If you haven't seen this series before, I highly suggest you read the reviews of previous volumes in EX 5.2, 5.5 and 5.7. You should also check out the EX:clusive feature on TRIGUN.

Prepare yourself for a walk down a very dusty trail, because at the end of it, we get the final volume of TRIGUN. This has been a mixed bag as a series, and the last installment is no exception. Entitled "High Noon," it contains four episodes, two of which I consider to be the best of the series.

The first one, "Paradise," focuses more on Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who is seriously reconsidering his assignment for the Gung-Ho Guns. He's trying to reconcile Vash's "no killing" policy against events of previous episodes, with Milly taking time to console him. Soon, while Vash takes on a long-range sniper, Wolfwood confronts his boss and mentor Chapel. Their fight leads to one of the most beautiful scenes of the show.

In the following episode, "Sin," Legato and Knives decide to permanently cancel Chapel's contract. They send Midvalley to torment the townspeople. Afterwards, Legato forces Vash into a deadly crucible, with Milly and Meryl's lives (not to mention Vash's principles) in jeopardy.

Vash spends "Live Through" recuperating from the battle and reflecting on the advice given by his departed friend Rem. Milly and Meryl find work repairing the town, but their work is interrupted when the angry citizens learn the duo have brought The Humanoid Typhoon into their midst.

It all leads to the finale, "Under the Sky So Blue," in which Vash and his brother Knives have a tender family reunion, before they have one hell of a gunfight.

It also leads to something that prevents this from begin a pretty good disc: the first half of the last episode is a recap. This might've been useful if it weren't for the fact there's been flashbacks throughout the show, right up to "Live Through." The last episode smacked of laziness to me. It's the time to really let the best animation techniques shine. Sure, there are a couple cool sequences during the Vash/Knives fight, but I couldn't help but feel cheated when the episode was over. I also felt the Knives character was entirely too underdeveloped for the show.

Still, as I said, this DVD is a mixed bag, which means there are some good things about it. For example, I've considered the various menus on the TRIGUN discs to be entertaining pictures, and this disc's was no exception. The video quality is superb as I saw no blemishes whatsoever, and the audio quality came out clean through my receiver.

I also liked the subtle intensity of the first two episodes. Vash and Legato's confrontation could have been glorified if it were animated by others. However, this group kept things simple, and in doing so created one of the most haunting images of the show.

Throughout the series, the difficulties of preserving life in a violent world has been an overwhelming theme, and this final volume is the best illustration of that yet.

TRIGUN has its flaws, but as a whole I've enjoyed the ride it's taken me on. Up to this point, I had been seriously sick of comedic anime, but TRIGUN gave me reasons to laugh again, and some decent characters to care about. So in the end, I'd have to say I wouldn't mind recommending you add all of TRIGUN to your anime collection.