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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Sunday, 16 March 2008 16:00 |
 The Claw's plan to "renew" Endless Illusion enters its final stages, but with Van facing defeat at the hands of Fasalina and Wendy finding herself ever more curious about the Claw's scheme, will our heroes be in any position to stop him..?
21 - Prayers to Heaven and Peace on Earth
Unable to persuade Van and his allies to join the Claw's 'mission', Fasalina opts to take the more direct approach, and attacks in her Armor, Dahlia. Convinced that Fasalina's trying to hide something ahead of them, Carmen, Wendy and Pricilla head on to try and find what it is, leaving Van behind to deal with Fasalina himself. Normally, that would be a fairly safe option - but Fasalina & Dahlia are far more powerful than anyone expected. Meanwhile, Michael himself is overseeing the next stage of the Claw's plan - and time is running out for Van and the others to stop him...
22 - For Whose Sake?
Following the destruction of Dann's orbiting base, Van's in trouble - not only can Dann not be serviced, but unless he gets time out of the mech's control, Van will likely die. With replacing the satellite not really being an possibility, Van's options are running out. Wendy, meanwhile, finds herself accepting the Claw's request for a 'date' - not out of any romantic notions, of course, but out of curiosity to see what he's really thinking, and what he has planned for her brother and the rest of Endless Illusion. The more she listens to the Claw, the harder it is for Wendy to think of him as the enemy, as an evil person - but will she be swayed by his explanation..?
23 - A Song for Everyone
On the dark side of the moon is a guidance system, within which is the spaceship that originally brought humans to Endless Illusion from Earth. It also brought typically human violence with them, an experience which first convinced that Claw that something needed to be done to remove that scourge from his new home. His method is a bit drastic, though: to deploy the Prison Planet Destroyer System held there. The name should tell you all you need to know. Down on the surface, Wendy and the others are unaware of what's been happening, and are just wondering if Van managed to make it to one of the orbiting stations safely. With no communication from him, they decide to head for the Claw's central base to tackle him themselves, but along the way they notice that something seriously is wrong: the moon is falling from orbit, and if left alone will destroy them all...
Only three episodes on this volume, with quite a bit of story to be worked through – but some unfortunate filler along the way. With the series now rushing towards its conclusion, it's mostly deadly serious, too – there's very little of the humour that ran through the earlier part of the series. I miss the funnier aspects of the show, but given the world-changing events that are going on here, comedy would have probably seemed just a little out of place. Instead, we get a good series of confrontations between the two sides, as Fasalina plays guardian to protect the Claw's interests on the surface and Michael heads into orbit to put the final stage of the Claw's plan into action.
One of the best things in Gun×Sword is the way the villains each have their own distinct personalities. The Claw seems simple, but he's convinced of the rightness of what he's doing and has a way of explaining himself that makes you want to believe him. Fasalina is deliciously evil, and during the combat sequences on this disc when she's piloting her Armor there's a positively seductive side of her personality that comes across, as she gets off on the thrill of battle in any sense of the term you care to use. Michael's the weakest of the bunch – he has skill and ability, but he's enough under the Claw's thrall that he comes across more as a mindless, unquestioning drone. But he's a drone that, perhaps more than any other of the Claw's henchmen, has the ability to defeat Van, and that prospect is a draw in itself. As the story switches between the various villains and the efforts of Van, Wendy and the others to hold their own against them, there's a real feeling built up that the good guys may not win the day here – with the thought always in the background that the Claw may be right, and that Van losing may not be a bad thing.
It's a passage of story that would have been truly fascinating to watch – were it not for the small flaw that what's done across these three episodes could probably have been done in two. There are some scenes dotted around (efforts to repair Van's Armor, Carmen's arrival at the Claw's abandoned base…) that take much longer than they really needed, and they draw some of the sense of urgency out of events and kill the suspense a bit. Van's group of tag-alongs has also grown quite large by now, and there's an effort to make sure that all the members get a look-in, even if they're not going to play any part in proceedings.
On balance, though, this is one very enjoyable volume, which ends on a cliffhanger that leaves you just wanting the next volume now to see how things turn out. Gun×Sword seemed to be quite a lightweight action / comedy way back at volume one, but it's developed nicely as it's progressed – it's still not something that requires a lot of thought to watch, but there's definitely more to it than there first appeared.
Picking too many holes in this volume would be churlish, as there's a awful lot of good here, with the story, character and action bases all well covered. The early-season comedy has almost gone, though, and there's more filler than I'd really expect to see at this stage of the series, but all told this is another Gun×Sword volume that's well worth picking up.
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