The days in the lives of little girls . . . cyborg assassin girls.
It's a glorious yet calm look into the lives of girls who are cyborg assassins. The interactions between them in their every day lives and the relationships they have with their brothers/trainers. It's very different.
Art style: realistic, think Ghost in the Shell. no oversized or exaggerated expressions/body parts. A lot of attention to details (except in like the first scene there is a moment where you go "nah . . .").
Setting: modern, set in Italy.
Violence level: high. Shows children shooting guns and killing people. The violent scenes do not play an integral part of the story. Has blood.
Theme: what is it to be normal?
Pros: Realistic themes with a deep exploration of the character's emotions, motivations and reactions. How well would you survive being a little girl "forced" to shoot guns and kill people? Could you be normal?
Cons: Action wise, suspense wise, plot twisting wise, mysterious question...
Enjoyable anime - but for different reasons than I was expecting.
When I purchased this product, this is what I knew about it: Little girls, Big guns. That was the tag line, and that was honestly all I needed to see to drop some money on it. I crunched through the 5 discs in about a week, and overall was very satisfied with the show. As I am an avid supporter of avoiding spoilers, my review will be as spoiler free as possible.
A brief overview of the series, since the product information says very little: The Social Welfare Agency in Italy's Section 2 is composed mostly of young cyborg girls and their handlers. Girls with tragic pasts are given a second chance at life with cyborg bodies, and are raised in a "fratello" - that is, sibling-like relationship - with their handlers, who are in charge of keeping the girls in line and caring for them. Season One(discs 1-2) doesn't really have an overall plot, Season Two(discs 3-4) has a larger story going on throughout with some terrorist bombers and an assassin named Pinocchio, and the OVAs(disc...
"If I were in love with someone, and I knew that person would never feel the same way about me..."
It's been pointed out already that Gunslinger Girl is a highly atypical anime. This isn't only because of its overall tone (a number of bright, cheerful, high-energy titles like Love Hina, Fruits Basket and Mahoromatic tend to overshadow more serious work) or its visual and narrative style (whereas many titles make use of animation to create exaggerated poses, expressions and action sequences, Gunslinger Girl could be filmed live with little alteration) but because it is, purely and simply, a work of art--it has a coherency of style, theme and purpose that very few other titlesa can match. With no slight to series that are, first and foremost, entertaining (like the aforemnentioned Love Hina), Gunslinger Girl attempts to do something much more difficult than entertain, and succeeds.
If that sounds obtuse: GG has more in common with most great films and novels than with other anime series. Even those that are dramatic and violent generally rely on visceral thrills, and the...
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