(no subject)

[timepiececlock]

So, is it just me, or does The Doctor in Dr. Who (9th, cause that's the only one I know), remind anyone of a much older, much wiser, much more experienced, and somewhat more bitter...

...Vash The Stampede?


You know, with the pacifism, the giddy joy of life, the wanderlust and the I'm-older-than-I-look-even-though-I-can-tell-you-forget-it-sometimes angst.


Nah. Nevermind. The real miracle would be if there's anyone on my flist who actually knows who BOTH those characters are.


WARNING: COMMENTS NOW CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR END OF TRIGUN.

Comments

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I was reading your other entry, but it got locked during the time I was composing my reply to your little entry! So here it is. :)

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Firstly, excellent post! I enjoyed reading it, though the Kenshin parts mostly went over my head, I'd already known the basic two-sentence summary of Kenshin plot, so I followed those parts fine too.

I liked the comment that the "masks" they wear aren't totally masks, but are on some level true.


Vash has killed, but he never went to the place in his mind where he believed he was justified.

Interesting point. I kind of agree and disagree at the same time.

I disagree because I think the ending of the series is so open-ended---so deliberately open-ended, that we can't really say what Vash's state of mind is toward Legato's death (execution, really), just his state of mind toward Knives. I think Vash forgave himself, but we were never really told if he'd come to a final opinion on whether or not it was justified. That was left open-ended, and I always felt it was done deliberately.

After seeing the whole thing, I looked at Trigun as basically a character analysis from start to finish, and the main conflict is the philosophical battle for Vash's soul, though this doesn't become apparent for a long time. At one end you have Rem's influence and memory affecting Vash's actions, and Vash's (inherent? or learned?) goodness. On the other hand you have Knives, Wolfwood's logic, and harsh reality of an unfair world. Knives's desire isn't to kill Vash, it's to cause Vash to break down and see things his way. For every moment you see something happen to justify Rem's outlook of peace and love, you get a flip side to counter that where we see darkness win, people be weak-hearted, or another person dying who Vash isn't quite quick enough to save. Especially after the Gung Ho Guns are introduced.

I saw the end of the series as Vash rejecting both Rem's ideology (he'd essentially been living for her and for the sake of her philosophy after her death) and Knives's ideology as either one being absolute truth. Vash at the end of the series has finally grown up, and now is going to go through life determined to figure it out for himself. He's a blank slate.

I think this definitely puts him at a different place emotionally than the 9th doctor or Kenshin, at least as Vash is at the very end of Trigun. He's not fresh from his loss like the Doctor is. But the beauty of (and what I loved about) the open-endedness of Trigun's ending is that it is so completely, totally, open. Vash is a blank slate-- or rather, a blank ticket to the future. He doesn't know what that means or what his decisions will be in the future, but he's going to start by saving his brother.

[mswyrr]

I was reading your other entry, but it got locked during the time I was composing my reply to your little entry! So here it is. :)

Ack! That's what I get for mucking with my LJ settings before bed.

Excellent analysis of Vash. Am bogged down in work will probably be delayed in replying, but just wanted to express my appreciation!