, cyberpunk meets western look and feel. And, there tons of background characters such as this, particularly bounty hunters. There are droves literally crawling behind every scene in strange and alien garb, and the designs keep you as stimulated as a kid in a professional Lego gallery. There’s even a clown with a tri-rocketlauncher and a guy that I’m fairly certain was half goblin. I’ve got to give it to the character designer, this film is a prodigious achievement for Takahiro Yoshimatsu and rivals Redline in character design (okay, I should probably say “somewhat rivals”). Maybe this is a bad comparison, but the setting, animation production values, poppy character appearances, high levels of exaggeration, and amounts of action in Badlands Rumble made my mind wander back to Redline. Wait, it’s a good comparison, though with seven years in production, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Redline has the edge in all of these categories. Redline’s story is more interesting, too, because it isn’t quite so obvious or given as much weight, but it’s attempt at drama fails harder even if it relies on it less.

The characters in Trigun, both this series and the movie, are probably the biggest draws for the franchise, captivating audiences with their infectious, innocent energy and repartee. Vash’s love of donuts, silly interferences, and insistent flirtatiousness are all present and accounted for, as were the ever somber Meryl and affable Milly. Wolfwood was the only reappearing character that bothered me, because his personality seemed altered. He seemed to whine more which seems a departure from the smooth, arrogant Wolfwood I remember. This was bothersome, however I might just be remembering incorrectly since it has been a few years since I watched the series.

The new characters are not nearly as lovable as the other traditional ones. Sure, Gasbach is ambitious and his domineering monologues are treated as a kind of joke, which is awesome. Most anime need to take their five minute monologues less seriously, and this one does. That’s the only new character that seems redeemable, besides some smaller side characters such as the marshal, which is not good because the primary side character, Amelia, who the show depends on, lacks anything but superficial coolness. Although she’s got fly moves and is pretty attractive in appearance, the only time I felt a warm connection with her was when Vash was hitting on her. The rest of the film she’s aloof and only receives a sorry excuse of melodramatic back story that would have been better left out entirely.

In fact, the serious parts of Trigun: Badlands Rumble are probably why it tanks at the end. ** Following sentence is a spoiler ** An apparent characters death is another obvious plot device to make the audience feel something, ** end spoiler *** so it isn’t going to be impacting and detracts from the happy-go-lucky attitude that’s present for the first two thirds of the movie, which was super entertaining. This melodramatic portion was handled poorly and not transitioned to effectively. Look at Trigun the series, it gets really sad by the end, but the forewarnings and undertone are present beforehand, subtly warning you of what is to come. Here, Amelia’s closed-off self is the only real hint of the coming drama. Leaving out foreshadowing is a mistake because it confuses the viewer when changes in tone do occur, which is exacerbated because this the movie is very goofy at the start.

If the melodrama had been handled better, I might not be complaining about the transition, but the fact is that it falls flat and turns the last third into a shambles. Giving the audience about five minutes of back story on a character can create empathy, in theory, but it had better be executed like Mission Impossible because that is an extremely unforgiving amount of time for humans to form an emotional attachment to a character, and Amelia’s reserved personality makes it difficult during the rest of the piece.

Fans of Trigun will adore Badlands Rumble because it is, when you get right down to it, a long, high-budget episode with their beloved characters that could be thrown smack into the series. The stand-alone aspect bodes well for those unaffiliated with the show, and everyone will be able to enjoy the beautiful animation, the exuberant action, and the entertaining characters. Not everyone will be entertained by the naive story or accept the awkward departure from the initial, goofy tone.

dejuan.borer - 2015-09-24 17:23:06

*This review is an archive, parts of this review may are outdated but not the majority of the review itself*

Critic's Log - Earthdate: January 2, 2013. Review #29: Trigun: Badlands Rumble

The year 2012 is gone, and we are now in the year 2013. I have been reviewing anime for about 10 months now and I plan on reviewing much more into this brand new year. With that said, my first review of the year will be the movie... Trigun: Badlands Rumble!

