Gun Sword

Gun Sword, known in Japan as Gun vs. Sword (ガン × ソード), is a Japanese animated television series produced by AIC A.S.T.A. The series is directed by Gorō Taniguchi and written by Hideyuki Kurata.

The story is set on the "Planet of Endless Illusion", a place where rogues of all sorts gather. The protagonist, Van, travels the world searching for a man with a clawed right hand who killed his bride. He is joined by several other travelers along the way, each linked to the clawed man by a personal loss.

The series aired on TV Tokyo from July 4, 2005 to December 26 of the same year, totaling 26 episodes. Gun Sword aired, in English, on Animax Asia from March 2007 under the title Gun X Sword. The series is licensed for North America by Geneon Entertainment, who produced a new English dub overseen by New Generation Pictures. New Generation's English language version is also available in Australia from Madman Entertainment and in the United Kingdom by MVM Films. At Anime Central 2010, North American anime distributor Funimation Entertainment announced that they have rescued Gun X Sword and will re-release the series in late 2010.

Characters
A tall, lanky wanderer of few words clad in a dark swallowtail tuxedo. His speech is slow, laconic, and unhurried; but when hearing news referring to the clawed man, his disposition shifts to extreme anger. He acquires many titles throughout his travels. His armor is called Dann of Thursday. Women appear to be attracted to him and he likes putting all the sauces available on his food and drinking milk.
 * Van

Van's first traveling companion. She is searching for her missing brother Michael. Offers to become Van's bride in episode 1. Seen as a young woman in episode 26 talking to a reporter about Van. It is unclear as to what her feelings for Van really are. She carries a gun from her brother and a red turtle named Kameo whose shell has a dent in it from being shot in the first episode. She comes from the town Evergreen.
 * Wendy Garret

A mysterious and self-sufficient mercenary introduced in episode 2. The '99' in her name is the size of her bust, in centimeters as well as the number of gadgets she hides on her body – thus, Carmen 99 – but her birth name is Carol Mendosa.
 * Carmen 99

A withdrawn and ruthless Armor pilot, introduced in episode 5, whose wife was killed by the Man with the claw hand. He is Joshua's older brother. It is revealed that before his wife, Shino, was killed he called Joshua, Josh, indicating that he had a more open personality.
 * Ray Lundgren

Ray's younger brother. Joshua is upbeat, talkative and sociable. His main asset is his technical skill, being able to repair numerous everyday items, analyze armor weaknesses, and even setup timed explosives.
 * Joshua Lundgren

A pink-haired girl who meets Van during an armor tournament. She later joins his company on their quest. Her armor is Brownie and she controls it differently than Van and the others using a suit that responds to her movements. She develops a crush on Van and asks him to go out with her.
 * Priscilla

The primary antagonist and the subject of Van and Ray's hatred. His goal is supposedly saving the world but he commits many violent acts along the way. He treats everyone as a friend. He is really an old man with a failing body, and is known as the Claw Man because the lower half of his right arm is replaced by a golden clawed arm.
 * The Claw Man

Armor
Pilot: Michael Garret
 * Saudade of Sunday

Saudade of Sunday was retrieved from the sunken ruins of a city in episode 10, therefore, it is the only Original Seven armor without a satellite station. When it is in its compact form it has the appearance of a gigantic bayonet. In humanoid form it sprouts several large wings which functions as large solar panels, thus allowing Saudade to function without continuous refueling as the other armors. Saudade wields a large sword with a gun at the hilt which fires energy beams.

Saudade is later launched into space and to the moon as part of the Clawed Man's scheme, but calculations showed that there was a 20% chance of it colliding with Dann of Thursday's base, and the satellite was destroyed because of it. Later, Saudade also destroyed Diablo of Monday's satellite station when it was reentering the planet, after Dann used it to recharge. A battle between the two armors ensues, interrupted by an explosion brought about by the Claw's plan.

Saudade was the first to reenter the Endless Illusion's atmosphere in episode 24, in pretty good condition. It launches into another attack against Dann when the latter returns and threatens the Birthday and the Clawed Man. In the second and final confrontation, Dann of Thursday slashes a V into Saudade and destroys it, much to Michael's disbelief, since Saudade of Sunday was supposed to be the most advanced of the Originals.

Pilot: Gadved
 * Diablo of Monday

In appearance, Diablo is a bulkier version of Van's armor Dann of Thursday and appears in episode 12, where Gadved fought Van. It appears to be slightly stronger than Van's armor, although it is unknown if this due to Gadveds longer experience in piloting or the Diablo itself.

In its compact form it resembles a giant axe and it therefore wields a large axe with a long shaft (a halberd) in its human form. It was defeated by Dann of Thursday with Van's greater drive and conviction. Later near to the end of the series Dann of Thursday used Diablo's satellite to repair itself after Saudade of Sunday destroyed Dann's storage satellite while on its way to the Moon. Diablo's satellite station was destroyed when Saudade of Sunday was reentering the planets surface.

Pilot: Woo
 * Metsä of Tuesday

Metsä is a slender armor which first appears in episode 15, where it does battle with Van and his armor Dann. In its compact form, Metsä takes the shape of an enormous lance, wielding a Rapier in humanoid form.

During the first battle, Dann is no match against Metsä due to Van's inexperience in using the mech's electromagnetic shield and other capabilities. However, in the rematch, Van finds the strength he needs to bring forth Dann's potential and destroys Metsä, along with its pilot. Metsä also means forest in Finnish.

