Gunslinger Girl is definitely just what the doctor ordered to alleviate the PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] from watching Saiyuki. If you are one of those persons who read my reviews and dislike the fact that I'm so “picky” or “strict” [....which I totally don't think I am] it's probably because I'm aware of there being anime gems like this one out there. This show is exactly what anime is all about and why non-anime fans will forever be perplexed as to why we like them. This show is quality stuff people, right up there with Ghost in the Shell, Monster and Death Note. Some people don't get what makes this show so great. To them I recommend 2 movies: “Le Femme Nikita” and/or “Point of No Return”. If you watch those movies....and understand them, then you will appreciate this anime.
~Art
I love the art of this series, it's a little bit more on the realistic side, as far as size and proportion go. The backgrounds and scenes are given an equally great level of attention and detail as the characters. I totally enjoyed a lot of the panoramic views of the Italian hillsides and coastline, I especially liked all of the scenery shown when Henrietta and Josue go on vacation in Tuscany. The wonderful arrangement of the houses on the hills and the cobblestone roadways/alleys between the houses, you can tell these artists or at least the the art director went to Italy.
The animation was also pretty high quality stuff, one good way you can ALWAYS tell if the animation is good is how great a fight scene is, especially close hand-to-hand fight scenes, like for Triela's fight scene.
~Sound
Ten! A Perfect ten. This was a professional soundtrack...other anime shows should take note and follow this example. The OP sounds like many songs played on the radio, especially that one song by Mazzy Star called Fade into You, check it out and tell me it's not very similar [without actually being the same song]. It's an awesome song to chill to, maybe go on a ride in a convertible across the countryside or sit on the beach at night and drink a little wine under the moonlight....I dunno I''m sure you get what I mean. And let's not forget about the ED theme, that opera number. It might be a little corny and predictable to play opera for anime set in Italy but it was a very good piece. I don't listen to a lot of opera except the really popular ones by Maria Callas or Pavarotti, classic opera is boring...unless it's a dramatic voice. But either way I totally loved the ED theme, her voice was very dramatic and I love the Italian prayer or whatever that voice in the background is! If more opera was modern like this, more people would like it.
~Story
So Ike I was saying in the beginning, this series is very similar to Le Femme Nikita and films of that genre. The purpose of the show is not to be running around blowing everyone's heads off for the sake of thrilling the audience...,people who might complain about the show being too slow paced probably need to understand that point. Gunslinger Girl is probably 50/50 on the action scale, maybe even a 60/40. But the whole point of the the series is about the human conflict, both internal as well as external. It's about how the girls are perceived as these [inhuman] killing weapons/machines, when it's quite apparent that these girls are very much human and how they struggle with reconciling this fact that they do have these feelings.
Just from the opening credits alone you can see this...how Henrietta cries but at the same time smiles AFTER looking at her own hand [the same hand and body for killing others / the same hand and body that allows her to be with Josue].
The [excessive] killing part I understood, I'm not sure why other's don't get it....like, they're assassins, not Girl Scouts sitting around the campfire. And as far as it being senseless, it's pretty obvious it affects them but obviously the girls are brainwashed extensively and their principal driving force for doing anything is for their “Handler's” to view them favorably. But the show HAS to be slow so they can properly convey this. This is a slow but well-written story like; Monster and Ghost in the Shell.
Speaking of Ghost in the Shell, this show also has some minor political intrigue, which is another plus in my book!
~Character
I like the overall character designs, again, very similar to Monster and also Mushi-shi [. The characters were given a somewhat realistic proportion – at least the adults were. The adults in the anime were mostly men but they had a nice shape to them and I really liked how their faces were drawn, they were given very classically handsome features: wide forehead, strong square jawline also very strong, pronounced noses...they also did not have the typical large anime eyes. The women also to some degree were drawn realistically, but they lacked feminine appeal [I understand they women are FED agents and such, but Major Kusanagi from GITS was quite feminine].
OK now the little girls I loved them, but I do have 1 minor critique...which is that they all had the same face. They looked like little dolls made from the same mold but given different coloring and different hairstyles, but the faces are all identical. Hmmmmm, now that I think about it, it's even more fabulous that they DO have assembly-line factory doll look, because if one looked at the show from that perspective, it actually makes the show even more so profound.
~Verdict
This is definitely a “must see” for anyone requiring a little more depth from their anime.