20 years after meddling into the bank heist of a notorious robber named Gasback, Vash the Stampede is traveling towards Macca City. There are rumors that the legendary thief might appear there causing an enormous interest from bounty hunters in the area who want to collect the $$300,000,000 reward for his head.

That's pretty much the basic gist of the movie. To be technical, this is a Studio Madhouse production, which doesn't surprise me knowing that they worked on the TV series back in 1998. Twelve years later, this movie comes out and I must say that the animation has improved greatly compared to the TV series, even though anime films have higher budgets than anime shows do, the animation looks nice in this movie. The character designs are faithful to the TV series, which is a good thing to say the least. The action scenes are also a blast and probably just as good as the show. The animation is most likely the best feature of this movie because I do have some problems with the movie. I'll get to that soon.

Tsuneo Imahori comes back to compose the music for Trigun and to be honest, it does compliment what happens in the movie pretty well. It was nice to hear a slightly arranged riff of the Trigun opening around the last 30 minutes of the film. However, It may not be on the same level as the show but it's a decent effort. What I'm trying to say is that I feel the soundtrack isn't as memorable compared to the show, but the soundtrack in the movie is excused here.

When it comes to voice acting, The subbed version is pretty good and some casting members from the TV show reprise their roles in this movie. Masaya Onasaka is still great to listen to as Vash the Stampede, Sho Hayami still sounds cool the way he portrays Wolfwood. Hiromu Tsuru is still pretty good as Meryl, and Satsuki Yukino still has that adorable voice as Milly. As far as exclusive characters, Tsutomu Isobe plays Gasback and this guy doesn't really do a whole lot of anime roles. I know he voices Vincent Volaju in the Cowboy Bebop movie and he was great in that one. Amelia is another movie-exclusive character and she's voiced by one well-known seiyu Maaya Sakamoto and she plays Amelia quite well. So the subbed version is good for the most part. When it comes to the dub, Only one voice actor reprised his role in this movie and that would be Johnny Yong Bosh as Vash, he was great in the show and he's just as good in the movie. Brad Hawkins plays Wolfwood while Jeff Nimoy played him originally and Brad Hawkins did not play a bad Wolfwood, he does not sound like Jeff Nimoy but doesn't have to be and he played the role just fine. I do think Jeff Nimoy got the role just right though, but oh well. Luci Christian plays Meryl Strife and she wasn't bad as Meryl. Trina Nishimura plays Milly and I wouldn't think it was her playing the role but she turned out alright. John Swasey does the voice of Gasback and I guess he was pretty good in this movie. Even with the new voices playing the characters we remember from the show, their performances aren't too long compared to Vash, so there's not too much to worry about I guess. Funimation did a pretty good job with the dub. Zach Bolton did pretty good with the ADR direction in this show.

As far as characters go, that is one of the drawbacks with the movie. Vash the Stampede remains the same in this movie, which is great. Nicholas D. Wolfwood being cool, was great. Meryl and Milly are a bit downplayed in this movie except for parts of the movie. Amelia is an interesting character in the movie. Gasback on the other hand is not too interesting of a villian, that is until the movie's almost over when you find out something that you didn't know. Like the show, I guess this movie was a bit decieving on that particular scene. Some characters are a bit dumbed down in this movie.

If there is one thing that contributes to the characters being dumbed down, that is because of the quality of writing that went towards this movie. The writing is bad, it has a meagar plot and the story almost made me feel like it was going nowhere. The story is not really all that interesting and this movie feels like an feature-length episode as if it was made in Hollywood. As far as I'm concerned, Satoshi Nishimura's directing is certainly not on his best in this movie. The story is my biggest problem with the movie. Also, it's hard to tell where this movie takes place within the show. It's obvious that it would take place sometime before Wolfwood dies. The Cowboy Bebop movie was made after the show and it was claimed to take place somewhere. It is unclear where this movie takes place. I will admit that what does work with this movie is that it has some comedy, action, western-esque gun fights, chase scenes, and even a little drama that the TV show was known for. This movie really is meant for the fans of the TV show. The reason I mention this is because when this movie first came out, there was a screening that was located in Seattle at an anime convention called Sakura-con. I actually go to this convention when I can and my first year going there just so happened to be on that year when it was being screened, I didn't get the chance to see it and I'm a little glad I did because I found out after that when this movie was screened... It was in Japanese with no English dub and it wasn't subtitled either, yet fans of Trigun saw it anyway. That just shows you that this movie is really just for the fans. It's not absolutely necessary to watch the movie with the show, unless you are a fan of the TV show. I'm glad I gave this a try and I guess it was alright for the most part.

