TRIGUN STARGAZE brings the bloody and violent action back with symphonic flair in Ep. 5 “What a Wonderful World”. And yet, the villain playing this symphony couldn’t be any more terrified of his situation. Methinks most people will feel no small amount of sympathy for Midvalley the Hornfreak even in spite of his murderous nature.

TRIGUN STARGAZE Ep. 5 “What a Wonderful World”: Details in Brief

TRIGUN STARGAZE NA key art
And also co-starring Nicholas to boot.

TRIGUN STARGAZE Ep. 5 “What a Wonderful World” is the fifth episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, and Ep. 4 here) of the second and final season of this reboot anime, with TRIGUN STAMPEDE serving as the first season. Said reboot anime is the reboot of the 1998 Trigun anime series, which itself was the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Yasuhiro Nightow.

Studio Orange (Land of the Lustrous, BEASTARS, Leviathan) returns as the animation studio behind this anime. Interestingly though, Kenji Mutō is not returning as the director, and none of the writers from TRIGUN STAMPEDE are returning either. Instead, Masako Satō will be the director, with Kazuyuki Fudeyasu as the writer. Tatsuya Kato returns as the composer though.

The opening theme song for TRIGUN STARGAZE is “Picaresque Hero” by ano. Meanwhile, “Stardust” by FOMARE is the ending theme song.

Synopsis

This episode is just as musical as this opening.

Alas, TRIGUN STARGAZE is an ongoing anime series. In fact, Ep. 5 “What a Wonderful World” only just made its debut on February 7, 2026 exclusively on Crunchyroll. Thus, to prevent spoilers for those who haven’t watch this episode yet, here’s the official synopsis from Crunchyroll below:

“Midvalley attacks Home and faces off against Wolfwood.”

TRIGUN STARGAZE Ep. 5 “What a Wonderful World”: The Good

TRIGUN STARGAZE Midvalley the Hornfreak visual
As classy as he looks…until he’s not.

The biggest draw of Ep. 5 “What a Wonderful World” is without a doubt Midvalley the Hornfreak (voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki (JP)). Despite him being the villain of the episode, or maybe because of it, he’s as much the starring character of the episode as is the actual hero: Nicholas D. Wolfwood (voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya (JP)). It’s really the clash between these two that drive the episode, with the resulting combat being something in between a duel to the death and an especially violent duet. It’s just that one uses a technologically-enhanced saxophone as his instrument, and the other uses a weird cross-shaped machine gun/energy cannon combo weapon.

Really, the cinematography of the violence results in this duel becoming highly personal in so many ways…until Vash (voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (JP)) shows up, that is. His appearance changes the entire format of the duel, and suddenly, the odds are no longer in Midvalley’s favor. The tone shift from desperate to hopeful is evident of that, and marks a fascinating change in the fight as well due to Vash ending it so suddenly.

All with the music contributing to the episode, of course. In fact, music is pretty central to this episode purely due to Midvalley’s fighting style and his past as a saxist. The blaring blasts from his saxophone adds a musical element to all of his attacks, giving him a unique attack pattern on top of some gorgeously detailed destruction physics from Orange’s animation team.

TRIGUN STARGAZE Ep. 5 “What a Wonderful World”: The Bad

TRIGUN STARGAZE Ep. 5 "What a Wonderful World" screenshot 1
When you realize the final boss is right behind you.

Unfortunately, the sympathy for Midvalley is a bit marred by the very past that is supposed to make him sympathetic. The flashback scenes in Ep. 5 “What a Wonderful World” show Midvalley and his old band using their music…to murder loads and loads of people. Because those people are never characterized beyond their wealthy appearances, it looks as though he and his band were just massacring them for no apparent reason.

His original reason in Yasuhiro Nightow’s manga was that he and his band were murdering the wealthy to rob them in order to survive in the desert wastes, but that is not explained at all in this episode. The result is that your sympathy for Midvalley is a bit undermined there, and it’s only his obviously fear of Knives (voiced by Ryūji Satō (JP)) that makes him sympathetic at all. All in all, Midvalley could’ve been written a lot better in this remake.

Of course, the CGI animation is another issue if you’re not a fan of it. Again, Orange’s CGI animation is some of the best in the entire genre. However, years of bad CGI anime has marred the media landscale of the entire genre. If you didn’t like that, then you might find this one off-putting too.

Anime Recommendations

Fortunately, if you want a good non-CGI anime that’s full of action and violence, then you might also like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, Solo Leveling, Black Butler, Nyaight of the Living Cat, and/or May I Ask for One Final Thing?. On the other hand, if you want an anime that’s more quiet or dramatic, then you might want to check out Spy x Family, Senpai is an Otokonoko, Apocalypse Hotel, Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, My Dress-Up Darling, This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Hana-Kimi, and/or Journal with Witch.

What did you think of this week’s episode of TRIGUN STARGAZE? Tell us your destructively musical thoughts in the comment section below.

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