Alternative Titles
Gunslinger Girls
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 13
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Oct 8, 2003 to Feb 19, 2004
Duration:
24 min. per episode Rating:
R - 17+ (violence & profanity)
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 7.801 (scored by 6508 users)
Ranked: #3582
Popularity: #100
Members: 11,026
Favorites: 189 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
action drama girls with guns guns |
SynopsisIn the heart of Italy, the Social Welfare Agency rescues young girls from hospital beds and gives them a second chance at life using the latest in cybernetic advancements. With their artificially enhanced bodies, the girls are brainwashed and trained as assassins to carry out the dirty work of the Italian Government. Despite all the modifications, they are still just children at heart, struggling for recognition from those they love, even knowing the love they feel is manufactured. This tragic tale unfolds as these girls grapple with their emotions in an agency that treats them as nothing but ruthless killers.
[Written by MAL Rewrite] |
Related AnimeAdaptation: Gunslinger Girl
Sequel: Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Recommendations
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Both very deep and sad animes. Great if you like serious stuff
Deadly little girls from secret organization as a background to plot full of drama, sadness, and... dead people.
I second the other member's recommendation on this one.
Both anime feature very moving drama, are emotional, and are downright awesome.
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Gunslinger Girl is the prequel to the second season of Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-. The original season of Gunslinger Girl is produced by Madhouse, and in my opinion is superior to the second season. Check it out, there really is no reason not to, especially if you happened to watch the second season first.
The second season of the Gunslinger Girl.
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Reviews
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10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
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Nov 14, 200813 of 13 episodes seen 9 of 10 people found this review helpful “I’ve tried turning you into someone stronger,
but lately, I feel uneasy whenever I look at you.”
Content:
Simply put, Gunslinger Girl is about hopeless children who are granted another shot at life at the cost of their freedom and innocence. They are given cybernetic implants which enhance their combat capabilities and drugs which impose upon them unquestioning ...loyalty to their respective masters. Paired with their handlers, they are known as “fratello”, and they must face not only terrorists but the tragedies of the past and the uncertainty of the future as well.
Admittedly, the question “Does the end justify the means?” has been asked implicitly in many other anime and manga. However, GSG is more realistic in its delivery and, some might argue, more socially relevant in the light of the so-called “war against terrorism.” The series shows people on both sides often pursuing honorable goals through questionable means, and the viewers are left to resolve the ethical dilemma on their own.
Nonetheless, the battles against terrorists, corrupt officials, and the mafia serve only as plot devices in most cases. The series focuses instead on the intertwining personal stories and the effects of the conditioning on the girls.
If analyzed individually, the characters themselves are relatively plain. However, it is their complex web of relationships which makes the series shine. The bonds between fratello cover a wide range of roles such as those of parent and child, elder and younger siblings, mentor and student, master and tool, superiors and subordinates, colleagues, and accomplices; and each pair shows varying degrees of compassion and indifference. Several antagonists also retain a certain degree of dignity, further blurring the line that separates “the good guys” from “the bad guys.” Every character has a unique personality as well as a plausible backstory, and these make their interactions all the more interesting.
Execution:
The anime adaptation closely follows the events of the manga and is faithful to its spirit even with the introduction of new content in the later episodes. However, this may be one of those few instances wherein the anime adaptation is actually more successful in bringing out the full potential of the story. The pacing works better on the screen than on paper, and the quality of the audio and visuals give it the impression of a cinematic experience.
The animation is fluid, consistent, and brimming with fine details. The firearms are shown accurately to the point that it is touted by some as the gun enthusiast’s anime. Prominent brands, landmarks, and works of art are regularly featured, and these contribute to the distinct European ambience of the series. The animators also seem to have deliberately emphasized and blurred light and shadow, giving the show a certain haziness as if to reflect the moral ambiguity which permeates the story.
The soundtrack is composed primarily of intricate orchestral music and unusually devoid of typical J-pop, which seems rather fitting since the events take place in Italy. The Japanese voice actors did well in portraying their respective characters while the English dub is tolerable though stiff sounding in comparison.
As for the opening song, The Light Before We Land by The Delgados sounded odd the first time I listened to it but I later came to appreciate its significance. It’s hard to imagine that the song wasn’t written specifically for this series since its melancholy lyrics and melody fit the show like a glove.
Overall:
Gunslinger Girl is sober both in content and execution, using a level of subtlety and realism that separates it from other tragic dramas such as Elfen Lied and SaiKano. The series refuses to deal in absolutes, painting everything in shades of gray rather than plain black and white. It shows tragedy and injustice but it also presents a moral dilemma which encourages the viewers to question if the sacrifices have been worth it and if the alternatives would have been any better.
