Gun X Sword

Time now to review my favorite show. Ever.

Since this is a positive review, let's start with the bad. The dub—seriously, did they even watch the Japanese version? Van's supposed to sound like he just woke up with a hangover from hell, not be all energetic and snotty. Also his name is pronounced "Van," as in the thing whose roof Leonardo thinks should be 3 feet higher, not "von" as in a Junker's middle name. Yes Japanese has a different A from English (theirs is IPA ɑ, ours is IPA æ), but in what universe do you render an A as IPA ɔ?

The end.

The good. How about, the voices (in Japanese)? Van's aforementioned hangover voice, Wendy and Pricilla's two levels of teenage girl voice, Ray's stone-cold insanity, Josh's innocent-little-boy voice, and Carmen...being Inoue Kikuko. Inoue Kikuko's voice...

Sorry, what was I saying? Right. How about the tongue-in-cheek but serious tone—gruesome, pointless murder and all-consuming revenge, on the one hand, and Mexican Voltron (and, later, a Robot-Luchador nun!) on the other. Need we even mention Mizugi? (Yeah, right, "Missoghi"—you named a country "swimsuit," gentlemen, now man up and admit it)

I really dig the outright iconoclasm of it—hatred saves the world, hippies, choke on that!—and how it's actually surprisingly deep. If you look at it, they basically said, "Look, let's write a story that'll stand on its own...and then throw in mecha," and yet the Armor doesn't feel tacked on.

How about the characters? Van's astounding—they took the "drifter" archetype and made him practically feral (though not compared to Calossa and Melissa). Carmen is pretty much the how-to for strong female characters—she's smart, tough, capable, (and also a dependable Oneechan-type, appropriately) but also a little insecure and spiteful. That is, she's actually got believable flaws, she isn't a Mary Sue who took two d20 rolls on "Table 37: Ridiculous Soap Opera Problems" to pretend to be well-rounded. Pricilla's a great gal, too: she's in the same league as Van and Ray, combat-wise...and she's a complete ditz (probably not as much as Van, but since he gives an entirely new meaning to "Invincible Ignorance" that's understandable). Wendy's just about the perfect execution of an adolescent character (Josh too, from a different angle), and Ray's the most believable tortured psycho in anything. The villain's the best ever, too, but don't let's give spoilers.

Plus, dammit, it's an anime with a Pulp Fiction reference.

Go, run, watch it! Over and over and over until you die and then come back and haunt somewhere that it's showing!