Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino OVA

The anime didn't include much action as I expected coming off from having watched the previous 13 episodes.
To me it felt, as if it were either episodes that were closing the entire "season" or just full fledged fillers.

With that said, I'd rate the story: 6
The storyline in the first 13 eps were flowing acceptably, but the next two eps seemed to be filled with fillers with an ending that was too calm. The height of the story could have involved all of the girls in the crew in a state of frenzy, I was somewhat disappointed that it only focused ... on one of the girls which made the rating only fair, rather than all of them working together in a different scenario as I would have liked to have seen happen.

Art: 7
The art didn't bother me at all- seemed normal for viewing (with a bit of blurry drawing in some scenery here and there), obviously the first season had better animation and contrast, but Teatrino was viewable and I didn't have a problem with the artwork other than the fact that I might have been spoiled by the first Gunslinger Girl production.

Sound: 6
It was the same old same old. The only thing that I somewhat enjoyed was the opening theme song from the first 13 episodes.. but seeing how these episodes were #14 and #15, there were no theme songs, but music inside the animations which didn't seem to stand out (they just passed me by as it played in the background) as soothing or catchy.

Character: 7
I enjoyed the character interaction when watching each of them transform and several characters learning to be accepting and respectful of others as well as their past grudges.
However, I would have liked to see the character's inner expressions more rather than the obvious repeat of how they've been feelng on the outside- it may have been that the characters were too calm in a way and may have left a bored feeling (not too bored but something felt empty).

Enjoyment: 8
Nevertheless, I do enjoy the series and if there was a third season by any chance, I would continue to watch it. Something about this strikes me as more than just interesting.

Overall: 7

I've gone over most of the anime Gunslinger Girl series. This time around we're finishing the series with the OVA, like Il Teatrino, this one was handled by Artland. Let's see if it's as amazing as the first two series.

Story:

We open the first episode with Jean meeting with someone from his past who alludes to the loss of an important woman in his life. This gradually transitions to Angelica and Rico dealing with different groups of terrorists. The second episode gets more into Jean and Jose's past while they give Rico and Henrietta some time to relax.

The narrative in the OVA is ... a lot looser and more based on giving us character back stories than on giving the girls a grand mission to accomplish. We learn a lot about Jean and Jose and how they became involved with the SWA. We also get some insight into why they treat their little sisters the way they do. It's not a bad idea and it does help develop the characters though it may be a bit slow and it's very light on action compared to the series proper. If anything, the action we do get is kind of arbitrary. They need action because it's a franchise where that's a big focus but the whole brief mission they undergo doesn't really have anything to it beyond the brief interaction with Jean and the guy from his past.

Characters:

The OVA focuses on Jean & Rico as well as Jose and Henrietta. We get brief appearances from various other characters but those four are the important ones. We learn more details about Rico's past and how her life was before she joined the SWA and why she loves her cyborg body and new life so much. Along with the aforementioned information about Jose and Jean's past. Which is pretty nice. It really helps humanise the two of them.

Art:

The artwork and animation both look good with a strong attention to detail. Very much like Il Teatrino provided.

Sound:

Shiono Anri, Akutsu Kana, Mito Kouzou and Koyasu Takehiton all return, from Il Teatrino, obviously. And they do perform their roles well. Koyasu and Shiono in particular get some really strong sequences. The music is well composed.

Ho-yay:

There's not really any. Henrietta and Rico are mainly enjoying a quiet moment with each other and their handlers but in a very platonic way.

Areas of Improvement:

1. If you want a brief, peaceful respite to wind down from Il Teatrino, you don't need to throw in a short, insignificant action part. I know that's weird to say but it's pretty clear that the meat of the OVA is adding character depth and exploring back stories.
2. The whole sequence where Jean is arguing with what's probably a hallucination would work better if it focused more on him and his actions and less on Jose's. We can sort of connect the dots as they apply to Jose without him being mentioned there.
3. There really should be more closure for Triela given what happened in Il Teatrino. Yeah, she's in this briefly but it's really not much.

Final Thoughts:

This OVA really isn't as strong as the series proper. It's not as cohesive and there are definitely elements that noticeably should have been better handled. With that being said, it is nice to see some quieter, less action heavy moments to wrap up Il Teatrino. It's also interesting to learn more about these characters. If you're a fan of Gunslinger Girl's characterisation, I'd definitely recommend this OVA. On the other hand, if you're someone who only watches it for the action this isn't going to be what you're looking for and I definitely wouldn't recommend it as your first foray into the franchise. I'd go with Madhouse's thirteen episode series for that. My rating is going to be a solid 8/10. Maybe not as strong as the series proper, but still pretty great.