Officially, the Social Welfare Agency is a government sponsored corporation that's in the business of
saving lives. In reality, it's an agency on the fringe of technology. They give terminal patients
another shot at life using cybernetic implants. This conditioning process then shapes the patient into
an efficient machine for handling all of the government's dirty work.
(Source: Funimation)
~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Gunslinger-Girl-Banner.png)~~~ I really wanted to like _Gunslinger Girl_. Made by [MADHOUSE](https://anilist.co/studio/11/MADHOUSE), Directed by [Morio Asaka](https://anilist.co/staff/100921/Morio-Asaka) of _[Chihayafuru](https://anilist.co/anime/10800/Chihayafuru)_ and _[Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card](https://anilist.co/anime/97881/Cardcaptor-Sakura-Clear-Cardhen)_ fame, _Gunslinger Girl_ has a simple but compelling premise: child soldiers. Little girls trained and conditioned to become assassins for the Italian government, forced to do their nations dirty work. Whether that be protection, espionage or outright murder, _Gunslinger Girl_ takes something reprehensible and shoves it right into your face so you can't ignore. And then it dives into how the girls themselves feel about their position, whether or not its so different from things we do right here in the real world. So with such a premise, and such a strong production team, what's not to like? Well strap in my friend, because I have a few thousand words prepared just for you. And be warned, this review will contain minor spoilers for _Gunslinger Girl_. __(_Disclaimer_: This review contains minor spoilers for _Gunslinger Girl_. I am also working to make 50 the new "average". 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. You can also find individual episode write ups and comment on this review on my [Star Crossed blog](https://starcrossedanime.com/gunslinger-girl-anime-review-57-100-throwback-thursday/).)__ ~~~img(https://i0.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Gunslinger-Girl-7.9.png)~~~ # __~~~Art/Animation~~~__ As always, we have to start with _Gunslinger Girl's_ animation and art. Like many aspects of its production, this is a mixed bag, as _Gunslinger Girls_ is is very inconsistent. Some episodes, when it wants to show off, it can look fantastic. The movement of the characters and the firefights are occasionally gorgeous. Each individual bullet can be seen exiting the chamber and falling to the floor as the heroine's charge through the bad guys, the clothes shifting as they move or their weight and momentum carry through their movements. This is most often seen with Henrietta, with a great example being the opening mission in the first episode. No one can say that _Gunslinger Girl_ doesn't have the occasionally fantastic cut. But the issue is as I said before: the series is horribly inconsistent. Outside of the occasional action scene every few episodes however, _Gunslinger Girl_ is often stilted and motionless. Every character stands straight backed and stiff, without any real expressive character or even facial animation. Part of this can be chalked up to many of the characters actually having stunted emotions, and narratively that's fine. But you have to recognize what such a decision does to your visuals and account for that. The sad thing is that _Gunslinger Girl_ isn't even consistent on the action scenes. There are plenty of combat bits where we don't get the stellar animation I mentioned previously. Rather everyone will stand still, the guns will flash and we will cut to all of the bad guys falling over. Now, this isn't a deal breaker by any means, you don't need stellar animation for a good story. But it certainly helps and _Gunslinger Girl_ is hardly _[Monster](https://anilist.co/anime/19/Monster)_. Sadly _Gunslinger Girls_ isn't much better artwise and it has a very similar problem to its animation. The designs and proportions are much more... not necessarily realistic, but more accurate. I mentioned _Monster_ before and _Gunslinger Girl_ has a very similar visual style to it. The character have rather rectangular bodies, realistically sized proportions and it makes heavy use of greys and browns, with splashes of color occasionally thrown in to vary it up. However where _Gunslinger Girl_ falls short is that just like its animation, the characters aren't particularly expressive. Once again, having characters stripped of emotions works fine, so long as there are other characters who _can_ emote around them. But when a majority of your cast is often blank faced or subdued in their expressions, it makes for a number of very dull scenes. All in all, on paper _Gunslinger Girl's_ style is fine. I like how different it is from the more modern moe blobs or from [A1 Pictures](https://anilist.co/studio/561/A1-Pictures) generic faced protagonists. It reminds me fondly of series such as _Monster_ and it gives _Gunslinger Girls_ a more "real world" air. However it fails to make good use of this aesthetic nor does it do enough to "wow" the action junky in me. It isn't terrible, I never thought the show looked ugly. But neither did it impress. And for a medium named around animation and the movement of characters, that's a damn shame. ~~~img(https://i2.