Manga Review: Gunslinger Girl Volume 1
So I started this review months ago, but due to me having the attenion span of a gnat at times I just got to finishing it. I'll do the other volumes as I read them, or maybe just one later in the series to mark character and plot development and whatnot.
Gunslinger Girl Volume 1: Review
Let me start off by saying I started reading this series when I was about 11 or 12...this explains a lot about me right off the bat. Gunslinger Girl is an intricate mix of cute and disturbing starting with its very premise; cyborg middle school girls. The girls are all relatively sweet and nice and well behaved which as it turns out is because they're more or less brainwashed. The Agency (who I will get back to later) calls it "conditioning" and it's more or less required in the girl's training to make sure she obeys her handler's commands.
The handlers all seem to be alright guys with the exception of Rico's who is really just a jerk who clearly doesn't know how to deal with little girls. I honestly wonder why he even joined this agency. Given the sort of realistic tone the series has I bet he's just in it for the money and government pension. Rant about Jean aside I rather like most of the characters. There's Henrietta and her partner Giuseppe (who I guess they called Jose in the anime), they're the main characters and they seem to be a pretty perfect team. Like most the girls in the agency Henrietta got in after she was in a terrible, life shattering accident. So what do they do? They turn her into a cyborg and train her to be a hitman. She gets a new lease on life, but at the cost of being a drugged up, brainwashed government puppet.
Despite how disturbing all that sounds the girls really seem to enjoy their lives at the Agency, and enjoy working with their handlers, who they refer to as "fratello", which for those of you who don't speak Italian means "brother". Then again, this enjoyment could be due to the brainwashing. In fact it probably is.
So the first volume introduces you to Henrietta, Rico, and Triella (who for the record is my favorite). They're more or less the main girls of the series. I honestly find Henrietta and Rico a little boring and vapid, especially Rico. Henrietta at least gives us disturbing insights here and there that make her a bit more interesting. And I guess she just gets bonus points for being the main character. Triella however is actually interesting, if for no reason other than SHE HAS A PERSONALITY. She's a bit older than the other two, she PMSes, and in general is just a bit bitchy. You can clearly see why I like her. In general she just kicks a lot more ass than the other two, and seems more human. It's early on in the series, so I'm hoping the vapidness of Henrietta and Rico will change over time as character development happens.
I guess the last thing I'll address is the art. The covers of the mangas are beautiful and really mix the whole idea of sensitive young girls as assassins thing. The manga itself isn't at all lacking in the art department either. While the style isn't my absolute favorite it is very impressive. In my opinion it's neither shonen or shojo , though it might lean a bit closer to the later of the two if I had to pick one. After all I think it is supposed to appeal mainly to girls, even though I could see an entrainment value for guys, too. And a non-perverted one at that.
On that note so many things could have gone wrong with this series that could have turned it into a lolita horrorfest. However, the material is presented so well that things really do seem to be all business and that there's nothing devious about a grown man being put in charge of a middle school age girl. I'd really hate to see the fanfics for this series...
Gunslinger Girl Volume 1: Review
Let me start off by saying I started reading this series when I was about 11 or 12...this explains a lot about me right off the bat. Gunslinger Girl is an intricate mix of cute and disturbing starting with its very premise; cyborg middle school girls. The girls are all relatively sweet and nice and well behaved which as it turns out is because they're more or less brainwashed. The Agency (who I will get back to later) calls it "conditioning" and it's more or less required in the girl's training to make sure she obeys her handler's commands.
The handlers all seem to be alright guys with the exception of Rico's who is really just a jerk who clearly doesn't know how to deal with little girls. I honestly wonder why he even joined this agency. Given the sort of realistic tone the series has I bet he's just in it for the money and government pension. Rant about Jean aside I rather like most of the characters. There's Henrietta and her partner Giuseppe (who I guess they called Jose in the anime), they're the main characters and they seem to be a pretty perfect team. Like most the girls in the agency Henrietta got in after she was in a terrible, life shattering accident. So what do they do? They turn her into a cyborg and train her to be a hitman. She gets a new lease on life, but at the cost of being a drugged up, brainwashed government puppet.
Despite how disturbing all that sounds the girls really seem to enjoy their lives at the Agency, and enjoy working with their handlers, who they refer to as "fratello", which for those of you who don't speak Italian means "brother". Then again, this enjoyment could be due to the brainwashing. In fact it probably is.
So the first volume introduces you to Henrietta, Rico, and Triella (who for the record is my favorite). They're more or less the main girls of the series. I honestly find Henrietta and Rico a little boring and vapid, especially Rico. Henrietta at least gives us disturbing insights here and there that make her a bit more interesting. And I guess she just gets bonus points for being the main character. Triella however is actually interesting, if for no reason other than SHE HAS A PERSONALITY. She's a bit older than the other two, she PMSes, and in general is just a bit bitchy. You can clearly see why I like her. In general she just kicks a lot more ass than the other two, and seems more human. It's early on in the series, so I'm hoping the vapidness of Henrietta and Rico will change over time as character development happens.
I guess the last thing I'll address is the art. The covers of the mangas are beautiful and really mix the whole idea of sensitive young girls as assassins thing. The manga itself isn't at all lacking in the art department either. While the style isn't my absolute favorite it is very impressive. In my opinion it's neither shonen or shojo , though it might lean a bit closer to the later of the two if I had to pick one. After all I think it is supposed to appeal mainly to girls, even though I could see an entrainment value for guys, too. And a non-perverted one at that.
On that note so many things could have gone wrong with this series that could have turned it into a lolita horrorfest. However, the material is presented so well that things really do seem to be all business and that there's nothing devious about a grown man being put in charge of a middle school age girl. I'd really hate to see the fanfics for this series...