Gunslinger Girl Recommended

Publisher
ADV Manga
Writer
Yu Aida
Artist
Yu Aida
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2002

Gunslinger Girl Volume 1 to 2

By David Rasmussen
25th Jun 07

Henrietta just didn't get a good break… in more ways than one apparently.
Let's see now. In Volume 1 of Gunslinger Girl she was brutally attacked along with her family.
In reality she went through three volumes of Gunslinger Girl (Volume 3 being an extremely hard to find volume from my experiences trying to find it in the past) before the series suddenly went on a long hiatus.
Back in Gunslinger Girl Volume 1 her family died, she was maimed (lost an arm, leg and eye) and most likely gang raped while she bled and her family laid dead around her.
Sure, reality wasn’t as harsh to her as Volume 1 but being on hiatus manga wise (and her Anime being shuffled to Funimation if memory serves) wasn’t a cakewalk for her either probably.
Yeah. That'd make anyone want to die.

But die she didn't, and neither did Gunslinger Girl the series -- though in retrospect that would have been a mercy if Henrietta the character did did.
The Italian Government is making little girls into cyborg killing machines, assassins they brainwashed to the cause of keeping the "order" as they see fit. Tools of the power.

Sure, while ADV is not going into the little girl assassin business they are coming back into business at full strength (which I felt they haven‘t been for sometime). After abit of a turbulent time, ADV is finally getting back to full power and one of the acts of returning to full power is to finally take some of the big titles they put on hiatus back into the game (by reviving them with brand new releases). Yes, this includes the long in coming revival of Gunslinger Girl this July (2007).

And since ADV has resent me all back volumes to reacquaint myself with them (though I did hold onto my old copies and kept them in my collection for the longest time) let’s get to reknow these titles once again with fresh reviews of both Gunslinger Girl Volume 1 to 3 (including a new to you Volume 3 review) and fellow July 2007 returning title Yotsuba&! (Yotsubato) Volume 1 to 3 (including new to you Volume 2 to 3 reviews).

But this is Gunslinger Girl, so let’s get into it.
Don't you just hate it when you vote idiots into office that turn little girls into mini-Terminators? I do. Sheesh. But it seems that for this one girl there might be a chance she's not entirely "T-800" braindead material yet (but this is Volume 1 so the story is just starting for her). With a "handler" that treats her like a human being there's a chance she might have some humanity left.

But in the dark world of covert assassination can she afford to be human? Will her masters let her?
About as grim as it can be, yet with some hope, it's the kind of title that (if they made a live action movie of it) I could see Jean Reno starring in as Henrietta's handler. No, the guy doesn't look like him at all, but he'd got the role down pat after being in movies like The Professional, and if you liked stuff like that you'll go for Gunslinger Girl. And that is how Gunslinger Girl started off it’s life as, a thought provoking action packed real page turner of a book. That is a theme, by the way, which keeps on going as Volume 2 came about and introduced us to some new girls in the order of little femme killers.

Volume 2 is the same as Volume 1 : Deep in the heart of Italy a secret European agency known as "The Social Welfare Agency", who is rebuilding little girls and turning them into killing machines that do their dirty work. Last time we spent quality time with Henrietta, but she isn't the only puppet of the Agency.

This time out, besides spending more time with Henrietta as she does some good work here and there, we'll also spend time with two polar opposites. Claes and Angelica (Claes we‘ll see again in Volume 4).

Claes seems to need a new handler, however her handler seems to be a guy who doesn't seem to care. Meet Mr. Raballo, a former Military Police officer who has seen better days. Ever since he had one of his legs replaced with a robotic leg he has been sidelined and that doesn't sit well with him, so getting this offer to possibly get back into his old work seems quite appealing to him. Brought in to become Claes' handler with the promise to get him back in the saddle at the work he wants to do, the Military Police, he finds himself suddenly faced with a "ward" that he just isn't ready to deal with.

Her shooting needs works, and the idea he comes up with is to fix her with a hobby to get her used to her new "body"... fishing. However his idea to get her more skilled with her body ends up as a trap and he becomes better acquainted with her instead.

What was supposed to be an exercise to make her a better shot turns into a bonding experience that brings these two closer together. Aww... and the day he leaves to see a reporter friend he's doing it for concern over her. I'm sure of it. Isn't that just sweet! Yeah... yeah... uh-huh... killed right on the street... bam... oh yeah his old "pals" murdered him... then they brainwashed her and wiped Claes' memory dry... or so they thought. Aww... happy ending... uh-- yeah. We’ll get back to her soon, but for now…

Then the other girl, Angelica, is having a problem with her becoming a part of the group.
She seems to be losing her humanity. Oh, well, nobody at the Agency seems to miss their humanity much so she shouldn't have any problem misplacing her's here. No sir.

The stuff with Henrietta is cut and dry action stuff, with not much depth in comparison to the stand alone stories concerning her "associates" in the Agency. Her stuff is exciting and packs a punch, but if you want abit of a strongly delivered story that doesn't rely on action to deliver the goods then I'd read the first story which focuses on Claes, then don't forget to check out Angelica's story at the end.

Breakdown time. Let's get to it.

In a past 2005 era review of the series by Animerica (the VIZ connected Anime magazine) the series is noted as "A cruel premise... more thoughtful than the average thriller."

It is, it still is, nothing has changed.
We're talking about a secretive government organization that likes turning little girls into killing machines, and who are ready to kill anyone (including their own) to keep their bloody little secret a secret. That is about a much of a “cruel premise” as one can get, don’t you think?
Yes. Gunslinger Girl is darkly tainted, of course, but that will never take away from it’s high readability.

Darkly compelling and engrossing, you will be unable to turn away from the book as the action and shooting start you off, but it‘s the stories like the bond that formed between Claes and Mr. Raballo for instance that hold you raptly focused on the title (and keeps you coming back again and again).

Action, depth, and a dark taint that entices. It’s everything that forms a solid title, and makes it well worth recommending to anyone looking for a seriously good title with abit of bite in it’s pages.
Gunslinger Girl Volume 1 to 2 shoots down a 4 out of 5.

-- David Rasmussen 25th Jun 07