Anime 134 Gunslinger Girl

“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.

Gunslinger Girl is one of those animes that don't come around very often that the characters themselves make the whole story that made me find GG so moving. During the story you learn a little bit about each character and the organization they belong to along with the handlers perspective of life. Its hard to tell if these girls are being used considering they arent even considered human by some of the handlers. GG was a bit disappointing in the fact I wish the anime would have shown more of the lives the girls lived before they were turned into assasins. I did enjoy the ... fact the the plot wasnt to strong letting the characters point of veiw get soaked in but a bit sad that there wasnt much of an ending. I found the music to be amazing and the art exceptional. ^_^

To preface: I absolutely abhorred this show. While I'm about to bring up many things that I felt were bad with the show, and I'm going to bring up a lot in a concise manner (as I may do an in depth video review in the future) I feel the need to quote my bio on MAL. "Please note that while I intend to be as critical as possible, everyone views a work differently. All my reviews, at heart, are nothing more than personal opinions."

Story:
Gunslinger Girl is an abstract way of telling stories about different platonic relationships men have with young girls. By abstract, I ... mean very loosely using the plot point that the girls are revived from near death by implementing bio-mechanical android capabilities a la Deus Ex (The amount of, "I never asked for this!" is unreal in this anime). I say 'loosely used plot point' because the whole premise isn't really used all that well to infer it's necessary inclusion. As you watch, it's never explicitly mentioned who the girls are fighting against or for, what their end goal is, what's beyond that goal, what makes them important in the world they're in, etc. Now, anyone could say I'm missing the point, because the show isn't about the world so much as it is the girls and how they perceive it, but it's hard to sympathize with any of them when the world isn't shown in any fashion to me as a viewer.

For instance, the show goes from one character to the next in an episodic fashion and gives us different settings, characters, and motives for everyone. This would be fine if there was an underlying goal that each character was working towards. If the company they worked for was trying to get a certain target and these missions where to get said target to reveal themselves, then that's enough of a foundation for me to keep interest. However, each episode opened up with new EVERYTHING, so not only did I have to learn new motives, but the setting these girls were interacting with, and then I had to interpret how they interpreted the events, making me wonder what the hell the creators were attempting to interpret.

Just a mess. A real big mess. There's an event that takes place near the end of the show that seems to have some semblance of a goal that could have made for a great mystery throughout the show, but it showed up far too late in the series to redeem anything, and at that point it was already so miserable and boring to watch I just couldn't care who or what the characters (who, at that point, I knew well) wanted or worried about.

Not only that, some of the conflicts aren't relatable to begin with. Now, the power of storytelling is you can make any fantastical situation believable and relatable through the power of strong characters and circumstance. The key thing here is that Gunslinger Girl is just a tad too unbelievable to get behind. There isn't really an effort to make sense of why young girls are chosen other than the writer wanted to satiate some sort of disgusting fetish of his or he just wanted to be a little edgy with his world building. "Oh, we could have random people be revived and become android people. Better yet, why don't I pick LITTLE GIRLS? That'll tug on the heart strings! And if not, at least it'll make my loins tingle seeing girls shoot people dead!"

I'm hyperbolizing, no doubt about it, but when the show spends little-to-no time giving any depth to the world it's set in, poorly writes reasons for reasons, and attempts to discuss somewhat mature discussion themes, you have to wonder what's going on in the minds of those behind the screen.

Credit where credits do. As an episodic show, there were 2 that I found enjoyable and fairly tight. Again, the little arc at the end of the show was somewhat engaging and I really do wish it was prolonged from the beginning to end to give me some kind of hook. Anime can be short but when I commit to a show I hate to think I'm stuck spending 4 hours being miserable and bored the whole time.


Art:
I didn't find the animation all that engaging and the washed out filter every color had was so grimy and disgusting. The show wasn't pretty (not that it had to be) but the gritty feel didn't seem to fit, either. Is it so impossible to add a bit of warmth to your series without it seeming like a film of dust coated the lens?

Similar to the story, the artwork is forgettable. Character designs are enough to tell everyone apart but I've already forgotten what they look like. Perhaps that's because, thankfully, everyone looks close to realistic in this show, but when I think about other shows with realistic character designs (Texhnolyze, for intance) I can picture a character in my head and their design immediately. Perhaps that goes to show the importance in characterization when it comes to design, but also, it's possible that this is a FAULT of poor characterization. I don't know. I just know what I know, and I know the artwork is quite tasteless. It's not like eating wet bread, but more like toast without cinnamon. Just crusty sustenance to get you through the day.


Sound:
Things sound alright and the OST is functional at best but there wasn't anything spectacular. There's a them of classical music used throughout the show but it feels really pretentious considering the show itself failed to exceed any value beyond "boring and ridiculous." I don't know what could have been used in place of it, but I do know that it's laughable and snooze worthy.

Also, the best part about the OST is that one of the low toned tracks sounds just like a song used in Disney's Haunted Mansion ride. Better yet, it's not even the song USED on the ride, it's a song that plays in line as you go into the mansion. Holy cow, I couldn't take any scene seriously when that song came on.


Character:
I don't know what else I can say about the characters. I've said so much in the story section and I even had a part discussing them in the art segment. What else can I say? They're not just underdeveloped, they then treated like important and relatable characters at all times.


Enjoyment:
Miserable. Miserable. Absolutely miserable. I was so bored. I couldn't wait to be over with this anime. It was so uninteresting and everything about it was a complete turn off to me. I enjoy introspective narratives, I like tactical espionage with a splash of science fiction, but I mean, come on, the second episode nearly repeated the first half of the first episode, and then later in the series the same scenes are shown AGAIN. Do you know how CONFUSING that is when your SECOND EPISODE seems so similar to the first? I thought my Netflix messed up replayed the first episode. Holy cow, who storyboarded this show?


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