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Gunslinger-Girl-10.7.png)~~~ #~~~__Direction__~~~ On the other end of the spectrum we have _Gunslinger Girl's_ direction. For all the faults I have with the production, I do think this was actually pretty good. _Gunslinger Girl_ was often very inventive with its camera and there were some stunning shots through out. One of my favorites was an establishing shot of Florence, where the camera panned over the city in early morning before landing on pigeon filled square. It managed to set both the mood and the setting for the episode right from the get go without a single word of dialogue. This sort of scene isn't alone either, there are plenty of these sorts of establishing shots throughout the series. From a rain-drenched pistol Henrietta's camera to final scene of the entire series. As if this wasn't enough though, _Gunslinger Girl_ also does a great job of transitioning from these calm scenes to the action. Simply put, _Gunslinger Girl_ does a pretty good job of managing tension across its run. Of slowly ramping up to the climactic conclusion of an episode, of building up to it bit by bit. A great example of this comes in episode 3, where we are first introduced to Rico. The whole process of meeting the bell boy, his chat with Rico to the reveal and conclusion does a great job of keeping the viewers interest throughout. All in all, I would say that _Gunslinger Girl's_ direction does the lion's share of the work in establishing its aesthetic. Of setting the mood and feel of every episode and carrying it through the season as a whole. So while the animation and art leaves something to be desired, this makes up for it. Just a little bit, at least. ~~~img(https://i2.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Gunslinger-girl-5.3.png)~~~ #~~~__Setting/Story__~~~ And now we come to the story and this... this is where we start to run into some serious problems. Because it is here _Gunslinger Girl_ makes it obvious that it is an incomplete adaptation of a (then) ongoing manga. The best way I can describe it is that _Gunslinger Girl_ is an incredibly interesting setting and premise, but with the depth and follow through of a kiddy pool. As throughout the season the series is setting up so many different things, so many different plot threads. We have terrorists, we have internal politics, we have child soldiers and their own little drama, etc etc and the list goes on. It's very obvious that we are being setup for a much longer story, that we are in it for the long haul... and yet as a single, individual season, none of these end up properly addressed. Only ever established. This doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, for an example you need look no further than _[Vinland Saga](https://anilist.co/anime/101348/Vinland-Saga)_ of last year. That is also a story that is much longer, where its initial season is effectively just a prologue. However unlike _Vinland Saga_, _Gunslinger Girl_ has no clear bookend. In _Vinland Saga_ there is a clearly established through line between Thorfinn and Askeladd, one that is both established and followed through to completion across the 24 episode season. In _Gunslinger Girls_ however, there is really no equivalent through line. Our lead character Henrietta starts and ends the season effectively the same, with the only real difference being in how we the audience see her. There is Angelica I suppose, however her place in the story is so small that its hardly worthy of note. Sadly, there is just no real overarching narrative that effectively drives the season. That said, its not as if there is nothing of value here. There are individual moments and episodes that are great and the general quality of the episodic stories is relatively high. _Gunslinger Girl_ makes good use of the girls and how they relate to their handlers differently. Giving each of them a couple of one-off episodes that focus on them almost to the exclusion of everyone else. These episodes are often the most interesting by far, where we explore a new facet of what the handler/cyborg relationship means and how different people interpret it. Sadly, however good these episodes are individually, if they don't feed into some overarching narrative then what's really the point? This isn't an action Shounen, it can't ride by on hype fights and individual character moments. The sad truth is that _Gunslinger Girl_ never really _does_ anything with it outside one fantastic moment with Elsa. Beyond that our leads are only ever represented as they are, with little in the way of meaningful changes. Yes we learn more about them, and as a viewer its a sometimes interesting exploration of child soldiers and the sorts of platonic relationships children can have with their parental figures. But it's just not enough to really keep my interest. Not when we have the occasional episode that comes in and reminds us of a greater plot in the wider narrative. For instance you can't just introduce a named bomb-making couple early on in the series and then never actually use them for anything. You can't introduce the inter-agency politics and then end the season without any meaningful conclusion. And _Gunslinger Girl_ is just that: A story without a conclusion. ~~~img(https://i0.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Gunslinger-Girl-3.3.png)~~~ #~~~__Characters__~~~ Moving on we come to the character, which are in a very similar but ultimately better place to the narrative. As I said above, a majority of _Gunslinger Girl's_ screen-time is dedicated to episodic character specific stories. Each one exploring their own circumstances and relationships with their own handlers. Each one looking at the same core relationship, Fratello and Cyborg, in a different. One is legitimately caring, with the Fratello looking after and pampering his charge while another may treat them like a tool, while another still may look at them with disdain. Each girl has their own idea of what the relationship should be, or what they want to get out of it, etc. This is _Gunslinger Girl's_ most interesting and engaging aspect, figuring out who these girls are. Sadly though, just like the animation and the story, _Gunslinger Girl_ fails to fully execute on its vision here. Because you see, outside of Elsa and maybe Angelica, none of the girls really have an overarching story. They don't really change or grow or are challenged in new