|
|
Home
|
R2 DVD Reviews
|
|
Written by maehara
|
|
Friday, 24 March 2006 00:00 |
 Mention "girls with guns" to most anime fans, and the more fanservice laden & action-oriented shows like Najica Blitz Tactics or Chrono Crusade would probably by the first shows that came to mind. Gunslinger Girl takes a very different, much more serious approach that has almost no fanservice and very little gunplay, yet still manages to capture the imagination with a premise that just works. Meet the orphans of the Italian Social Welfare Agency, highly-trained assassins all...
1 - Fratello / Brother and Sister
On the outside she
may appear to be a normal schoolgirl & is usually seen with a
violin case, but Henrietta's life is far from normal. Her violin case
is cover for her machine gun, and calling her a crack shot with it
would be an understatement. She's one of a group of orphaned children
"adopted" by the Italian Social Welfare Agency & subjected to a
series of physical modifications and brainwashing techniques that have
turned them into skilled assassins. Children are the last thing you
would consider to be a threat, you see. Guise is Henritta's "brother"
- her handler and mentor in her new life, and he has a problem: despite
extensive training, Henriette doesn't seem to understand the meaning of
"restraint"...
2 - Orione / Astronomical Observation
One
solution to Henrietta's unpredictablity would be to increase the level
of mental conditioning (brainwashing, to you and me) she's subjected to
- to make her more malleable and controllable. Guise's unwilling to go
down that route, and instead opts for a little extra training to help
her understand how she should react under certain circumstances, but
even simple things like dinner at a restaurant prove hard for Henrietta
to cope with. A waiter lifting a knife? Potential threat, to be dealt
with accordingly. Guise's under the impression that if her treats her
like a normal young girl, she'll behave like one as well, but things
just aren't that simple...
3 - Ragazzo / Young Boy
After
a life-long illness that meant she never left her hospital room, Rico's
parents decided they were unable to cope any longer and signed her over
to the Social Welfare Agency. That was two years ago - now, with the
cybernetic systems implanted by the Agency, Rico's able to move about
freely in a way she was never able to before. Along with Henrietta,
she's assigned to the Agency's next mission - a little "favour" for a
high-ranking Senator, who would like one of his political rivals
eliminated. While setting up for the hit, Rico meets a young boy,
Emilio, and young love begins to blossom. But Emilio's about to find
himself in the wrong place at the wrong time...
4 - Bambola / Doll
Triela's
the latest of the Agency's girls to have problems with orders -
although in her case it's more a case of having too much of a free will
for her own good than Henrietta's problem of not really understanding
the real world. Triela's also sharp enough that she's not afraid to
talk back to her keeper, Hirscher. The problem is that while she can
see that Henrietta and Rico have some sort of relationship with their
handlers, Hirscher's a typically cold German and she's not at all sure
where she stands with him. A trip to Naples for an Agency mission
gives Triela a chance to understand how adults tick a little bit more,
and an opportunity for the two to bond...
5 - Promessa / Promise
The
Agency is in need of a new handler, so Jean approaches a retired army
colleague, Captain Ravalo, and recruits him to the post. Ravalo's not
initially keen on taking up the job, but when Jean mentions it could be
useful in getting his old job back, it piques his curiosity enough for
him to sign up. He's assigned to Claes, and soon discovers that
training his young assassin isn't the same as training soldiers...
Put
any images of all-action, guns-blazing storylines out of your mind -
while there are occasional scenes that fit that description, they're
very much not what this series is about and serve more to highlight the
problems with the Agency's brainwashing techniques than any gratuitous
need for action. Gunslinger Girl borrows heavily from La Femme Nikita (in terms of its assassins not really having any say in the matter) and Leon
(in terms of young girls becoming involved in a business they would
normally be kept far away from), but adds enough of itself to the story
to be something more than either of them.
This is a very
dialogue-heavy show, with the main focus being on the relationships
between the girls and their handlers. Each pairing is a different
contrast in personalities, with the exploration of how they came
together making up a sizeable chunk of the show. Underneath that main
layer there's an undercurrent that the Agency's techniques aren't quite
perfected yet, with several of the girls showing instability and
unpredictability in a variety of ways which are going to have to be dealt
with at some stage - perhaps the Agency has bitten off more than it can
chew by creating its band of killers? Certainly, each of the girls
featured so far has had at least one glaring flaw which indicates
there's something not quite right with the modification programme.
With
these episodes being so dialogue-heavy, I have to say that watching all
five episodes on one go was very hard going - the pacing is very slow
and there are long periods where very little happens. At an episode a
week this probably would work a little better, but it's definitely not
a series for marathoning - but it does a good job of exploring human
nature and what can go wrong when you tamper with it. Gunslinger Girl won't be to everyone's taste, but it's certainly worth a look.
|
|
