My interest in Gun X Sword began with an article I read in the pages of Anime Insider. I was immediately drawn to the character design. I had the same feeling with Chrono Crusade. I always freak out when I become too attached to a series before I’ve seen a second of the show. Will it be all style and no substance? Will the story fall flat? Will the ending disappoint? I wondered if this would happen with Gun X Sword. Fortunately, it turned out to be a great series that I really enjoyed.
A lot of people might argue that Gun X Sword isn’t original. They might say that Van = Spike + Vash. Or that Carmen 99 = Faye Valentine. Perhaps Wendy Garret = Ed. I disagree. While there are some minor similarities, I found them all to be original. Yes, Van is goofy in a way similar to Vash. He also has dark hair like Spike. Carmen 99 is busty like Faye. Wendy is a little girl like Ed. But I think those are pretty general characteristics – it doesn’t mean the characters are copies of one another.
The show is often humorous, which helps lighten the tone of the series. I won’t ruin it for you, but watch for the following nicknames (and more) that are given to Van throughout the series:
- Pretty Van from the Garbage Dump
- Van of the Dawn
- Van the Nice Guy
- Van that Weird Guy who Helped Out (my favourite nickname)
- Van the Devil’s Swallowtail Suit
STORY:
The story begins in a western-styled town church. There are several people dead, with some punks aiming a gun at a little girl (Wendy). A stranger stumbles into the church (Van), where he proceeds to ‘clumsily’ drop all the punks to the floor. Wendy ends up traveling with Van on his trip that turns out to be a personal revenge mission. Van and Wendy meet cosplayers, a mob boss, swimsuits, a weird French dude, mech fighters, old men, an evil claw dude, a dragon and much more along the way.
CHARACTERS:
Without further adieu, here’s a list of characters I’ve deemed ‘most important’ in the anime:
Goodies 
:
- Van
- Wendy Garret
- Carmen 99
- Ray Lundgren
- Joshua Lundgren
- Priscilla
- The El Dorado Five
They’re all pretty likable (except for Ray, who has a Boba Fett vibe to him).
Baddies 
:
- The Claw Man
- Fasalina
- Michael Garret
Strangely enough, the villains aren’t all despicable throughout the entire series. In fact, at times I began to wonder if they really were pure evil…
MUSIC:
Composed by Kotaro Nakagawa – The music fits very well with the themes of revenge, rebirth and discovery. It had that ‘epic tone’ that is perfect for the series.
PRODUCTION:
Directed by Goro Taniguchi, designs by Hirai Hisashi and produced by Studio AIC – I was really impressed by the production value of the series. Colors are bright, lines crisp and minimal use of CG. I can’t think of any episodes that had an inconsistent feel. Very high quality. Studio AIC did such a great job that their production actually reminded me of GONZO’s work on Chrono Crusade. Oh, and the 16 x 9 picture ratio is too cool for school.
Also as a side note, director Goro Taniquchi, designer Hirai Hisashi and composer Kotaro Nakagawa previously worked together on s-CRY-ed, another series I really liked!
CONCLUSION:
I have to say Gun X Sword more than met my expectations. The characters were interesting, the designs were original, the music epic and the animation quality was excellent. As an added bonus, it turned out that the ending didn’t suck the way so many ‘great’ anime series do.
Did I say ‘ending’? Don’t worry – I’m not going to spoil anything (remember, I’m no fan of spoilers). Guess what? Gun X Sword ends up being another epic anime series with a satisfying conclusion! Many of you know how rare that can be – you’ll have to check it out yourself to see what I mean. All I can say is that they somehow managed to have a great ending without ‘jumping the shark’. Yay!
RATING:
4 outta 4 kasugai!
The power of Gun x Sword is in the parodies, the characters and the total role reversals.
The “bad guys” are good. Fasalina, the claw guy and Kira Yamato are all “good” with noble intentions.
The “good” guys like Van, .. he just wants vengeance. Pure vengeance. He can’t be compared to Vash and the Spike because all he wants is to kill Clawman and that’s cool. None of that wishywashy pacificist crap.
But best of all, Fasalina is uber hot.
I never really thought about it that way tj han, and you’re so right; the bad guys do have good intentions and the good guys are self serving. The bad guys though do really bad things to realize their ambitions while the good guys seem to be doing the right thing (except for Van, but the Clawman has it coming).
I really enjoyed this series. There are very few series that I have to see how it ends. I like Van because he is so nonchalant about things (except when it does come to The Claw) and he is usually laid back. Some of the episodes are out right funny, like the one with the Mustache Brigade, the swim suit episode, and the episode called Light My Fire). I recommend this series to anyone who is into anime or is just starting out. I kind of wish the series didn’t end at 26 episodes!
Cody – I thought the swim suit episode was really funny too! I thought the series ended well with 26 eps – it was a lot of fun, and ended on a nice note
I just started watching Gun X Sword this past weekend, and I must say I quite like it. I love the blend of old and new, 70’s sensibilities with post millennial ones, the parodies, the crazy voltron from the sky…it’s all very tongue in cheek while still maintaining a very real feel of excitement. Awesome.
Dave, did you find that the series stayed strong throughout, or was a bit uneven in places? I’m only two episodes in, but I’m looking forward to the rest.
Chris – Yeah great point about the blend of styles! Actually, I think the series gets stronger as it goes on. There are a few really funny episodes you’ll have to watch for! Actually, Rachel didn’t like the first two episodes, but after I started watching it on my own, she decided to join me somewhere during the fifth episode!
I dont think anyone mentioned the music of this anime also. Man it is really good. I especially like the theme when Van calls Dann from the sky after etching the 7 V (does that mean like 7 days in a week, and V is roman numeral for 5th day of week, sunday being first? wow thats neat, never thought of that…)
Anyway, this series, like most good animes, has a great balance between humor and plain awesomeness, and the ending really had me wanting more. Also the style of eyes/art… this is what truly makes me like an anime or not (that and plot) and I really liked the graphics.
And like tj, I really like that everyone really has problems to work out in the series, though they do it in different ways and percieve each other as evil. Many kudos to the makers of this series!
I LIKE VAN AND WENDY TEAM UP. HOPE THEY MARRY EACH OTHER. CAN U PLEASE MAKE A GUN X SWORD SEQUEL SHOWING AND EXPRESSING THEIR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER. WHO AM I REFERRING TO, OF COURSE VAN AND WENDY.
? He had seen others do it that had less cowboying skills than he, so what could be so hard about it? ,