Van (Gun X Sword)

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Voiced by: Takanori Hoshino (Japanese), David Vincent (actor) (English)

Van

Van is the primary protagonist of Gun X Sword. He is travelling the world, searching for a mysterious man with an artificial claw for a hand who killed his bride, Helena, on the day of their wedding. Van swore to kill this man to avenge Helena.

His primary weapon is a shape-memory cloth held at his side like a pistol. This can change configuration to a dueling sword or extend to grapple or embed itself into walls. Van can also spin it in place from its hilt at high speed to act as an efficient shield against projectiles. But its most significant function is summoning and controlling Dann of Thursday, one of the most powerful armors on the Endless Illusion.

[edit] Character biography

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Although laconic and calm of nature, whenever information about the Claw's whereabouts are mentioned, he quickly shifts to extreme anger, going as far as death threats if he doesn't get the information he wants. Van tries his best to remain uninvolved with those he meets along his way, and if he does help them, he does so out of public sight. This changes, however, when he starts traveling with Wendy, who insists on helping out anyone along the way.

He has an extremely low tolerance for alcohol, and drinks milk instead. When dining, he asks for all the available seasonings, and after smothering his dish in them he eats and yells phrases such as "SPICY!" "IT'S DELICIOUS!", "DAMN!" "THAT'S GOOD!" and "IT GOT COLD!".

Throughout his travels he has been given several titles, including: "Van the Unemployed", "Van the Freeloader", "Hangover Van", "Van the Crybaby", "Steel Van", "Pretty Van from the Garbage Dump", "Van of the Dawn" (his favorite, indirectly inspired by Wendy Garret), "Nice Guy Van", "Van that Weird Guy who Helped Out", "Van of a Thousand Conquests", "Van of a Thousand Naps" (according to Joshua Lundgren), and "Van the Devil's Swallowtail Suit".

His white Armor, Dann of Thursday, or simply Dann, is held in place over the planet in a crucifix-shaped satellite, and is launched to his position when he twists his hat 180 degrees and swings a 'V' with his sword in the air. It is one of the strongest armors on the planet, and uses a sword as its primary weapon. Due to Van's position as one of the "original seven" he needs to enter his armor once a week to regenerate. If he does not, he will die plus he does not age due to his surgery being one with Dann.

This becomes a huge problem in episode 21, when Saudade of Sunday destroys Dann's base, and Wendy and the rest of Van's companions must figure out a way to send Dann and Van into space so they can use a different satellite.

Although unexplained at first, he also possesses an unusual scar on his chest; a circle split vertically down the center with seven lines radiating from the outside. It is most probably due to the surgery he underwent when being installed - almost literally - as Dann's permanent pilot. It was Helena's dying wish, as both of them had been seriously wounded by the Clawed Man, and it would save Van from death.

Van has a habit of forgetting the names of those he meets on his travels, especially Carmen, much to her chagrin. It wasn't until later that he begins to remember consistently. The first whose name he begins to remember is Wendy. The only person's name whom he does remember right away is Priscilla. This is because she is a strong opponent, which is he consider to be almost the same level as him, by the time when he met her.

At first, it seems that the only woman Van truly cares about is Helena, his deceased bride, and he is astonished when Wendy Garret suddenly offers herself as his next bride. As the series progresses, Wendy gains feelings for him and constantly takes care of him, and later on Van returns the favor by helping Wendy when she fell ill.

In the last few episodes, as he confronted Michael, Wendy's older brother, Van constantly berated Michael for not being a good brother. It is not confirmed if that was merely for distraction purposes or because Van truly cares about Wendy. He even goes as far as to remind Michael that he should not treat Wendy like a little girl. She was also the last person Van saw before he left the group, and he even tells her that she has grown since the first time they met in Evergreen.

Van doesn't seem to react to Priscilla's advances, when she begins to show her feelings for him more openly than any other girl, even more so than Wendy. Although he promises to give her an answer when he returns from space after recharging Dann when she asks for a date, in the end he doesn't respond and leaves, with Priscilla saying that she would wait no matter what.

In the end, Van manages to fulfill his goal of killing the Clawed Man, after he and his allies sabotage his plan to change the world. After Dann slices Birthday, the Claw's armor, vertically in half and destroys it, Van then moves in for the real kill, and he slashes the Claw without another word - cleanly in half, just like the Birthday, only horizontally.

He suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, and doesn't show up until a few years later, when he suddenly bursts in looking for food and milk (as always) and ends up meeting an older Wendy, with a little help from a table-sized Kameo. He dropped the group picture he took in the process. The series ends with the two former traveling companions staring at each other.

[edit] Van's armor: Dann of Thursday

Dann of Thursday

Pilot: Van

Dann is Van's armor, built along the same lanky statures as Van himself. In compact form it resembles a giant sword and thus wields a huge sword in humanoid form, which again can be split into two smaller swords. A giant blade is mounted on its back, and can spin to allow temporary flight. Dann is one of the few armors which possesses no long range attacks, and it depends entirely on Van's movements and swordmannship in order to inflict damage on its opponents. In the beginning of the series, Van has not learned to activate all of Dann's power yet, but by the last episode he has discovered how to utilise Dann's electromagnetic shield, which greatly improves Dann's odds against a long range-attacking opponent. Later towards the end of the series Dann's satellite station was shot down by Saudade of Sunday during its rocket to the moon because of the chances Saudade might have collided with the satellite station,therefore stopping Dann from repairing itself after its battle with Dahlia of Wednesday. Dann later repairs itself using Diablo of Monday's satellite station which is later destroyed by Saudade of Sunday. In the end, Dann is stored in another of the remaining satellites, though is not mentioned which one.

Most unusual is its ability to heal injuries or illnesses that Van has, including hangovers, once he enters the cockpit. Furthermore, it also has an Overdrive ability which can emit a highly devastating beam which cuts like a giant sword, although its hinted that this ability is Van's and not Dann's.