ways. Certainly, they are challenged in their flashbacks, in the history we see as we first meet them. But that is supposed to build up who they are _now_, not be a substitute for who they can then become. It's as if they exist inside the already established relationships given to them without ever really changing the status quo except for one admittedly good arc. When you combine this with stiff voice acting, similar to the unexpressive animation on them, it hurts any interest you might have. There is an argument to be made, similar to the animation, that the VA work was done on purpose. But just like before, while interesting on paper it just doesn't work in practice. All in all, I really like the concept and base introductions of these characters. Their whole situation is interesting as is how each one is used to comment on that kind of relationship as a whole. Similarly, their affliction is also very compelling, knowing what they have become and what will become of them in the near future. In a way I liken it to something like say... Alzheimers patients, or the extremely old. Those who are forgetting who they are and others around them. It's an incredibly powerful idea, one that many people have experience with a loved one in real life. But _Gunslinger Girl_ just doesn't execute on it well enough to make it work for more than an episode or two at a time. Maybe the 2nd season and continued manga resolves this, since it's just part of an adaptation. But in this season, I'm left wanting. ~~~youtube(https://youtu.be/1ViG1zMrFpY)~~~ #~~~__OST/Sound Design__~~~ Next up we come to the last major section of this review: The OST and sound design. I promise, this one will be shorter if only because there isn't much to talk about. Overall I found _Gunslinger Girl's_ OST... fine? I was never taken out of the moment by the OST or sound design, but neither was I ever really impressed. There is only really one song in ["Tristezza"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ViG1zMrFpY&t=846s), maybe two with ["Silenzio Prima della Lotta"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ViG1zMrFpY&t=2814s), that I actually remember from the show. That I can remember scenes they played in and that really sold their particular scenes. The rest though, however good, never really felt like the contributed much. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good pieces in this OST. The issue is just that I didn't notice or care for them until I listened to the entire OST on its own. That said, while the OST may not contribute much to the show, boy are some of these pieces great. ["Dopo il Sogno"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ViG1zMrFpY&t=4067s) makes terrific use of its piano, singing and almost radio-chatter like vocals mixed with classic operatic. It's hauntingly beautiful and certainly something I have already added to my playlists. Similarly there are pieces like ["Costruzione"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ViG1zMrFpY&t=349s) that, while not memorable, set the tone well. But for every standout piece I find, there is another rather generic one. Take for instance ["Tema 1"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ViG1zMrFpY&t=119s) or ["Città"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ViG1zMrFpY&t=651s) which I neither remember hearing while watching nor find particularly interesting. There is nothing wrong with them of course. But like much of _Gunslinger Girl_, it isn't what's wrong that's holding it back but rather what is simply... meh. Simply put I was never enthralled with this OST, and while I cannot truly disparage it, neither can I really recommend it beyond individual pieces. ~~~img(https://i0.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Gunslinger-Girl-1.1.png)~~~ #~~~__It could have been more__~~~ Finally we come to the last part of this review where I talk about what _Gunslinger Girl_ could have done better. This holds no bearing on the final score and is only about what I wanted to see as the show progressed. Why not provide some constructive criticism along with the rest, right? And fair warning, there is going to be some serious spoilers in here, so don't read it if you haven't watched the show. Or maybe you just don't care, I dunno. ~!To immediately get into it, I wanted to see more of Franco and Franca, the bomb couple. You can’t just introduce these two early on and then never actually use them for something. I don’t need _Gunslinger Girl_ to catch them or kill them, keep them for future stories. But let Henrietta confront them, let their relationship and what they are fighting for bounce off of Henrietta. Maybe it can inspire something there, or maybe it can be used as a reveal for just how horrible the Agency’s methods are. Either way, these two had 2 relevant scenes yet were framed to make them seem far more important than they were. And really, that’s just the entire terrorist plot in a nutshell. _Gunslinger Girl_ introduced it, set it up, but never really went anywhere with it. The greatest threat they presented was Angelica running off on her own! Similarly, I would have liked to see more from Claes. She is introduced early, she has a compelling story and her relationship with the other cyborgs is heavily strained. Let them right, let them argue, give them emotions! This could easily be pulled into the Agency politics storyline, as these immature young girls are unable to uphold the image they need for their project. Meanwhile it can once again be used to demonstrate the effects of conditioning, and how horrible it is. Because throughout the season _Gunslinger Girl_ is hinting at conditioning, showing us some of the after effects, but never really diving into it. What we got is fine, but it could have been more. _Gunslinger Girl_ does this a little bit at the end with Angelica and