John Blade
Member
Before I will start this, I will say something to FUNimation. Don't try to deceive us when trying to promote this show. The trailer they use (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL9DQXrwmF4) make it feel like this show is an action show when it reality it isn't. Not saying I got deceive when going into this show for the 1st time but I can see why quite a few people don't like the tone of the show. Now, let's go to the fun part of the show.
If I could put a word to explain this entire show, the best word I can say for now is hopeless as this entire show have a very sad undertone which get very depressing very quickly once you start to understand the story of Gunslinger Girl.
The main story of Gunslinger Girl is you follow a group of 5 female characters whose life chance very negatively and give them a second chance of life by having their bodies and memories altered from alter their bodies design with mechanical parts which make them much stronger and wipe their memories of their past. This groups of five ladies join a special agency whose mission is to do the dirty work the government don't want to do with the help of their own partner. Now, this might sound not too bad and might get interesting for a show but this doesn't end this way. Those five ladies you follow are actually young girls who have a very disturb past of before coming into the agency. The agency their work for is actually a dark secret call the Social Welfare Agency which is basically a cover so, no one will check on them when in reality, it's just a agency to brainwash those 5 girls into a killing machine. Also, those partners their work for, well....they're actually man who call handler who mission is to control them in battle and use them as a tool to kill the enemies. You can say those girls are a submissive blank slates where the handlers treated them like objects, those that tried to befriend them used methods that were like "the seduction of 'damaged goods.' You can see where this show can be very controversial.
Thankfully, the show didn't go too far in this weird and disturbing path and push more into the story of those five little girls ( Henrietta, Rico, Triella, Angelica, and Clyce). The main plot of the entire show is seeing how the girls try to handle the situation they're in while try to have some sort of innocence childhood life within the conform of the Agency (knowing quite well of what they're been use). This shine even more of the complex web of relationship with their own handler. The bonds between the girl and the handler can be say like a parent and child or mentor and student. Each pair shows varying of compassion and indifference. It's interesting to see how each handler and the girls work together as one. For some, you can see the emotional side of them like they're either quite a team or more than that. For other, you can see the harshness between the handler acting cold to the child to the point that they think of them nothing more of a tool which can replace when the tool is broken. This get depressing and sad when one of the girl (not from the main five) have so much emotional attachment with her handler that she want to be with him even though, he doesn't think of her as child but mere of a tools which can replace. You can see how this disconnect eventually reach to the boiling point where an incident make her realize nothing she do to express her feeling won't make her handler be nice to her and end it in a very tragic way.
Another big strength I can talk about is the sound. The soundtrack of this show is great to listen and did really help set the mood of the show tone. At the same time, it's good to listen to. I don't know how many time I play the soundtrack when doing work but it does help me to pass the time quickly. Very emotional tune and have some positive feel and sad tone.
So, is this show for everyone? Well...this is where I will stop. If you see the trailer which FUNimation use to promote this show in North America, you can see it's almost action pace. The issue I have with this is this isn't really an action based show. Yes, they do have few action scene in the shows but it's far in between and most of time, it isn't too long. I am a bit worry of people going into this show without knowing what they get themselves into and thinking the show will be young girl with big guns shooting at enemies when in reality it boil down into getting depress when knowing all this girls don't really have a long life span based on the work they're doing. Also, I don't think this show is an easy watch to go though all at once. It took me few months to finish this show as it get very depressing to watch in some episodes (actually, took a week off from watching it and go watch Great Teacher Onizuka ). I have a feeling this might be a common thing for some people watching it.
Overall, Gunslinger Girl is a very interesting show I have watch in my collection. The story of the girls and how they handle their situation is interesting to watch even though it get depressing quickly if you stick with it. I would recommend to people who never watch it to give it a try and keep an open mind when going into it. Now, I will need some time to get myself ready to watch the sequel of it.