Pilot: Fasalina
 * Dahlia of Wednesday

Dahlia is Fasalina's unique armor which she reveals in episode 20. In its compact form it is shaped as a three-part staff and accordingly wields a similar weapon in humanoid form. Dahlia is very agile and has speed to match, despite its appearance. Fasalina controls it by swinging around a pole installed in the cockpit of the armor, which is also her staff.

Dahlia possesses some unconventional weapons as it can fire a burst of its own blue blood-like liquid against the enemy armor, effectively binding them since the liquid solidifies on contact. Another unique weapon is its ability to create organic tendrils (presumably also made from the same blue fluid) from its chest for close range combat. It can also fire rocket missiles for long range combat, and even use camouflage to evade or surprise an enemy, as Dahlia looks very much like a large flower.

During its fight with Dann of Thursday it was almost destroyed until it was kicked out of the way by the Eldorado Five. However during its second fight, Ray and Vulcan destroy her mech's arm and body with Vulcan's guns at point-blank range, thereby crippling Dahlia forever.

Pilot: Van
 * Dann of Thursday

Dann is Van's armor, built along the same lanky statures as Van himself. In compact form it resembles a giant sword and thus wields a huge sword in humanoid form, which again can be split into two smaller swords. A giant blade is mounted on its back, and can spin to allow temporary flight. Dann is one of the few armors which possesses no long range attacks, and it depends entirely on Van's movements and swordmannship in order to inflict damage on its opponents. In the beginning of the series, Van had not learned to activate all of Dann's power yet, but by the middle of the series he had discovered how to utilise Dann's electromagnetic shield, which greatly improves Dann's odds against a long range-attacking opponent. Later towards the end of the series Dann's satellite station was shot down by Saudade of Sunday during its rocket to the moon because of the chances Saudade might have collided with the satellite station, therefore stopping Dann from repairing itself after its battle with Dahlia of Wednesday. Dann later repairs itself using Diablo of Monday's satellite station which is later destroyed by Saudade of Sunday. In the end, Dann is stored in another of the remaining satellites, though is not mentioned which one.

Most unusual is its ability to heal injuries or illnesses that Van has, including hangovers, once he enters the cockpit. Furthermore, Van's combination of natural piloting ability and the armor implants he received allow Dann to reach a state called Overflow. This allowed Dann to harness the liquid metal of the Prison Planet Destroyer to form a gigantic blade.

During the battle against Diablo of Monday, Gadved states that Van's ability to access Dann's pilot healing feature is the reason Dann of Thursday was the "strongest armor" in existence. Whether this includes Saudade of Sunday and Birthday, which haven't been activated yet, is not clear. It is also not clear if all of the Original Seven could heal their pilots or if said pilots could access this ability successfully.

Pilot: Carossa
 * Sin of Friday

Sin, along with its sister armor Sen, differs from the other Original Seven because it has a nonhumanoid structure. In its compact form it is in the shape of a tonfa, while in its battle state, it is hunched backwards with large hind legs and a tail. When battling it wields a tonfa which can morph into different weapons. Sin and Sen can combine into a single Armor to increase their attack and defense, but can just as easily separate again. It can also fire energy beams. It is destroyed along with its pilot by Vulcan's beam howitzer.

Pilot: Melissa
 * Sen of Saturday

Sen is Sin's sister armor, but smaller. In its battle state it is more humanoid than its sibling but the head is very alien looking. In its compact form it resembles a chakram, which is also its weapon when in battle form. The chakram is a deadly ring which can be thrown against an enemy and pierce its armor and will return to its owner like a boomerang. Sen can interlock with Sin to a single armor, where Sen resides in the interior and bottom section, protected by the stronger and bigger Sin. Like Sin, it can fire energy beams. It is destroyed by Vulcan's beam howitzer.

Music

 * Opening theme: "GUNXSWORD" by Kōtarō Nakagawa
 * Insert songs:
 * "Niji no Kanata" by Satsuki Yukino (episode 3)
 * "La Speranza" by Hitomi (episodes 16, 25)
 * Ending themes:
 * "A Rising Tide" by Shuntarō Okino (episodes 1 to 8, 10, 12 to 16, 18 to 21, 23, 25)
 * "Paradiso" by Hitomi (episodes 9 and 11)
 * "S.O.S" by Kikuko Inoue, Houko Kuwashima, Satsuki Yukino & Saeko Chiba (episode 17)
 * "A Rising Tide" (acoustic version) by Shuntaro Okino (episode 22)
 * "Calling You" by Shuntaro Okino (episode 24)
 * "GUNXSWORD" (starting again) by Kotaro Nakagawa and Ondekoza (episode 26)

Gun X Sword San
These are a series of 13 omake episodes of Gun X Sword tied in very loosely to the plot with the characters as chibi puppets. The main characters are Wendy and her turtle, Kameo, the size of a human in this series and able to talk. Michael, Van and Carmen also appear voiced by their voice actors in the mainstream episodes. All the episodes seem to center around analysing various events in Gun X Sword and mocking the themes displayed.

In the DVD volumes of Gun X Sword there are 2 episode tied in to each volume in the extras with episode 13 on its own in the final one.

Game Appearances
The series is included in the 2009 Super Robot Wars game, Super Robot Wars K, for the Nintendo DS.