Claes, sure. But this is resolved far to quickly for the sake of a “clean” end. The long and short of it is that _Gunslinger Girl_ was at its most compelling during Elsa’s murder/suicide arc. Here we finally see the negative effects of conditioning and the cyborg program. We are shown how each Fratello has their own methods and how they can disagree on what’s best for the girls. We see how important it is a Fratello treats their cyborg right, and just how emotionally unstable these girls really are. Had _Gunslinger Girl_ played with this a bit more, either through Claes’ grief or Angelica’s desperation, there would be a much stronger narrative thread through the whole season. As it is, we just jump around between loosely connected episodic stories that sort of come together by the end, but really just feel like a season long cast introduction. I suppose what I am saying is, I wanted more things to actually happen.!~ ~~~img(https://i0.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Gunslinger-Girl-13.1.png)~~~ #~~~__Conclusion__~~~ So all in all, how was _Gunslinger Girl_. Simply put, it’s a disappointment but an interesting disappointment. I had high hopes for it, it started off strong. And while it didn’t manage to meet said hopes, it was at the very least interesting. There were definitely a number of episodes I thought “This is it, this is when the hammer drops” and I was excited each time. I could tell that the series was building towards something, just not what and when we could get there. Is it a shame we never did? Yes. But that doesn’t invalidate what good there was in the show. Who knows, maybe the 2nd season takes all this setup and runs with it, maybe it really does “get better in the 2nd season”. But this review isn’t about the 2nd season. So _Gunslinger Girl_ gets an A+ for effort, but a D for execution. Thanks for reading everyone! This is the end of a larger series I do on the previously linked blog above called Throwback Thursday where we watch an older series week by week. If you have one you want to suggest, please head on over and give us a holler!
Gunslinger Girl is a reflective, melancholic piece of art that rewards the attentive and inquisitive viewer. Make no mistake; this is a psychological anime first and foremost, exploring characters, relationships and the crises and existential issues they face. The title, marketing and so on do little to communicate the series' real strengths or purpose so I could not blame anyone for expecting a series heavy on action and simple moral issues and ending up disappointed because of it, and I imagine this is part of why Gunslinger Girl does not seem to have the strongest reputation in the anime community. There is little overarching narrative to engage in, only sporadic and swift action to enjoy and no primary antagonist or overall goal to aim for. If this sounds interesting to you, this may well be something you really enjoy. The series follows girls who were all but lost to life being taken in by an agency, given cyborg bodies and training, and being told to kill terrorists. Unsurprising then that so many people expect more action and fun from this series. But this setup serves to put the characters into an environment where relationships and issues take a deep root and grow, as they live at an agency surrounded only by other cyborgs and employees of the agency. The true content of the show is the growth of the girls, their bonds with each other and their relationships with their handlers. The setup exists to explore the realisms of each character. Every character in Gunslinger Girl serves a purpose and is bereft of superfluous characteristics or scenes. Many of the scenes are subtle. Characters are not transparent and the importance and meaning of things is not spoken to the viewer outright. Gunslinger Girl very rarely gives direct insight into a character's thoughts, This by no means that they are not there however and this is squarely an anime to pay attention to or you will miss out on it's depths. This lack of direct communication does not exist to confuse or trick the viewer; the intricacies of the emotions of each character simply cannot be conveyed on the surface or by dialogue. Not unlike the sophisticated character writing, Gunslinger Girl effectively uses music to heighten the experience. It understands both the effectiveness of recurring musical motifs and themes and the pure ability of silence to leave a profound impact. There simply isn't enough time in a review to go through the various ways music is used, so I shall give a single detailed example. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX3fe1axk70) This track is first used in the very first episode so I don't feel it's too spoilerfic to mention; it's used as the main character Henrietta is being trained, and the use of this track servers as a strong early signal of the true psychological nature of this anime. This scene should not be looked upon positively, it is a child being trained as a weapon. Wailing voices and harsh instruments cry out the true evil of it all. But even more interestingly, only the early parts of this track are heard. It is only in a much later episode when something much more evil and damaging happens that the track plays again and finishes. Deceptively simple yet brutally effective use of music. I realise I haven't really gone into specific examples of anything from the show bar the musical example, and that's deliberate. I think it's a disservice to spell things out for any potential viewer before they watch. A show like this is rare, a piece of art inviting the viewer to engage with the world, absorb the events and reflect on the emotions packed within. It is not something that wants to hit you with an immediate wave of surface-level shock, instead garnering more understanding and empathy you levy upon the characters.
