Anime Review: Gunslinger Girl season 1

Set in modern-day Italy, Gunslinger Girl follows the exploits of the Social Welfare Agency. While the Agency professes to aid the rehabilitation of the physically injured, it is actually a military organization specializing in counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism. Each girl is paired with a male trainer, or "handler", and together they are referred to as a fratello–the Italian term for "brother". The handler is responsible for the training, welfare and field performance of his charge, and is free to use whatever methods he considers suitable. While these methods vary according to the handler, a common part of each girl's regimen is brainwashing called "conditioning", which produces a deadly assassin with unquestioning loyalty to her handler."

It has been quite a while since I have seen Gunslinger Girl, I had to copy and paste that plot summary. I must say now that the anime was pretty short, and by that time long ago there was not really and core plot, or central theme to the story. It was an anime which explored each of the characters backstorys and experiences through the course of the series. However the girls backstorys are well, terribly depressing, this anime overall is actually quite a joy kill. You might be looking at the characters and think "oh look little girls with guns" trust me these are not girls, there just soulless assassins. Some do have personalities, if you call silent and sadistic one, but this anime is just very "noir" like.



This anime is very depressing good gosh, you imagine an anime involving little girls to be warm and fuzzy. Well seeing the girls killing many, many people with their emotionless faces is very disturbing. The characters backstorys are disturbing enough, yet they still have to go through even more crap throughout the series. They get their bodies constantly opened up by doctors and there minds are always conditioned to make them even more emotionless. It is like these girls truly have no soul, or they just have been shattered into a million pieces. So this anime is very different, and contains like zero comedy or humor, so if you want something serious and depressing to watch, look no further.