Heartwarming / Trigun Stampede

Moment Subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

---

Episode 1: Noman's Land

• Hearing the alarms blare, Vash immediately runs to what appears to be Rem's room. When he doesn't see Rem, he calls out to her and his brother in worry. In Rem's room is a picture of Vash, Nai and herself in a family like photo and a geranium flower in a small vase next to it.
• Upon seeing his mother figure running towards him, Vash immediately jumps up to hug her. She holds Vash's hand the rest of the way to where the other ships are docked.
• Nai holding out his hand and telling Rem to come with them. Even though at this point he's made up his mind on humanity, he still clearly cared for Rem and wanted his family to remain together. Rem's refusal to come with her boys to protect the rest of humanity however, sealed Nai's hatred for her.
• Rem's final words for Vash and Nai are telling the twins they were the best thing to ever happen to her and she was happy to have raised them.
• Meryl looking at the drawing of Vash in the magazine and simply laughs at it. She's the first person to see Vash as another human being instead of the feared and warped image of the Humanoid Typhoon, or as something useful.
• Instead of turning Vash in, Meryl leads the July soldiers in the opposite direction, claiming Vash ran that way. While she still ties him up so she can get her scoop for the papers, she does it to clear Vash's name as the "Humanoid Typhoon". Even she admits he doesn't seem like such a bad person, and was likely blamed for the wrong thing.
• Vash being welcomed with open arms at Jeneora Rock, with Rosa's cold demeanor towards Meryl dropping immediately into delight when she sees Vash. Vash even beams at Tonis when the kid comes up to see him. In the dub, Rosa calls Vash "our Vash" when she sees the ropes he's tied up in, and threatens Roberto and Meryl for not treating him right.
  • In the dub Vash makes note of Rosa's new baby bump and asks where her husband went. Upon hearing she kicked "his lazy ass out," Vash gives a proud, "Atta girl!"
• As the missiles launched by the July captain start to fall towards the town, Vash yells at everyone to take cover.
• While Roberto will constantly make fun of Meryl, he clearly looks out for her as he pulls her out of danger and reminds her they're not fighters.

Episode 2: The Running Man

• The opening scene shows Vash cleaning his gun and restocking on bullets. The camera pans to the side of his work table to show his family photo of him, Nai and Rem. Even after a hundred and fifty years and his troubled (to put it mildly) relationship with Knives, he still loves and misses his family.
• Tonis placing a cage of bugs out for Vash. Vash smiles and pats the kid's head, promising to take good care of the creatures.
• While Nebraska sounds dismissive of Gofsef, he does genuinely love his son. He worries about him constantly hitting his head on the ceiling of the car, and begs for Rosa and the townsfolk to save him when he nearly falls off the side of the broken ledge.
  Nebraska: (jumping up and hugging Gofsef) I'm so sorry! Daddy will never put you in danger again!
• Despite Rosa and the townsfolk attempting to turn him in for his bounty, Vash still saves Rosa and Tonis when Nebraska barrels into town with his car, nearly hitting the family. Vash even catches Rosa when tossed by Gofsef.
• Gofsef getting Jeneora Rock's Plant to safety. While it was likely so it wouldn't be damaged and his father could maybe still sell it, he could have just as easily left it behind to save himself. Vash in turn grabs Gofsef's grappling hand and tries to haul him up when the bridge gives out beneath him.
• Even though they were just fighting each other that day over the plant, Rosa and the other townspeople invite Nebraska and Gofsef to drink.
• Gofsef himself displays a very innocent side when being scared of Tonis's bugs. The big guy immediately flinches and tries to scoot away from the bugs that Tonis holds up playfully to tease him.

Episode 3: Bright Light, Shine Through the Darkness

• Nebraska calling out for Gofsef and even attacking E.G. and Knives for hurting his son.
• Meryl tries to stand in the path of E.G. the Mine's vehicle as it comes barreling towards her. Noticing it's not going to slow down, Roberto dives in and manages to push Meryl out of the way at the last second.
• In a sort of trance, a child Vash looks around in his "gate" and calls out for his brother.