Whether disturbing or not, any subject matter should not be shied away from being written into a story narrative because it’s too dark for the mainstream audience to handle. Since the last century, almost all the well-regarded films have implemented controversial social commentary and brought about heavy subject matter that involves sex, violence, and political corruption. These days we don’t often see anime take advantage of showing people the profound impact our world has within the dark deception of our own universal culture. Gunslinger Girl will leave some people with a sour taste in their mouths; whether they were expecting action-packed girls with guns show, as the title Gunslinger Girl represents just by saying it aloud, or because of the disturbing nature of the characters. However, the actual argument is how it handles developing those themes and characters mentioned beforehand. It would be fitting to compare this to Stand Alone Complex in how every episode has its plot, yet every one of them is connected to the development of its characters. Execution should be the key to establishing an overall impression of how we view each character through fresh and innocent eyes before removing our innocence and making us experience the disturbing nature underneath the foreground of the show. Gunslinger Girl has one of the most heart-wrenching and almost beautiful representations of showing the development of each girl in question. One scenario, in particular, involves one of the girls named Rico, who is now put into a position where she has to eliminate any emotion regarding the job she is given. Now she is thrust into a situation where she finds interest in someone who makes her question her existence concerning why she’s a part of the organization. What makes the execution written so well is just how subtle you see her ponder the questions coming out of her mind after the job is done in a harrowing and profound atmosphere. Typically, dealing with robotic characters who ponder about love and how they question has been done to death in some instances and can be seen as silly or laughable. But seeing how the atmosphere is so dark and hardly has any inclination of humor in the characters makes it believable. It's debatable whether there should have been a more convincing or less clichéd way of bringing up melodrama, but that shouldn’t necessarily be a massive draw on the writer’s part. With this in mind, however, one begs whether the writers only wanted to develop the girls fully and hardly bothered trying to give the same amount of development for the “Fratello” or the girls’ master that is given to them. Some people could argue that the show's point was mainly focusing on the girls instead of their masters. Even with that said, they try to give a smidgen of development from how they question their organization. The problem is that they don’t ever go far enough, it’s as if they had an idea of how the adults would grow into a different mindset than before, but they decided that it wasn’t as important. There’s nothing for me to feel about them, whether I should pity or sympathize with them other than the girls. Narratively speaking, the plot doesn’t gain any weight as how it’s structured since there’s hardly a plot to follow other than the fact it’s supported mainly by character interaction. There are some episodes where the story of one particular mission didn’t feel like it was written with any focus on how it was structured. They didn’t have a goal in mind when they wanted to establish any conflict or a stable plot arc. Not to say all of them did, but on occasion, it does. The fact that the show is slow-paced does help in some cases to help us figure out what the world of Gunslinger Girl is like. The political climate and corruption are put into context, how it impacts the characters, their struggles with coping, and whether they like it. There is an issue regarding how the show hardly gives any context to the actual political office in question. Suppose you asked me now what the people in the government were like or what their motivations were. In that case, I couldn’t tell you because of how so little explanation is given to their reasons, and therein lies how narrow the political landscape is like, unlike how Stand Alone Complex did it correctly in its political realm. While it is argued that this is entirely different from your typical girls with guns show, that isn’t to say there aren’t tropes that can be associated with the genre. How they handle the violence and action is very intelligent and almost strategic in how the characters feel in any given action scenario. While there are some questionable scenes, such as Henrietta pretending to be an innocent child to a group of terrorists inside a building where it’s evident that no one else but them is inside. How it is directed and choreographed is intense and realistic to its very core. It doesn’t glorify the violence to the point where it’s severely distracting; when you see a person get shot, you feel that he’s been shot right in your gut. Direction-wise, the show is stellar in its animation and pacing, even if, at times, it goes a little too slow in parts where it didn’t need to be. While it isn’t impressive compared to others, the animation is still done well from how the action scenes are played out in the end, and the art designs of the characters are crisp and clear to the eyes. The one thing that typically wouldn’t be needed in discussing animations is the actual gun designs themselves that are almost on Angel Beat’s level of precision and detail in how they are portrayed as an embodiment of the girls. Almost like a subtle metaphor in how you see a gun next to a girl in nearly every scene they are on-screen, whether they are carrying it with them on a mission or if they are cleaning them. The music in Gunslinger Girl is pretty to listen to, implementing excellent orchestration to capture the disturbing nature of the show’s framework. The sound design is one aspect of the show that I wholeheartedly admire and commend with