It's a standard battle shonen in it's essence but, the character progression and plot make it stand out from Naruto and Bleach. Sadly it did/does not get as much recognition as the others do.
I just remembered another anime I still have to watch & it's because of it that I ended up looking up D.Gray-man in the first place. Trigun, I'm sure you must've seen it or at least know of it.