Firenze.

< rq> 3 weeks, $5,000. what are some good vacation destinations.
< cheese> stay at home and spend your 5k on anime figurines
< Evirus> You could conduct some anime tourism and visit Real Life settings in Japan.
< rq> i would need a guide
< Evirus> Maybe you could get on the Miracle Train and have Akari guide you.

Firenze skyline.

Speaking of anime tourism, there are actually people who do this [Update: See also http://blog.livedoor.jp/kouhei14915/]. Naturally, most of these pilgrimages occur in Japan since the vast majority of anime series take place in Japan, but there are titles with settings in other countries.

Loggia dei Lanzi in Firenze.

Notably, Gunslinger Girl takes place in Europe—primarily Italy. Many of the scenes are surprisingly accurate, too. For example, a car chase in Florence—while impractical given the narrow roads and masses of tourists along the river Arno in real life—includes the appropriate turns to take the characters into the hills south of the city.

Outside the Uffizi.

Gunslinger Girl also devotes a substantial portion of episode seven to the artistic treasures of Florence, including a short tour of the Uffizi. Aside from some fudging regarding the availability of WCs and the apparent lack of metal detectors at the entrance, the scenes inside the Uffizi itself are at least as accurate as the other Gunslinger Girl settings.

Rosa Canina and Rosa Gigantea before the Cathedral of Pisa.

Aside from shows set in Europe like Gunslinger Girl, Noir, Monster, and a smattering of titles taking place in North or South America, I am hard pressed to recall many series set in realistically depicted locales outside of Japan. E.g., Eden of the East, sort of realistic. Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~? Less so.

Ammannati's Neptune in Piazza della Signoria.

There are obvious difficulties preventing more anime series from taking place outside of Japan, but it would be nice if more shows would make the attempt. At least there are occasional cross-border operations, as with Nodame Cantabile: Paris. Considering how many show have token "studied abroad" characters such as Mayu from Ai Yori Aoshi or "parents perpetually traveling on business" characters such as Eri from School Rumble and Honoka from Futari wa Pretty Cure, you'd think at least periodic throwaway scenes would be more prevalent. Heck, Full Moon wo Sagashite managed a trip to America, although that excursion was instrumental to the plot.

Mami, Tsukato, and Yumi visit the Field of Miracles in Pisa.

Another example is the fifth Maria-sama ga Miteru "third season" OVA which includes a whirlwind tour of Italy, hitting Rome, Venice, Pisa, and Florence if I remember correctly. Here, the Marimite cast visited most of the tourist hot spots, albeit briefly. (Anyone know if the seiyuu got a chance to go "on location" like the cast of Stratos 4 did?)

The Rape of the Sabine Women.

However, unlike Gunslinger Girl, the Marimite visit to Florence did not devote attention to The Rape of the Sabine Women. In fact, the OVA devoted more time to the Field of Miracles in Pisa than it did to all of Florence combined.

The Baptistery of St. John.

Those of you familiar with the episode may recall how different Rosa Canina's singing voice sounded compared to her speaking voice. While I don't know if a different voice actress pinch hit for the song, the tonal differences can at least be attributed to the exceptional acoustic qualities of the Baptistery.

Mami near the top of The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

On the other hand, Yoshino declining to ascend the final flight of stairs in the Leaning Tower of Pisa is incomprehensible. Although I can accept Yumi taking a pass on the better view, such a decision is completely uncharacteristic of post-operation Yoshino. It seems if Yumi and company were to abandon the climb, they would have given up at the (admittedly less photogenic) halfway point than, as depicted, the landing just short of the very top.

Yoshino and Yumi climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

As far as I know, Sachiko (who wasn't there) is the only character afraid of heights, and none of the second-years are infirm anymore (at least not much), so the characters' mutual decision to abandon the ascent while in sight of the top is even more peculiar. Perhaps the animation department lacked the research to accurately animate the top of the tower and the surrounding view. I'm not familiar enough with the original novels to know how the corresponding scene played out originally.

Near the top of The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

This reminds me that I still haven't finished my Maria-sama ga Miteru posts as promised. Of course, I also haven't finished my Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu comparisons with Saikano. Hopefully the statute of limitations hasn't run out yet on either of those endeavors.

Yumi and Rosa Canina outside the Baptistery in Pisa.

To that end, I shall digress from the current Anime Tourism topic to remark on a primary failure of the later Maria-sama ga Miteru seasons: Not enough Sei. The Italy OVA of the third season featured here is especially culpable of Sei omission. Because while she was there, she wasn't really there. (This is less obtuse if you've actually seen the episode.)