Its open-ended nature would undoubtedly irritate/frustrate some viewers but I think it’s rather fitting for a series that emphasizes hope amidst uncertainty and misery. As Dr. Bianchi might put it, what the audience needs is not proof but faith that the girls would find happiness, even if the facts and metaphors suggest otherwise.
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| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
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Oct 10, 200813 of 13 episodes seen 5 of 6 people found this review helpful Title: Gunslinger Girl
Manga, Anime: Gunslinger Girl was originally a manga by Yu Aida, is currently ongoing, and runs in Media Work's Dengeki Daioh magazine. It stands at nine collected volumes in Japan. ADV licensed the manga Stateside, and the last volume released was the sixth, back on November 30th of 2007. As of May 2008, ADV said that the rest of the manga would be forthcoming, but with the company's recent financial issues and its relic...ensing of several shows, it is unclear if the manga will continue to be released Stateside.
Gunslinger Girl is a thirteen episode anime that was produced by Madhouse (famous for their work on Paranoia Agent and Death Note), and directed by Morio Asaka (famous for his work on Chobits and Cardcaptor Sakura). It ran on Japanese TV from October 8th, 2003 to February 19th, 2004. It has been licensed Stateside by Funimation, and the Viridian Collection Box Set was released on November 11th, 2007.
Story: The Social Welfare Agency of Italy supposedly is a government sponsored corporation involved in saving lives -- however, in reality, it is an agency that takes girls in terminal condition, gives them cybernetic implants, and uses "conditioning" to turn them into deadly assassins for the government with utter loyalty to their handlers, called "fratello". "Henrietta", who survived the brutal slaughter of her family and assault, is the agency's newest girl, and works along with four other girls doing the government's black-ops work.
This story is a study in duality; one moment, you see these preadolescent girls generally being preadolescent girls - giggling, talking with each other about things, being cute in general - and the next, they're gunning down or beating the shit out of terrorists with submachine guns or their bare fists. And the show doesn't let you forget that these sides exist within the same girls - the girls might be discussing plans for the night as they're in the middle of an operation, or they might be out to dinner and a threatening gesture makes them leap to protect their handlers. And it can be utterly unnerving to watch at times.
But besides this duality, each of the girls' backstories is at the very least hinted at, if not explored, and their personalities are developed quite well through the show, along with showing the darker side of what's been done to the girls. It's hard to watch at times, but it makes the story that much richer. And the general how and why of the agency and the process of making these girls into what they are is incredibly well fleshed out.
This would be all good and well if it weren't for how the story plays out. Most of the story is development of each of the girls, along with some more minor characters that show up throughout the series, and it's all done quite well, as I said before this. But in the last five episodes or so, there's an attempt at an overarching plot involving other agencies, and it kind of works, but the show leaves off with several threads still hanging. It's almost like this was the first half or so of a longer series, and the production team just never got the notice that it was only thirteen episodes.
Admittedly, there is a second season entitled Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-, but I don't know if it picks up where this season leaves off; I will probably end up watching it at some point in the near future.
Art: Madhouse did an excellent job with this production.
Their typical emphasis on realism makes the show that much more heartwrenching, because these girls act and are animated like your kid sister and given their own mannerisms, and that realism, combined with absolutely amazingly choreographed action scenes with mostly realistic moves, makes for amazing episodes, and plays into the duality of things. The girls themselves have very good character designs, and there's at least minor changes in their outfits from episode to episode, which is always good. Even better is that the scenery looks almost exactly like Italy; I can take pictures from friends who are in Italy, and put it side by side with stills from the series, and, besides the fact that it's animated, there is no discernable difference between the two.
Music: The background music itself is mainly orchestral and well-scored; it's not anything that particularly stands out or anything, but it's still quite well done. The OP and ED, however, are absolutely spectacular; the OP is a slower song with some excellent harmonies and is just a neat song in general, while the ED is a mix of techno and either Catholic mass-esque or operatic aria-esque, just an absolutely beautiful effect.
Seiyuu: There aren't any particular voices that I recognize, though I particularly like Triela's seiyuu, Eri Sendai. Otherwise, good job on the casting here, as always.
Voice Actors: I did watch one episode of this in English, as I bought the Viridian DVD set. All in all, the voice actors did a pretty passable job on here; some places where the voices are far too wispy where they shouldn't be, but otherwise, it's not half bad. The only real issue I have is that they cast Triela's VA as an adult woman, where the other girls are clearly younger voices; now, admittedly, Triela is the oldest of all the girls, and my all-around favorite, but she is not quite to the stage where she would sound like an adult woman.
