Truth of Mistake



Truth of Mistake is the second episode of the Trigun anime.

Meryl and Milly stop at a mansion in a deserted town for water when Vash (or simply, in Meryl's mind, the bumbling idiot from last time) answers the door. Shocked by his presence, the girls then follow the mansion's owner Cliff Schezar into the mansion whereupon he explains that someone in a red coat with blonde hair has been trying to kill him.

Cliff explains that's why he hired a bodyguard, jokingly asking for Vash the Stampede but that he didn't really expect him to show up. Cliff also says he needs the bodyguard because Marianne, the granddaughter of the Standtall Federal Bureau is staying at the mansion as his guest, and he wants her to be protected. Meryl pulls Cliff aside and tells him that he is being duped by Vash and that he could not possibly be the real thing. Cliff assures Meryl that he knows, that he is only calling the man Vash to scare off potential attackers.

Meryl and Milly get ready stay the night and cook dinner while Marianne goes to take a bath. Vash, ever lecherous, goes to spy on Marianne in the bath only to find that she is missing. Meryl sees Marianne leave Cliff's study. During dinner Marianne gets angry at the conversation Cliff and Vash have about how prosperous Cliff is and leaves the dining room. Vash follows her to have a brief one-sided conversation about their romantic future together when it is cut off because Marianne sees someone sneaking around outside, and we learn that she is wounded. Vash jumps out the window to attack the suspicious person and finds it to be "only" Meryl.

Shortly after, both Marianne and Cliff go missing and Milly finds Marianne's discarded dress and some bloody bandages. Meryl believes the evidence points to Marianne being the one trying to kill Cliff though Vash is in denial about it. When Meryl confronts Vash about sneaking around Marianne's room he panics and falls against a bookcase, pulling a cord and revealing a secret underground passage.

We then learn that Marianne is in fact a Marshal looking for proof of Cliff's corruption- and she finds it in the form of a dam, several water tanks and ice blocks Cliff has been hoarding. Cliff then confronts her and takes advantage of the fact that she is wounded and hits her with his gun, knocking her to the ground. Cliff is about to kill Marianne when Vash comes screaming down a water chute. Vash then stands up to oppose Cliff and easily dodges all of Cliff's shots while gradually moving toward him by reading the trajectory of the bullets by watching the gun movements and timing. Vash runs up to him and flicks him in the nose and takes the gun away.

Cliff then reveals that he has several guns ready to fire under his coat, and tries to shoot Vash. Vash then dodges the shots, causing Cliff to shoot one of his blocks of ice and enabling Vash to catch an ice shard and throw it hit Cliff's guns and seemingly accidentally changes the trajectory to instead hit the water tanks and run out of ammo.

Vash declares that he has done his job of protecting Cliff's guest when Marianne shouts for him to look out and he screams as the entire dam breaks, filling the mansion and entire town. Safely above the now flooded city, Vash, Meryl, Milly and the now tied up Cliff stand. Marianne says that it's okay even if the damn broke- because it will eventually go back into the ground and cause the city to become prosperous again and people will be able to return to their homes.

She then thanks Vash which irritates Meryl as she believes it was all luck. Marianne asks if Vash dodged all those bullets on purpose to which Vash says it was more like a fluke. Vash asks what would happen if she knew he was the real Vash the Stampede and Marianne responds that she would have to arrest him. Vash then throws his hand up in defeat and leaves the group as Marianne thanks the girls.

Marianne realizes Vash is leaving and tells Meryl and Milly that she could really fall for a guy like that- that Vash is a real man. Meryl strongly disagrees while Marianne tells her she has no taste in men. Vash leaves on his own to the desert, lamenting that he thought it would really work out this time but that he did not want to get arrested.

Trivia

 * Upon Marianne's introduction Vash says to the group: "I don't let anyone in my sights get away. And I'm known for my bullets never missing their mark, especially if it's the heart of a beautiful lady. BANG!" During this speech Vash aims his finger like a pretend gun in Meryl's direction. Strangely, Meryl begins to panic and acts as if she has been shot and falls over, while Milly asks if she's alright and Vash looks down at his finger in confusion. This could be comically thought of as the point where Meryl begins to fall for Vash, quite literally.