Reviewing Anime: Gunslinger Girl (season 1)
Due to Funimation generously putting up their stuff to watch on youtube I've been browsing. So I checked this one out thinking 'yay! girl power.' Ho boy....
So basically our setting is a futuristic Italy. Overall beautiful animation and beautiful intro. The Government has set up this program called 'The Social Welfare Agency.' It's basically a front that looks like a charity to girls on the brink of dying or that are crippled beyond repair. They take these children and give them new bodies. They become cyborgs, are given a new name, a gun and are taught to fight. They've forgotten almost everything about their past due to a process called conditioning. Their whole identities are rebuilt. And they are sent out on dangerous missions, usually to assassinate those that oppose the government.
They are paired up with a handler that to all public appearances are 'big brothers'. These units are called Fratello.
Henrietta: Main character and stuck up Jose's ass. Her in a nutshell. Seriously. There is nothing else of note about this character aside from following her handler drooling.
Rico: Just sad. Her handler does her thinking for her. She admits it. He treats her like crap. She basically excepts all of this. She's happy. Right. Any twelve year old would be happy to be given a gun, trained as an assassin, let someone else be their brain and be content to spend all their time with someone who has nothing but utter contempt for them. It's totally believable. Totally no identity of her own.
Angelica:Not much better than Rico. Except this one screws up on all her missions and wants to run around when she's not fully healed. Then she wants to give up on life because her handler is not paying attention to her. Barf.
Clause: Getting to the more intelligent characters here. Clause lost her handler very tragically. Except rather than wallowing perpetually, she spends her time reading books and creating works of art in attempt to still do something with her life even if at the moment she is not part of a Fratello.
Triela: Easily the best character this series has to offer. Triela knows she's been brain washed. But I think she accepts it as a better alternative to rotting in a hospital and she likes her job at the agency. She's not all lovey-dovey over her handler. She still retains a personality separate from her handler. She sees the relationship for it is: they are partners and they have a job to do. But they are different people. She often ends up being the one who encourages the other characters and looks out for them. Though Clause does this every now and then too to a less involved degree.
Disappointing overall if you are looking for strong female characters. Really, I could totally get behind this series if it looked like these girls might start fighting their conditioning and revolting against the agency, but sadly they are so far stuck up their male counterparts asses to think for themselves and thus get to that point. Unless Triela and Clause lead a two-girl revolution which would be wicked and I would be totally buying the series. Seriously, it makes me want to root for their enemies.
On the subject of enemies, they've yet to meet a villain, any main villain that could possibly give the agency some redeeming points, some illusion of being good guys or having a worthy cause. You know, a reason for giving these girls back their lives just to take them from them again. Boring.
As far as the second season goes, the animation sucks. It's gone from it's dark and serious tone to these bright colors and bigger eyes and it looks so childish compared to the first chapter. The opening is a pale, sad shadow compared to the first as well. I kind of want to watch it to see what happens, to see if anything actually goes anywhere but I probably won't.
And that was my review on Gunslinger Girl!
I will write another review soon for Axis Powers Hetalia.
So basically our setting is a futuristic Italy. Overall beautiful animation and beautiful intro. The Government has set up this program called 'The Social Welfare Agency.' It's basically a front that looks like a charity to girls on the brink of dying or that are crippled beyond repair. They take these children and give them new bodies. They become cyborgs, are given a new name, a gun and are taught to fight. They've forgotten almost everything about their past due to a process called conditioning. Their whole identities are rebuilt. And they are sent out on dangerous missions, usually to assassinate those that oppose the government.
They are paired up with a handler that to all public appearances are 'big brothers'. These units are called Fratello.
Henrietta: Main character and stuck up Jose's ass. Her in a nutshell. Seriously. There is nothing else of note about this character aside from following her handler drooling.
Rico: Just sad. Her handler does her thinking for her. She admits it. He treats her like crap. She basically excepts all of this. She's happy. Right. Any twelve year old would be happy to be given a gun, trained as an assassin, let someone else be their brain and be content to spend all their time with someone who has nothing but utter contempt for them. It's totally believable. Totally no identity of her own.
Angelica:Not much better than Rico. Except this one screws up on all her missions and wants to run around when she's not fully healed. Then she wants to give up on life because her handler is not paying attention to her. Barf.
Clause: Getting to the more intelligent characters here. Clause lost her handler very tragically. Except rather than wallowing perpetually, she spends her time reading books and creating works of art in attempt to still do something with her life even if at the moment she is not part of a Fratello.
Triela: Easily the best character this series has to offer. Triela knows she's been brain washed. But I think she accepts it as a better alternative to rotting in a hospital and she likes her job at the agency. She's not all lovey-dovey over her handler. She still retains a personality separate from her handler. She sees the relationship for it is: they are partners and they have a job to do. But they are different people. She often ends up being the one who encourages the other characters and looks out for them. Though Clause does this every now and then too to a less involved degree.
Disappointing overall if you are looking for strong female characters. Really, I could totally get behind this series if it looked like these girls might start fighting their conditioning and revolting against the agency, but sadly they are so far stuck up their male counterparts asses to think for themselves and thus get to that point. Unless Triela and Clause lead a two-girl revolution which would be wicked and I would be totally buying the series. Seriously, it makes me want to root for their enemies.
On the subject of enemies, they've yet to meet a villain, any main villain that could possibly give the agency some redeeming points, some illusion of being good guys or having a worthy cause. You know, a reason for giving these girls back their lives just to take them from them again. Boring.
As far as the second season goes, the animation sucks. It's gone from it's dark and serious tone to these bright colors and bigger eyes and it looks so childish compared to the first chapter. The opening is a pale, sad shadow compared to the first as well. I kind of want to watch it to see what happens, to see if anything actually goes anywhere but I probably won't.
And that was my review on Gunslinger Girl!
I will write another review soon for Axis Powers Hetalia.