June 22, 2004
Gunslinger Girl
This is an excellent, excellent anime. It's about these girls who are somehow rescued from death and then converted with new bodies into killing machines.
The tagline is:
"The girl has a mechanical body. However, she is still an adolescent girl."
That about sums it up. The premise is similar to La Femme Nikita or Kite wherein there exists a relationship between assassin and handler. But times 7.
It takes place in Italy, but everyone speaks Japanese. You'll forgive them that since it is a Japanese show.
The main character is Henrietta, who survives her family being slaughtered and being raped repeatedly. My brother couldn't get passed that one. Anyways, they give her a new body and thankfully erase her memories. Then they reprogram her to love her handler, JoseŽ, and serve the Corporation.
It has it's very action packed moments. But, mostly, it deals with the inhumanity that they put these girls through. Unlike JoseŽ who loves his little assassin, most handlers treat their girls with indifference. They do what they do out of loyalty and love to their handlers. And yet get so little in return. In the end, I guess, the lesson is that to love another, even an artificial person who has artificial love, is not a mistake.
There's also the very premise that it is inhumane to take little girls and train them to kill. That is another rather jarring aspect of this anime. It is heartbreaking to watch as they have been ripped out of their normal childhoods to live these cruel short lives. In one episode, one assassin, Rico, learns that she must kill whoever gets in her way, even if they are innocent.
I've watched plenty of anime. I don't review many. I guess, you should know by now, that if I review one, it must be good. I won't bother writing about something I don't like.
Go and watch Gunslinger Girl when it comes out.
Posted by joel at June 22, 2004 12:01 AM