Flag atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Picking Sei as one's favorite Marimite character is an uncontroversial no-brainer, but this is also a testament to the impact and influence she has on Yumi and the show as whole. Like I said before, the underlying theme to Marimite is Growing Up. Specifically, it's about Yumi growing up, to no small credit thanks to Sei's guidance (read: constantly fucking with her) when Yumi was a first-year student. (That we only see Sei herself grow up through flashbacks is our loss.) Sei's importance to Marimite, even in absentia, permits the fifth OVA of the third season to make her a MacGuffin that ostensibly steers the episode, setting the appropriate flags for Yumi's good ending, as it were, but she's still sorely missed.

Triela and Henrietta, members of the Social
Welfare Agency since volume one.

Despite being mostly displeased with the second season of Gunslinger Girl during its initial broadcast four years ago, I bought the Il Teatrino Blu-ray discs anyway. I was much more impressed after this second viewing. Even in Blu-ray form, Il Teatrino suffers from the same problem the TV broadcast did, namely a tragically low animation budget. Curiously, though, I can't claim the production values in general are low, as the locales are still well-researched and the audio is much better than I expected. For example, a short scene showing bullets being loaded into a magazine includes sound effects that realistically duplicate the noise a handful of full metal jacket pistol rounds makes. I have no idea if the sound effect was recorded specifically for Il Teatrino or pulled from a bank of stock noises, but it's a good inclusion considering that some shows can't be bothered to differentiate between the sounds made by wooden baseball bats from those made by aluminum ones.

Petrushka didn't quite make it into Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino, alas.

Possibly my greater appreciation of Il Teatrino also results from the 20/20 hindsight conferred by being up-to-date on the current manga run. As a point of reference, bear in mind the original season of Gunslinger Girl covered approximately one chapter per episode. Il Teatrino went a little further, extending the anime to about the first 30 chapters (ending before properly introducing Petrushka). A great deal more has occurred since then. The manga is now up to chapter 93 and is still ongoing. I could tell you the shit's hit the fan, but that may be an oversimplification of events. However, being caught up with the manga and having the benefit of knowing where the story is going and understanding more of the characters' backgrounds does make Il Teatrino better than watching it in a vacuum.

Rico is a lot better now than in Gunslinger Girl season one.

Additionally, I find the changes to the animation styles and character designs more faithful to the manga, at least in spirit, although I do find Henrietta's glassy-eyed vacant stare a little unsettling. Il Teatrino Rico's new-found personality is a more accurate reflection of her manga personality as the girl who subconsciously marvels at the freedom her cyborg body affords her, leaving her unusually cheerful despite her otherwise poor treatment.

Claes is still the Gunslinger Best Girl.

Oh. I was going to recommend the Gunslinger Girl manga. Volumes one through eight are currently available, and volumes nine and 10 will be released as the fourth omnibus on March 13th. Hopefully Seven Seas will continue to release additional volumes regularly. (When ADV had the English-language rights to the Gunslinger Girl manga, there was a considerable lag between the releases of volumes three and four.) Never known for exactly pulling its punches, the Gunslinger Girl manga has currently reached a rather dark place. The short natural life spans of the cyborgs and the debilitating effects that occur prior to their death have been fixtures of the manga since the first volume and remain recurring themes throughout the story. By the 90s, the degradation has touched all the surviving girls from the manga's original crew. It's a good read, but don't get too attached. [P.S. Spoilers, I guess.]

I'm impressed Triela didn't get any blood on her.

I've written a fair amount about Gunslinger Girl, but haven't mentioned much about the firearms themselves. The first gun to appear in the show (outside of the OP) is Triela's shotgun, a Winchester Model 1897 Trench Gun with its big ass 17-inch M1917 bayonet fixed. I believe this is also the oldest firearm to appear in the anime. As its name suggests, this is literally a 19th-century design which Winchester started selling in 1897 (although it remained in production until 1957). In contrast, the primary weapon of the show's ostensible lead, Henrietta, is an ever popular FN P90, which was barely more than 10 years old when the manga began publication in 2002. Triela's M1897 is also the only shotgun in the first cours, but I don't remember it featuring in particularly many scenes. The old Winchester gets a lot more attention in the sequel, Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-. (And occasionally appears in fanart.)

The action can git ya if you're careless while racking the slide back.

Prices of the World War I-era M1897 Trench Guns have risen quite a bit as of late, probably at least partially because of The Great War's centennial and maybe because of the shotgun's inclusion in popular media such as Gunslinger Girl itself and the Battlefield video games. For example, a "very fine" Model 1897 sold for $8625 in December 2018. I am somewhat amused that Gunslinger Girl features a firearm from the 19th century when basically every other gun in the series is from the Cold War or newer. I have to assume the original mangaka, Aida Yu, just really liked it. That's totally understandable, at least.

It's because its blocky shape makes it easier to embrace than other guns.

