Product Description

On the planet of Endless Illusion, a lone man adorned in a tuxedo roams the wild and lawless frontier... Armed with a shape-shifting sword and a powerful Armor, Van's sole purpose in life is to find the mysterious clawed man who had murdered his bride. After saving a town from vicious outlaws, he reluctantly takes on a travel companion--the young Wendy Garrett. In exchange for his help in finding her brother, she offers herself to Van as a bride, but that's the least of his worries, as more deadly enemies await!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95359 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-05-23
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
Gun Sword: Endless Illusion includes the first four episodes of the mysterious anime series about a tuxedoed drifter named Van, whose world-weary manner, shape-shifting sword, amazing fighting skills, passion for condiments, and ability to disappear within an enormous "Armor" (a huge, robotic warrior) make him a complex and reluctant hero. Wandering the planet Endless Illusion in search of a clawed man who killed his bride, Van crosses paths with a girl, Wendy, who implores him to help save her besieged town from a gang of thieves and murderers. She later asks if she can tag along with him on his search, even offering herself as Van's new wife--a thought that shocks him. As much as Van would rather be alone, the pair team up, exploring futuristic and exotic locales for the clawed man, and finding trouble and weird, would-be despots everywhere. Van is an interesting hero: diffident, strangely naive (he'd never seen a bank until Wendy took him inside one in episode 2), and carrying with him a long and enigmatic history that gradually makes sense. The animation is strong and particularly appealing whenever one gets a kind of satellite view of the strange surface of Endless Illusion. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

I guess I'm not as anime-savvy, cause I am enjoying this a lot
I'm sort of new to anime, only caught a few over the last two years. But I've been ill, so I've been using my ROKU while wheezing on the couch, and I've been enjoying some anime from the last few years that I didn't see the first time round, such as Saiyuki and some of the early episodes of Bleach.

I added this one to my line-up, and yesterday, I caught a little over half of the episodes in one sitting. Yep, that's like 5 hours of this in one go. I wouldn't have done that had I not been drawn in to the story of the black-clad, black-hatted, mecha-controlling loner on a revenge quest to get the Clawed Man who killed his bride. Not the most original plot, but it's definitely fitting for the west-meets-east-meets-a-little-steampunk sort of tale. It's got humor, action, family issues, and adventure. I like it.

Yes, it is a going from town to town chasing Claw-Man thing, helping people (no matter how initially reluctantly) along the way. Van may try to be aloof, but he ends up picking up sidekicks and aiding the oppresssed, all the same. And he has another "armored" fella out to kill the Claw competing with him. So, the race is on.

As I said, I'm over halfway done, and I found the 14 episodes engaging and the action fun and the humor not irritating (like some anime humor can get with the over-the-top cutesiness or dopeyness).

Obviously, other reviewers have a more broad anime perspective with which to judge/compare/find faults. As a newbie anime-watcher, I think this is a fun series and I want to see what happens to the characters. I even like the weird intro music that starts with taiko drumming and segues into a sort of Western-retro-theme updated for anime.

Mileages vary, right?

Mir

A good solid title to relax and enjoy!
After some of the heavier animes like Evangelion or X, this is lighthearted fun and reminds me of Kino no Tabi just a little bit.
What's great about this is that you never get bored, every episode is in a different location and has new characters. By the time some of them reappear near the end of the series, it all ties together in a nice whole.
For the most part, a fun series, though the ending leaves a little bit to be desired. If you're looking for an 'in between' title, this is a sure bet.

Can't Get Enough of Kurata-Sensei
Admittedly at first glance this show does look like grand eye candy, but with Kurata Hideyuki working on this project I could not resist picking up the first volume to see for myself. Kurata's work is most familiar to me from the R.O.D. franchise. Read or Die was an enjoyable OVA, but R.O.D. the TV had the right mix of action, music, humor, and heart for me to get really wound into the story. I am hoping that Gun Sword can live up to my expectations.

So far, the music has been rather generic, the action and humor are somewhat underplayed, but if Kurata's writing style holds true, this show may yet bloom.

If I were to compare this to any other Anime, I'd say it feels most like Big 0, but if it was written in the style of an early Hokey Western rather than the Film Noir look. The hero clad in black, the look of the Mecha, the obligatory Mecha battle. I'd almost say that it was Like Big O in Trigun, but it lacks everything of trigun except the semi-serious semi-humorous western theme.

If I was to choose on Mecha Anime to top my list, it would be Soukyuu no Fafner (I believe the western version is simply called Fafner). It's got the great music, a decent story, and a lot of emotion. Still, I wouldn't write off Kurata-sensei's writing talent so quickly. I'm gonna stay loyal to this show for now.