The series continued its publication in Shōnen Gahosha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs, under the title Trigun Maximum, from October 1997 to March 2007.

Nightow wanted Vash to be different from cowboys in Western movies by avoiding killing enemies and instead exploring the characters involved in each story arc.

Trigun was adapted into a 26-episode anime television series by Madhouse; it aired on TV Tokyo from April to September 1998.

A second anime television series adaptation produced by Orange, titled Trigun Stampede, premiered in January 2023.

In the 32nd century, a man known as "Vash the Stampede" has earned a bounty of $$60 billion ("double dollar") on his head and the nickname "The Humanoid Typhoon" (人間台風) after accidentally destroying a city with his supernatural powers.

However, whenever he is attacked, Vash displays a pacifist personality as noted by two Bernardelli Insurance Society employees, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, who follow him around in order to minimize the damages inevitably caused by his appearance.

Vash and his twin brother Knives were originally two children with a slow aging process found in a spaceship that escaped from the planet Earth after mankind had exhausted all its resources.

Throughout his past battles that required him to use the Angel's Arm, Vash has transformed into a regular human signified by his blond hair now turned black.

Reassured by some successes, including a serialized manga based on the popular video game franchise Samurai Spirits for Family Computer Magazine, he quit his job to draw full-time.

[4] The series was conceptualized as a mix between Western and science fiction as Nightow found it not seen in Japan by the time he started writing Trigun.

To contrast Vash from the typical heroes in action films, Nightow portrayed him as a pacifist since he did not want his lead character to be a murderer.

In regards to the narrative, Nightow uses a "logical and intuitive manner" as his modus operandi in order to make readers being capable of following it.

[9] To create suspense, writer Yōsuke Kuroda suggested that Vash would not shoot a bullet until the fifth episode, which causes Meryl to realize he is the famous gunman.

[20][21] When Nightow was approached by Shōnen Gahōsha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs, they were interested in him beginning a new work.

[4] The manga resumed its publication in the magazine, under the title Trigun Maximum (トライガンマキシマム, Toraigan Makishimamu), in the October 1997 issue.

[26] In North America, the manga was licensed by Dark Horse Comics, who announced its publication in June 2003;[27] they released the two volumes of Trigun, based on the Shōnen Gahosha's edition, on October 15, 2003,[28] and January 7, 2004.

[29] In March 2004, Dark Horse Comics announced that they would also publish Trigun Maximum;[30] the fourteen volumes were released from May 26, 2004,[31] to April 8, 2009.

[35] An anthology manga titled Trigun: Multiple Bullets, featuring short stories written by several manga artists such as Boichi, Masakazu Ishiguru, Satoshi Mizukami, Ark Performance, Yusuke Takeyama, Yuga Takauchi, and Akira Sagami, was released by Shōnen Gahosha in Japan on December 28, 2011.

[55] A second anime television series adaptation by Orange, titled Trigun Stampede, premiered on January 7, 2023, on TV Tokyo and other networks.

"[70] On the other hand, the book Manga: The Complete Guide provided criticism to some parts of the narrative, finding it difficult to follow but still enjoyable.

However he continued to criticize the visuals stating, "Character rendering regularly looks more like rough drafts than refined final products, with the artists often struggling just to stay on model.

Despite having only decent voice acting (with a few exceptions), average music, and relatively static visuals, Trigun is an absolute blast that had me laughing and thinking the whole way.

Suggested factors include the "old west" setting, European style character names and a lack of Japanese cultural elements.