The setting for Gun x Sword is the "Planet of Endless Illusion." It's a place where all kinds of rogues gather. The protagonist of the series is a man named Van. He's tall, lanky and wears a tuxedo; his speech is also slow and unhurried. When he eats, Van puts all of the available condiments on his food, and his drink of choice is milk. Throughout the series, women seem to be attracted to Van.
It turns out there's more to Van than meets the eye. He is a man on a mission, looking for a man with a clawed right hand; this man murdered Van's bride. Van has a shape-memory cloth that he keeps at his side like a pistol. This cloth is Van's weapon; it can become a dueling sword, it can extend and grapple itself into walls, and Van can also spin it from its hilt at high speed to shield himself from projectiles. Van has an Armor, Dann of Tuesday, which is a kind of mecha. Van can summon Dann when he twists his hat 180 degrees and makes a "V" in the air with his sword.
During the course of the series, Van acquires several traveling companions. The first is a girl named Wendy Garret. It turns out her brother had been kidnapped by the clawed man that Van is looking for. Wendy is a kind and caring person and wants to help those in need that they meet on their journey. She has a pink tortoise named Kameo that serves as a good luck charm, and she also carries her brother's gun around (which only has one bullet inside of it). Wendy also has feelings for Van. The other traveling companions that Van acquires during the series have also had their lives touched in some way by the clawed man.
Gun x Sword has an interesting premise behind it, but one thing that kept bothering me was how much it made me think of Cowboy Bebop. The town that Van visits in the first episode has a Wild West look to it, and the character design for Van makes me think of Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. And with the main character named Van that pilots a kind of mecha, it also made me think a little of The Vision of Escaflowne.
In the first episode of the series, I really didn't see anything in the visuals that would be terribly offensive for younger viewers. However, with some of the language in the English dub, as well as some of the situations that are presented, I would personally recommend Gun x Sword to anime viewers who are 13 or 14 years of age and older.
| Gun x Sword | 26 | 2005 | Goro Taniguchi | AIC A.S.T.A. | FUNimation Entertainment |
