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.
