Two and a half years after the Lost JuLai tragedy, journalist Meryl (Sarah Roach) continues her search for Vash (Johnny Young Bosch) with her new partner, Milly (Alexis Tipton). Living in hiding as Eriks, Vash is driven back into the open by a desperate SOS and the renewed movement of Millions Knives’s forces. When a fleet of colony ships from Earth offers humanity a chance to escape, hope spreads…until an old enemy returns to crush it.
As Trigun Stargaze launches towards it’s final episode, premiering on Crunchyroll April 11, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the English dub voice cast, including Johnny Young Bosch, Sarah Roach, David Matranga, and Alexis Tipton about returning to their characters two and a half years after the first season, and exploring the complexities of each of their characters.
Nick: I’m fascinated by the two-and-a-half year time jump within the story, but also the two or three year gap between the seasons of the show releasing, which I can only assume there was a similar time gap in performing. What did that time between playing your character allow you to explore more about them?
Sarah Roach: I mean, for me it was really sitting down and thinking about everything that happened with the Lost JuLai incident, and not knowing whether Vash is alive, or even where he is. It was really about thinking about everything that Meryl has gone through, and carrying that into Stargaze.
David Matranga: You know, when there is that kind of time in the story, you can only guess or infer as to what you think could have happened. Anytime you’re approaching a story where things can happen off camera, so to speak, I think it’s powerful to fill those gaps in by really listening to the dialogue. When know Wolfwood has been looking for Vash in those two and a half years, and that kind of says everything we need to know. He could have done so many things during that time, but the layers all build to this one major thing. I think when we first see him in Stargaze, literally running into Meryl and Milly, it gives clues as to what he did and didn’t do.
Johnny Young Bosch: I just stayed depressed for two and a half years as I waited for this to show up [laughs].
Nick: Alexis, one thing I love about Milly is that even in the face of danger and threat, she is so relentlessly optimistic. How has optimism been a powerful thing for you in your career?
Alexis Tipton: I love that question! I feel like, especially in this career, you are sometimes met with a crossroad of choice as to whether you can sit there and feel sorry for yourself, or I can trust that where I am at is working, pick myself up, and be optimistic about the future. I can be hopeful and pour all my energy into being positive. It just kind of boils down to choice, and sometimes being negative is the lower hanging fruit. For me, it’s about taking the lesson, move forward, get ready for that next audition, get ready for the next opportunity, whatever it might be. It’s such a great lesson for any creative person, you have to believe in yourself.
Nick: As audiences, we crave complex characters, and I truly believe the characters in Trigun have such complex layers and substance to them. What is your process in exploring that complexity, and is that something you also crave as performers?
Johnny Young Bosch: It’s so much more fun to play when there’s so many different levels. It feels really rewarding, and I don’t know… juicy. It just feels great to play a character that does have that complexity. You see Vash struggle through trying to achieve his goals, and it’s that journey that resonates with people because it’s not always common to see in anime.
Sarah Roach: For me it’s all about my character’s relationships with the other characters. I’m always exploring how Meryl feels about this other person. How do they feel about Meryl? What does she need them to hear in a certain moment? As an actor, in character, I’m trying to reach the other characters through my words, because that’s all I can do, and then adding all of the mixed feeling about those things into it, and hoping it comes through.
Alexis Tipton: It’s like an immaculate buffet for actors. We just love that juicy stuff. We’ve been talking a lot today about how this story gives so much concrete stuff for audiences to grab on to, but there’s also so much nuance that it never fully explains. So, it poses theories, and there’s no right or wrong answer. It’s all up to interpretation. There’s so many subtle moments, like a character smirking at something in a certain way that tells their own story. All of these micro expressions in the animation. I think that’s really exciting.
David Matranga: I mean, that’s the love of it. When I first found acting, I didn’t know how to articulate it, but I loved telling the story of a character that grows and changes. That bumps up against ideologies that challenges them, or causes them to fail. Then you have to watch them try and pick themselves up. That’s the dream as an actor – to have a character that, inside of a strong story, goes through their thing in a very human way.
Nick: I know you all have varying backgrounds in music, and I think the music of Trigun is awesome. Are there any moments in the show, where you know the scene already because you’ve performed it, but then you see it altogether with the music and it just floored you?
Johnny Young Bosch: There are a few moments. Whatever that piano thing that Knives plays that keeps coming back throughout the show is great. That final episode of Stampede when we’re just talking, and then the music comes in – that hit me way heavier than expected. You really do feel a lot of the emotion in that.
Sarah Roach: I think the way piano is used in the show, and the way it swells in the really intense moments makes it all feel so much larger than life. There was a scene – I think it was the first scene between Meryl and Milly – and they’re in the bar getting a banana split, and some guy comes in and ruins her banana split. Then this sort of dive bar, jukebox music plays and it was great.
David Matranga: I will tell you, I love music and I’ve done musical theatre, but I’ve never been a huge soundtrack person. I don’t know why! But, with Stampede and Stargaze, I genuinely jam to that entire soundtrack. Especially the opening song.
Alexis Tipton: That opening song is a banger. It just builds up the whole show immaculately. It is so cinematic. It gave me goosebumps the first time I saw it. I knew we were going to be in for a ride!
Thank you so much to Johnny, Sarah, Alexis and David for their time, and to Crunchyroll for organising the interview. The final episode of Trigun Stargaze (English dub)premieres on Crunchyroll April 11.