open arms. It’s extraordinary how authentic it is from how the guns sound like actual firearms and not just cookie-cutter weapons on any other anime or movie and the subtle ambiance of the show’s natural landscape. There was a moment where I almost wanted to cry from just how beautiful and sad the people who worked on the front put forward to crafting this realistic atmosphere that gives Gunslinger Girl its unique look and feels from other anime. From its dark subject matter to its beautiful nature, this is a show that might rub some people off the wrong way. That can be understandable, but at the same time, that should not sway people who are nevertheless intrigued in giving Gunslinger Girl a watch to see how anime can go to unfamiliar territory by using familiar tropes and pull it off in a serious fashion. It may not be perfect in how they didn’t go far enough as it needed to be in establishing a well-rounded world that deals with political corruption. But as time goes on, we have to appreciate at least the effort put into writing a gripping character drama with excellent development from our main characters, minus the supporting cast. We sometimes have to embrace the darkness of the natural world to cope with our insecurities, and Gunslinger Girl lives up to its credit as one of the most underrated that has these qualities to deal with. Grade: A-
It’s been said that Italy is one of the most culturally important locations in the world. A landmark of civilization, this famous European peninsula is a titan of the arts, but no country is safe from strife. As a result of the nation’s political and economic instabilities, a new rise in domestic terrorism has threatened to destroy the Italian goverment... And retaliation has been swift. To maintain the status quo, the Italian Government has established the Social Welfare Agency... Masquerading as a charity organization, the Agency has adopted several very young girls, all cast out from society and on the verge of death, in order to brainwash them and transform them into the perfect cyborg assassins. Paired with an adult agent, otherwise known as her ‘handler,’ each girl has been trained and conditioned to act as her partner’s bodyguard, as well as a living weapon in his service. Together, these pairings... Known as “Fratellas,” or siblings... Battle on the front lines to protect the country from a deadly enemy within, but this ongoing war is nothing compared to the battle inside of each girl as the assassin struggles to come to terms with what little humanity they have left. For some reason, I’ve been under the impression for a very long time that Gunslinger Girl was one of the higher budget Madhouse titles. Up until my rewatch for this review, I hadn’t seen the series in over ten years, and because the visuals always stuck out in my mind as being high quality, my memory must have worked off of that assumption... Because watching it now, my eyes are telling me a far different story. Gunslinger Girl does not look like an expensive anime. The character and background designs are sharp as a whip and highly attractive, but outside of the combat scenes, which clearly had the bulk of the production budget poured into them on top of a number of admittedly tricky corner-cutting techniques, this is a very dialogue heavy show, and it takes full advantage of that. The majority of the series consists of barely moving keyframes stitched together. Maybe a character’s lips are moving, or someone’s image is being bounced to create the illusion of walking, but motion is still minimal, and extras in the background show little to no sign of life. In spite of all of this, Gunslinger Girl looks far more impressive than it has any right to, as it is one of the most superbly directed anime I’ve ever seen. I don’t just mean that it’s able to hide how small its budget was, although that is certainly true. Morio Asaka is one of my favorite anime directors of all time, despite his limited body of work. His first serious solo project was Cardcaptor Sakura, a fairly cheap adaptation of a flowery magical girl manga that didn’t have to be as fun and exciting as he made it, and he’s also well known for Chobits, an ecchi show about a guy with a literal robot waifu that didn’t have to be so subtle and mature, nor so focused on the struggle between humanity and technology. You could blame these two successes on the fact that Clamp manga are just way meatier than they have any business being in general, but since Clamp had nothing to do with the rest of his catalogue... Including Gunslinger Girl... I think it’s fair to say Morio Asaka has a knack for taking projects that have every reason to be underwhelming, finding the depth within them, and figuring out how to accentuate it. With Gunslinger Girl, Morio Asaka takes an almost Kubrick-like approach to the visual presentation, framing his shots in a way that very deliberately exploits the space around a character. There’s never a close-up that doesn’t put you in the character’s shoes. There’s never a distance shot where the character’s surroundings aren’t screaming silent information at you. A simple pause in conversation can create all kinds of tension, from the suspense of whether or not someone’s about to die, to a simple tug on the heartstrings where you know someone who’s lost for words is trying their best to figure out how to communicate something they can’t say. With the exception of the odd derpy off-model shot here or there... I noticed maybe three across all thirteen episodes... There isn’t a single shot in this anime that doesn’t feel like several hours of thought went into it. The audio is just as important however, as it’s kept mostly to a minimum, with about half the soundtrack being relegated to background noise, often related to traffic, pedestrian conversation or ongoing construction. As for the other half, it’s almost entirely orchestral, utilizing several well-known European pieces from the public domain, as well as a handful of original tunes that have more of a modern edge to them. The highlight by