Gunslinger Girl

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Set in modern Italy, Gunslinger Girl is the tragic tale of a group of young girls taken from hospitals from all over the country, who are cybernetically enhanced, brainwashed and trained to be assassins by a secret branch of the Public Corporation for Social Welfare. Each of the girls are assigned to a trainer, also known as their "brother" whom oversee their mechanized girl's training and the missions she's sent on. Hennreita, the newest girl to be brought to section 2, was discovered by her soon-to-be "brother" Josie after he found her in a hospitable, the victim of a serial homicide that left her the sole surviver of her family of six. Being new to the Public Corporation for Social Welfare himself, Josie is unskilled in the rearing of a mechanized body and he ends up treating Heneritta more like his daughter, buying her gifts, educating her and protecting her, far from the harsh measures that the other girls receive from their brothers who treat them more like an expendable machine. This show is based on the comic books (manga) Gunlsinger Girl written and drawn by Yu Aida. The opening song performed in every episode is: The Light Before We Land performed by The Delgados. The ending theme in every episode is: Dopo Il Sogno (After the dream) performed by Opus. The second season is known under the title Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino. It ran from January 7th 2008 till March 31st 2008.moreless
8.2
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Episode Guide

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S 2 :  Ep 13 Aired 3/31/08
S 2 :  Ep 12 Aired 3/24/08
S 2 :  Ep 11 Aired 3/17/08
S 2 :  Ep 10 Aired 3/10/08
S 2 :  Ep 9 Aired 3/3/08

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Fan Reviews (15)

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  • absaloutely fabulous

    6.8
    "Fair"
    By owenkravekiv2, Feb 26, 2008
    Gunslinger Girl is a beautiful drawn anime set in Italy. The idea of using young girls as assassins isn't that new, but still extremely cruel. The girls are reassembled to technical enhanced humans. There only purpose is to kill "terrorists". The fact, that there is no analyse why someone has to been killed, is one of the bad point of this series. Why set a series to a modern democratic country, not to some fictional location? The second point I didn't like about this anime, was the fact, that there was too much Japan in it. Why set something in Italy but all characters, except of the evil ones, have the Japanese touch, like in any other anime set in Japan. The countryside and the beautiful locations of Italy are drawn really nice.
    So the focus of this series is to show us some nice parts of Italy and the relationships between the girls and there "fratelli". The men, each one a fratello, watch their girl. They don't really know how to work with them. Are they a machine or are they human? And the girls also don't act strictly human or like a machine. The complex situation of this difficult interaction is the basic part of this show. This is a well written part.
    The action scenes in here aren't that special. They are made nice, but aren't that important.
    So we have a beautiful drawn show, with some nice work in human non human interaction. Anyone who likes anime will like this show.moreless

  • some tactical observations.

    8.3
    "Great"
    By bakacowboy, Feb 07, 2008
    The girls make an occasional error in their assaults. First, you never, ever, stand in a doorway and hose the inhabitants. It looks good in the movies but it will get you killed in the real world. Read the book, "House to house" about the battle in Irag to learn this and other lessons about urban warefare. Also, the "handlers" treat the girls like dirt. Yes, I know there are military groups that consistently treat their shooters like scum, but they are fragile and unable to recover from catastrophic losses like the germans and russian armies of Operation Barbarosa. This film does a great job of showing how laden with intrinsic booby traps such abusive systems are from the get go. To conclude, any operational group which suffers 1/3 killed from non combat events, after only a few months, is in need of a serious visit from the IG.moreless

  • Gunslinger girl is about brainwashed girls who are alone in the world and have no relatives to go to. So, with these conditions they are trained as expert assassins with mechanical bodies. They have no where to go and do not hesitate to kill.moreless

    8.4
    "Great"
    By Nezon, Oct 21, 2007
    Gunslinger girl would probably be one of my treasured animes, although it is not the best out there, Gunslinger Girl does bring excitement through the action packed episodes. Art: This anime, aired back in 2003, did a wonderful job in creating a beautiful artwork. The anime takes place in Italy; you can clearly tell that the artist did some researching when he/she was creating the setting. Blood is realistic, unlike many other animes I've seen, Gunslinger Girl did a great job in creating a realistic piece of art. ART: 10