 Trigun: Badlands Rumble is available from Funimation.

With all that said, Trigun: Badlands Rumble is a gun-toting fun movie with really good looking animation, terrific action scenes, music that compliments the movie with effort, a cast that reprises their roles from the show (Subtitled Version only), and a dub that did a pretty good job with what talent they had. However, it does have poor writing which is why the characters do feel a little dumbed down in this movie. But with what this movie had, it did not disappoint those that loved the TV show.

I give Trigun: Badlands Rumble a 6.8 out of 10, it is DECENT!

Feel free to leave a comment.

mariano.morissette - 2014-10-14 04:25:35

[Old review is old.]

Trigun: Badlands Rumble is extremely similar to how the Cowboy Bebop movie works. It acts as a story meant to take place in the middle of the show with all the same characters, while also adding a bit more exploration of the show’s themes and ideals. Think of it as a little bonus arc that takes the span of a few episodes, and, speaking of bonuses, since these films are riding off of the success of the show, higher production values are to be expected, which is always nice.

Badlands Rumble takes place around after episode 9 in Trigun, and since it’s building off of stuff in the manga and the show didn’t have everything that the manga had, a couple small changes to chronology and events from the show are evident, however if you are able to take that in mind and, again, watch the film as a little bonus, then it shouldn’t be that big of a problem to viewers.

The film’s plot line involves Vash The Stampede (shocking, right?) as he ventures to yet another location in the Trigun world. Along the way he comes across a tough fighter named Amelia, and it turns out she’s looking for a particularly infamous robber named Gasback. He’s planning the biggest heist in his career and hires Nicholas D. Wolfwood to be his bodyguard. What follows is a lovely action romp and lots good old gunslinging fun.

The characters are still the same lovable cast. We get a few more characters in this film, again, the appearance of Amelia, and…yeah she kicks ass. I love the fact that she doesn’t take anything from anyone, she’s extremely hell bent on getting to her goal and she just pulverizes anyone who gets in her way. Add in a well done past, and she’s a welcome addition to the Trigun cast. Gasback is also a pretty cool villain. Aside from bad guys who are just assholes because the show needs a villain somehow, the creators make Gasback love what he does to death. He gets so much joy and pleasure from taking things away from others and making sure they’re hurt because of it, and this sick but passionate viewpoint made him all the more entertaining when he goes full on juggernaut.

Animation was done by Madhouse again, but this time they have popularity and success backing their animation. The show already did a fine job of fleshing out the setting with the animation budget they had, so with production values being a million times what they were on the show, it’s great to see the world fleshed out even more. We’re able to see more people, more designs, more little things in the background. If Badlands Rumble did one thing right, it was build on an already well done setting so beautifully.

Unfortunately the soundtrack didn’t hit the bars that the show was able to hit so easily. Not saying it’s bad, far from it, but when you’re coming from so many great background songs and one of the best intros in anime, the music for the film has a lot of expectations built up. It wasn’t bad, I enjoyed some pieces here and there, but I can listen to the show’s OST on repeat for hours, and comparatively I’m really leaning to one of these soundtracks in particular, aren’t I?

Also unfortunately, Funimation wasn’t able to get every dub actor from the original series, so there were a few voices that stood out as being blatantly different. Bosch is still Vash, and he still does great, and some good performances for Amelia and Gasback are more than enough to carry the movie.

