#and i think it wouldnt matter even tho he has a twin brother ;_;

[kowaindar0u]

//

[imustbenuts]

theres a few ??? thing going on in trigun stampede that's explicitly japanese/sino-ish in culture but im entirely not sure what to make of it. 3 things.

Knives' birthname being settled as Kni/Nai,

JuLai's emblem symbolism,

and the Buddha Thread??? thing in ep 11 10

Knives' birthname is Kni and hm! ...無い?

this is specifically a stampede thing. nightow didnt give him this Kni name in his work, so i can only chalk this up to the stampede staff's deliberate decision. if you render it into japanese, it'd be Nai, and the immediate word i can think of is... 無い. meaning, Nothing, or Without.

it fits rather well considering stampede has officially placed an emphasis on his obsessive love towards his brother on his bio on their official site:

my TL:

Vash's twin brother. Possesses a cold and merciless personality. Filled with a hatred for humans, he masterminds an organization with a plan to massacre the entire human species. With abilities beyond human understanding, he has the power to destroy entire planets. He greatly loves his only younger twin brother, Vash to an obsessive degree.

interestingly, the word used for the obsessive love here specifically is 執着 shuuchaku, which has roots/association with the word Abhinivesha. from what i understand it is a mental state, a fear of death, and a desperation to cling onto life so much one becomes ignorant and causes their own suffering. and ignorance is another big core of what makes Knives' character tick.

so i feel like this has some pointers towards Knives, or even child Kni being nothing without his younger brother. (or it could just be a simpler play on the word naive lmao)

meanwhile for Vash there's not really anything japanese that jumps out at me, but some have pointed out his name sounds like the french word Vashe, used for female cattle. extremely passive and born for consumption and theres a lot to dissect in that direction but im not going there! his name is Knife and his brother is a cattle there's catholicism may your brain go brr.

theres more to the nothingness concept in buddhism that doesnt put it squarely in a negative category but lets talk about buddhism later. next:

JuLai's emblem

stared at this for a few seconds and yelled fuck me. this represents the twins, AND its the broken yin yang symbol:

:). hey look at that female thing popping up again--

Knives is evidently the light Yang, and Vash is the dark Yin. ngl this daoist thing is somewhat sexist but lets brush that over 2 thousand year old aspect aside for this post. for stampede's case we can clearly see what theming is going on especially for those in the know of the original work.

Knives is hella assertive to the point of echoing fascist eugenics nonsense, and Vash has that nurturing instinct that seems to pop in whenever there's a human child or people who needs help.

interestingly the planet No Man's Land has too much fugging sun and is too hostile for human life. to survive people have to live in the shade and turn to plants for counters to the harsh, hot celestial sun. so here if Knives is being the sun, hes also being hostile to human life, and meanwhile the feminine looking plants and Vash's personality plus actions are the only thing giving these people at chance at life. (also vash has the power of Dark Matter or something)

obviously, just like JuLai's broken symbol, the balance is completely and utterly out of whack. in daoism a broken balance is thought to cause a lot of suffering. in the finale, Vash doesnt have a single speck of white on him, and Knives doesn't have a single speck of black. this means there isn't a balance and they cant come to an agreement at all.

im gonna also point out here that vash's idea of co-existence even if accepted wouldnt be a permanent solution due to the dependents having limited lifespan. so through this lens, stampede seems to be saying that neither twin's ideas are really effective long term solution, tho Knives is completely unacceptable due to obvious genocidal reasons.

Buddha Thread

studio orange whaaat are you guys cooking over there... ok so. in ep 11, Knives drops Vash into the uhhh The Hell Pool, and Vash tries to get out of it with his wire and hangs for a bit. then we get a scene like this:

Knives proceeds to cut Vash's thread and he drops into The Hell Pool. and then the metaphorical SA scene happens.

i call it Buddha Thread but this can also be known as The Spider's Thread. there exists a story of The Spider's Thread that's very Japanese-Buddhist and well known over there.

the gist of this story is that Buddha lowers a single spider thread to a sinner in the deepest hell as a lifeline to get out, bc this heavy sinner had done a singular good deed of saving a spider he was about to crush with his foot. however, the thread is broken as a result of the sinner's selfishness yelling for the other sinners below him to let go, claiming this thread was his and his alone. the sinner having climbed halfway upwards the thread after great effort plunges back into the pits of hell. buddha having watched all of this reacts with sadness, and the days in paradise carry on as per usual.

and. digest that for a second. and then refer back to Knives and The Fall and this scene that plays later, when Vash's mind wipe begins proper:

fuck. me. knives is framed as a self proclaimed god in the loudest ways on multiple levels.

while these 3 aspect i just broke down explaining do not exist at least overtly in the original trigun, i thought it would be interesting to chew on in light of the overwhelming catholicism existing in the story.

there's some themes im also picking up from the original trigun that might be rooted in either buddhsim or japanese culture such as: the undeniable truth that yearning and hunger is part of the human living experience and to deny it is to deny living. but im not sure what to make of it bc A) not explicitly framed or explored as a buddhsim/japanese idea thing and B) catholicsm obv is the overwhelming theme of the entire work

idk what the heck studio orange is cooking exactly but. hm.