I guess this is a follow up to my recent post, "In praise of the oldest star in Gunslinger Girl." There, I linked to a couple pictures of anime characters hugging their FN P90 submachine guns (Iriya from Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu, and LLENN from Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online). Naturally, Henrietta also does this in the first episode of Gunslinger Girl, as depicted above, after going aggro with it against some chumps who totally had it coming, probably.

Rounds in the translucent magazine make a 90-degree turn before entering the chamber.

I believe Henrietta's P90 is the most modern firearm to appear in Gunslinger Girl. It was only about 10 years old when the manga began in 2002, and is quite a contrast to Triela's 19th-century shotgun. Its distinctive appearance probably also accounts for its popularity in various anime, Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online being a notable example. I can't rule out the possibility that some LLENN fan bought herself an FN PS90, cut down the barrel after getting an NFA tax stamp, and painted it pink for questionable cosplay purposes.

This was a pretty good deal for both parties.

Incidentally, I was somewhat surprised a minor character in SAO GGO carried an AR57, which is basically an AR-15 upper designed to accept P90 magazines on top and eject out what is usually the magazine well of the lower receiver. But I'm most impressed that Kirito never showed up in GGO for some bullshit ammo exchange contrivance, since Kirito's FN Five-seveN is pretty much the only other firearm that shares ammo with LLENN's dear P-chan. Kirito's total absence definitely improved Gun Gale Online as an anime.

See also Part I and Part II.

I wasn't actually planning on writing a series of blog entries on the guns of Gunslinger Girl, but here we are. I've joked on occasion that Triela is one of the best characters because she once shot a dude because of her PMS (true story). Well, the firearm Triela uses to shoot that guy was her Sig Sauer P230SL, a sidearm she carries to accompany her Winchester M1897 shotgun. This pistol also features prominently in Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino, the anime's sequel which covers the Pinnochio arc from the original manga.

Cyborgs with serious menstural cramps do not fuck around.

The Sig P230SL itself is a compact double-action/single-action blowback-operated semi-automatic pistol with a fixed-barrel chambered in .380 ACP (also known as 9mm Kurz, among other names). Physically, it resembles the Walther PPK of James Bond fame, but there are notable mechanical differences. For example the P230's decocker for bringing it to double-action from single-action is located on the frame instead of slide. The P230 also has a disassembly lever, while taking down a PPK involves tugging on the trigger guard.

It's not heavy because it's full of mercy.
It's heavy because it's made of steel.

Neither the Sig Sauer P230 nor its successor, the P232 (which also appears in Gunslinger Girl), are in production any longer, and this decades-old pistol (this sample depicted carries a "Made in W. Germany" designation) is quite a bit heavier than the myriad striker-fired polymer-framed .380 ACP pocket pistols popular in the contemporary marketplace. Still, it certainly gets the job done, even if the job happens to involve shooting a deadbeat because of your PMS. And let's face it, he totally had it coming. Triela did nothing wrong.

Despite offering a double-action mode, the original CZ 75
only has a single-action safety instead of a decocker.

Originally, I was mostly ambivalent about Rico from the Gunslinger Girl anime, but I liked her character a lot more after reading the manga. In any case, I am a big fan of her CZ 75 pistol, though. This is a full-size all-steel service sidearm. It's not quite as heavy as a Colt 1911 Government Model, nor as large as the Beretta 92 series, but it is pretty big compared to more contemporary alloy or polymer options, such as the many compact striker-fired handguns that seem to be more popular now. CZ's own offering have diversified quite a bit in the decades since the 75's introduction.

I like the turtleneck.

In the context of Gunslinger Girl, Rico's CZ 75 is an older "pre-B" model identifiable by the shape of its hammer and the rounder trigger guard. There are transitional models, so the surest way to tell the difference is the absence of a roll pin in the slide. This change was introduced with the CZ 75B model as part of a redesign to add an internal safety that blocks the firing pin unless the trigger is also pulled. (This should prevent the gun from discharging if dropped on its hammer, or if a sear fails, etc.)

Rico also has a threaded barrel for her CZ.

Rico somewhat implausibly hides her CZ 75 under her coat while working in Florence in episode seven. I say implausibly because Rico is a pretty small girl, and I would expect a pistol that big to pooch out a bit, but I guess this is what makes her a pro. In comparison, Triela's ability to conceal a Sig Sauer P230SL under her jacket is much more realistic.

I can see why you might not think so, but Rico says she likes it here.

I think it's also worth noting that—in both the manga and the anime—Rico appears to have intact memories of her life before becoming a cyborg. I think this is unique to her among all of the girls, and it's not clear to me why. Possibly I've just forgotten, but I don't believe it was ever explained. It's not particularly important, I suppose, but it does make her different from the other girls.

She does get beat a lot, though.

Somehow, I've now written four "guns of Gunslinger Girl" posts for this blog. In addition to Triela's P230 mentioned above, I also have posts for Henrietta's P90 and Triela's shotgun. I should probably get around to re-watching the show at some point.