TRIGUN - EPISODE FIVE - Hard Puncher
Inepril City. At a coffe restlant. (No Joke) A kid begs his mom for a real gun. He has a dart gun already. A bad hombre busts in with a shotgun and bullet time is engaged. The mom tries to cradle her son and get low...but the bad hombre isn't alone. The waitress is LEGIT SHOOK. A gun is cocked. A man in red takes a bite of his breakfast. The kid drops his toy dart gun. The man in red chews and swallows. Time goes back to normal and the sound of gunfire is seemingly endless. The hombres laugh as the smoke clears. The man in red is prone, with blood coming out of his chest, surrounded by bullet holes. The kid weeps. Not to worry says the head of the hombres, this is the corpse of Vash the Stampede. The Humanoid Typhoon. The Sixty Billion Double Dollar Man. The scourge of the seven seas. They'll be more than willing to rebuild this Restlant.
Yoink.
The man in red is so happy to hear this. He got tomato juice all over him when he tried to run away and wants to get his dry cleaning taken care of.
NERF is jealous.
They don't seem to have a lot of fight left in them and ask the man in red who he is. He's a hunter of peace, one who chases the elusive mayfly of love. Shotgun hombre thinks he should finish him off but the leader stops him, noting that this man shot them all in the head with a dart gun before they could even aim at him. The man in red offers the shotgun hombre to try his luck...they are all out of bullets besides the guy he's holding onto, the leader. They walk out into the desert in their underwear, presumably dying a painful death via heat stroke. The man in red is thinking about how cold it will be at night for them and gives the kid back his gun. An old man sits down with him and gives him a plate of pancakes. Asks him if he always wins these fights without shooting. Pancakes are cheaper than a single bullet! The waitress draws a gun on him from behind and the old man does the same from the front. They think he's Vash the Stampede and ask him not to put up a fight. The whole damn town is outside, armed to the teeth. They need the money! The insurance girls are on the outskirts of town. Milly notes that half the village is covered in sand, a sign that their plant must be failing. That doesn't come cheap! Looks like the rumors are true as an air raid siren goes off. They will find the real Vash the Stampede, get their paperwork done and put an end to his terror. What follows is one of the greatest action sequences in anime. Presented without (much) comment.
Proto Armstrong.
Proto Luffy.
Proto Man?
Abandon Thread Part 1
Crying in French.
Oh come on.
The town is in chaos. People are seriously wounding each other. Random explosions, gun shots, demolitions. This must be the real deal. Meryl tries to take control with a megaphone and a rehearsed speech about Vash and insurance. Another voice of authority steps in over the loud speaker, it's mission control ordering a cease fire and everyone back to base. The chairman is flustered, they've been at this for FOUR HOURS. Hasn't returned a single shot. Meryl demands to speak with him and dresses him down. You can't fight Vash, he's a natural disaster. He knows that but they need the money. Half the Plant is inoperable. Milly points out that they won't have a town anymore if they keep engaging Vash. The chairman might have made an even bigger mistake.
Whole new meaning to corn fed.
Yep that qualifies. It's the Nebraska family. The big guy stubs his toe on a car and his dad, a little guy in mad scientist regalia starts shooting his mouth. They have a 700 year sentence that they released themselves from yesterday in order to hunt Vash. They have over 150 class A convictions! Considering Vash's wanted poster is apparently dead or alive I'm amazed these guys weren't executed!
A different kind of Legit Shook.
Meryl has had enough when a little girl comes up telling them that they caught Vash the Stampede! A bunch of women including the waitress from the Restlant caught him taking a quick drink break. Vash tries to shame them about exposing their children to this. It takes them back but according to the spokeswoman they need the cash, the only doctor left town and her son is sick in bed. The land is sick, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. Vash turns serious and draws his gun. He understands more than you know and he gets even more serious.
Scary!
He begs the waitress not to shoot that gun. The ground shakes and he tells everyone to hit the deck. The big Nebraska shot his robot fist clean through the building.
Gary was here.
The devil's helper. The man who turned a city of a million into ashes. The legendary outlaw, Vash the Stampede. Vash is the man in the red duster! Meryl is beyond shook. Vash flips the marker and does the universal finger waggle for just bring it. Meryl still doesn't believe that man is Vash, but he has to be. Vash puts down the waitress he was holding the entire time and proceeds to save the rest of the women who captured him as the mad scientist Nebraska keeps talking shit before telling his son to fire his rawketo paunch one more time. Didnt even flinch and saved the last woman, the mother of the sick child. The townsfolk are impressed while the Nebraska's just try again. Milly, who has believed all along this was Vash, knows that he always tries to save everyone to a fault and Meryl finally accepts that this man is Vash. Papa Nebraska calls him a hypocrite; he must have killed before surviving like this. What does Vash have to say for himself?
Get equipped with.
He puts on his glasses. Little N continues his shit talking with his fist going at 120 iles per hour and does the one thing that will spook Vash into frantic action, he targets the prone women.
A big John Woo gif.
Two minutes of slow motion later... He caused the fist to veer off course with six little bullets? Not quite, as Vash opens the cylinder of his gun, he did it with five. He's got one left for him, could be his special one.
Spin me right round.
It hits big Nebraska right in his robot arm socket and he falls over crying out in pain. Beat him with only six bullets. Meryl now knows why he is the humanoid typhoon. Papa Nebraska isn't done yet, pulling out a ridiculously long barrelled pistol.
Poit.
and Peace!
Well that settles that. Milly gets Meryl to file her report. Four months and twelve days after being ordered to find Vash the Stampede they finally made contact.
but at what cost?
BONUS:
The black cat with a big preview.
Third appearance this episode!
Abandon Thread Part 2