Dub: Funimation did a pretty passable job with this. I have a few issues with them in how they chose to translate things, as the sub says one thing while the English lines say something entirely different; consistency matters, here, and yes, we do notice this. Oh, and speaking of consistency, on the subject of Henrietta's handler's name: PLEASE decide whether is Jose, Giuse, or Giuseppe - I saw all three variants of this name in the subs, and you seemed to switch between the names every two episodes or so, and it makes things incredibly confusing.
Length: As I said earlier, Gunslinger Girl feels like the first half of a much longer series; whether or not Il Teatrino is a continuation of where episode thirteen or not remains to be seen, but either way, there probably could have been better planning to give a bit more of a definitive ending, or a clear notice of continuation.
Overall: Gunslinger Girl is a series with beautifully developed characters, a well-fleshed-out world, excellently choreographed actions scenes, a great sense of duality, solid music and realistically detailed animation, great seiyuu and an atypically passable VA cast and dub. There are some issues with consistency in the dub and some VA casting choices, along with a story that only seems to be the beginnings of something bigger; however, Il Teatrino can probably rectify the story issues.
Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Music: 8/10
Seiyuu: 8/10
Voice Actors: 7/10
Dub: 7/10
Length: 8/10
Overall: 54/70; 77% (B-) read more
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| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
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Jun 28, 200713 of 13 episodes seen 36 of 59 people found this review helpful Madhouse never fails to deliver for me.
At first I was a bit hesitant about watching Gunslinger Girl. I was afraid it’s going to end up too serious and too difficult to comprehend. I was wrong on both counts. The girls made the anime more suited to my taste (not like I’m a pedophile or a dirty guy or anything like that). It gets serious and hard to understand sometimes, but for most of the time, I actually enjoyed myself.
I’m a bit disappointed tha...t it’s not as violent as I thought it would be. Sure there are bloody parts but they come at a minimum and they’re not really that brutal. However, those parts were done tastefully so it’s all good.
It’s a nice plot, but I’m too afraid it’ll attract too many lolicons and pedophiles. I mean, preteen girls wearing nice, cutesy clothes and wielding weapons at the same time. Feeling that I’m watching an anime that attracts people like that kind of bothers me.
On the other hand, what I really like about it is the setting. Anything that has something to do with Europe, especially Italy, instantly captures my heart. I even picked up a few Italian lessons from the episode titles and the ending song.
Anyway, the illustrations are nicely done, but I found that the faces were too pudgy for my taste. For the girls, it’s acceptable, since they’re supposed to have baby faces, but even the adult women have huge faces and small eyes. Because of that, I got a feeling that the illustrations were influenced by the western style. The backgrounds were nice too. The colors of the background were more subdued compared to the characters’ so the complimented each other really well. Speaking of the colors, I noticed that the colors were mostly in cool tones, which fits the anime’s feel, which is also somewhat cold and indifferent.
However, the girls make the anime much more likable. They use guns (really kick ass ones too), they’re part mechanical, and of course, they kill people but I just find them all sweet. My favorite is Angelica, she’s the loveliest and gentlest of them, but I also like Rico. I feel sorry for her because she’s stuck with someone like Jean. I also like Elsa, despite her bitchiness – she seems interesting to me.
Voice acting is another aspect of this anime that I find favorable. Although I find it weird that they’re speaking Japanese fluently while in Italy, It’s not that bad. When they mentioned Italian terms/names, they had the correct pronunciation. Besides, this is not the first time it happened. Most of the seiyus are actually quite young, like Hitomi Terakado, Angelica’s VA. I think she’s only 19, but she did a good job. What surprised me is that Ami Koshimizu, Claes’ Seiyu, also did Tenma Tsukamoto from School Rumble and Anemone from Eureka 7. Those are three different characters, and I’m definitely impressed by her ability.
Music is actually quite impressive, and that’s thanks to Toshihiko Sahashi, who’s also responsible for Akazukin Cha Cha, Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, Cutey Honey and Hunter X Hunter. I love the Delgados opening theme – it’s a touching song that’s also well made. The ending song, which was in Italian, was also nice to listen to. The background music was also nice, although most of them are a bit dreary – I like them nonetheless.
It’s not one of my favorites, but I thought it was very good and interesting to watch. It had the ingredients of a really good series, but I’m not too impressed by it. Although, I kinda want a second season just so I know what happens. The last few episodes were implying that something big was about to begin, and I’m curious as to what that thing is. read more
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Opening Theme"The Light Before We Land" by The Delgados
Ending Theme"Dopo il Sogno ~Yume no Ato ni~" by op.
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