In the end, what we have is a quality film that builds off of the Trigun show with impressive artistic results. Even though it was never able to reach up to what the show presented regarding themes, it honestly didn’t need to. It’s just a little bonus story, and as a bonus arc, it’s pretty damn good. It is preferred that you view this show either after you have finished the Trigun show, or if you feel like you can handle the little changes to continuity, again, episode 9 is a good place to insert it during your viewing, though adjusting to the differences in animation may be a tad bit difficult. It's just more of the Trigun goodness and fun, with a couple small surprises here and there.

I give this anime a score of 7.2/10 (3.5 stars) and a Recommended rating.

marlee.wisoky - 2014-06-27 19:54:54

This was a great add on for fans of the original trigun series that was made up of 26 episodes. I've badly wanted more out of trigun when it was finished. This movie has added a little bit onto the crave of trigun. I believe they should keep make another movie or continue the tv series and use maximum as their main plot. This movie was just great though! 4.5 out of 5. I believe it was just near perfect. One fact I didn't like is that it was years past the orginal trigun series and it seemed that not even the original characters had aged a day. (For Vash this wouldn't matter he's a walking Plant) But besides minor things such as that it was great! They could gravely expand the trigun universe far! I'm hoping the success of this movie will spark more for this series in the near by future.....

thomas.roberts - 2014-01-31 10:18:51

I know I'm going to get a lot of slack for this. I've read people's reviews, and forum posts on this film, and I did not get the same feelings as most of them did with Trigun: Badlands Rumble.

This is coming from someone who loves the original series (Nostalgia), and is very interested in reading the manga (I own it).

I must say though, this is probably one of the best extra's you could get after watching the series. But I would not call this an amazing film. It's an amazing special for fans.

Lets talk about the story. It's a simple story, and I'm all for cliche stories, but it's all in how you execute it. Was it entertaining, were the fight scenes breathtaking, were the comedy bits funny, was it emotional, ect. ect.

For me, the execution of this story was not as good as the anime at all. I do not think it has the same feeling as the original series does. I'm actually amazed it's the same director and screenwriter.

In the series (Excluding the first 8 or so episodes), you get the feeling Vash has a reason for (or try) saving lives. There's this emotion that he's conveying that whenever he had to get down to the nitty gritty and shoot someone, there was this terrible sadness in his actions, like he's trying to make up for the mistakes he and his brother have made.

In this series, I did not get that impression at all, even at the end. And that makes me sad that they couldn't fully use the emotions that Vash always keeps inside.

I also get the feeling that most of this film was just action with no emotion behind it. I'm okay with that, but the action was not very stylish of breathtaking in my opinion. As action pictures come, I was surprisingly bored.

The sound is quite good. No seiyuu felt out of place or out of character.

The music was surprisingly disappointing compared to the original series, almost 40 minutes in was when I realized there even was a score in Badlands Rumble. The re-arranged "H.T. Theme" at the end was great though. They should have made more rearranged tracks for this film, such as "Never could have been worse" or "Scattered Rain".

The SFX were great as well.

The art and animation in this series is excellent, especially when compared to the original series. There's a lot of detail, and smooth movement.

Now the character here can be tricky. Most characters are introduced like they are people you have met before, like people who watched the original series.

As for the new characters:

Gasback just wants to be the best robber there is, the flashier the better.

His minions in the past Cain, Dorino, and Michio are running from him after stealing his money 20 years ago.

Amelia is the new comer that has a dark past (anymore would be a spoiler).

Vash is Vash, he's the funny Vash with no problems like the first few episodes in the series. His reasons behind saving people is just "It's better to live". but the way he conveys this is not serious at all like in the series, and that bothered me.

I enjoyed this series to an extent. Not a very outstanding film, but this is an excellent extra for the manga and series, I would highly recommend watching and reading the original before watching this. Or maybe vise versa would be better, because the TV series and manga are much better, you'll be able to know more about the mysteries of how these characters know each other. Mainly Vash, Wolfwood, Meryl, and Milly.

