It’s almost time to say goodbye to the iconic characters of Trigun Stargaze, which gave Trigun fans a renewed experience into the endgame of Studio Orange’s adaptation. This ragtag group of hunters and adventurers have gone through so much, but with the English dub finale arriving soon, there’s still a lot of questions left unanswered.
Studio Orange’s Trigun Stargaze adaptation serves as the final installment of the entire series. This sophomore series takes place years after 2023’s Trigun Stampede, where the Earth has been decimated by a catastrophic event known as the “JuLai Tragedy”. Although things seem grim, four individuals, the insightful Meryl, the hopeful Milly, the charismatic Wolfwood, and the determined Vash, join together to find a solution to humanity’s survival.
I had the opportunity to speak with series stars David Matranga and Alexis Tipton, who play Wolfwood and Milly respectively, about the series’ end, what made Wolfwood and Milly’s connection unique, and much more.
Discussing which episodes brought out the best of their respective characters, Tipton and Matranga looked back on two specific ones that best displayed their characters’ traits. “I honestly think Milly’s entrance in Episode 1,” Tipton explained. “We see her joy and her optimism and her playfulness, but we also see that she’s a very capable fighter and she and Meryl are an amazing team, both in journalism and in battle.
“They take out some thugs and it’s just like, ‘Okay, here’s what you can expect out of this character.’ It shows us all the different levels of what makes her amazing.”
“For me, I think it’s Episode 8,” Matranga added. “It’s the goodbye friend episode, that was just such a pleasure to do. There were so many levels that you learn about Wolfwood in that, whether it’s his relationship to the kids at the orphanage, to the character of Aunt Melanie, to Livio, to Vash.”
“I mean, Vash is kind of that dynamic that drives a lot of it and really complements how he feels about the orphanage. All of those levels were just challenging and amazing. It gave me so much and I feel like it moves the character forward in such a huge way.”
Some Trigun Stargaze viewers believe that Wolfwood divulges with Milly the most due to his own experience protecting others. In the series, it’s shown that Wolfwood was raised in an orphanage and protected the children there before having his own religious undertaking.
In a similar way, there are some who think that Milly’s presence mirrors Wolfwood’s “younger siblings” in the orphanage. Matranga described his own thoughts on how Milly represents that childhood experience and Wolfwood’s own failures.
“That idea is something we can talk about with a bird’s eye view, after we’ve done that work in a way,” Matranga noted. “There’s something about Milly, like the optimism, the joy, all the things that are just so a part of her that your voice just seamlessly does.”
“I think that there’s some type of gravity. He gravitates towards that because of what that is, even if Wolfwood, [at] that moment, may not know that.”
“I think it’s such a positive reflection on this title, these characters and these relationships,” Tipton added. “There’s so much room to ask questions like that. The fact that there’s so many colors and so much depth to these dynamics and these relationships, it gives us room to wonder [about] things like that, which is incredible.”
In terms of those relationships, Vash and Wolfwood’s relationship was quite the shaky one. What originally began as a rivalry transformed into a real friendship, which was affirmed when Wolfwood found Vash and in later episodes, particularly Episode 9.
Speaking on the friendship that Vash and Wolfwood share throughout Trigun Stargaze, Matranga reflected on his own experiences and how he’s shown that empathy through his performance.
“I remember when I first found acting, one of the things I was drawn to was sitting around a table with colleagues, reading a play and getting to talk about it.” Matranga recalled. “The fact that the story was so strong that it collectively impacts our common humanity, I don’t think we ever land on one or the other, but I do know what I see him doing in the story.”
“The fact that he keeps showing up and he says as much in that same episode we were talking about, there’s something that he’s driven and compelled to do that I don’t even know. I think we do this in real life where we don’t know what the gifts might be from our actions, but we feel compelled to do them.”
“I think it’s combined his love for the kids at the orphanage, Vash, Milly’s dynamic, it’s all in there. It’s all in the soil of it, which is why we’re here talking about it.”
Even in the midst of all the joy of Trigun Stargaze, there’s still that pain that each member harbors. For Meryl, the pain she carries revolves around finding Vash as well as the tragedy as a whole. However, Milly’s presence seems to give Meryl a sense of calm amidst the calamity.
Tipton also described how Milly serves as an emotional anchor for Meryl throughout Trigun Stargaze.
“Something that I love about Milly so much is that she meets people where they’re at,” Tipton described. “She never really asks questions. She never tries to see, ‘Why should I be this way to you?’”
“I feel that she doesn’t ever think about that. She just meets people where they are. I think with Meryl, she is automatically a safe place. That’s taking love, hope, and optimism to a very personal place, which everybody around her can benefit from regardless of circumstance.”
The Trigun Stargaze English dubbed finale premieres Saturday, April 11 at 7AM PT on Crunchyroll.
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Christopher Gallardo is a freelance entertainment writer and critic. While not running The Reel Roller, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV. Outside of entertainment writing, he’s currently taking classes for a Bachelor’s of Science with a minor in Digital Media & Journalism. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! Follow Christopher on Instagram & X.