Gunslinger Girl: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''The girl has a mechanical body. However, she is still an adolescent child.''}}

[[Gunslinger Girl]] is a [[Manga]] created by Yu Aida, which also received an [[Anime]] adaptation, telling the story of a group of young girl assassins.

In Italy the Social Welfare Agency scours the country for little girls who have been traumatized or abandoned ostensibly to give them a second shot at life. In reality the Agency (as it is usually called) subjects the girls to [[We Can Rebuild Him|cyberization]], drugs and brainwashing and uses them to do the government's dirty work. Each girl in the Agency is partnered with a male [[The Handler|handler]] to form a unit called a "fratello". Her handler oversees the girl's training, determines the level of drugs and conditioning she receives and is ultimately her control when out on a mission.

The stories focus on relationships between the girls and their handlers. The relationships range from handlers who care for their charges like daughters or little sisters to others who regard them merely as disposable tools. The back stories of how the girls come into the custody of the Agency are routinely horrific (Henrietta, the new arrival, had her family murdered in front of her and was then assaulted all night by the intruders before being mutilated and left for dead. We won't even go into [[Snuff Film|what happened to Triela]].) The girls' cybernetic implants as well as the drugs and conditioning they receive are killing them while slowly destroying their minds and personalities. None of them will see adulthood. Despite this bleak backdrop, the show is interesting for its fairly nuanced and even-handed approach to these relationships and the girls' situation as child soldiers - while it does not glamorize the girls-with-guns concept, nor does it wallow in cynicism or mawkishness and treat their lives as entirely despairing black tragedies, instead having an optimistic tinge of the girls finding solace and new worth in their situation where they can.

The manga began publication in ''Dengeki Daioh'' magazine in 2002 and is still ongoing, while two separate anime seasons were produced in 2003 (by Madhouse) and 2007 (by Artland). Both seasons of ''Gunslinger Girl'''s anime series were licensed and released in the West by [[FUNimation]]. The manga has been continuously published in French, Italian and German, but the English version is more troubled: six volumes were released by ADV to an erratic schedule, and then lapsed when ADV shut down its manga division before the company folded entirely. [[Seven Seas Entertainment]] revived the English license and began republication of the manga with a new translation from February 2011. Both anime and manga are well worth your attention but prepare yourselves for a light version (well, comparatively anyway) of the "''[[Hotaru no Haka|Grave of the Fireflies]]''" experience.

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* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: the first series of the anime adds several original incidents that did not appear in the manga (e.g. filling out Elsa's backstory), but they remain complementary to and consistent with established continuity, rather than setting up a different canon.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: The [http://translationcd.wikispaces.com/Gunslinger+Girl+Drama+CD+Sonoro+%E2%80%93+Beyond+The+Wall%2C+At+The+End+of+the+World radio drama] fills in the cracks during manga volume 6 and the first half of 7. It's mostly the girls elaborating on events that were shown (Triela's 2nd fight with Pino, Rico's whole day in Venice and her reaction to falling in the Lagoon, and Claes's reaction to her [[Berserk Button]] moment with Petra). We also learn where Angelica got the stuffed dog we see in volume 9 (and its name), and just how widely read Claes really is (enough to shock Hilshire). Plus, Triela scolds one of her bears.

* [[Amulet of Dependency]]: Seen when the girls forget to take their medicine -- Triela becomes weak and unable to fight properly, while Angelica becomes so desperate to get her hands on a weapon she breaks Priscilla's wrist.

* [[Anime Theme Song]]: A melancholic song by Scottish band The Delgados, fitting the mood of the series nicely.

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* [[Art Evolution]]: The character designs change quite a bit between the first and second seasons of the anime.

* [[As the Good Book Says...]]: Claes frequently shows off her wide-reading. Bad developments {{spoiler|Henrietta's recent breakdown}} prompt her to quote Ecclesiastes 11:8-9 <ref>"Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility. Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things."</ref> to Rico. She never names chapter and verse, she simply answers Rico's question "Is that poetry?" with "Not quite, it's biblical".

** The central chapter of the Triela/Victor and Sandro/Petra team-up in volume 7 is called "The sheep and the goats" (in English) again without explanation.

* [[At the Opera Tonight]]: One of the missions involves an assassination at the opera.

* [[Badass and Child Duo]]: An entire [[Government Agency of Fiction]] full of them.

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* [[Brand X]]: Section I Agents are seen using a 'Nakia' phone in one episode of the second season.

