The first new Trigun animation in over ten years featuring all the classic Trigun characters you know and love, plus new villains and heroes!

In town surrounded by quicksand, an outlaw from Vash the Stampede’s past has resurfaced after twenty years. His name is Gasback – and he’s looking to cause a little trouble. It seems Gasback has a serious beef with the town’s mayor, who’s paying dozens of bounty hunters to protect his turf. One of those hired guns is a beautiful woman with a vendetta against Gasback. Will she get a shot at revenge? Maybe, if she can get through Gasback’s bodyguard, Wolfwood. And what’s Vash got to do with this mess? Nothing much – except for the fact that he personally set off the entire chain of events two decades ago!

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3463 in DVD
• Brand: Funimation
• Released on: 2011-09-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Animated, Widescreen, Color, Subtitled
• Original language: Japanese, English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.com
More than a decade after the Trigun broadcast series debuted (1998), Vash the Stampede is back in a new adventure, Badlands Rumble (2010). As the film opens, Vash keeps bank robber Gasback and his henchmen from killing each other. Twenty years later, Gasback attacks Macca City, the town the henchmen built. A five billion double dollar policy from the Bernardelli Insurance Society protects the gargantuan bronze statue looming over the town, so Meryl and Milly are on hand to protect the company's investment. Gasback's plan has brought scores of bounty hunters to Bacca in pursuit of the staggering reward on his head, including Amelia, a mysterious redhead who has the misfortune to catch Vash's eye. As bullets fly, Vash keeps people from being killed and faces down his old friend, gun-totin' preacher Nicholas Wolfwood. When the smoke finally clears and the credits roll, Vash learns that every throw of the dice can have greater consequences then he realizes. Johnny Yong Bosch re-creates the role of Vash, mixing over-the-top romantic nonsense and serious reflections. The rest of the cast is new, with Brad Hawkins as a slightly cooler Wolfwood and Trina Nishimura as a properly befuddled Milly. In the extras, Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow says that Badlands Rumble was made in response to the requests of North American fans. Given the popularity of Trigun--and the movie's inconclusive ending--there may be more adventures in store for the irrepressible Humanoid Typhoon. (Rated TV 14: violence, violence against women, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

Most helpful customer reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful.
Classic Trigun for the Modern Age
By Lucas Black
I was fortunate to see a screening of this movie at Mechacon 2011 in New Orleans, and it was a real treat. I wasn't sure what to expect, considering I have a good view on what the series was and was supposed to be, and how many ways there were to mess something up. But everything is pretty much perfect! It plays out like a longer episode of the series with higher production values. The new characters are nice additions, and here are several shoutouts to the old series (hard to believe it's thirteen years old now). The comedy is the standard and always enjoyable Vash the Stampede's zany actions, including over-the-top infatuation with the new character Amelia. The action scenes and gunplay have been polished and refined, with things like characters actually reloading, etc. I really can't think of a single thing to say negatively about it. You could make the argument that I'm biased, and that's fair, considering I've been a fan for several years and viewed the movie within a room filled with nothing but other fans, with every gag onscreen bringing up a completely warranted roar of laughter. There should be more reviews soon that will give a more fair view of the technical quality. But if you want a fan's opinion: it is exciting and hilarious.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Trigun: Badlands Rumble (Blu-ray)
By Tony Khamvongsouk
Movie - 4.5

Long-time anime fans should be no stranger to the world of Trigun. For all the goofy, donut-eating, light-hearted, love and peace(~!) moments and all the unknowing and spontaneous chaos and destruction brought about by just his mere presence alone, The Humanoid Typhoon, Vash the Stampede, is renowned for his naive, yet charming personality and is easily one of the more memorable characters in anime lore. But good grief, can you believe it's been 12 years since the TV series ended? Needless to say, the Sixty Billion Double Dollar Man is back for another go-around. If you're new to the anime medium and have no idea what I'm talking about, Trigun is an anime Spaghetti Western (with a little bit of sci-fi) that follows the adventures of Vash the Stampede, a socially-labeled outlaw of outlaws that is said to be the worst thing you could come across at any point of your life. They say he's big, they say he's bad, and if you're lucky they say you'll die a quick death! But in truth, it's just a bunch of rumors. As I mentioned earlier about his happy-go-lucky qualities, Vash the Stampede is just trying to live his life and make the world a better place along his travels. Unfortunately, trouble does follow him pretty much everywhere he goes. Character analysis aside, this film is a one-shot story taking place in the Trigun universe in which a bank robber named Gasback is foiled by his own henchmen, only to be saved by Vash, but then pursues a plot of revenge against his former cronies. In the meantime, the last remaining target of Gasback's vengeance has put a rather large bounty on anyone who can stop him. I can't say much else that could entice newcomers, but if you've seen the series and know its material you will absolutely love the atmosphere. Pretty much all of the fan-favorite characters make their return appearance (all the good guys, anyway), and the writing itself is very fun and quirky like the first half of the series (before things got a lot darker). For dub fans, the only returning voice actor is Johnny Yong Bosch, but all the replacement actors do an excellent job filling in the gaps. And if this is your first time experiencing Trigun, definitely give the TV series a look. FUNimation did license both the series and movie and have reported that they do eventually plan on putting the series on BD at some point, so hope that they do it soon and keep an eye out for it.