far is the opening theme, The Light Before We Land by The Delgados, which is one of a very rare number of English language songs that have managed to become anime themes despite the obvious language barrier. Unlike a lot of them, this one was chosen not because of how beautiful it sounds, but because the lyrics have meaning to them that complements the series. The Light Before We Land is a very somber piece about the beauty of a single moment that you wish could last forever, and the fear about leaving it behind as you move into the unknown future, and there is nothing more perfect than that for a show about children who had their pasts stolen from them and are pretty much guaranteed to have shorter lives thanks to not only their dangerous line of work, but also because of the procedures that turned them into the cyborg soldiers they are. It’s an ephemeral song about ephemeral characters. The English dub was an early Funimation endeavor, and it features a lot of recognizable voices, including a few you don’t hear that often anymore. In addition to acting as the ADR director, Laura Bailey adds layers of depth to the main character Henrietta, and she works extremely well with co-star John Burgmeier as her handler Giuse. Laura’s trembling sweetness belies a manufactured inner strength, which in itself belies fragility and a desperate need for support and affection. Laura Bailey has always had an exceptional range, and there’s definitely a hint of Tohru Honda in her delivery, making her a perfect match for the character from the outset. John Burgmeier is a very subtle actor, with a slow and noticeably paternal delivery, and he plays Giuse as a kind-hearted yet exhausted and world-weary man who wants nothing more than to know he’s doing the best he can for the life that’s been placed in his lap. The dub could have easily lived generously off of their chemistry alone, but thankfully, the rest of the cast is just as strong. Special mentions go to Caitlin Glass and Luci Christian, but also to Brina Palencia, who has an absolutely bone-chilling performance in a brief and damn near unrecognizable role. At first glance, the concept of Gunslinger Girl sounds like it was designed to be as off-putting as possible. To be fair, I don’t think it’s ever explained why the program only uses little girls, nor why their handlers can only be adult males, so from that perspective, I can kind of understand why someone might get the impression that this series is just an edgelord action shock-fest designed to serve as a thinly veiled lolicon wish fulfillment fantasy, especially when you add in the plot element that most of these girls DO have crushes on their handlers. I wish I didn’t see where this argument was coming from, but the silver lining is that it really only seems to come from two places... People who haven’t seen Gunslinger Girl and only know it by reputation, and people who have somehow only seen the second season. I’m not normally the kind of guy who says ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover,’ and I do in fact think it’s entirely fair to base whether or not you’ll like a show on the aesthetic as well as the information in the synopsis, but there are exceptions to that rule... There are some anime that are either vastly better, or vastly worse, than their concept may imply, and Gunslinger Girl is definitely one of them. I will bet dollars to donuts that at some point, you have come across an anime that seemed like it would be a perfect match for you, only to wind up a massive disappointment. How could they possibly fuck this up, you wonder? Well, it works in reverse, too. It is entirely within the realm of possibility to skate perfect tens across the thinnest ice possible, as long as the project is helmed by the right people, with the right intentions, and the right vision. Another anime with an objectively terrible concept was Psycho-Pass, but the first season was still a near masterpiece because of the efforts of legendary director Gen Urobuchi, to the point that the second season wound up being straight up garbage without his guidance. Now, Urobuchi did not direct Gunslinger Girl... In fact, Gunslinger Girl came out before Urobuchi’s career renaissance, back when he was still cutting his teeth on grimdark hentai light novels... But somehow, some way, I still see a lot of modern day Urobuchi in this series. I already mentioned how Morio Asaka used his artistic direction to keep the show feeling serious, mature and subtle, and I could also mention how the complete and utter lack of anything resembling fanservice does it a TON of favors, but what it ultimately comes down to is a simple philosophy that Morio Asaka and modern day Gen Urobuchi both share. In order to tell a story with a bad concept, you need to make absolutely sure of three things; First, your story has to be about more than just that concept. I see people throw around words like ‘depth’ when talking about literally any anime that made them think and/or cry, but the reason it’s called depth is that it’s below the surface. Second, you have to approach that concept in a way that’s engaging enough to distract the audience from asking the wrong questions, and third, it has to support the message/topic you’re actually exploring. Gunslinger Girl isn’t about a government agency turning broken little girls into soldiers. If it were, that would be the definition of shallow, and while it isn’t always a bad thing to be shallow, it is a death sentence for a show whose subject matter is as potentially offensive and problematic as this one’s. What Gunslinger Girl is about... And this is my interpretation, by the way, you can of course disagree with me... Is in the banality of evil, and the tragedy of the mundane. As I mentioned before, Gunslinger Girl is extremely subtle, and in numerous ways. It has a story to tell, and it has a concept to explore, but it never makes any attempt to manipulate you or tell you what to think. It doesn’t have its own philosophy, or at least not an obvious one. If this were just saying “child