[penguin--person]

Alík happy ending?? Oh my god???? Never knew such words could be spoken into this world…wow. I’m giggling so joyfully at this

hehe!!! tbh shes gone through so much angst she deserves it... !!!

so, gabriela kozlova: you may not know her !! but ive posted some (like, two) art of her on my art blog.. shes a high ranking scientist at the facility, involved in a bit of everything. shes nastyas primary handler, too! sometimes involved with alík, but not all the time. only sometimes, and only ever since alík became an 04. not as close to her as she is to nastya, or even just other 01s and 04s she gets to see on a more regular basis. the some times she does see alík are often when alík's in wolf mode

gabriela doesnt wish bad things to happen to the mutants. she doesnt think they deserve to be killed or smth just bc theyre mutants - shes a mutant herself, after all, and so is her brother (she only has to sleep like 4 hours a day, kozlov doesn't feel pain) - but she does see they hold scientific potential. and, well, science is the whole reason she moved to pafl city from poland city!! she doesnt see the experiments she performs on the subjects, no matter how brutal, as immoral, cruel, or any kind of evil. she sees them as subjects. theyre living, sure, they breathe, they feel, she knows that. but they hold scientific potential.

she Does also experiment on herself, sorta, by only sleeping 2 hours a day at most ever. her mutation isnt that big tho so she cant all too much. her brother, tho, he lets her inspect him and shit. if he gets a wound he lets her take samples and such. shes patching him up for free, after all, and his only alternative is going to the hospital - and well. they could figure out hes a mutant there, And a stalker. Not Good. also he trusts gabriela

i think kozlov dies in quite a few timelines. theres a bunch of different ways this could play out. he could die in the zone, he could get caught as a mutant and get sent to the facility, he could get killed by a rival stalker gang, he could just do something stupid - the list goes on and on. i Promise this will tie into alíks happy ending. he doesnt care for his safety all that much, is very carefree, and a silly goofy guy! alík and he would get along if they ever met. they're similar in many ways, after all:)

i think that similarity would matter to kozlova so so much, if kozlov died. she'd be sooo sad. tremendous grief. maybe angry? a whole bunch of emotions, too ugly for her to unwrap without her brother, her twin, with her around.

she's not close with alík. but she knows enough about her to project the image of kozlov onto her, esp young kozlov. again, i'll reitarate that kozlova holds a high ranking position - she's not above temnova, or even same rank as her, but she's well respected - and that shes involved in a bit of everything.

"Sheltering mutants and possession of anomalous objects without special governmental permission is illegal." extra emphasis on "special permission" this is from the google doc. what's in it also, though, states that mutants who are deemed too dangerous stay at the facility, and ferrys said before that most ever 02s get released, with 03 releases being even rarer. 01s are too important and 04s are too dangerous.

as we know, alík is an 04.

as we know, alík didn't start out as an 04. she started her stay at the facility as an 03. i dont remember her exact age when she gets it changed, but its lke.. 12? so shes been an 04 for about five years when kozlov dies. if he dies. maybe he just goes missing. idk. wouldnt it be fucked up if he like, died at kozlova's? comes to her bc hes injured and she fails to save him. that could drive her to try and save alík even more

so, i think... kozlova, in this universe, would get more.. intense? protective? she'd spend more time with AT004-212. she'd argue for better living conditions for the subject, that if she gets more free time that her mutation will grow easier to control, if her hypothesis is correct. she argues she can traint the subject. and, bc of her position and connections.. i think she could make it happen. little by little, at least.

and i think alík could get better, yea. i think she could develop a bond with kozlova. shes like Wowww miss youre so nice to me thank you for getting me a bigger room and a better bed and giving me excersicing time:))) and such.. and i think kozlova would eventually realize alík and kozlov aren't that similar, at the core. but i think she'd get too attached to stop at that point. to give up on the subject. or she'd lie to herself idk

so. it might take a year, might take half a year, might take two years - but, i think... kozlova would eventually argue that alíks scientific potential is no more. not much more to do with her... so, let her take the subject home. if she hurts anyone, she'll bear the consequences. if she breaks any law, she'll go to jail too. and i think she knows how to forge some documents:) i thinkshe knows how to lie:)

so i think that's how alík could get legally free. well. she'd probably be legally 'owned' by kozlova, but ahh technicalities. theres still the societys great . um. uh. hate? for lack of a better word. or fear. of mutants, and since alíks such a visible one.. maybe she'd wear a collar with a nameplate or smth to signify shes allowed out

i dont think it'd be easy for either of them. but i think she'd be happy. she'd have someone that loves her! that sees her as not human, sees what she is, and accepts it! she'd have a home, food, a whole city to explore.. itd be hard adjusting, and even harder not going wolf mode all the time.

maybe there'd have to be monthly reports, even. who knows? all i know is kozlova can forge and fake, and ithink if she really had to, she'd forge alíks death.

and i think alík would be happy. and i think kozlova would be, too. and i think she'd learn to overcome kozlovs death with alík. maybe. she'd accept it. and i think it gets better:)

andddddd i also i think alík would go by ája. as we know, alík is the nickname the scientists gave to her. so i think... as a treat, ája would give herself a new name:) to symbolise shes her own (as much as she can be..) wolf, that shes no longer a subject, that she can decide things for herself. i think she'd be happy:)

(you can refer to her as alík, ája, at, whatever you want! all are a-ok)

heres a filterless version of the alík art