So I was just conversing with some bros about Trigun and it got pretty in depth
Concluded that the plants vash and knives were a "duality" of the essence of man. You have the one aspect that is bent on survival, preservation of the species, purity, and conservation, while the other is based on man's higher functions of trust, compassion, restraint, and forgiveness. THE PROBLEM is that there is a LOT of religious subtext underlying the whole anime. Wolfwood, the Cross, use of cross at the end, Vash being holier than thou and doing no evil, pretty much pistol wielding Jesus. I get that they couldn't humanize either of the plants, but I think it would have made more sense if they both have died in the end or both survived (which i dont believe, knives is fucking dead). The use of the cross completely throws off the duality and gives the message that religion is a weapon against our baser emotions into enlightenment. Now I'd be fine with this if they haden't used the goddam cross, one of the most corrupt and perverse religions in our era. Buddhism, Daoism, I could totally see, but not a christian overtone. Completely eskews the message. Surrender to religion as a means to combat our baser emotions is giving up our own will to an imaginary power OTHER THAN finding power within ourselves to attain inner peace and a higher state of life.
And then we fragged a bunch of noobs on Halo and I typed this out.