Trigun

The Old West, one of the most romanticized periods of American history, has fascinated people for years. What was so romantic about that lawless period and region of America? A key element is the sense of adventure; after all, a new frontier was being discovered, explored, and settled. People gave up their comfortable, settled lives to move out into the raw wilderness and try to tame the land into some sort of recognizable civilization.
The lawlessness of the Old West also contributed to the adventure. After all, towns and campsites were few and far between, communications were sporadic at best, and the law was only upheld by the sheriff of the local town. It was an ideal setting for those less scrupulous individuals to make a living by preying on the citizens and hiding out in the wilderness with their booty.
Given this rough environment, with dangers lurking seemingly behind every corner from the wilderness and outlaws, it became a place where only the strong could survive. Those who could survive beyond the safety of the local town were seen by the others as an exceptional individual, perhaps even superhuman. Pecos Bill, Billy the Kid, and many other larger-than-life figures have sprung from this period in American history, mixing a little bit of truth with a great deal of fantasy and exaggeration.
Countless American Western films have been made, and these old legends have been told and retold since the American film industry began. But this period of history has appealed to those outside American culture. Italian movie director, Sergio Leone, who invented the spaghetti western and made a career out of making them, certainly was fascinated by this period.
Many Japanese animators and manga artists have also felt the pull of the Old West. For perhaps all of the reasons above, or perhaps for reasons of their own, lately creative people in the anime and manga industry have been drawing on the Old West for inspiration for a new type of series mixing science fiction with elements of the Old West. And, while this idea is not entirely new, the forms of anime and manga seem particularly well suited to tell this type of story, the Space Western. And 1998 was the year of the Space Western anime television shows in Japan.

Next: See you, Space Cowboy!