Anime review: Gunslinger Girl.

[juushika]

Gunslinger Girl
In modern day Italy, young girls left in critical condition from illness and near-death experiences are surrendered to the Social Welfare Agency. Publicly, the Agency saves and rehabilitates human lives; privately, young girls are selected by adult males to be partners in a fratello, given names, provided with medical treatment, and given experimental, new cyborg bodies and mental conditioning. The new "mechanical bodes" that the SWA creates become disarming, obedient, incredibly strong, deadly assassins for the Italian government. However, when not working as assassins, the mechanical bodies are still young girls, living together in a dormitory and trying to experience the simple joys of life. Meanwhile, their cyborg enhancements and mental conditioning begin to destroy their minds and their bodies, bringing them ever closer to death. Gunslinger Girl glimpses into the lives of six young assassins and their handlers, examining the intense emotional relationships within the fratellos, the interests and desires of the girls themselves, and the dichotomy between their minds and bodies, their childhood and their jobs. The anime is rich, emotional, disturbing, mysterious, and, on the whole, wonderful. While no coherent plot runs through the thirteen episodes and the ending is therefore more localized than climactic, the art is amazing, the stories compelling, and the concept downright twisted. I highly recommend the series to anyone who can get their hands on it. It has recently been licensed by FUNimation who may or may not butcher it completely; fansubs are out there (try YouTube). It runs for thirteen half-hour episodes and there is also a manga series which I have not read. More information about the show is available on Wikipedia here, but beware spoilers.

An anime about gun-wielding young girls could easily deteriorate into a slew of action sequences and striking but somewhat repetitive images; Gunslinger Girl, however, concentrates on the personalities and relationships of the young girls and so avoids becoming a superficial, although perhaps striking, anime. Don't get me wrong: the images of corrupted innocence and surprising violence are still there, and the animation (by Madhouse, the animators of Ninja Scroll, Trigun, Perfect Blue, and Cardcaptor Sakura, among others) is sleek and detailed. Visually, the anime is astounding, realistic, and gripping. But the anime offers more than animation: over the thirteen episodes, the series looks at six different girls (left to right, top: Triela, Angelica; middle: Henrietta, the main character; bottom: Rico, Claes; not pictured: Elsa, a more minor character), sometimes their "birth" as mechanical bodies, sometimes their deaths, and almost always their relationships with their handlers. Each handler treats his girl in a different way, some viewing the mechanical bodies as mere tools and relying heavily on mental conditioning, some investing time and emotion in their girls and limiting mental conditioning to a minimum. For their part, many of the girls admire their handlers, sometimes going so far as to fall in love. Each girl and fratello has a different story to tell, therefore allowing a glimpse into all sorts of relationships, personalities, and repercussions. Some of the stories are sweet, some melancholy, some depressing, some terrifying, but all of them are told with a surprising amount of fresh, honest, bittersweet emotion. By the time the series reaches its mildly-climatic ending, the viewer has a partial understanding of both the benefits and risks of the cyborg bodies and fratello partnerships and a certain amount of respect, or at least regard, for all of the characters.

Personally, I found the concept of Gunslinger Girl horrible and fascinating, and the iconic images of these young girls with big guns really stayed with me. The music (opening and ending credits) are in English and Italian, skillfully written and performed, and truly haunting. The opening alone was enough to catch my attention, and I suggest you watch it if this show sounds interesting but you need some convincing. The show is interspersed with just a touch of humor and a few light scenes with keep it from getting overwhelming, but it never skimps on the "dark side" of the mechanical bodies and the work that they do. To be honest, Gunslinger Girl kept me up with a stomach ache and mind nightmares until I finished watching it—it truly is a haunting show, the music stays with you, and the characters are so enduring/admirable/honest/recognizable that it's a hard show to turn away from. I wish that the series were longer and perhaps encompassed a larger plot rather than being more or less a series of vignettes, but for what it was Gunslinger Girl was very, very good. I recommend it highly to those willing to deal with the violence, creepiness, and melancholy. It's beautiful, intense, and hard to forget. This anime is wonderfully done.