Gunslinger Girl
Gunslinger Girl (ガンスリンガー・ガール gansuringā gāru) is a manga by Yu Aida that was also adapted as a 13-episode anime television series, produced from 2003 to 2004 by Madhouse Production.
Plot
Gunslinger Girl revolves around a secret Italian government organization called the Social Welfare Agency Corporation which is often referred to as "Corporation". The Corporation takes young girls, rescuing them from near-death incidents, and refits them with artificial body parts making them incredibly strong and impervious to damage.
After these retrofitting operations, the girl is paired with a man to form a "fratello": a brother-sister pair. With their "brother", who they are conditioned to depend on wholly, the girls are intensely trained for armed and hand-to-hand combat. This conditioning is done through a drug treatment that seems to decrease the girls' long term memory as well as their life span. These fratellos then take on controversial government missions, often assassinations.
The show focuses on various relationships of the girls and their handlers whether loving, abusive or neglectful. Gunslinger Girl also seeks to paint a contrasting portrait of its characters: they are cybernetically enhanced assassins, yet they are still just young girls at heart.
Gunslinger Girl is controversial and emotionally depressing but also takes a deeper look into the meaning of being human. The young girls which are synthetically rebuilt and conditioned to kill instinctively without remorse are coldly referred to as "dolls" by their Corporation and handlers. Yet, even though the bodies are reconstructed and the memories of a past life erased, the young girls have a soul and sense of humanity towards each other and still enjoy some of the simple things in their sheltered life.
Characters
Social Welfare Agency (SWA)
- Henrietta - At the start of the story, she is the newest addition to the Social Welfare Agency. She was left for dead after the murder of her family and after having gone through the cyborg augmentation and conditioning process is now paired with Giuseppe. She normally uses a SIG Sauer P239 and a Fabrique Nationale P90.
- Giuseppe - Henrietta's handler and Jean's brother. Giuseppe treats Henrietta as he would a little sister, showing a good amount of concern for her welfare. As such, he attempts to use as little of the conditioning drugs on her as possible due to the drug's effects on her memory and life span. In the anime he is called "José," which is probably short for "Giuseppe" the Italian version of the name "Joseph."
- Triela - She came to join the Social Welfare Agency after being rescued from a child smuggling ring. Of all the girls in the Social Welfare Agency, she acts as the most mature and is somewhat of a mentor to the other girls. She has a sarcastic wit and likes to wear masculine clothing. Her fratello is a German named Hillshire. She normally uses a M1897 and a SIG P230SL.
- Hillshire - Triela's handler. Similar to Giuseppe, he dislikes the use of heavy conditioning but he opts for a more hands-off approach to Triela as opposed to Giuseppe's heavy involvement with Henrietta. In the anime, he is called "Hirshire".
- Rico - Rico was born with severe birth defects that forced her to be confined to a hospital from birth. Her parents signed her over to the agency where she was given a new lease on life due to the cybernetic implants. She loves her new body and views every day as a blessing. Her handler is Jean. She normally uses a CZ-75 and a Dragunov SVD.
- Jean - Rico's handler and Giuseppe's brother. His attitude toward Rico is the very opposite of Giuseppe; whereas Giuseppe shows genuine care and concern for Henrietta's welfare, Jean adopts a very impersonal attitude treats Rico as nothing more than a tool. As such, he uses heavy doses of conditioning on her. This fundamental difference in their attitudes towards their charges is often a point of contention between the brothers.
- Angelica - Angelica is the prototype. Her father attempted to kill her to cash in on the large insurance policy he had taken out on his daughter and she was the first girl to undergo the cyborg augmentation and conditioning process. As such, her story is the story of how they came to realize the problems of the augmentation and conditioning process and their long term effects. She normally uses an AUG A1.
- Marco - Angelica's handler. Due to the memory loss effects of the conditioning process, he now feels that all of the time he spent with Angelica training her has been in vain and thus now treats his charge with disdain. Angelica fails to understand this and continues to work hard to gain his approval despite the gap which has formed between them.
- Claes - Her origins are unclear and as the story begins she is confined to the dormitory in the agency due to her lack of a handler. Though the cybernetic implants have given her clear vision, she still wears her eyeglasses from before as a reminder of a promise she had once made. When not being used for experiments, she enjoys reading and tending her vegetable garden. She is known to uses a HK VP70 and MP5.
- Raballo - Claes handler. While still training Claes he often took her outside to go fishing and instilled in her a love of reading. Ultimately, however, he was unable to deal with what had been done to the girls as well as what was expected of the fratello so he left the agency. Due to the strong bond developed between a girl and her handler, this act made Claes useless since it was effectively impossible to give a girl to a new handler. A few days after he left the agency to talk to a reporter friend, Claes was informed that Raballo was dead due to a hit-and-run incident.
- Elsa - Another girl with unclear origins, her attitude towards the other girls is cold and impersonal. She does not want to associate with anyone except her handler Lauro who she is extremely devoted to and she wants nothing more than to gain his approval. In the end she finally relizes Lauro wont share the feelings she felt for him and therefore shoots in back of the head and shooting herself in the eye to die with him. She wields a SIG 550.
- Lauro - Elsa's handler. His attitude towards Elsa is similar to Jean's attitude towards Rico; he views her as nothing more than a tool and treats her as such.
- Olga - She is from Russia and an agent for the SWA.
- Priscilla - Agent for the SWA who loves and genuinely cares for the girls.
- Dr. Bianchi - The doctor who is in charge of the girls conditioning.
Padania
Padania is the name of the Five Republics which is a radical movement whose agenda is to push for northern independence. It is named after a valley in northern Italy.
- Pinochio - The devoted son named after Pinocchio, the story book character. He is a ruthless assassin who started his career at a very early age. His first job was to kill a government official, after he had done so he also killed the politician's young daughter.
- Franco & Franca - Terrorists for Padania, their speciality is bombs. Although having names that sound the same, they are not brother and sister.
- Bruno - Known as The Fixer, is sent out only to dispatch of dead bodies. Works closly with Vincenzo and is a family man who only does this line of work because of the money.
- Vincenzo - Bruno's apprentice. Like Bruno he too only does it for the money.
Trivia
- In episode 6, several references are made to the iconic film Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn, including the scene of a scooter ride involving two lovers, and Henrietta's wish to eat an ice cream in Spain Square.
Releases in North America
The manga is published in English by ADV Manga, and is composed of three volumes so far. The US release is rated T 15+ for the first volume and 16+ for the two succeeding volumes.
In late-2004 FUNimation licensed the right to release the Gunslinger Girl anime series in North America in a three disc DVD series, FUNimation released Volume 3 on September 6, 2005 which sports the new FUNimation look.
Video games
A set of video games has also been produced for the PlayStation 2. They are shooting games where you control one of the girls on her missions. It is composed of four volumes.