Overall:

Trigun: Badlands Rumble disappointed me compared to the series. But it is an extremely good special for after watching the series and reading the manga, or vise versa if you are interested in the adventures of Vash the Stampede.

I mean, you couldn't ask for a better special than this, it's definitely better than getting nothing!

beier.kirk - 2013-12-26 02:23:20

Note: By reading this review, I'm going to assume you finished Trigun. Shit, why would you be reading this anyways if you haven't finished it already?

Trigun was some of the most fun I had watching anime since I finished up Redline about two or three months before making this review. It was funny, action packed, and even dramatic to the point where the viewer could probably be left in tears. While it didn't sell too well in Japan, the west was the big source of income for the show. If it wasn't for the western fanbase, this movie probably would not have seen the light of day. Pat yourself on the back, bros!

With that comes Trigun: Badlands Rumble, which I really view as a thank you (in movie form) by Madhouse to the Trigun fanbase for supporting the show for as long as they have by giving them some new material. Before I get started, let me emphasize on the fact that this new material isn't supposed to be canon. I watched this with a friend of mine and we exchanged ideas of this maybe being canon, but there are references to the TV series throughout the movie that just basically makes it a movie to, once again, thank that fanbase.

In short, Badlands Rumble is a story about a criminal named Gasback with $$300 million on his head due to a bank robbery that occurs. Rumor went around that he would be at Macca City and a literal shit ton of crazy bounty hunters were hired to collect the bounty on Gasback's head. Among the multitude of bounty hunters comes another one of Vash's many love interests, Amilia Ann McFly, who has a special case when it comes to her reason for hunting down Gasback.

One of the biggest merits that I thought really made Trigun was how it could mix its tone of story multiple times throughout the show and it not feel like it was out of place. That kind of magic really mixes in well with only just a 90 minute time frame to work with. However, I did notice that the movie tried especially harder to have more comedic elements put in during times when it would have been nice to have a serious moment. It's a small nit-pick, but still something that needs a mention.

Overall, the story of trying to stop Gasback from destroying Macca City works out well and brings back that good feeling from the TV series. Gasback wasn't the best villain in the world, but he was still tolerable enough to where his actions felt like they would make an emotional impact on the viewer. The conclusion felt solid and the story of the movie just wrapped itself up nicely.

The big four characters from the TV series are back once more for this movie and they play out their roles in the way that you would expect them to. The only character I had a small issue with at first was Wolfwood, since if you try to tie in his character archetype with the actions he did when he first shows up in the movie, it just feels out-of-place. Never fear, as Wolfwood does go back to the guy that he was very quickly and even steps it up a notch.

An issue with the original TV series was the fact that it was prevalent that Madhouse had a struggling budget with the show. Even if they still got through all of it and made it look nice when it needed to be, you could see where they tried to save some money in certain areas. About twelve years later, Madhouse now has a bunch of money to make this show look great and they did a damn great job with it. The action scenes are very fluid and even smaller scenes feel satisfying to see.

If you're someone like me who watched the dub of the original TV series, then you may be slightly disappointed with how some of these characters VA's came out to be. Bosch still gets the job done with Vash, so don't be worried with him. Luci Christian steps in to take over Meryl and, to be completely frank, doesn't do the greatest job with her, but it was still a decent performance. Trina Nishimura comes in to do Milly and her voice still fits the character. The biggest issue I have is Brad Hawkins coming in to do Wolfwood. No, this isn't a issue that I came up with because I wanted Wolfwood's VA to stay the same, but rather Hawkins' performance was especially weak and the potential for emotion that could have came from Wolfwood in this movie is lost. Otherwise, the rest of the cast for the movie do a fine job, especially with Colleen Clinkenbeard as Amelia.

To wrap this all up, Trigun: Badlands Rumble really succeeded at bringing back the content that the fanbase loved when the TV series first came out. It's a great 90 minute adventure that should be watched if you had a great time with Trigun. Apart from some minor issues, there really isn't anything to complain about with this one. If you've seen the show, you know what you're getting yourself into, plain and simple.