The Trigun anime definately makes a lot more sense than the manga (not that I've gotten around to reading past Trigun Max 1, but yeah...). That being said, it's good you read the manga first since I nearly stopped watching the Trigun anime until I hit the 7th or so episode because the first eps are so goofy they nearly put me off the series (I don't like to be faced with unrelenting comedy from a series that obviously has a huge tragedy behind it.) Vash and Wolfwood definately make the series in both formats.