Gunslinger Girl: Volume 1

Orphaned, sick, or physically deeply damaged, the 10-12 year old girls of "Gunslinger Girl" are rescued by the Social Welfare Agency and turned into chemically and emotionally brainwashed, cyborg political assassins. They bond deeply with their older male handlers, and obey these men implicitly. And love them too - and therein lies the tense inner workings of these bitterly noir, nearly surreal stories. --- If you expect a shoot-`em-up with cute sexy little Lolita nymphets, forget it. The style is Italian film noir realism (the story is set in Italy) and everything centers on the *relationships* among the girls and between them and their handlers - quiet, withdrawn Henrietta and the genuinely loving Giuseppe, or Elsa de Sica, whose handler does *not* love her, as we find out in a grim two-part story. --- How do people fall in love? If we are all killers (one of the undertexts of "Gunslinger Girl"), then why do we even think that love is possible? These girls live in a Gulag created by nameless adults. Against the brainwashing, conditioning, chemicals, and loss of memory, how can anyone act with even a shred of humanity, let alone personality or rebellion? Against the radical and totalizing power of drugs, manipulations, and emotional pain, the girls simply don't give up. They're very proud of their abilities to assassinate terrorists and of the police services they provide. Dubious means; desirable end: and they become human, in poignant and very moving stories of endurance, resilience, and revenge. And if you say that *their* Gulag is not so different from *our* consensus reality, well, then you've got the point.

Reading descriptions of Gunslinger Girl might make it sound like a grim action series along the same lines as Noir, but in reality, it ends up being something much different. That's not to say that there aren't beautifully animated action scenes and impressive gun fights, but this is not really an action series. At its core, this manga is about the relationship between characters and questions the essence of humanity. Each of the story's young assassins is paired up with an older man who serves as her supervisor and guardian. These pairs are referred to as 'fratello' or 'siblings'. Instead of having any true plot to connect all the episodes, each installment focuses on a single fratello and explores the dynamic between the girl and her supervisor. These relationships vary greatly; some supervisors act as loving parents while others only use the girls as tools to get the job done. The manga does a commendable job developing the character relationships and showing how it affects each of the girls. It comes across with a depressing realism that adds to the emotional impact of the series and raises some interesting and thought-provoking questions about what makes a person human. All in all, this is a unique, intelligent and gripping work that I cannot recommend highly enough. Note: A persistent and inaccurate myth that has grown like moss on the Gunslinger Girl series is that Rico could not have cared less about her brief and tragic crossing of paths with Emilio at the Hotel Villa Gatti. This misconception persists despite being in contradiciton with the facts recorded in Episode Two of the series, which documents the incident in full. After returning from her survey of the target area, during which Rico met Emilio for the first time, our heroine requested violin lessons from Henrietta. This action would be meaningless if she had not harboured the hope of somehow seeing her newfound friend again and fulfilling his wish for her to play him a song. In the wake of her mission and her final, fateful brush with Emilio, Rico could clearly be seen shdding tears. It has been widely assumed that Rico's weeping was a result of her nightly subconscious reflecting over her bleak early years, our heroine being deathly afraid that she would rouse from her slumber to find that her new, healthy exisistence was but a dream. However, a proper examination of the episode clearly indicats that crying was never a part of Rico's reminicising, thus telling us that she was, in fact, greiving over something else, namly choosing duty over affection and losing a friend by doing so. In the final analysis, Rico did feel something for Emilio and was traumatised ovr her awful deed, but attempted to bury her sadness and guilt by telling herself that performing her duty as an assassin was the least she could do to repay the SWA / Section 2, who had given her the fit, strong body she always dreamed of possessing. Whether or not she will continue to repress her feelings in this

