Anime That’s Almost like Going to Texas!

Just a heads up, my blog will be going on a short break until the end of the month. Don’t worry it isn’t anything bad, and I’m certainly not giving up blogging. It’s just that I’ll be taking a trip to Texas to visit family and I’m not sure how much time I’ll have for blogging. I’m guessing it will be pretty close to none! Yay, I’m so excited! I’ve never been to Texas before. I’m not even sure what I should expect. I only have a vague idea of what Texas might be like based on old Western movies. I imagine it’s a deserty place filled with tumble weeds and just enough wind to dramatically blow dust around. I’m thinking that everybody is probably either a cowboy or an outlaw. Ooo, or a grizzled old sheriff. Hmm, I’ll have to get a cowboy hat while I’m there so I can fit in with the locals! As fun as it will be frolicking in the Lone Star State, I’m definitely going to miss blogging with all of you. But because I can’t bring all of you with me (the air fair would be fair to expensive!) here are some very Texasy anime that I’m sure will make you feel like you’re really there too!

Trigun

I can’t think of any anime that could embody the Wild West spirit of Texas more perfectly than Trigun! A lone desperado drifting through a desert landscape, dodging the law while he takes down the villains with his six shooter and his amazing skills. There’s even a story arc of a classic Western movie main stay, the train heist! (well, a futuristic sci-fi train heist that is). If that doesn’t scream Wild West story I don’t know what does! Though the main character Vash doesn’t wear a ten gallon hat or a belt buckle the size of a dinner plate, there are plenty of other characters in this series that dress the cowboy role just fine. I’m sure after watching a few episodes of this anime you’ll feel like you’ve had an adventure filled ride through Texas!

Rust Eater Bisco

Yet another story about desperadoes evading the law while trying the save the world, much like Trigun this anime feels like it stepped right out of a Western movie (or maybe Texas? nudge, nudge, wink, wink). Though the main character Bisco (he even sounds like a character from a Western movie!) doesn’t use a revolver and instead prefers to shoot arrows, he is every bit a cowboy. From his drive for revenge (cowboys love revenge) to his love of eating around a camp fire, there is so much about this character that gives Wild West vibes. And of course every desperado has to have a compadre by their side and who better to accompany Bisco than Doc Holiday, Oops, Doc Milo! Milo might be a city slicker, but he’s smart and quickly learns to ride a bucking giant crab and shoot mushroom sprouting arrows.

Kino’s Journey (2003)

Getting back to the lone gunslinger character type, Kino from the anime Kino’s Journey (2003) is very much a cowboy type character, though perhaps they don’t look the part much. Saved from a backward and violent village by a lone traveler, Kino was later trained by a master gunslinger how to survive. Kino’s only companion is their trusty stead a talking motorcycle, and their only back up is their pistol. Determined to only spend three days in a single place, never settling down and never getting too close to anyone, Kino lives the life of a drifter. While Trigun and Rust Eater Bisco definitely follow the more action packed style Western movie, Kino’s Journey follows the more rare, deeply introspective Western with big sky’s, endless roads, and having too much time to think about the meaning of human existence.

See Y’all in April!