is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow. Trigun was first serialized in Tokuma Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Captain from April 1995 to January 1997, when the magazine ceased its publication; its chapters were collected in three tankōbon volumes. The series continued its publication in Shōnen Gahosha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs, under the title Trigun Maximum, from October 1997 to March 2007. Shōnen Gahosha republished the Trigun chapters in two volumes, and collected the Trigun Maximum chapters in 14 volumes. Set on the fictional planet known as Gunsmoke, the plot follows Vash the Stampede, a famous gunman who is constantly fighting bounty hunters seeking to obtain the immense bounty on his head. As the narrative progresses, Vash's past is explored. Trigun originated from Nightow's fascination with Western movies. Nightow wanted Vash to be different from cowboys in Western movies by avoiding killing enemies and instead exploring the characters involved in each story arc. Trigun was adapted into a 26-episode anime television series by Madhouse; it aired on TV Tokyo from April to September 1998. An anime feature film, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, premiered in Japan in April 2010. In North America, both manga series have been licensed by Dark Horse Comics. The anime series was first licensed by Geneon Entertainment and started broadcast in the United States, as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block, in 2003; the series was later licensed by Funimation. Critical response to the manga has been generally positive based on Vash and his friends' actions and relationships, as well as the handling of action scenes. However, critics disliked Vash's predicament in regards to his pacifism repeated and the plot being hard to understand. The anime was similarly positively received. A new anime television series adaptation by Orange, titled Trigun Stampede, premiered in January 2023. Plot In the 32nd century, a man known as "Vash the Stampede" has earned a bounty of $$60 billion ("double dollar") on his head and the nickname after accidentally destroying a city with his supernatural powers. However, whenever he is attacked, Vash displays a pacifist personality as noted by two Bernardelli Insurance Society employees, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, who follow him around in order to minimize the damages inevitably caused by his appearance. Most of the damage attributed to Vash is actually caused by bounty hunters in pursuit of the sixty billion double-dollar