The land of Endless Illusion is a lawless place where heaven and hell collide, spewing forth degenerates of every type. The land is full of Coleridge dreams, whilst the urban areas are morally corrupt and violent. Through this land roams a wanderer with a past. Van is looking for The Claw Man, the man who killed his wife. His lonely existence is changed when he meets Wendy, a young girl who has lost both her parents and her brother. Together they travel Endless Illusion in search of answers...

Volume Six of Gun Sword contains episodes twenty one through twenty three of the twenty six episode show - which means that this is the penultimate disc. When we last left Van and his armor Dan, the Claw was about to launch his final attack...

Episode twenty one, Prayer to Heaven and Peace on Earth, and we start with Van and Fasalina going head to head in their armor. It is not a fight which goes well for Van. The Claw, meanwhile, continues his plans to bring the Time of Happiness to The Land of Endless Illusion. As the majority of the show consists of one long fight scene there is little in the way of plot progression.

One of the nice things is the characterisation of Fasalina, as an over sexualised fighter whose suggestive talk keeps Van off his game. It doesn’t help that she controls her armor by pole dancing inside of it. Wendy and Carmen 99, meanwhile, race to try and stop Michael launching into space only to find the base of operations empty.

This show just gets better and better. Sure its an amalgamation of a lot of shows that came before it, but the sum of its part have come together to make a truly entertaining and tense series.

Episode twenty two, For Whose Sake?, and Wendy accepts the Claw's offer of a date, as he tries to win her over to his side. Van, meanwhile, is in a lot of trouble. His armour is damaged - unable to either repair itself or return from whence it came, as Michael has successfully launched and destroyed the satellite. Only when they realize that Van’s armour was one of the original seven, most of which have been destroyed leaving their satellites intact, do they concoct a dangerous plan to launch Dan into orbit to connect with one of the free satellites.

Episode twenty three, A Song for Everyone, and the final pieces are in place for the ultimate confrontation. Van launches Dan into space as the rest of the crew head off to try and stop the Claw on the ground. With the moon turned into a weapon of death by Michael, Van desperately tries to repair Dan.

The writing on the show just gets better and better as it really delves into the motivations of the characters. This allows the audience to empathise with both parties in the struggle. The Claw just wants a world with no pain and will do anything to achieve this dream, whereas Van, our titular hero, actually has a lot of murder and hate in his heart. This allows the show to have pleasant shades of greys, with each side considering the other evil rather than a stereotypical good against evil plot.

The audio is a cut above the average with an English 5.1 track as well as a Japanese DTS or stereo track. Extras too are better than some other anime releases with a further two segments of the Gun Sword-San, a very funny send up of the show and characters. Not wanting to rest on its laurels, you also get a creditless opening sequence an art gallery and some trailers. The show is presented in a pristine 16:9.

9

Charles Packer