Gunslinger Girl

Yeah, I thought the same thing when the opening started rolling: girls barely into their double digits kicking ass, killing indiscriminately with a vast array of powerful fire arms. God, it seems anime has gone to far…

But it's absolutely fantastic.

Give it half a chance and you will find it has amazing depth in its characters, beautiful and subtle production, and its not constant action. The majority is quite insights into the chaotic world of these girls. When it does give you action, it will raise the hairs on the back of your neck, it's breath taking.

If you're any kind of an anime fan, you will love this series.

Nick Anderson~

To the outside world, the Social Welfare Agency is a benevolent organization dedicated to helping children with life threatening injuries and severe disabilities. However a darker secret lies behind the compound walls. The young girls the Agency claims to save are in fact fitted with artificial body parts, chemically brain washed, and trained in the art of killing. They are the girls of Section Two. An elite squad of deadly assassins charged with doing the Italian Governments dirty work.

Each girl is paired up with a Handler – a male agent who is responsible for training and caring for his partner. The two together are called a fratello. The "conditioning" the girls are put through emotionally bonds them to their handler, making them fiercely loyal. The relationship within each fratello is different. Jose is very kind to Henrietta, treating her like a little sister. Hilshire and Triela seem to have a dysfunctional father daughter thing going on, while Jean treats Rico as nothing more then a tool to be used up and discarded.

Even though they kill without remorse, they still have all of the emotional ups and downs of normal adolescent girls and it's these internal conflicts that make this anime so fascinating. You truly feel for these girls as they struggle to hold on to their humanity under very inhumane circumstances.

If nonstop action is what you are looking for, then this is probably not for you. Yes there is plenty gunplay and copious amounts of blood and gore, but that is not the main focus of the series. What it concentrates on is the relationships between the girls and their handlers and each other.

I'll admit that at first I found the subject matter of this series disturbing; children being turned into ruthless killers in the name of Italian national security. However, the longer I watched, the deeper I was drawn in. It becomes a story of how the girls survive a situation that would break most adults. It becomes a story of their inner strength and perseverance.

Whether or not you are an anime fan, (I am not) you definitely should give this one a watch. I highly recommend it.

I came across the series flipping through channels late one night. I caught it in the middle of the 4th episode and the action immediately got my attention. Because of the times it was being aired I was unlikely to get to see the entire series on TV. I bought the entire series off ebay, paid top dollar but still less than retail. Watched it from beginning to end and I must say it was worth every penny I paid for it. The characters are easy to identify with and I soon found myself worried of what their outcome would be. The attention to detail in the backgrounds of Italy is awesome the story line is first rate. I recommend this highly to everyone.

As with many good animes, the writer does not shy away from jarring contrasts. Consistently disturbing, frequently sweet. The show has action but is not ABOUT the action. It's main themes are just how human are the girls they are training as assassin? And how should their handlers treat them? The answers to the second question which the individual handlers come up with is invariably influenced by their different opinions on the first.

A lot of people were misled by the anime entitled "Gunslinger Girl" mainly due to the fact that these girls are armed to the teeth. The show isn't so much about the fact that these girls ARE killers, but about how they deal with being given a new life, being trained to kill and still having to live vastly shortened lives as little girls. Henrietta has to deal with not being able to act as most little girls should. Rico just wants to please her abusive fratello "brother". Triela just wants to be respected as a person and not a tool. Claes suffers from the severe emotional trauma of losing her fratello "brother". And Angelica is losing her memory and usefulness fast from her "conditioning". Very well done and well written and acted in the sub AND dub. Overall kind of depressing, but it's worth the purchase and stands up to repeat viewing.