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3 March 2012: Gunslinger Girl is better than ever

Triela and Henrietta
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
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
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
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.]


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