Beautiful. I read Gunslinger Girl at the bookstore, and it is the only book I have ever read and thought, "I have to get this." (Except for Lord of the Flies.)The story telling is original; Even an author may have trouble finding where, exactly, they bring in certain information, and a lot of it is implied. The result is a style that tells you most of what you need to know, but still makes it feel as though you don't know. That's why you feel as though you just have to read it again, and then again.As I began reading GG, I didn't think much of the art, as it's not really my style (I like slightly more realistic stuff.) But then, as I went on, I started to appreciate how well drawn the action scenes were, how well the artist showed the emotions of his characters, and how easily the art contributed to the storytelling. In the end, the artwork is really as beautiful as anything by CLAMP.Now, the story. It's brutal, chilling, and tender, and I didn't even realize it until afterwards. The only thing that I could think about related to the relationship between the girls and their handlers. It doesn't really seem so much to me about the girls' frustration, having fallen in love with their handlers--it is about that, but what struck me most was that the girls weren't supposed to fall in love. Whoever runs the project tried to manipulate their minds to make them fiercely loyal to their handlers--but they went too far, and the girls actually fell in love because of it. Just shows that they shouldn't have tried to mess with the human mind.This book is not just high quality as far as art and storytelling goes. It has wonderful twists on the premise, which is thought-provoking to begin with. It's like SE Lain, the very perfect example of the stories I love. It shakes up your world and makes you re-think your way of looking at everything. Though, yes, it's a bit violent, as the premise demands, but I didn't notice that much. A wonderful read, altogether.~Arisu

Gunslinger Girl first caught my eye in Newtpe Magazine (If you don't know this magazine, pick it up, it's amazing, and if you do, pick it anyway ^o^). I thought the anime would be good, but I was very suprised to find that before I got my hands on the anime I got to read the manga. This doesn't often happen. Let me just say, I'm glad I read the manga first. I was shocked that the drawing style of the people was so harsh! I would catergorize it with GTO or Onizuka..yetch.. but the backgrounds are very very well drawn and expressed. Also, the angles are well-done, too. It really adds to the experience of reading. Not many mangas do this (at least not the ones I read to this specific effect), so I was really grateful. The storyline was quite different from what I'm used to. I'm a shojo enthusiast, but I also have a serious side. The serious side was very satisfied with the story. I kept wanting to cry, especially in chapter three. Hoo boy. *Whimper*. It just goes to show you that these girls do not have any shred of a normal life. Also, throughout the book, I kept wondering what the girls will do in the future after they outgrow thier "young girl innocent 'I, being a young girl would never be expected to tote a gun so don't suspect it'" visad. I suppose they will probably die either in battle or due to thier "conditioning" before this happens, ne? Anyway, I didn't think that this book would be a multiple-times-reader type of a book, but it definitely is. It's a good investment in your money because not only did I read it multiple times, it also took me quite a while to read because my eyes wanted to drink in all the scenery! So, give yourself a kleenex and read this drama-filled thriller. You won't regret it.

Gunslinger Girl is set in Italy in the near future. Blah blah blah. If you want a summary read the back cover. What you want to know is, is it any good?The answer is a resounding "Yes, but...." Gunslinger girl is not for the faint of heart. Though the graphic gore is minimal, the story definitely has the darkness that one would expect of a story about early adolescent girls brainwashed into deadly assassins.Once one gets beyond the violence and the somewhat chilling premise Gunslinger Girl is an amazing work of graphic fiction. It maintains a perfect balance between the focus on two "main" characters (Guiseppe and Henrietta) and a very well developed cast of secondary (but not at all minot) characters. Two of these even have whole stories devoted to them.The depth of emotion in this book is startling and unexpected, and in fact probably merits a second read-through once you've absorbed the rich and exciting storyline.A final note: I've seen GG accused of being mildly paedophilic, either in that the plot has undertones of paedophilia or in that it caters to paedophiliac impulses. I disagree. On the second count, when compared with other contemporary anime and manga GG doesn't particularly portray the children as sex objects (I can think of a lot of other mainstream a+m that does so a lot more). On the first point, I think that this reflects a misinterpretation of what is going on in the story. What the story does so well is showing the conflict raised when a child develops a romantic attachment to an older person, and the effects of the varying responses from the targets of this affection (indifference, paternal love, etc.) This of course is not an unrealistic situation; who among us never had a crush on some camp counsellor, student teacher, or friend's older sibling? Gunslinger Girl lovingly and carefully explores this quintesential experience of frustrated youth.This manga is definitely worth a buy if you can handle a few scenes of violence. The only downside I can think of is that ADV has given no indication of when we might get another volume, which you WILL be begging for immediately upon finishing volume one.