The Genre: action/drama

The Format: DVD - 3 discs from Funimation in a box set

The plot: The Social Welfare agency, a government sponsored corporation is in the business of saving orphaned or abandoned children who are terminally ill or injured beyond the point of recovery. Using cybernetic implants, the Agency uses a process called 'conditioning' to turn these children into emotionless killing machines with hardly any memories, no human comfort and worst of all, no free will.

The girls who make up the assassination unit within the Social Welfare agency are Henrietta, Triela, Claes, Rico and Angelica, all of whom have tragic backgrounds that led to their involvement with the agency. Each girl is skilled in martial arts, weapons and tactics, demolitions, foreign languages, espionage and counter-terrorism; skills that are necessary when dealing with terrorism, illegal arms deals or even crime organizations who have a serious stranglehold on Italy.

But while these girls are the perfect weapons against these types of everyday problems, they must constantly do their best to hold on to what little pieces of their humanity they have left, as they are being forced to commit cold-blooded murder, sometimes even killing innocent people who get in the way. Jose, Henrietta's handler doesn't like the way she and the other girls are being treated as tools for massacre and it pains him everyday to see Henrietta and her friends having to go through this type of life.

But if Henrietta and the others want to live to see tomorrow, they have to play the role of guinea pig and earn their keep, by getting their hands dirty for the Social Welfare agency, which is responsible for giving them their second chance at life. Because if they don't play by the agency's rules...they will die.

I first encountered Gunslinger Girl whilst at a convention. It was being shown in one of the big screening rooms, and I wandered in, intrigued by the title more than anything else. What I was delighted to discover in that screening room was an anime that carefully and beautifully balanced elements of style, pathos and tragedy.

I feel the need for a bit of plot explanation.

There are elements here you will recognise from other shows and from the science fiction genre in general. What makes Gunslinger Girl so good is the way in which the story is told. One of the keys to this is setting the story in Italy (the home, if you recall, of Romeo and Juliet, and the source of the most melodramatic and pathos filled of operas).

There's a tragically romantic nature to Gunslinger Girl. The girls that section two acquires are all victims. Each girl has a different story, and I won't go into detail here and spoil anything, but let's just say that these girls have not had the best of lives. Many of them would have died if section two had not taken them on.

And it's in this we cut straight to heart of the matter--these girls were victims in their previous lives and they are victims now. The organisation that is their saviour uses them to commit the most appalling of crimes. The girls are all brainwashed, the majority with their memories erased--but is this so bad? After all, their former lives were appalling, so maybe it's better they were given a fresh start. But it's a fresh start as a killer--it's a wonderful contradiction.

The girl's all operate as two man teams, with a cyborg and a handler in each. These are each called 'fratello' (meaning siblings in Italian) with the idea that this is both a plausible cover for them and the best way of controlling the girls.

In fact, I think I only have two real criticism of the anime. The first is that the animation is a little variable. Whilst it's never ugly, there are certain scenes that could definitely have down with a little more polish.

The other criticism is that it's just that bit too short, and doesn't really reach any kind of proper conclusion. Although there's a nice ark, more especially in later episodes, the serious is distinctly episodic in nature--if you missed one you probably wouldn't get all that confused.

In a way, this isn't really the anime's fault. The manga source for the anime is only on volume 5, due to a slow release schedule. This does mean the manga is a beautifully crafted tale, but it also means they didn't have that much to work with when making the anime. In some ways, the decision not to impose any kind of artificial 'end' on the anime is therefore a good thing, as a forced ending may have let it down. Similarly, it leaves the door nicely open for a second season, were it to come.

I must also say that Funimation (a company I've never been that enamoured with due to their tendency to bugger about with dub translations) have done an excellent job with the package. The box set came with a free wall scroll and each disk has a nice clutch of extras, including some commentary tracks and an up mix to 5.1 sound for the English dub. The English dub isn't too bad, though as usual some annoying changes have been made, but nothing this time that really alters anything.

The Summary: Very good, but perhaps a bit short and lacking any real ending--but that just means its crying out for a second season!

The Score: 4/5

The Pictures:

(click for larger versions)