What inspired Trigun?

This page exists because Yasuhiro Nightow has answered the question himself, on a public panel, in detail. At Anime Expo 2009, asked about direct American influences on Trigun, he named them: "I personally think Star Wars: A New Hope is the best one. I wanted to live in the desert called Tatooine. At that time I really liked John Woo movies. I personally wanted to shoot guns like in his movies. I fused both of those aspects and that's how Trigun came to be." A science fiction Western, a mix the production record notes was not seen in Japan when he began, is that fusion drawn out to a planet.

Vash himself came from a complaint about those same action films. Asked how he came up with Vash and the Western theme, Nightow said that before he made the character he was watching a lot of action movies, and it always felt strange how people constantly died so quickly in them. Because there was always so much death involved, he wanted to create a very strong gunman who said, "Hey, sorry, Love and Peace!" The production record states the same design rule from the other side: to contrast Vash from the typical heroes in action films, Nightow portrayed him as a pacifist, because he did not want his lead character to be a murderer. Vash disarms his enemies and avoids inflicting mortal wounds, and his cheerful personality, catchphrase included, was used to highlight exactly that trait.

On the Western frame itself, the summary record is consistent: Trigun originated from Nightow's fascination with Western movies, and he wanted Vash to be different from cowboys in Western movies by avoiding killing enemies, exploring the characters in each story arc instead. The gunslinger who will not kill is not a twist added later. He is the founding idea.