Episode 4: Hungry!

• Meryl worries over Vash not eating since they left Jeneora Rock. At the end of the episode when he finally does eat something, she smiles in relief. Vash even repeats Wolfwood's line about deserving to eat and laugh and Wolfwood cracks a huge grin.
• To cheer up the kid they found, Wolfwood hands over a lollipop and tells the kid to smile. Although this is spoiled when it's revealed the kid is Zazie the Beast, who works for Knives alongside Wolfwood. The two deliberately invoked Vash's protectiveness of children and Zazie is keeping an eye on Wolfwood's work as an assassin.
• Roberto doesn't trust Wolfwood, but Vash refutes his claims and says Wolfwood has kind eyes. Wolfwood looks genuinely taken aback by this compliment from Vash.
• Vash refusing to run off as the Grand Worm turns back around to swallow him and Wolfwood again. Roberto and Meryl are still inside its stomach somewhere, and he's not about to leave them behind.
• While they bicker, Wolfwood seems to take a shine to Meryl as he teases her with some bug meat and tries to make her eat it.

Episode 5: Child of Blessing

• Vash finding Rollo and promising him that if God wouldn't help him, he just needed to call Vash's name. Though rendered tragic when Rollo does call out — as he's undergoing the experiments that mutated him. But then, Vash doesn't come.
• Seeing his opponent crushed under the rubble to stop him, Vash still goes over to ask if he's all right, and is genuinely and sweetly relieved when he is. Ill-advised, but very much who Vash is.
• The photo Meryl and Roberto find: Vash holding a baby Rollo and beaming.

Episode 6: Once Upon a Time in Hopeland

• Livio arriving at Hopeland Orphanage. He cries that night and when Wolfwood finds him crying outside, he cheers up the kid. The two then become close, with Livio following Wolfwood everywhere.
  • Wolfwood as a kid looks fairly emotionless, but once he cheers up Livio, he starts smiling more.
  • As Wolfwood takes a nap on the roof, he wakes up to see Livio snuggling next to him.
  • The two boys getting caught smoking but laughing and running off as they hold hands.
• The children at the orphanage nickname Wolfwood "Nico-nii".
• As he attempts to escape, all Wolfwood can think of is returning back home to the orphanage.
• Vash doing everything he can to stop Wolfwood from killing Livio. He knows how important Livio is to Wolfwood and doesn't want to see his friend harm his family.
• Meryl going after the ship Vash and Wolfwood on are even when they had parted ways earlier. She cares for Vash, and none of her co-worker's warnings are going to stop her from going straight into danger to help him.

Episode 7: Wolfwood

• While surprised at Meryl and Roberto's appearance on the ship, Vash still does whatever he can to protect them from the incoming Bad Lads Gang.
• Livio starts muttering to himself mid-battle about needing to "catch up" to Wolfwood. While Livio couldn't have understood what joining the Eye of Michael would mean for him, he did it out of a genuine desire to grow strong and protect Wolfwood who's always protected him.
• The thing that snaps Livio out of his trance? Wolfwood's cigarette smoke. Earlier, he even notices the way Livio reloads his gun was similar to the trick he taught him when flipping his lighter. As said flashback plays, Livio fumbles juggling the lighter, but still gazes warmly at the light. Wolfwood nudges him with his shoulder as he leans against him.
• While Wolfwood is (rightfully) complaining the whole time, he still chooses to stay and do whatever he can to stop the sand steamer on pure "guts and grit" alone. As he tries to push the cannon up on his own, Vash soon arrives and helps him.
• Roberto tries to get Meryl to abandon the ship since he doesn't believe Vash and Wolfwood can stop it from hitting the orphanage. Remembering how she had failed to save Tonis back at Jeneora Rock, Meryl stands firm in staying at the controls to fire the cannon when the duo gave the word. And despite her telling him she won't judge him for running because what she's doing is stupid, Roberto stays by her side.
• Vash's genuine smile towards Wolfwood who claims he's not Wolfwood, just "The Punisher". The title card that then appears for the episode however, says otherwise.
• Vash asking the Plant of the sand steamer for help as he presses his hands and forehead to the glass. He even apologises to it for demanding more. The alien creature unfurls itself as it returns the gesture and looks calmly at Vash.

