Story
As before, three episodes are included on this DVD. However, these episodes are the beginning to a whole new tone to Trigun. These episodes begin to reveal the true nature of Vash the Stampede and ask the question, "Who is the real Vash? The clown, the saint, or the killer?" Unfortunately, the last episode on this disc is mostly a recap, appropriately titled "Vash the Stampede", but you are shown Vash's body with nothing on but some pants, which reveals a lot about the character.

Packaging
Pioneer, you are God. I love each and every cover of Trigun so far. This time around, Vash is standing pointing his gun straight with smoke coming out of the barrel. Behind Vash is the face of the new enemy introduced in this disc, Legato Bluesummers (More on him in the language reviews). The back cover contains one screen capture for each episode arranged within iron bars. Another poetic description and paragraph on the episodes appear. The background image is of Legato sitting. Extras within the DVD casing contain a feedback slip and a slip with episode and chapter titles.

Menus
The menu begins with a black screen, you then hear a gunshot and the screen shatters to reveal the same image of Vash that appears on the front cover. However, this picture is animated; Vash's hair and trench coat are moving with an unseen wind along with the smoke coming from the gun barrel. A new music that is jive (Yes, I will use 1970's street terms) plays for the duration that you stay at the main menu. After any selection is selected from the menu, Vash fires his gun again, shattering the screen to reveal the next page.

Video
Very little, and I mean minuscule, amount of scratches appear on this disc. Further, the episode titled "Vash the Stampede," which is a recap episode, shows scenes from previous episodes in which the colors are much more vibrant than they were.

English
Another new character, another voice review. Legato Bluesummers is up this time. I truly wish the English vocal cast list were arranged according to who does which voice rather than just a list of the voices; however, I must discuss Legato's. I felt that the English voice cast for Legato pulled off acting well but was far too childish for the character. I didn't get the same feeling of fear that I did when watching the Japanese version as I did when I watched this one. Legato seemed evil and all, but the voice actor didn't make me believe that he wanted to kill Vash more than anything and could destroy everyone there at will.

Vash's voice actor does a great job as Vash the goof, but (And I am going to try my best not ruin anything here) he doesn't pull off Vash's true nature very well. He just does not sound evil enough.

The dialogue though was left almost mirrored from the original. That is always a plus and something that Trigun has included since the beginning.

Japanese
Always the best version and this will never change. Nothing is ever better than the original in any case, not just anime. However, a few mistakes are made in the subtitles. Some of the wording would have been much stronger if translated differently. Suffixes such as "san," "chan," etc. are left out. "San" is usually replaced with "Mr." or "Mrs." so it is not too bad. The subtitles are once again yellow with a black border.

Now it is fun time once again. Toshihiko Seki is the voice actor for Legato Bluesummers in the original version and he is absolutely perfect. The second you hear his voicing of the character you will feel a sense of fear as the character is completely emotionless when it comes to killing others. When watching the Japanese version, I saw the character as pure evil, the perfect enemy for Vash. I finished the episode where he first appears and thought to myself "man, this guy is f*&^%@$ awesome!"

Extras
Three, three, three. Three extras are once again what we are provided. This time they were a little more interesting than previous discs. First off is "McFarlane Toys;" ranging from sketches to models to the final figures of the characters. Next up were villain designs. These included twenty-five images of the designs for every villain that has so far appeared, from the beginning of Volume one to the end of this volume. The extras conclude with DVD credits, which are given a different lighting, but contain the same type of info. Pioneer info is here again, and is the same as always.

Final Thoughts
This is simply a must have DVD; even if you aren't a Trigun fan, there is nothing on this disc that won't appeal to you in some way. Not only is a little more of Vash's past revealed, but also his other persona; the feared killer who can destroy entire cities. Also, a little of the hidden romance between Wolfwood and Milly is given some attention in the first episode on this disc. This is an absolute must have DVD in my opinion. Later minna!

© Eric.