This disc contains episodes 10-13 of the anime ‘Gunslinger Girl’ in the usual format of an English dub as well as the original Japanese language with English subtitles and a few trailers with clean opening and ending animations to boot. In addition, it also has two commentary tracks (both with episode 12 as a background). One with the English directors for the series talking (sometimes not so seriously) about the voice direction throughout the series, and the other featuring other members of the English production staff talking about some of the technical issues and problems experienced in the making of the series. There is also a ‘Building Triela’ feature, which shows the levels of colouring and shading that go into making Triela. Only due to ‘governmental restrictions’, they actually show Henrietta instead.
 

Welcome to the world of Gunslinger Girl, where a shadowy governmental organisation in Italy going by the name of Section Two of the Social Welfare Agency takes the bodies of terminally ill or critically damaged girls. They then turn them into deadly, brainwashed cyborg assassins for the elimination of dangerous terrorists, using them alongside grown men in pairs called ‘Fratelli’ or ‘Siblings’. Sounds interesting? Read on!

The first episode on this disc is the 10th one in the series entitled ‘Amare’ or ‘to Love’. This is an unusual episode with very little action and not too much character development or even major plot twists. This just serves to link the previous episode, in which we are told that two people working for Section Two (Else, a Cyborg, and her Handler, Lauro) have been murdered in a park late at night, and the next one, which has some interesting things to say about the lives of the girls. This episode shows the internal conflicts in the organisation and their power in arranging a cover-up of the deaths. It introduces a couple of characters for the next episode, but other than that, very little else happens in this episode.

The next one is a bit better. Episode 11 is Febbre Alta or High Fever and this does well in showing the internal conflicts within the girls themselves, specifically within Henrietta. With her and her Handler, José (which the sub strangely renders as ‘Guise’), having fled the turmoil to Sicily on the orders of their superiors, the stage is set for investigators from Section One to have a private tête-à-tête with the Fratello. With the investigation formally concluded, this unofficial meeting is set to reveal the truth about what happened the night Else and Lauro died.
This episode serves as an opportunity for Henrietta to display some of her abilities to impressive effect as well as to explain her feelings about who she is, what she does and how she feels about José. Action fans will be pleased that this is a little more exciting and dramatic than the last episode and very nicely finishes off the last arc, setting the scene for the final pair of episodes.

Episode 12, Symbiosi (Symbiosis), Proves to be pretty much the icing on the cake as it reveals how devastating the girls can be when used together. It begins, innocuously enough, with a training session in which one of the girls, Angelica, trips up and badly injures her ankle much to the displeasure of Marco, her Handler. It is also to the displeasure of the head of Section Two as they are coming under increased pressure to prove the viability and usefulness of their programme. An opportunity soon arrives for a daring and risky strike on a terrorist cell that plans to kidnap the daughter of a politician. It is a mission that could save the face and fate of Section Two and Angelica begs to be included despite her injury. Will she be able to take part? Will the mission be a success? Will the girls’ future be assured? All these questions (well, 2 out of 3 of them) to be answered… in this very episode!
 

Despite being the penultimate episode and thus, naturally, the point in the series you are guaranteed to find high tension, there is little time to build it and the episode launches into its conclusion. You do get the feeling that the director looked at the production plan and suddenly realised they have only two episodes to go and there is a lot more plot still to cover. This kind of rushing is definitely good for the action of the episode (of which there’s a lot) but there really is very little time to build you up to what is the series climax in all but name. Having said that, the show proves its worth in terms of sheer drama with the episode ending on a shocking note.

This brings us to the final episode in the series- Stella Cadente (Shooting Stars), which refers to a meteorite shower that the girls are looking forward to viewing. José has promised to take them, but can’t due to a sudden increase in workload. Will they get to see the shooting stars?
This is not the most exciting episode by any stretch of the imagination and, considering the previous episode, anticlimactic. A slow and gentle warm-down following the frenetic action preceding it, you would think that some of the loose ends of the plot are to be tied up in this specially set aside episode. You would be wrong, however, as very little is actually resolved- the fate of Section Two, the issues regarding the ethics of what they are doing, and even the cliff-hanger at the start isn’t implicitly dealt with- there is only a hint as to the outcome. Yet this is not a wasted episode, as the ending is rather clever and touching, revealing the charm and innocence that lies at the heart of the girls despite their training, brainwashing and deadly experiences.

This anime is a rather unusual one. The style of animation is certainly anime-like, but not overtly so- with realistic proportions, expressions and colouring throughout. Here I echo the words of the production staff in that this feels more like a film than an anime. It is clear that this is intended for a more mature audience as it is, at times, slow and ponderous. Thought provoking, it doesn’t follow the pattern of other anime of having a Big Bad Boss (™) against whom the protagonist has to face. Indeed, apart from the terrorists, there are no enemies- the main conflict of the series is within the characters themselves; how they see themselves, what their roles are in society, how they should view other people, how they should feel, how they should act, how they should live. Whilst such themes of self-discovery are to be found in many an anime, they are often as an aside to the main storyline of combating evildoers. In Gunslinger Girl, they become a central element as all the girls, having been administered heavy psychological conditioning and with no memory of their past, they have to literally discover themselves.
 

I feel that the Japanese cast do an excellent job of this, creating a dark feel to the series, giving it a really subdued and contemplative atmosphere that gives way to intense urgency during the action sequences. The subtitle translators have also done a pretty good job as well, although I must raise an eyebrow when ‘José’ is rendered as ‘Giuse’. The reason for this is perhaps due to the manga stating his name as Giuseppe and confusion arising from that. The dub, however, seems a bit too ‘peppy’ at times and I feel it doesn’t quite create the same mood. Not that it’s far off the mark, mind. The problem I find is simply that the voices of the girls have been done in such a way as to make them seem creepy in a ‘Village of the Damned’ way. To me this seems a little over the top and I prefer the Japanese approach of being creepy without actually being creepy; by sounding normal, they give the impression that there is something amiss and lend an aura of disquiet to the show. I’m not slating the dub in ay way, by no means is it inferior, I just prefer the Japanese style of creating the feeling that all’s not right.

Problem is, by the end you’re thinking that regardless of what language you’ve watched it in. With only thirteen episodes, the desire for more is evident and, clearly, with the characters and setting that they have, they could have done more. It turns out that this anime was followed by video games based on the events and characters and a manga series, proving that this well-animated, well-voiced and fantastically directed anime has certainly exceeded expectations in Japan.
 

The use of classical music really creates the impression of Italy, although it can turn from soft parlour music to dramatic and tense at the drop of a hat. This is nothing special- a well trodden but effective path. Both theme songs serve to reinforce the solemn nature of the anime with a contemporary (and English) opening and a haunting, almost operatic Italian ending really setting the tone for the series.

All-in-all, this is a very good anime, but it isn’t too action-packed and so could disappoint some people. In addition, there is virtually no comedy throughout- a frantic, action-filled, laugh-a-minute romp it is not. It is a serious and reflective look at humanity and, in a way, a new take on the ‘robot learning what it is to be human’ story. With a new boxed set just having been released, it is well worth buying if you like your anime with a little action, a little depth and a lot of quality.

9.5/10