The anime season winter 2023 hits the ground running with the debut of hotly anticipated shows like Nier: Automata and the takeover of Mappa Vinland Saga. But the anime with the biggest proof of the anime community this season is Triangle pushA CG remake of the classic 90s anime, A triangle. After watching its pilot episode, I can say that the anime more than justifies its existence.
Triangle pushfrom Orange Studio, is a fully CG-animated retelling of Madhouse Studio’s 90s sci-fi anime, A triangle. The story follows Vash Escape, a lucky shooter with a six million dollar bounty on his head. Unlike other 90s anime characters like Cowboy bebopthe amiable bounty hunter, Spike Spiegel, or Outlaw starThe space mercenary, Jean Starwind, what makes Vash unique as an anime character is not his penchant for violence, but his aversion to it. I watched the first episode of Triangle push via screener and is set to premiere tomorrow on Crunchyroll.
If you have seen David Leitch’s recent action film High speed train, Vash is kind of like Brad Pitt’s character, Ladybug. Or rather, Ladybug is like a live-action version of Vash in the way that his luck and fighting skills repeatedly save him from excruciating firefights. Vash’s nickname, the Humanoid Typhoon, comes from the amount of destruction and mayhem that surrounds him. Despite how intimidating his gigantic .45 Long Colt pistol is, Vash prefers to resolve hairy encounters without taking the lives of his opponents. Vash lends a rare kind of truth to the gun’s colloquial nickname, the Peacemaker, with how he skillfully uses the revolver to resolve shootouts.
Watching the OG series is not a must to follow or enjoy Triangle push considering it’s more of a retelling than a sequel. If the first episode is any indication, Triangle push is to OG A triangle What Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is to the original Metal Alchemist anime. While the first few episodes of the original series meandered a bit with their slow introduction of Vash and the wasteland of the dog-eating desert planet Noman’s Land, Triangle pushThe first episode of wasted no time in establishing Vash’s story, as well as the direction for the rest of the series.
Within the premiere episode, Triangle push introduces Vash’s backstory as well as his raison d’être to fight for a peaceful resolution to the conflict surrounding the increasingly exhausted world of science fiction resources. The show also reintroduces characters like Meryl Strifewho is reimagined here as a rather different, slightly more complex character than she was in the 90s anime.
Instead of an insurance agent, Meryl is a newly graduated investigative reporter in the anime remake. Triangle push quickly discovers how naive Meryl is when she begins her pursuit of her “big scoop,” as she is repeatedly surprised to encounter the brutal poverty that the residents of Jeneorah Rock endure under the JuLai military police. Unlike her counterpart in the original series, Meryl’s surprise at how brutal and merciless life on the desert planet can be regularly conflicts with her naïve worldview. My only complaint is that her original partner in crime, Millie Thompsonis replaced by a new character, the grizzled borderline alcoholic journalist Roberto De Niro. (Yes, that’s actually his name.) While I’ll miss Millie and Meryl’s fish-out-of-water dual dynamic, Meryl and Roberto’s mentor-student chemistry makes for compelling viewing as the pair’s conflicting worldviews collide with the grossly-destructive realities of life on the poor desert planet.
Probably the first tough fight Triangle push clashes with the anime community comes from the use of 3D CGI. Rest assured, it looks phenomenal. The characters’ actions are fluid and expressive without seeming cheap or weird. When the action heats up, the gunfights and character movement have an impressive weight to them. This should come as no surprise, considering Triangle push is produced by Orange, the anime studio behind Beasts and Land of the shiny anime adaptations. The scale of each action sequence has the feel of a big movie spectacle.
Another gripe fans had Triangle push was over Vash’s redesign, especially his new fluffy hairdo. Let me put money with you, I actually prefer his new one to the original. Besides the new look being aesthetically pleasing to me, the artistic change makes sense given the breakneck speed of the action sequences and Vash’s amazing personality. Vash’s undeniable charm and childlike innocence are perfectly highlighted when his golden locks are unfurled by his emotional gestures. If he were to sport his signature spiky hairdo from the classic series, it would probably make his CG model’s movement look stiff and lifeless whenever he’s shown dodging bullets and wreaking havoc. But fear not, fans of the OG hairstyle: Vash’s signature ’90s look does make a sassy cameo.
with Triangle pushstudio Orange is defiantly imposing a moratorium on the anime community aversion to the use of 3D CGI. With the sheer scale of its techno architecture and the gritty, haunted aesthetic of its dusty, dumb Western cities, every sequence in the premiere episode has the same epic sci-fi blockbuster feel as star Wars or Dune. The world of A triangleand the humanoid typhoon that calls it home have never looked better.