* [[Break the Cutie]]

* [[Cain and Abel]]: Jean and Jose. They lost their parents and sister (and Jean's fiance) to a roadside bomb (aimed at their father). Jean has become completely obsessed with vengeance. Jose's feelings are much more conflicted; he's turned Henrietta into a [[Replacement Goldfish]], {{spoiler|and has confessed to having been distant from his father (who was just as obsessed as Jean)}}. Hinted at in the Manga by Jean's reaction to Claes's movie.

** And as of the manga chapter "Fantasma", things may well be moving in an even more blatantly Cain-and-Abel direction, what with Jean now ''hallucinating'' about Enrica being angry over Jose's surrogating of Henrietta. The implication of her words at the end of that chapter were ''not'' particularly encouraging.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: On several different dramatic occasions, Jose tells Henrietta the story of Orion and Artemis. In the very first issue, shortly after they first meet and he's looking for a way to connect with her, as well as {{spoiler|after she is turned into an automaton by the Agency and he wants to know if she still has any memories of him}}. Then, dozens of chapters later, you see how {{spoiler|they die...}}

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* [[Cycle of Revenge]]: Both handlers and terrorists are obsessed with avenging family members killed by the other side. Those who aren't are invariably either corrupt leaders or [[Shell Shocked Senior|disillusioned veterans]].

** The exception that tests the rule is Hilshire, who works for the program for personal reasons that have nothing to do with Italian civil wars.

** The self-destructive nature of the spiral of revenge and recrimination is a central theme and oft-repeated motif in ''Gunslinger Girl''. One chapter is even entitled "To break the cycle of retaliation" and an entire story arc is entitled "Vendetta".

* [[A Day in The Life]] Of Claes is a surprisingly moving episode (especially in the anime with its rendition of "Scarborough Fair") showing how Claes tries to mourn a handler she no longer remembers.

* [[Dead Little Sister]]: Jose and Jean are both seeking revenge for the death of their sister Enrica at the hands of terrorists. The names of their chosen weapons, the cyborgs 'Henrietta' and 'Rico', reflect this. The difference is that Jean is cold-blooded towards Rico (perhaps [[Jerkass Facade|deliberately]]), whereas Jose has created a surrogate in Henrietta, {{spoiler|even (in the manga chapter "Fantasma") making her wear one of Enrica's dresses. Though Jean is visibly shocked by this act, he is unable to find the strength to reprimand his brother.}}

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** Petrushka mentions that Sandro does her makeup every day. Angelica and Henrietta are immediately rapt over the idea of receiving such intimate attention from a handler.

* [[Elephant in the Living Room]]: Angelica is in hospital, shunned by her handler after stuffing up on a mission. Her friends are trying to cheer her up when she suddenly bursts into tears, declaring that they are all going to die without having the chance to know anything about life. The other cyborgs maintain an embarrassed silence until [[Beware the Quiet Ones|Claes punches Angelica in the face]].

* [[Elites Are More Glamorous]]: The GIS, being the Carabinieri's elite anti-terrorist unit. The 1st Regiment Carabinieri "Tuscania", the Carabinieri's elite special forces paratrooper unit.

* [[Emotionless Girl]]: Between drugs and conditioning all of the girls are more than a bit emotionally stunted. Beatrice however, is an extreme case, we never see her get angry, excited, or anything.

** When Angelica finally dies it affects the handlers more than her friends; even Triela is surprised how little she's affected.

* [[Enfante Terrible]]

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* [[Fan Service]]: While not at the forefront, it is there -- [[Gun Porn]] (every character uses a different firearm, all well detailed), [[Bandage Babe]] (Triela and Henrietta), [[Shower Scene]] (Triela), and [[She's Got Legs]] (Petra). Some of the scenes verge on [[Fan Disservice]] -- the obsession the girls have for their older male handlers (though Yu is [[Oblivious to Love|careful not to have things]] the [[Lolicon|other way round]]; even Sandro doesn't put the moves on Petra until her [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]), the occasional [[Bleached Underpants]] shot in early chapters, Henrietta's pre-cyborg [[Rape as Drama|rape]] and [[Squick|mutilation]], the [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|detached manner]] Sandro checks out his [[Naked on Revival|new cyborg]], and a [[Sideboob|half-naked]] Triela in the [[Snuff Film]] scene. More overtly, any time the girls do something cute the anime/manga [[Mood Whiplash|takes pains to remind you]] that they are also [[Moral Myopia|cold-blooded]] [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|killing machines]].

* [[Fast Roping]]: Done in episode 12, when Triela and Angelica break into a mountain terrorist base. The glass is weakened beforehand to justify this.

