Review of Gun X Sword: Vol. 1 - Endless Illusion

Introduction

As someone probably never once said, "Why choose between and gun and a sword when you can have them both?" `Gun X Sword` (or `GUNxSWORD`, `Gun Sword` or simply `GXS` depending on who you listen to) takes this non-quote and runs with it. Although it isn`t particularly prevalent thematically to the series, it sure is a damn fine weapon. It`s found on the arm of wandering vagabond Van, who`s out for revenge against a mysterious, claw-armed villain who appears to have murdered his bride-to-be for reasons that aren`t made clear. Set on the Planet of Endless Illusion, `GXS` chronicles Van`s journey across the Wild West-style surface, its frontier towns and extravagant cities, as he reluctantly picks up companions along the way, each of whom have a reason for wanting to find the claw-armed antagonist. Van also commands a huge mecha (or armour in this case), Dann of Thursday, which remains docked in orbit of the planet until such time as Van calls it forth with his awesome sidearm; usually to kick some major arse. These first four episodes introduce us to Van as he comes upon a town besieged by a criminal gang going by the highly original moniker of `The Wild Bunch`. After reluctantly rescuing local girl Wendy in a church, Van finds himself being begged to help the town - but will he?

Lots of cross-genre pollination, big fat anime clichés and some fairly stock scenarios. On paper, `GXS` sounds fun, but perhaps not particularly worth chasing down - until that is you find out this is the return to serialised anime for Gorō Taniguchi, the series director behind the critically acclaimed `Planetes` series. `GXS`, a 26-episode series which was originally broadcast in 2005 in Japan, has a lot to live up to, that`s for sure.

Episodes:

1. Tuxedo Dances in the Wind
2. Funny Stream
3. The Hero Returns
4. And Then, the Rain Falls

Video

A top-notch 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, probably the best you`ll see that doesn`t have the words `Ghost` or `Shell` in the title. Beautifully crisp and brilliantly hued with deeply saturated chroma and great contrast, `GXS` sports one of the brightest, most vivid colour palettes outside the works of Miyazaki. There`s a fleeting hint of aliasing now and again, but you have to try really hard to care. What may not be to everyone`s tastes is the choice of character design for Van, which is a sort of amalgam of traditional action anime design and the elongated, disproportionate characters that designer and director Masami Obari (`Virus Buster Serge`, `Fatal Fury`) likes to employ. But Van is the only main character to be drawn this way, if flashbacks of `Virus Buster Serge` and its overstated body models and gangly legs come crashing back to haunt you. All in all, `GXS` is a particularly stylish looking anime, particularly the anime-meets-James Bond opening credits, and the transfer is difficult to fault.

Audio

Your choices are three-fold when it comes to soundtracks. A native Japanese DTS 5.1 or Dolby Digital 2.0, and an English dub presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The surround tracks are excellent. There`s sufficient directional implementation to remind you anime can do something special with 5.1 when it comes to travelling a soundstage, the dialogue is exceptionally clear through the center, and both the DD and DTS really know how to work a sub-woofer with the show`s gamut of various explosions, thuds and crunches.

The English translation from Californian dub house New Generation Pictures is spot on, and for the first time in a long time succeeds in representing a teenage girl in anime without having her sound either inherently whiny and annoying or shy and reserved. Wendy`s dub is full of youthful exuberance and character, and although Van is a stock tough-guy-loner, all terse and laconic, his performance doesn`t sound samey or feel overly contrived. As the show is set on an Earth-like planet with English featuring exclusively in the signposting and in towns, the English track could be considered the lead track in this instance.

Features

The main extras on the disc are the first two episodes of `Gun X Sword-san`, a bonus micro-series in the vein of `Tachikomatic Days` featured on the DVD of `Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex`. Running in at around 3-minutes each, they`re comically violent yet riotously funny shorts featuring the characters from `GXS` in hand puppet form. In these first two episodes, the ever-inquisitive Wendy, her pet turtle and Van discuss what makes a good wife, and what it`s like to be unemployed (with drifter Van as a mercilessly harassed case study). Fantastic, and almost worth the price of the DVD alone if only they weren`t so short.

Sadly, other than that, it`s the usual flood of anime extras; creditless opening and closing, commercials, an art gallery and trailers for the popular `Ah! My Goddess` and the interesting looking `Speed Grapher`.

Conclusion

You like cheap, high concept descriptions? Of course you do. Well `GXS` could quite easily be summed up as a tangy `Trigun` base, with a helping of `Cowboy Bebop`, a dash of `Transformers` and a slight pinch of the bit at the end of `Super Sentai` episodes where they all join up to form a massive robot-thing and have big, ridiculous mecha battles. It`s entirely derivative of the aforementioned shows, but it`s a real joy to watch, with an enormous sense of fun, and it`s very, very slick.

There are teases of an intriguing over-arc in this first set of episodes - which in terms of a 26-episode anime, are more primer than set-up - but volume one is strictly story-of-the-week territory; Van enters town, bad guys show up, Van dishes out a little beating, Van summons Dann of Thursday, all is well in the Kingdom of Nod, or whichever backwater he`s running through that week. But when the characters are so colourful, often completely, absolutely bonkers (Moustache Brigade?), and the show is so well put together, you have to try really hard to care that`s what you`ve got on this volume is anything but original. `GXS` is certainly a bit of a jack of all trades - there`s a spot of Western, a bit of mecha, plenty of sci-fi, kung-fu and comedy, but the show presents itself in such a way that it never spreads itself too thin, and maintains a sense of cohesiveness. The setting, with such a pastiche of genres thrown into the pot, never feels forced or false. Our hero Van thankfully isn`t your average strong but silent, grumpy protagonist. He`s a downtrodden vagabond with a permanent grimace, but with a repertoire of blackly humorous barbs and displaying plenty of quirky behaviour; drinks milk exclusively, has an unhealthy passion for condiments and can`t remember anyone`s names, even his friends. He`s really a reluctant vigilante of sorts - he doesn`t go looking to save the day, but keeps finding himself suckered into trouble.

Van, along with the only other main character introduced in volume one, Wendy, are the main culprits when it comes to perpetrating the thick vein of self-knowing humour that pierces the show, resulting in a series that doesn`t take itself too seriously, and transcends the sum of its parts nicely. If the lull of predictability `GXS` finds itself in this first volume continues unabated throughout future volumes, then we may have a problem. But as it stands, it isn`t. Coming from such a fine pedigree, and with episode four`s ending promising a real heating up of the main plot in the next volume, `GXS` looks like it has legs. Slightly gangly legs.