Gun X Sword ( 2005-07-04 to 2005-12-26 )

     Everything about the animation was great. The colors were crisp; the character movements were so smooth and fluid. What really stood out in the animation was how good the facial expressions were, especially for the main character Van. When Van's tired he looks tired, when he's lazy he looks lazy (along with his posture) and when he's mad he looks pissed. I saw a lot of this in the earlier episodes which was great, but for some reason the great facial expressions were mostly absent in the later episodes. What didn't look good were the armors/mechs and I only counted two good looking ones (Ray and Michael). Most of them were just down right ugly.

     Every single voice actor was excellent and fitted the physical appearance of the characters perfectly. The majority of the background music was great, so good that I thought it came from a Star Wars movie or a Halo game. But there was one I didn't like and I think it was done by the VA of Van where he was humming with an orchestral tune. I didn't like the opening song because it sounded more appropriate for a samurai anime, but I did like the closing song. The sound effects were nothing special, just seemed pretty average.

     The story was kept simple, which was good since the cast was relatively large for a 26 episode series. What I really liked about Gun X Sword that I think not a lot of other anime does is that they brought back a lot of the characters in the earlier episodes into the later ones and compare that to a series like Saiyuki where you'll only see the secondary characters once in the series. In the first half of the series the armors felt like such an add-on and I didn't really give a rats ass about the armors. I was solely watching the series for the hand to hand combat, characters, story and the humor, but it wasn't until the last five episodes where the armors played a bigger role and made the series that much better. There was a big WTF moment in Gun X Sword and not in the good way. The episode about the Swimsuit Kingdom was a complete mess because it totally didn't match the style of the other episodes. I don't mind dirty humor, but when the rest of the series is clean, there really is no place for that kind of stuff. It's like putting Dave Chappelle in a soap opera.

     You know you've watched a good series when you're left wanting more, and I want more or at least an OVA. What made me really like this series were the great characters with the simple story. I would not recommend Gun X Sword to anyone who is looking for a Mech anime because the focus on mechs just isn't there, but for anyone looking for a great adventure with really likeable characters, then jump aboard. Up next Berserk.

Animation: 8.5/10

Sound: 8.5/10

Story: 8/10

Enjoyment: 8.5/10

Fav. Episode: 23

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