Video - 5.0

- Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
- Video resolution: 1080p
- Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
- Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

I'm a bit biased here about the video presentation in 3 ways: 1) I'm a big fan of Madhouse and always have been; their animation is very high quality on a consistent basis and a lot of the TV shows, OVAs, and movies they've produced over the years have always ranked as some of my favorite anime titles. 2) as I said it's been 12 years since Trigun the TV series aired in Japan, and while it looks good, even the remastered DVDs show the animation's age, so I'm glad to see the same style redone with today's technology. And 3) it's an anime movie, which means a really high budget and less time constraints will make for a seemingly superior product both in terms of video and audio presentation when compared to a TV series. So with that said, we get Badlands Rumble presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, an obvious upgrade from the series' 4:3 presentation back in the day. Not only am I delighted to see the Trigun world in true widescreen, but the HD video quality is the best I've ever seen the franchise look. Oddly enough, the movie is digitally-produced but has a very cel animation look to it, as talked about in the extras with chief animation director, Takahiro Yoshimatsu. The results are utterly astounding, though, as I looked at both my remastered DVDs of the series and compared its quality to the movie. Granted, it's 12 years later with better technology and a bigger budget, but it's rare that I that I find an anime feature film that really reflects the amount of work put into, especially with a project as delayed as this had been. The line detail is my favorite part of the presentation giving the art style a very distinct look that's closer to the original manga design. Colors are extremely well-saturated with reds, yellows, and charcoals making up a majority of the color palette for the world's desserty theme. And they even added some grain to give the movie a more filmic and gritty texture that really makes it feel like the Old West. And even better, I can't say I remember any instances of banding, aliasing, or artifacting despite the movie itself being a digital production. Then again, the first time I saw this was at AnimeFest 2011 where the source was a DVD-R copy on a crappy projector in a badly-seated conference room and with even crappier audio.

Audio - 5.0

Languages
- Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
- English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Subtitles
- English

As I said, the audio in that screening was crap. I sat in the third row closest to the speakers and could still barely make sense of the important parts (it was a dubbed screening, by the way). But boy howdy, does it sound better in lossless and in the comfort of my own home. Something else I should bring up with the case of anime on BD is that a lot of titles I've seen haven't had much in terms of true surround audio. Most TV shows these days in Japan are only even produced with a 2-channel sound design in mind, and when they come to the States the companies are simply remixing the audio masters in a quasi-matrixed (i.e. artificial) 5.1 dub. Sure, the idea of 5.1 English dubs SOUNDS like a good idea, but they're not true surround experiences. It's not often that a TV show actually gets one (unless it's just really high-budget like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex or anything else by Kenji Kamiyama), but when we actually do get the chance for the real thing I'm especially happy about it. With that said, the TrueHD 5.1 tracks for both the Japanese and English tracks sound perfect. Something that always bugged me about those artificial 5.1 tracks was the fact that dialogue sounded so damn quiet from the center. But here it's flawless in either language (both of which you really can't go wrong in terms of acting either). The sound effects and music (all hail Tsuneo Imahori for coming back to compose!) are spectacular as well. Gunshots, blowing wind, sand and gravel, and all the people chattering in the background have an amazing amount of depth and clarity. Action sequences, in particular, possess some great separation and directionality; the scene where Wolfwood makes his first appearance has a LOT of gunfire effects, and the bar fight with all the hooligans yelling about offers a good deal of sonic immersion. LFEs are potent and fitting for the movie's subtitle (Rumble), and while the sound design certainly isn't on the level of a Hollywood blockbuster, it still does its job with great precision. My favorite scenes for audio are the bar fight or all the craziness that ensues (both visually and aurally) and the scene at the end where Vash fights Gasback.

