#in the manga knives forcibly activates vash's angel arm in a gross violation of his bodily autonomy TWICE.

[seoafin]

so. nobody is talking about how knives was impregnating the plants huh.

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

Gimme a second, I need to talk about Knives Millions and “fifth moon.” CW: frank analysis of sexual assault and rape ahead as well as incestuous themes and pregnancy of the deeply fucked up variety, with manga screencaps. There are spoilers for the Trigun manga. Read at your own discretion.

Because, okay, I consider myself fairly high tolerance for explicit content (gore, cruelty, sexual assault, graphic violence) with only a few things that absolutely squick me out (parasitism specifically)—so it’s been a long time since a villain made me feel genuinely uncomfortable and uneasy. But Knives? Knives motherfucking Millions? That guy has something deeply wrong with him.

The first time I read this, I was very confused. Why are there two sets of legs? What’s happening? And then I swapped to the Overhaul TL and it was clarified that they’re resurrecting Knives here by “syncing him up with another plant.” I thought originally this meant draining a plant’s energy; I was wrong.

This is is a monstrous birth. This is Knives bloodily ripping his way through a creature he refers to as his “sister,” as all of the plants are considered siblings, in a horrifying parody of pregnancy.

(Where did the silly space western go!!)

And a brief summary of the following scene: Knives grabs Vash and forcibly activates Vash’s “Angel Arm,” a manifestation of his plant abilities. Note that Vash describes that feeling as “something horrifyingly sick.”

Then, this iconic spread:

Let’s note the position they’re in—Knives, with Vash locked into his arms. A sudden eruption of the gun—provoked but unwanted. Please also note that the way Knives describes the feeling of shooting the Angel Arm in a way horrifyingly similar to orgasm.

I remember putting this chapter down and thinking, Jesus Christ. Knives just raped him. “Fifth Moon” is a rape scene in everything but name.

Of course, rape is defined in real life in terms of penetration and a lack of consent to sex acts, but in fiction, it’s often used as a narrative tool and expanded to be fundamentally about gross violations of consent and bodily autonomy. This is what Knives does to his brother in “fifth moon”—violates his body and his will in a scene so evocative of sexual assault that it had to be on purpose.

And he’s done this shit multiple times! Fifth Moon is the second incident after he makes Vash shoot the Arm in July. It’s horrifying and it’s scary and it’s deeply uncomfortable. I can’t even begin to list all the things in this chapter that violate the boundaries of “acceptable to do in society” in perverse ways.

Really, it all just makes Trigun a damn good read if you’re willing to be made a little uncomfortable for the sake of the story. It’s all astonishingly well done.

(Sidenote: this is why I can’t take people seriously when they get angry at people pointing out Trigun’s incestuous themes. They’ve been there since the 90s, man, I don’t know what to tell you. Knives is the villain of the piece for several reasons, and this is definitely one of them.)