** Triela and Beatrice effectively pull this off in reverse (climbing up a tower hand-over-hand ''really'' fast) during Vol 11 of the manga. Cybernetics are cool like that.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: During Jose and Henrietta's investigation into Elsa's death Henrietta asks him about a making suicide pact. {{spoiler|Near the end of the series Jose is accidently shot by Henrietta during the nuclear power plant assault after she is frenzied by resurfaced memories of her rape and torture. They fulfill the pact they made by fatally shooting each other after she snapped back to her senses.}}

* [[Friend or Foe]]: {{spoiler|Jose gets shot by Henrietta when he tries to stop her [[Unstoppable Rage]] during the nuclear power station attack. He assumes this is a matter of [[The Dog Bites Back]], though it was actually her [[Berserk Button]] set off by memories of her original assault.}}

* [[Front Organisation]]: The Social Welfare Agency carries out legitimate research and charity work involving cybernetics and hypno-therapy, which provides a cover for the few patients who get diverted into Section Two's assassination program.

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'''Triela:''' I think she's got the wrong idea about us.

'''Hilshire:''' We don't have to talk about love. We're ''[[Like Brother and Sister|fratello]]''. }}

* [[Heroic RROD]]

* [[Hitman with a Heart]]: Franca and Franco, who try to avoid killing children.

** Padanian agents in general, and their superiors in particular, often try to avoid choosing their own cultural and religious icons as targets despite being terrorists because they're conservative terrorists and those icons represent the things they believe they are fighting to protect. Furthermore, they limit civilian casualties as much as possible by only attacking government locations. Their enemy is the government itself, not the people under them.

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* [[Ill Girl]]: Rico before her "enhancement", Angelica at the end of the first season. Elizabeta was a prominent one since unusually for this series, we get to see quite a lot of her life before she joined the SWA. Let's just save the spoilers and say the keywords to her story are: [[It Got Worse]].

* [[In a Single Bound]]: Henrietta when chasing a purse thief - the same incident also features a [[Magic Skirt]] and [[Neck Lift]]. Petrushka also leaps multiple stories and from the ground to the top of a crane on two separate occasions.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: Manga only, during the initial search for Pinocchio, Triela is trying to get information out of a trio of teenage punks. When they start hitting on her to go off with them she asks them "Shouldn't you be in school?" They laugh it off and ask her why she isn't. Before things get really threatening, Hirscher shows up to collect Triela. As they are walking away, Victor turns around and lectures the boys "Why aren't you in school?"

* [[It Got Worse]]: After the battle at the nuclear plant, the government decides to {{spoiler|disband the SWA with extreme prejudice}}.

* [[It Was a Gift]]: Rico's cuddling pillow is a seemingly [[Jerkass Facade|out-of-character gift]] from Jean. A flashback scene shows that Enrica Croce had a similar pillow, presumably also a gift from her [[Aloof Big Brother]].

* [[It Works Better with Bullets]]: Henrietta's reenactment of {{spoiler|Elsa's murder/suicide scene}}.

* [[Jerkass]]: Arguably a few of the handlers:

** Jean acts like this, though as the series goes on it looks more and more like a [[Jerkass Facade]]. He can be hard on Rico, but it's made clear that he really is interested in her well being.

** Lauro, however, is a perfectly straight example. He makes it clear he regards Elsa as nothing but a tool, and he flat out tells Jose that he doesn't like him and the other handlers for treating their cyborgs otherwise.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Some of Jean's interactions with Rico qualify, but Lauro's every thought and action toward Elsa take this to a whole new level, until she {{spoiler|kills him and then herself}}.

* [[Kill'Em All]]: The gruesome battle between the forces of the SWA and Giacomo's cell has brought the series right into this territory, and the face-off has resulted in {{spoiler|the deaths of three cyborgs with Beatrice being among the dead. After the battle, the government decides to shut down the SWA by declaring them terrorists and sending the army in to kill them.}}

* [[Knife Nut]]: Pinocchio. Triela is never without hers either, though she uses a full-size old-fashioned bayonet (for her almost a sword). When they go one-on-one, it is not pretty.

* [[Knights Templar]]: A deceptively named Intelligence Agency that uses brainwashed little girls to kill anyone who gets in their way or spots them on a job and occasionally handle unrelated kills as political favours. They get said girls by scouring the hospitals and are at best deceiving the staff/families about the nature of what is in store for them. Seems like they might be bending a few laws into pretzels in the name of anti-terrorism.

** Rico's [[Shoot the Dog]] moment seems to have been a one-off, I'd put it down to Jean. While they are definitely fighting a "dirty war", the others tend to play the "nothing to see here" card rather than shooting witnesses.