soldiers be bad,” I mean, no doy. But at the same time, no matter what’s going on at any given time, be it a pulse pounding action scene or a heart-warming moment between the girls, you are never allowed to forget just how fucked up this situation is. Every interaction is twinged with some kind of tragic undertone. The narrative never directly calls out the Social Welfare Agency as evil, rather, it lets you draw your own conclusion. On the one hand, brainwashing children to serve as soldiers is horrifying. On the other hand, the agency is pretty damn effective at quelling a terrorist threat, implying it to be, at worst, a necessary evil. In my personal opinion, while both of these statements are presented as true within the narrative, this situation is unquestionably evil, and no matter how much we learn about it in the text, the most evil thing about it is never directly spelled out to us. The absolute best argument you could make for the Social Welfare Agency is that they’re giving these poor unfortunate children another chance at life. This is true only in the most shallow sense of the word. In the first season alone, we’re told the circumstances of three of the girls... Rico, who was bedridden from birth and a burden to her parents. Angelica, who was hit by a car and left paralyzed. Henrietta, most disturbing of all, was brutally raped by the thugs who murdered her parents in front of her and left traumatized and suicidal. In the cases of Angelica and Rico, yes, an argument can be made that the program probably saved their lives, although the fact that they weren’t given a choice in the matter is still morally questionable. But in the case of Henrietta, what she needed was counseling, therapy and a good foster family, and it’s infuriating that the agency took “she has confessed to having suicidal thoughts’ as proof positive that her life was over and her humanity was subject to termination. But at the same time, those apparently loosening standards are part of the overall point. Real evil... True evil... Isn’t some cackling witch who’s going out to eat children, or some boogeyman hiding in the shadows, or some maniacal mad scientist holding the world ransom for money and power. True evil is what happens when normal human beings compromise their principles, set aside their consciences and allow injustice to take place for what they consider the greater good, and that injustice becomes normalized to the point that people become conditioned to ignore it and accept it as part of their daily lives. People can make mistakes and regrettable decisions, but it doesn’t become evil until it becomes commonplace. Evil is when suffering is just part of the system. The Social Welfare Agency is a predatory system. They specifically hunt for children whom they deem to be lost causes, using the idea that they’re giving them a second chance purely as an excuse, a justification to tell themselves so they can sleep at night and defend their actions, but saving them was never the point. These girls aren’t heroes... They’re victims in a story that HAS no heroes. Furthermore, the tragedy of the series lies in the mundane... These living weapons, their humanity stolen from them, knowing damn well that they’ll never have the opportunity to grow up and experience adulthood, going about their daily lives as if they were in a light-hearted slice of life. It’s in hearing them compare notes about the specifics of their conditioning... One dealing with menstrual pain, another noting matter-of-factly about her uterus being removed. It’s in one girl saying she’s just been conditioned(in other words, beaten) with a blood-stain on the corner of her lips, so another girl wipes it off as casually as if it were just a stain on her dress. It’s in the handlers, each of whom take a different approach to the relationship they share with their weapon. It’s in seeing just how rarely things go catastrophically wrong in this arrangement, and how seamlessly the Agency is able to sweep it all under the rug. The tragedy of this series is that no matter how repulsive this entire system is, everyone involved... Even those who have lost the most... Have just come to accept it, letting one of mankind’s greatest assets... Our adaptability... Also act as our most deadly weakness. Gunslinger Girl is available from Funimation, along with an OVA, and a second season called Il Teatrino which... I mean, I don’t wanna dwell on this, but the only real positive thing I can say about it is that it has a more focused story. Aside from the OVA, even the most basic home release of season 1, season 2 OR the entire collection together is a bit on the pricey side, so good luck with that. The original manga is available stateside from Seven Seas Entertainment. Three video games were released in Japan for the PS2, but from what I’ve seen, they’re just some pretty crappy rail-shooters. Gunslinger Girl may have several intense fight scenes, but it’s not an action story. It may star a cast of cute little girls going about their daily lives, but it is not a slice of life, nor is it a moe series. It may not have a plot, but it does have a purpose, and goes above and beyond the call of duty to achieve it. This show is a cautionary tale about what can happen when people go too far down the wrong path, ignoring the risks and focusing purely on what they want, allowing the ends to justify the means. It’s about pursuing a bad idea to the point that anyone seeing you from the outside who didn’t travel the same path you did can’t even begin to fathom how you wound up where you did, and how you allowed things to get so broken that they can never be fixed. By taking the high road at every opportunity and never compromising the integrity of its message to pander to the audience, it’s able to keep a consistent tone, and handle some of the most volatile subject matter imaginable with an unshakeable grace and sense of respect. While parts of it may be too disturbing for some viewers, it’s an experience I’d highly recommend to everyone else. I give Gunslinger Girl a 10/10.