Gun x Sword

Tall, dead-eyed, and dressed in a tuxedo, Van is a swordsman who travels a desert planet and apparently eats everything in sight without saying thank you. He's looking for the man who murdered his fiancée — a guy with a claw for a hand, which isn't a lot to go on. The search brings him to a dusty town called Evergreen, where a quiet girl named Wendy is trying to find her missing brother. Reluctantly, and mostly because the bandits threatening the town are connected to the same man Van's hunting, the two end up traveling together. That's how the whole series works — Van drifting from place to place, Wendy tagging along, and every stop introducing someone else whose life the Claw Man has quietly destroyed. The mecha fights are genuinely fluid and inventive, and the show has a real knack for balancing dry, almost deadpan humor against moments that actually land emotionally. The Western-influenced setting gives it a feel unlike most mecha shows from that era. If you liked the wandering, episodic rhythm of Trigun or the world-weary protagonist energy of Cowboy Bebop, this sits comfortably in that company. It's 26 episodes from 2005, and it takes its time building toward something — but the journey there is worth it.