L o L I was just remembering how I had always recommended another series for people who enjoyed this story and wanted something like it (so long as they could overlook an awkward age difference romance that's technically legal in some countries but definitely not in the US) and oh man. I just realized...
Having finally read the whole Trigun manga, the feels that you get reading Meteor Methuselah (or Immortal Rain in the US translations) are so much more shallow. And that's saying something, because God Damn did that story make me bawl my eyes out at least once every volume!
Like I do think the series was directly inspired by Trigun. There are just way too many similarities for me to say it's a coincidence. Immortal protag with special powers and a severely scarred body, medical experimentation, the antagonist birthing himself out of a female character to be reborn, abused orphans, dubious priests, a romance between two male
characters, weird massive mutant things, and the hero is a wanted man who just really wants everyone to live in peace and harmony. Just. So much seems like it was directly taken from Trigun!
And, age-gap romance aside, I really enjoyed it! But. OOF. My original opinions of it had only been influenced by like three volumes of Trigun manga and the 98 anime. And yeah, in that vacuum, the emotions were similar. But taking the entire Trigun manga into consideration, it's like...
So much less emotionally devestating than Trigun. The story just feels more shallow. Still good, but definitely nowhere near the same caliber.