Episode 8: Our Home

• Rem taking video of Nai and Vash's first birthday. While Nai says he doesn't need to eat the food Rem prepared and that it would be wasted, Vash still insists they eat even though they're Plants.
  • The twins then prank Rem by telling her the recording light isn't actually on — Nai saying it, and Vash instantly catching on and going with it. As she turns the camera to check, she then quickly turns the camera back on the twins in a huff. Nai and Vash are cheerfully laughing at pulling off a successful prank on their mother figure. Nai even moves from his place to hug his brother, a rare sign of affection from him.
• Rem watching the video she took of them that day and happily squeezes her kids in a hug, promising them to celebrate another birthday next year.
  • As she hugs the boys, she declares herself the luckiest mother ever. Both the twins are blushing, but are clearly happy that Rem thinks of them as her own.
• Luida is the only person aboard the ship who doesn't immediately fear Vash, reminding Brad that Vash is just a child and even trying to start an amicable conversation with him. She even offers him food, though he declines to eat it as a form of self-inflicted punishment.
• One of the few things Brad manages to bring back for Vash from Ship Five was his family photo. Vash continues to hold onto the photo even after 150 years.
• A young Vash yelling at the crew to let him see the Plant because it was calling out to him. Once he gently places his head and hands against the glass, the Plant returns the gesture and is healed thanks to Vash.
  I'm right here.
  • Other ships they visit over the years have the crewmates there suspicious of Vash. But one nudge from Brad makes them drop their assumptions of the kid.
• Vash getting his own room. The look of pure joy that shines in his eyes is priceless.
• As Vash is walking around the ship with Brad as his escort, the man holds his hand out when a passenger walks by Vash.
• Vash slowly coming to call the people of Ship Three his family. His wall that just held the photo of him, Rem and Nai now contains many more pictures of himself and the other crew. He even says he wants to call this place his home.
  • There's one photo to the lower left showing Luida cutting Vash's hair. She's likely responsible for the undercut he's kept to the current day.
  • Later on, he's gifted the red coat he wears in present day by the ship's crew members. Vash says clothes are hard to get, but they all did it for him. Luida asks if the red's too flashy, but Vash says he loves it since it reminds him of the geraniums Rem grew.
• Vash wakes up from his dream to find himself in a bed with medicine and water at the foot of it. He smiles and wonders if his friends put him there.
• Once they read Vash's goodbye note, Luida and Brad feel terrible for misjudging Vash and doubting his good will. This leads to Luida determinedly set out and find Vash to bring him home. Brad asks for Luida to tell Vash he was sorry for the things he called the boy. Luida smiles and tells him he can tell Vash himself.

Episode 9: Millions Knives

• As children, when Knives would be playing the piano, Vash would come over and join him in a duet. Even though Knives as a child wouldn't smile when Vash joined in, his current self clearly misses having his brother by his side.
• The scene quickly devolves into heartbreak, but Knives is happy to see Vash once again after so many years of them being apart.
• Vash finally standing up for himself when he sees Knives about to shoot Luida. Knives took away one family from him, and Vash will make sure that never happens again.
• It's clear the reason Knives is quick to chop off Vash's arm was the likelihood of the black hole Vash's gate summoned swallowing Vash as well. While Knives is hurt with Vash choosing humanity over him, he will not stand by and watch as his little brother dies.
• Meryl and Roberto's astonishment at seeing the garden Luida cultivated inside the ship. Meryl herself is so thrilled she runs around giddily looking at the sky and plants.
• Luida tells Roberto the current mission she and Brad have is to hopefully be able to plant seeds onto the planet so they could relieve the stress on the Plants.
• Brad has significantly softened up to Vash over the 150 years they were together. He'll still harp on Vash for messing up his prosthetic arm, but defends him from Wolfwood telling Vash he'll have to "pick a side" sooner or later, saying Vash's perspective isn't naïve and Vash himself is much tougher than he looks.
  • It's also nice to see that Vash wasn't totally alone in the years since his childhood. He still had a "home" and people who really knew him to return to.
• The moment Wolfwood outright asks Vash if he honestly believes it's possible to "make up" with his genocidal brother. Vash just sits, looking at his feet, and then quietly states that he will save the humans, the Plants... and Nai. It's the hardest possible course in life he could have chosen and it'll tear him apart, but he says it with conviction stronger than steel. In spite of everything Vash has never ceased to love his brother, just as much as he loves anyone else.