    Story: The story is quite dull, not having much of a plot and having an ending that doesn't show anything. This is what the anime lacks the most. A 13 episode anime is just too short! However it makes up by having several twists to the story which makes the story fairly interesting
    STORY: 7

    Character Development: The character development should deserve a highly anticipated praise. Throughout the episodes, the relationship between the handler and the assassin increases although I am fairly disappointed about the lack of romance in it. If a romantic development was created between the handler and the assassin, this anime would go skyrocketing. Forbidden love...that would be great!
    CHARCTER DEVELOPMENT: 8

    Lasting Appeal: Gunslinger Girl is one of the few animes that would make you pick the DVD again, and make you re-watch it over and over. The beautiful art and the high quality sound are just breathtaking!

    Worth watching? Yes!moreless

  • One anime on IFC isn't enough

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By toadette2009, Sep 14, 2007
    IFC is always trust us to like Samurai 7 & it works & I arime Laura Bailey as Pasadina O' Possom, Henriette (from this anime), Obono, & Tip Tup Turtle & Pipsy the Mouse.

    I would love to here what Super_Peter has to say about this show & other show I will request for him as well hope I could find a DVD in Best Buy or somewhere w/ anime DVDs Rico was a favorite of mine, beacause she was voice by Luci Chistian same girl who did Komachi & Toadette & Luci should have more major roles as a voice of a little girl.moreless

  • Great anime!

    7.5
    "Good"
    By da_dunker, Apr 30, 2007
    This outstandingly well drawn and beautifully set anime is centered on very peculiar fetish (or fantasy if you prefer) in the spirit of La Femme Nikita only ten years younger. In this variation, martially dominant men literally own very attractive young girls who have been altered with cyborg technology to be selfless, efficient fighting machines. They undergo "conditioning" that makes them totally dedicated and obedient to their handler, willing to defend them at any cost, and they will never grow old because their life spans are shortened to a few years. But they're working on that.

    Although the title style has the phrase " still an adolescent child" in fact it seems none of the girl-cyborgs except Triela has reached puberty. The rest of them seem to be 10 or less, and when Henrietta first sees that Triela is suffering from menstrual cramps, she un-resentfully explains that her own uterus had been removed during conditioning. Oy.

    Disregarding any cases out there of full-blown misogyny, I suppose any male who has ever been even slightly frustrated by the female of the species should find something to like here in an ambivalent way.

    Anyway, the point of all this is to create an urban combat force (you didn't think there was a peaceful reason did you) comprised of "fratellos" (or handler/girl-cyborg pair) to fight terrorism. To further shore up the shaky moral basis, supposedly all the altered girls were otherwise terminal patients if not fully willing participants in the process. It seems many of the missions they go on could have been carried out by the handlers themselves, and it would not be hard to argue that the "good guys" are a bigger societal problem than the bad guys are, but that doesn't matter because the fighting scenes are not the story.

    What are interesting to watch is the differences between the handlers, the cyborg-girls, and the effect on their fratello relationships. In spite of the official line that the girls are now altered to the point where they are no longer human, and need no more human consideration than any other piece of combat equipment (well cared for, valuable, but expendable), some handlers subscribe to this and some do not. There is Jose, who dotes on his Henrietta and rewards her when she is not on mission, and at the other end there is Helsa's handler who is all business and is brutally dismissive of his charge. And there are steps in between.

    Even more beguiling is how the girls act when they are together, which is usually hanging out around their dorm room. Aside from the weapons-maintenance tasks they do, they do normal things like laundry and hobbies and chat. Although they are supposed to be conditioned against having any emotions, they clearly do. Further, they discuss themselves and their conditioning in dispassionate but fully self-aware terms. They may suffer, but they do not resent. They may disagree, but they don't disobey. It is hard to describe.

    One of the reasons to watch anime is that it can illustrate certain points of drama in ways that no other form of performance can. Gunslinger Girl manages to do this, and that makes it worth adding to any collection, and I hope there is interest in continuing the series.moreless
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assassination, back from the dead, bloody and violent, callous rebellion, children in adult situations

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