TRIGUN TV
Sharp-shooting hero comes to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in March

What do you get when you combine guns, the goofiest hero since the Tick, two overworked insurance investigators, ruthless villains, a minister that carries more weaponry than your average street gang and more guns?

These ingredients that make up the insanely popular anime series Trigun, coming to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup--Monday through Thursday from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.-- in March (debut date and time still to be determined). Licensed for American release by Pioneer Entertainment, Trigun combines fast paced action, gut-splitting humor and a riveting plot to create a truly fantastic series.

The "hero" of Trigun is Vash the Stampede, believed responsible for the annihilation of the city of July in a post-apocalyptic Western frontier world. Now he has a $60 billion bounty on his head. But Vash ain't your typical anti-hero-- his marksmanship is so phenomenal that he never kills his opponents. Plus, Vash is such a goofy and friendly guy that bounty hunters have trouble believing he's actually the infamous Vash the Stampede.

But other pursuers aren't as easy to shake. Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, two investigators from the Bernadelli Insurance Agency, have been assigned to track down Vash the Stampede and prevent him from destroying any more towns (although he goes out of his way to avoid killing, Vash has an incredible talent for random property destruction). Far from stopping Vash, Meryl and Milly usually get sucked into the center of whatever maelstrom he stirs up. The three are soon joined by Nicholas Wolfwood, a traveling minister carrying enough artillery to outfit a small mercenary troop.

The series, while never completely losing its humor, soon takes on a darker tone as Wolfwood, Stryfe and Thompson are drawn into Vash's mission to stop the ruthless murderer Knives and his gang, the Gung-Ho-Guns. But the secrets of Vash's mysterious past may prove to be their undoing.

An anime series so heavy with gunplay may have trouble on the American airwaves--even on Cartoon Network's late night block for adult viewers--but fans need not worry about overdone editing.

“When the tapes arrive to our library,” explained Terry Kalagian, vice president of programming at Cartoon Network, “we will review [the show] and make the necessary adjustments so that it fits our standards for broadcast and is given the appropriate rating. But fans can be assured that we will be careful to preserve the elements of the story that have made it such a popular series.”

--Caitlin Moriarity

 

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