VAN
Voiced by: Takanori Hoshino (Japanese), David Vincent (actor) (English)
Van is the primary protagonist of GunxSword. He is traveling the world, searching after a mysterious man with an artificial claw 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.
Through 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), "Nice Guy Van", "Van that Weird Guy who Helped Out", "Van of a Thousand Conquests", "Van of a Thousand Naps" (according to Joshua), and "Van the Devil's Swallowtail Suit". Although laconic and calm of nature, whenever information about the Claw's whereabouts are mentioned, he quickly shifts to extreme anger.
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.
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. 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!". Although unexplained at first, he also possesses an unusual scar on his stomach; a circle split vertically down the center with seven lines radiating from the outside.
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. He suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, and doesn't show up until a few years later.