** They also express distaste for the political favours, but can't really say no since they're from high-ranking politicians that give support to the cyborg research.

* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]: The girls have been conditioned out of their previous identities, but not of their basic social skills. Some of them show signs of things from before their transformations. When they start remembering more of their past life than what they did last year it's a very bad sign. {{spoiler|See Angelica.}}

** Rico seems to have retained memories of her past identity as her introductory episode in the anime's first season shows, presumably because her bedridden past gives her a good incentive to be loyal to the Agency which gave her the ability to walk.

* [[Laser Sight]]: Averted. Particularly with Rico, who is almost always the sniper/sharpshooter during missions.

* [[Let's You and Him Fight]]: During the Turin Nuclear Planet siege, it's strongly implied that the Italian Prime Minister is hoping that the politically-dangerous Section Two and the militant wing of Padania will wipe each other out.

* [[Literal Minded]]: Used for the girls' [[Creepy Child]] moments. When Raballo first starts instructing Claes he's annoyed by her lousy shooting (actually because she's not used to her cyborg implants) and tells her not to leave the range until she can consistently hit the target. The next day it's pouring down rain and Raballo grouches that he hasn't seen any sign of the girl he's supposed to be teaching. He's told to go to the firing range where he finds Claes cold and shivering, still trying to hit the target as instructed after practicing all night. Henrietta also stays up all night [[Gun Stripping|stripping and assembling her pistol]] because Jose told her to get proficient quickly.

* [[Literal-Minded]]: Used for the girls' [[Creepy Child]] moments. When Raballo first starts instructing Claes he's annoyed by her lousy shooting (actually because she's not used to her cyborg implants) and tells her not to leave the range until she can consistently hit the target. The next day it's pouring down rain and Raballo grouches that he hasn't seen any sign of the girl he's supposed to be teaching. He's told to go to the firing range where he finds Claes cold and shivering, still trying to hit the target as instructed after practicing all night. Henrietta also stays up all night [[Gun Stripping|stripping and assembling her pistol]] because Jose told her to get proficient quickly.

* [[Lolicon]]: Basically all the girls except Petra and possibly Triela. Considering [[Bleached Underpants|* where* the series come from]], though...

** It's worth noting that, like the book [[Lolita]], the story is actually written the other way around. Romantic and sexual relationships between the girls and their handlers exist and are discussed to a great depth, but in all cases it is made very clear (sometimes even to those involved themselves) that these relationships are wrong, unhealthy, and will only result in tragedy one way or another. As such, the characters, mainly the Handlers, conciously or unconciously try to distance themselves from their charges to avoid becoming attached or too emotionally involved, from only seeing them as tools (Lauro and {{spoiler|Jose after crossing his [[Despair Event Horizon]]}} ), "being cold to be kind" (Jean and Raballo), being like an older brother (Jose), or being a distant father figure (Hilshire and Marco).

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* [[Murder-Suicide]]: Elsa murders her handler and then kills herself because she feels that he could never love her the way she does him.

* [[New Roman Legions]]: Most of the SWA black ops personnel came from the police, military or the intelligence services.

* [[Non-Indicative First Episode]]

* [[No Periods, Period]]: Averted, Triela talks at length about her period, and becomes very irritable when it happens. In the same episode, Henrietta notes she doesn't have that problem because [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|during conditioning they took her uterus out]].

* [[Oblivious to Love]]: One example is Triela preparing candles for a romantic dinner when she's staying in a hotel with Hilshire, who responds by turning on the lights and asking what she's doing in the dark. Likely deliberate on the part of the handlers, as the adoration of underage female cyborgs makes them rather uncomfortable. Jose is regarded as rather odd for encouraging his cyborg's affections.

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* [[Sawed-Off Shotgun]]: For one mission Triela cut down the stock on her signature Winchester to make it handier for a reverse [[Fast Roping]] assault. She comments that she should have done this long before (recoil isn't an issue with her enhancements, but size is).

* [[Scarpia Ultimatum]]: Not in-story, but one of the missions takes place during a showing of ''[[Tosca]]'', and we see just about every important scene at least in part (see kids, anime can be educational). Claes has apparently memorized Tosca's whole ''cry to God'' speech/aria, which seems somehow appropriate.

* [[Scenery Porn]]: At least the first season of the anime spends a good bit of time on the Italian cities and their architecture. Episode 7, "Protezione" is probably the most notable.

* [[Schrodingers Cat]]: {{spoiler|Angelica}} is heavily implied to have died in the first anime season, but is back in full action in ''Il Teatrino''. It is mentioned she was {{spoiler|released from hospital}}, indicating that she {{spoiler|just fell asleep while watching the meteorite shower in the first season's last episode}}, which diminishes its emotional impact quite a bit.

