Trigun Stampede takes another dark turn in this episode with a very emotional tale about Vash and a young boy named Rollo. The tone of “Child of Blessing” is the saddest so far, but I suspect we likely haven’t seen anything yet. Throughout the episode, we’re given various flashbacks of events, some of which include members of Knives’ group. Fans familiar with the original series will no doubt recognize some of the references in this one. Represented with a new character that looks suspiciously like “Monev the Gale”, but that’s about where the similarities stop.
Even though the story of Rollo might tell us a tiny bit more about Vash’s past, it also gives us somewhat of a look at what Knives has been up to. The crew finds themselves in the midst of danger once again while traveling in the desert. After a momentary stop, Vash’s attention is pulled toward a settlement in the distance, and he begins walking toward it silently as if in some trance.
The others follow behind curiously, and they eventually arrive in a place that looks abandoned. Between the scene of Vash and the others in the present day, we are shown scenes of a young boy who previously lived there. As Vash is looking around he’s suddenly attacked by a giant cyborg firing 2 giant machine gun arms and screaming his name. While they’re avoiding getting killed, Wolfwood suspects that Vash has been there before and questions him about it. He reveals to Wolfwood the story of the boy he met there before. A flashback shows us the young boy was about to be sacrificed, but Vashwas none the wiser.
The boy was sick, so he attempted to procure him medicine. Unfortunately by the time he returned, the boy was long gone. The monster that appeared before Vash was apparently a product of this tragedy. We’re shown how the boy is taken and experimented on by the same people who assisted Knives. Somehow, the doctor doing this all is not nearly as interesting as the young girl with him that refers to herself as an “Angel”. It’s not made very clear whether or not Vash was aware the entire time that this boy “Rollo” was the one currently attacking them.
Maybe it was just a lucky guess. Either way, since Vash is famously nonviolent you could see how this might present an issue. Ironically enough, Vash turns out to be pretty useless in this episode too. Unable to attack Rollo, he simply ends up pleading with the boy inside whose mind is long gone. He may have made a breakthrough there for a second, but thanks to Wolfwood we’ll never know. He was the only one willing to shoot. It’s also looking more and more like our old friend is a double agent after all.
According to Zazie The Beast, Wolfwood is a creation of this doctor as well (Nicknamed “Punisher”). Certainly makes you wonder how much of a threat this undertaker really is, and what his true intentions are. I’m enjoying the suspense of this little subplot so far, and am eager to see where it goes from here.
TRIGUN STAMPEDE is streaming now on Crunchyroll.
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