Episode 10: Humanity

• Wolfwood looking out for Vash after one of the military officers who recognize Vash shoots him in the gut. He yells at the guards to back off and even runs over to support Vash, wrapping his arm around his waist to keep him steady. As they look for cover to get rid of the bullet Vash reveals his scars to Wolfwood, he only seems more worried and shocked by what Vash's been subjected to.
  • As guns are pointed at Vash, he quietly begs Wolfwood to not draw his gun. Wolfwood tightens his grip on Punisher that he had been slowly loosening.
• Meryl desperately beating the descending elevator and yelling at Vash that he's heading into a trap. He knows, but still smiles and gives a gentle wave goodbye to Meryl.
• Wolfwood showing his true colors and turning Vash over to Knives. Instead of looking shocked or betrayed by someone he had come to consider a friend, Vash thanks Wolfwood. Wolfwood is shocked that Vash still sees him as a friend despite it all. When he receives his contract later, Wolfwood even seems to doubt his decision.
  • Wolfwood's contract to the Eye of Michael stating that Hopeland Orphanage would stay out of their reach. Though he has dirtied his hands, Wolfwood did it out of love for his home and adopted family.
• Roberto protecting Meryl from the rain of nails from Elendira at the cost of his life. As he gives Meryl his parting words, he calls her by her full name before he passes on.
  • He makes it clear that he's accepted and even come to approve of her kindness and determination to do what's right. And that it wasn't her fault that this happened; he chose to protect her with his life and doesn't regret it at all. He even gently tells her that if she wants to run away from this situation, he wouldn't hold it against her.
• In a mixture of emotions, Knives clearly doesn't want to hurt Vash as he prepares to cut his wire, looking sorry for having to do this to his brother.

Episode 11: To the New World

• Meryl refusing to leave without at least doing whatever she could to save Vash, even with nothing but her small derringer pistol.
• While the entire ordeal is horrifying, especially for Vash, the first time Knives's blades ever seem gentle is when he uses them on his brother. Vash tries to fight them off in terror and still screams with agony when he's stabbed, but Knives is clearly holding back compared to what he had done to his previous victims.
• While still saddening to see Roberto's corpse, Meryl respectfully arranges him so his hands cover his wound somewhat. At least like this, he looks like he's sleeping peacefully.
• In Knives's "ideal" world, he was never forced to cut off Vash's left arm. So in here, he gives him a flesh one. Though this takes on a more sour note when contemplating that this would only have been possible if Vash didn't keep Knives from killing Luida.
• The one memory that Vash manages to pull from himself and give him comfort? Rem. In the form of his younger self, Vash happily runs up to Rem and hugs her.
• Vash's wide-eyed fascination with the geranium flower. He looks at the flora with innocent curiosity, asking if it was edible and poking the casing.
• After breaking up the boys fight, Rem hugs both the twins and tells them she loves them. She even tells Vash not to be concerned with how different he is from Nai, and how he's enough just being himself. And while the twins argued with one another, they still very much cared and loved each other despite it.
• The twins rifle around the computers, with Vash managing to key in the passcode that Knives had no knowledge of. After smugly giggling at his twin, Nai reflects Vash's expression, clearly impressed and proud of his little brother.
• Vash believing in Rem when she tells him she would never allow what happened to Tesla to ever happen to her boys. While this lead to Vash's current love for humanity, it also was the final straw that solidified Nai's cynicism and desire to destroy that humanity.
• As the vine start to engulf everything around July, a figure starts to form. Even when he's basically lost his memories, Vash still creates the vines in Rem's image.