Extras - 5.0

I really have to hand it to FUNimation for this one. Previously, just about all of their other BDs have had next to nothing worth of special features outside of some English cast commentaries that never really contributed anything worthwhile to the creation process or provided any truthful insight into the shows they adapted. But here, there's a good 2+ hours of special features and all with the original Japanese cast and crew (all in SD). Interviews include:

- Creator: Yasuhiro Nightow (11:08)
- Voice of Vash: Masaya Onosaka (8:59)
- Voice of Milly: Satsuki Yukino (8:31)
- Director: Satoshi Nishimura (11:06)
- Voice of Wolfwood: Shou Hayami (10:00)
- Voice of Amelia: Maaya Sakamoto (6:43)
- Chief Animation Director: Takahiro Yoshimatsu (7:26)
- Voice of Meryl: Hiromi Tsuru (3:12)
- Voice of Gasback: Tsutomu Isobe (7:06)

All of them give VERY insightful comments on the general worldview of Trigun, their past experiences on the TV series (where applicable), their new experiences in doing the movie, and a lot of other interesting opinions. The interviews are rather candid, yet cordial and I have to say if you've ever seen these kinds of omake where cast and crew sit in front of the camera and answer questions, there are loads of things you can learn from them. In particular, I really enjoyed the interviews with Onosaka, Yukino, and Hayami. Onosaka because he seems like a very amicable person, which ties in extremely well to the way he portrays Vash. It's also a nice contrast to the more hot-head role of Tekeshi Sendou he played in Hajime no Ippo, which I watched a few months before this. Yukino because she's always been one of my favorite seiyuu, and I find it interesting that Milly was one of her very first roles in the industry. She gives a good amount of reflection on reprising the character and sounds very grateful for the opportunity she was given way back when. And Hayami, well, I'm just so used to hearing him play the villain, that I was very surprised to see that he looks as debonair as a lot of the characters he portrays (both good and bad). Additional features include:

- Movie Premiere at Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro (8:47)
- Post Recording (3:51)
- A Mildly Amusing Story by Something Yoshimatsu (0:28)
- Video Footage from Anime Expo 2009 (1:38)
- Talk Event at Kawasaki Cinecitta (3:32)
- Special Talk Show (38:16)
- Web Promotion Clip (1:37)
- Promotional Video (2:23)
- Theatrical Commercial (00:37)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:39)
- Original Commercials (00:49)
- FUNimation Trailers

The Special Talk Show was by far the funnest feature for me. Anime and manga has such a strong following in Japan, and to see people of the industry having so much fun and interacting with their fans is a real treat to watch and listen to. The cast and crew that took part in this event were very laid back and welcoming to all the accolades and questions received from the audience. The whole thing just shows a lot of unity and the kind of investment Japanese fans really have for the industry in general. I wish the North American market was as successful. FUNimation, if you're reading this, put more extras like this on your BDs!

Overall - 5.0

It's been a few years since I've seen Trigun the series. But it left such a lasting impression that I still like it a lot to this day. And seeing this film makes me want to watch it again and even has me curious about the manga. Production values are through the roof with all of the Japanese cast returning, and at least Johnny Yong Bosch returning for the English dub. Regardless, though, even the new stand-ins do a great job, and I would definitely say you can't go wrong with either language track. I had absolutely no problems with the A/V quality, and I LOVE the fact that FUNimation actually put forth the effort of including all sorts of interesting interview material from the creator, cast, and crew of the film and series. Here's hoping for another movie, or even an adaptation of Trigun Maximum. If you're a fan of the series, this is a must-own. Casual anime fans, or even non-anime watchers, should at least give it a rent. And if you like it, try the series, too. Love and Peace~!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
I saw it in the theaterm now i can watch it at home.
By D. Francy
I was lucky enough to be able to see this in the theater in a nearby town. And i can't wait to watch it again. My friends and i are going to get together and watch it the day it comes out. This is an amazing Trigun story, i don't care what the hardcore people say. It was hilarious and full of every thing you could expect from Vash "The Humanoid Typhoon" Stampede!!!!!