Gunslinger Girl, 9/10

Hi,  Renxkyoko Iglesias signing on.

This is my 5th post. I was hoping to have a  good discussion forum  for those who have already watched  Moribito ( 10/10 ) and Golden Time ( 5/10 ), but since this blogsite does not have a Follow feature,  only a handful managed to read  them,  and shared their thoughts.

I did promise I’d write about Gunslinger Girl and Hiiro no Kakero, so here they are.

Gunslinger Girl

The synopsis from my own  dvd copy:

” Officially, the Social Welfare Agency is a gov’t sponsored corporation that’s in the business of saving lives. At least, that’s the ruse. In reality, it’s an agency on the fringe of technology. They give terminal patients another shot at life using cybernetic implants. This conditioning process then shapes the patient into an efficient machine for handling all of the government’s dirty work.  They’ve been given a second chance at life, but at what cost ? ”

 

To be honest, I really don’t know what to  think  of the  story.  The synopsis does not reveal that the patients are elementary students, and all of them  are actually the ” remains ” of  grissly  accidents and /or murders.  One such girl is killed by her own father for insurance, one has been  tortured  ,videotaped and shown on the internet as  paid entertainment.  Once ” fixed” , the girls are trained to become efficient killing machines and assasins.  When they go on missions,  they are always accompanied by their ” handlers ”  ( adults who supervise their training ).  Even if they are supposed to kill  only the bad guys ( drug dealers, murderers, corrupt officials ),   innocent bystanders and anyone who gets in the line of fire are killed, too.  Why choose children, then ?  Well, who would think that an innocent and sweet looking young girl  could kill  a dozen in less than a minute ?  So where do they hide their weapons ? The weapon is  kept in a violin case , and the kid  looks as if she’s  going to a music class, instead of a  killing mission.

What’s so tragic about this story is that there’s no way these children can have a future. The memories of their past lives have been erased,  and what is even more tragic is  that these children have accepted their fate as a matter of fact. They know they have a short life span, ( their bodies, or what’s left of it deteriorate in time ) and their lives depend on how good they are at their jobs, and they know it.  They talk about it , oh, ever so casually.  ”  Oh, is that menstrual pain ? I’m lucky because they took out my uterus. ”

This is a very depressing anime because , to me, anything bad that happens to  children  gives me this  hopelessly sad feeling that doesn’t go away.

My dvd copies contain 28 episodes, but I don’t remember if this is complete  because I watched it in 2005.  It is written on the cover though that it’s a complete series with the OVA. If it has indeed ended, I don’t remember the ending, for some reason. And you , dear readers are lucky….. I would have spoiled it for you if I remembered.   What I watched recently was  on Netflix, and it’s definitely not complete yet.

Gunslinger Girl is # 12 in Top Anime of the Year, 2005.

I give it a  9/10 rating. So go and watch it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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