"Gunslinger Girl" (2003) TV series 2003-2004

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Writer:

Junki Takegami (writer) (episodes)

Seasons:

1

Genre:

Animation | Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The girl has a mechanical body. However, she is still an adolescent child.

Plot:

The Social Welfare agency, a government sponsored corporation is in the business for saving orphaned...

Plot Keywords:

Anime

Cast

Yuka Nanri	...	Henrietta (13 episodes, 2003-2004)
Hidenobu Kiuchi	...	Jose (13 episodes, 2003-2004)
Mitsuru Miyamoto	...	Jean (10 episodes, 2003-2004)
Kanako Mitsuhashi	...	Rico (9 episodes, 2003-2004)
Sendai Eri	...	Triela (9 episodes, 2003-2004)
Hirofumi Shimozaki	...	Giorgio / ... (9 episodes, 2003-2004)
Ami Koshimizu	...	Claes (8 episodes, 2003-2004)
Makoto Tomita	...	Terrorist / ... (8 episodes, 2003-2004)
Hiroshi Yanaka	...	Lorenzo 2 Kacho (7 episodes, 2003-2004)
Masami Iwasaki	...	Alfonso (7 episodes, 2003-2004)
Masashi Ebara	...	Hirscher (6 episodes, 2003-2004)
Norihiro Inoue	...	Marco (6 episodes, 2003-2004)
Rie Nakagawa	...	Ferro (6 episodes, 2003-2004)
Jim Foronda	...	Marco (6 episodes, 2003-2004)

Country:

Japan | USA

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | Australia:M | South Korea:15

Company:

Marvelous Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Gansuringâ gâru: Iru teatorîno" (2008)

Simply Beautiful

The title might suggest that this will be just about girls with guns going on their various missions. While there is some of that it isn't what the programme is about. It follows the lives of a group of young girls who have all been the victims of some life threatening tragedy. As part of their cure their are given artificial body parts and brainwashed to forget their pasts and become assassins working for the Italian state.

Each of the girls is paired with an adult handler who they are programmed to protect, these handlers each treat their girls in different ways one treats his like a little sister regularly giving her gifts, another it abusive and hits his when she doesn't perform to his expectations. The girls live for their handlers and for their job, we aren't given any angst filled scenes where they question the morality of what they do.

It is impossible to comment on this without praising the visually appearance as it is utterly beautiful to look at, for the most part the colours are of warm sandy shades not garish colours popular in many anime shows. When there are action scenes they are exciting but they don't seem to play up the action, it is just what the girls do and is thus shown in a fairly matter of fact way. The over all feel is sad, by the end of the final episode I was in tears, but I don't think that is a bad thing. If you haven't seen it yet I whole-heartedly recommend you check it out, I doubt you'll be disappointed, I certainly wasn't.