** {{spoiler|She ''does'' end up dying in volume 9. It's ''far'' sadder than the anime, too.}}

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* [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes]]: Most of the protagonists are Type IVs; the girls themselves are [[Punch Clock Hero|Punch Clock Heroines]] and the more sympathetic members of the Social Welfare Agency such as Jose are basically good people even though they are part of a (to say the least) morally questionable initiative. Some of the less sympathetic members, such as Jean, come closer to Type V, and some of the assignments of the Social Welfare Agency such as assassinating a congressman on request from a political rival thrust them all into this category.

** Jose and Marco are closer to type I. Jose has some serious mental issues and a drinking problem to boot. Marco is too straightforward and simple a person to make a good handler. Jean's a Knight Templar with a personal vendetta (and way too much influence over his brother), and Sandro is in it for himself, period. Hirscher ''is'' an actual hero slash [[Knight in Sour Armor]] but he is in way over his head (not for the first time).

* [[Small Girl, Big Gun]]: All of the girls. But most of the time the girls will use sub-machine guns or smaller caliber pistols. We've seen Rico handle some VERY large weaponry though (up to firing a G3 machine gun "[[Rambo]] style") and Triela's default weapon is a Winchester 1897 "trenchgun" (army shotgun) with bayonet. The first DVD volume is even titled "Ragazzine Piccole, Armi Grandi" — literally "small girls, big guns" in Italian.

* [[Snuff Film]]: Triela was kidnapped from her home and smuggled to Amsterdam to be part of one. She almost died from it until Hilshire and Rachelle rescued her.

* [[Social Services Does Not Exist]]: Subverted in the most frightening way possible.

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* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Henrietta's handler is variously called Jose, Guise, or Guiseppe depending on the translation. Given that his brother is named "Jean" (not Giovani, which was their father's name) it's probably an alias anyway (like Hilshire/Hirscher). Maybe we should just call him "Joe" and be done with it.

** Speaking of Triela's handler, both ADV's and Seven Seas' separate manga translations and Funimation's anime dub went with "Hilshire", whereas Funimation's subtitles and the German version of the manga went with Hirscher.

** In recent flashbacks it's shown that his name is "Joseph" (or just maybe Josepho) and his brother is really "Jean", maybe their mom was French/Swiss (they're from Milan anyway).

** Giuseppe and Jose are (respectively) the Italian and Spanish variants of Joseph, so it's more likely that it's Giuseppe.

** The names "Jean" and "Josepho" are used (in a flashback), by their grandfather. Apparently their dad was really cosmopolitan. Or he was intentionally using northern Italian forms of the names (which are pretty much like French, Jean would be spelled "Jan" in that case).

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* [[Super Soldier]]: Played ''dead straight'' for tragedy.

* [[Surrogate Soliloquy]]: Referenced in Triela's [[Image Song]].

* [[Taking the Bullet]]: Taken [[Up to Eleven]] with the girls throwing themselves in the blast of carbombs and Bouncing Betty landmines.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: Both Lauro and Hilshire say that their cyborg has never let them down just before a mission where said cyborg stuffs up completely.

* [[Tender Tears]]: The cyborgs have a habit of crying in their sleep as noted by the Agency doctors. Especially tragic as the audience knows why they cry but the girls can't remember their dreams so they don't understand why they feel sad on waking up (Claes dreams of her father figure/handler who was wiped from her conscious memory, while Triela dreams of a woman she believes to be her mother, but is actually the doctor who died resuscitating her in Amsterdam).

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* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: There is mounting confusion about how to view the girls, who lose their human traits more and more as time progresses.

** Dante describes the cyborgs as 'demons' when giving a [[Rousing Speech]] in a deliberate attempt to invoke this trope.

* [[We All Live in America]]: The series, though it's set in Italy, had many of the adult handlers be quite reserved towards their charges, probably causing Values Dissonance for any Italian viewers. They even bow sometimes. The girls don't act much like typical Italian girls, either.

* [[Wise Beyond Their Years]]: Triela and Claes.

** In particular, do not try to hide things from Triela. She picks up on euphemisms and omissions very well for a 14-year old, (let alone a brainwashed cyborg one). Fortunately, she tends to be forgiving.

* [[World of Action Girls]]: Not only are all the major characters young girls, but all of them have been trained to take advantage of how they're young girls.

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: {{spoiler|Once Dante has been captured and the Turin plant secured, the Prime Minister sends in the army to destroy the SWA.}}