Episode 12: High Noon At July

• Nai being enthusiastic about cowboy western films, even if his brother doesn't enjoy them.
• Rem shows the twins the Plant room. They ask her why they were born, and she holds both of the twins' hands, coming to the conclusion they were a gift to her from God.
• Vash humming the song of the Plants when he can no longer speak human language is eerily beautiful. In the dream Nai asks what he's singing, and Vash replies it's a song that he uses to calm himself down, but he doesn't know why.
• In the dub as Vash chases after Rem's image, she lovingly calls Vash her "perfect boy" and thanks him for keeping her dream alive.
• As he runs towards Rem's figure calling for him, Meryl is yelling for Vash to wake up on the other side of the glass. Knives comes crashing in and attempts to harm Meryl, only for Vash to pull her back with his grappling wire. Meryl looks deliriously happy at seeing Vash awake again.
  Vash: Thank you, Meryl. I heard your voice too.
• As the two brothers clash, Vash makes sure Meryl is behind him and that none of Knives's attacks actually hit her. Once Vash sees Meryl is out of range of the fight, he immediately pivots on the offense to shoot at Knives.
  • Conrad actually looks out for Meryl after she slips and falls onto the floor. He hauls her behind his control panel and tries to stop her from following Vash and Knives.
• Vash's relieved and thankful expression when he sees Wolfwood catch Meryl and haul her off to somewhere safe.
  • Wolfwood initially looks like he was going to chill outside of July and watch the world end. But just as he reaches for another cigarette, he stares at the pack. After saving Meryl, he claims it was because he's paying her back.
• As badly as Knives wants the cube, he never tries to actually hurt Vash even if it would win him the fight. He only attempts to grapple or restrain while keeping his blades in their folded 'safe' configuration, something he obviously has very little experience doing. When they emerge onto the roof, Vash leans back in order to get the cube away from Knives, leading to him falling over the edge. Knives grabs onto his gun and leans in the opposite direction in an attempt to pull Vash back onto the roof.
  • Only when cutting down the July military police does Knives resort to outright slaughter — and it's technically to save Vash from being shot. Vash is horrified by the sight, but any one of their bullets could easily have broken the cube and wiped the planet. Knives will do whatever it takes to protect his brother.
• Vash and Knives argue over their views on humanity, with Knives asking what Vash would do after he's been hurt so many times. Vash cries, but smiles as he says no matter how humans chase him and shoot at him, he'll just run. Then when it's quiet again, he'll stop running and just as quietly rejoin the humans, as Vash the Stampede.
• At the crater that is the remains of July, Meryl leaves a new pack of cigarettes next to Roberto's flask. Above it is a photo of Meryl, Vash, Wolfwood and Roberto.
• As Meryl listens to the news radio talking about the July tragedy and how Vash the Stampede's bounty has been increased to $$60 billion, Meryl rips one of his new wanted posters off the wall, implying that even though she has no idea where he is, and even if it's only a small gesture, she will make it harder for people to track him down and demonize him if she can.
• Zazie actually sounds sympathetic towards Vash, as they wonder why the humans are putting all the blame on Vash for July. They even warn Meryl about people from Earth arriving on Noman's Land soon thanks to the bridge Vash and Knives made, when they didn't have to divulge any information to her.
• Meryl's superior calls her and warns her to stop acting up or else she'd be sent to the insurance society. He then informs Meryl she'd be receiving a new partner, a girl named Milly Thompson. Meryl smiles as she looks over to her derringer pistol and Roberto's makeshift cigarette ashtray on the dashboard.
  Meryl: (smiling) Heya, newbie.
• It looks like Vash — now Eriks — is having a quiet moment to himself, playing a couple of keys on the piano, numb and silent with grief. However, he's not alone, and girl named Lina appears and asks if he's doing okay. She gently tells him he doesn't have to force himself to recall his old memories and that he's safe where he is. Even if Vash is still suffering mentally from all that happened at July, he has someone to look after him and who cares about him.

---