Gansuringâ gâru: Iru teatorîno

Somehow the creators managed to desert the excellence & haunting pathos of the first "Gunslinger Girl" and drifted off into incompetence. The wonderful female characters are MOSTLY there, and as adorable & moving as ever, as is the great scenery, which is why I gave it a 6, but the story they try to create is mostly unrealistic. In the first series they created what are essentially super girls, 3 times faster, 5 times stronger than normal human beings, but in "...Teatrino" they managed to come up with a bunch of mere humans that can compete equally with and even beat them, absolutely destroying the very premise the series was based on, all the while telling us how strong and fast the cyborg girls are; can't have it both ways: Dumb!

The "teatrino" is a male assassin, Pinochio ("Pino" to friends). IF what they wanted was a super villain that could vie with the cyborgs on equal footing, they should have made him one, as in a robot or another cyborg - easy! - but they didn't, he is only a mere human who is good at his job. It's like creating Superman, the indestructible being from Krypton, and then having a bunch of Earth humans beat him up! Doesn't work! It is so unbelievable in the context of the story, that it is disastrous. This flaw was a combination of laziness, thoughtlessness, and lack of imagination, just to try to find an easy way to come up with some dramatic action for the girls - LAME! As a sci-fi author myself, I know there are MANY ways they could have accomplished their action without destroying the fundamental foundation of the story. It's truly disappointing and could have been done much better and more believably with a little more effort and creativity. Still, it is worthwhile to follow the girls & the fratella around as they continue their lives; it's just not quite as interesting as the original.

The production crew for this series could've done far better. Compared to the original, Il Teatrino's artwork lacks fine detail, uses a lot of bright colors, and exhibits a simplicity slightly reminiscent of the old Astro Boy. A new theme song was adopted. All of that altered the overall mood. The former practice of titling episodes in Italian was abandoned. The animators seem to have difficulty with fast-action scenes, tending to rely on "The Six Million Dollar Man" trick of slow motion for many conflicts. Rico's character was radically refurbished and I found that confusing. The storyline is too preoccupied with Pinocchio and Triela. The series is called "Gunslinger Girl," not "Gunslinger Girls," and the focus established in the first series was Henrietta. Il Teatrino fails to continue that. It was good to see Angelica return, but that occurrence seems odd given events of the first series. Despite these shortcomings, the production team deserves credit for keeping the scripts at a more cognitive level instead of sinking to simple themes and dialogue. English dubbing was excellent and they retained most of the original voice actors. But the episode "A Day in the Life of Claes" is the shining monument of the entire series, above adequate to fit in with the originals. In summation, it's worth watching, but don't expect the emotional depth of Gunslinger Girl, except for the one episode mentioned here.

Very obvious they knew what made season 1 great, and focused very specifically on that for season 2. The duality of cyborg/girl is more distinctly illustrated, and the antagonists have motivations firmly grounded in the reality of the culture they're from.

Pacing is quite appropriate, and definitely faster than season 1. The monologues in the first episode establish all the backstory you need, should you choose to skip Season 1 (but don't).

While the character development for the antagonists was good in the first season, they learned how to focus more closely in season 2. Pino's backstory is compelling, and makes the viewer question exactly which side they'd be on in real life.

For those of you who've watched and really enjoyed the first season of Gunslinger Girl (like I did), this second season is a real disappointment.

Visually, the anime style is quite different, changing how one perceives the characters. The first season illustrated them as cute, but with an underlining seriousness/ sadness about them. This second season draws them a little more "cutsey" and I find it hard to connect them to the original characters. Also, the quality of the anime seems lower, like there was a budget cut this time around.

Character wise, they seem to be portrayed differently... can't quite put my finger on it, but it is different.

Now, I realize that a couple of years have passed from the time Gunslinger girl was aired to this "Il Teatrino" and I've only watched the first episode of this season. I'll give it a couple more episodes before I decide if I'm going to bother watching the rest.

Overall it seems to be a shadow of the original and if you enjoyed the first story arc it might be worth stopping there and avoiding this Followup series.

The multiple "breaks" with the original all of which detract from the series from the art to characters. One example and in my opinion the most significant was the apparent fate of one of the main characters as perceived in the final episode which cheapens the emotional response many felt when finishing the "Gunslinger Girls".