Another week, another dose of child soldiers and government conspiracies with Gunslinger Girl! This week is another character focused one, though surprisingly not with our main pair. So why don’t you all join me in welcoming the newest member of our cast, and my current favorite Rico! Lets dive in.
First up, as usual, production. Once again we aren’t really seeing any of those animation chops from the first episode. Small bits, such as Henrietta slipping on a bullet or the occasional “hair in the wind” bit. But for the most part Gunslinger Girl stays rather subdued animation wise. However in this case I think this is for the best, because of the kind of story Gunslinger Girl is trying to tell. All of these character focused episodes, these bits and pieces of the children’s lives and how they view working for the government, etc. None of these would land quite so neatly if their brutal business was glorified with some high octane action animation. Take the finale of this episode, delivered straight without any flashy animation or direction, just a pulled trigger and cut to black. It’s a shame, I love the early animation, but it works for now.
Moving on, let’s talk about our new cast member, Rico! Where Henrietta was seemingly more dedicated to Jose than the Agency, the opposite could be said for Rico. She is our first look at someone not only arguably better off, but thankful for the Agency. Grateful that they gave her a body, so much so that she wakes up each morning checking that its real. Thankful that she can actually have a life now, walk around and experience all these things, even in the confines of the agency. It’s an interesting question Gunslinger Girl’s is asking here: Is a life in chains/mind washed better than no life at all. Some would argue no, of course not. But Rico seemingly feels that it is, though she doesn’t know a life outside of it. So much so that she is willing to throw away happiness that doesn’t conform with this life.
I’m of course talking about Emilio here. I figured he wouldn’t make it the moment he was introduced, but I thought Gunslinger Girl’s would… wait on it? That he would become a reoccurring character, someone tempting Rico out bit by bit only for the Agency to take him out or Rico to do it herself. For her to make that decision literally 10 minutes later in the same episode was a shock for me. It did a fantastic job of establishing a temptation for her, having her toy with the idea of love and his interest, only for her to immediately make the call and shut it down. Unless something fits within the Agency and her duties there, she doesn’t care about and is willing to get rid of it. Maybe this will return as guilt down the line for her, but for now, Rico is 100% dedicated.
What all of this does though is paint the Agency in a very confusing light, at least for the characters. On one hand, they are taking dying/abandoned children and brainwashing them to the point of servitude. Training them to the point of servitude and sending them out into the world to kill. Yet on the other… these are girls that arguably wouldn’t have a life at all if not for them. They teach them, buy them things, let them live and chat together. They are undeniably evil, seeing as how they clearly could have saved them without the whole “child soldiers” aspect. But Gunslinger Girl shows that maybe, just maybe, a happy ending is possible inside the Agency. Or at least Rico seems to be happy-ish so far. It’s very complicated and I am looking forward to more from her character. So far though, she’s my favorite.
Finally we come to the actual overall plot of the episode, assassinating a rival Congressman. This could just be a random assignment for the sake of Rico’s introduction. Give her a rather simple solo job with some temptation while still showing off the shady nature of the Agency. Meanwhile they can show off Triela’s unwavering skills and Henrietta’s seemingly shaky footing in this whole thing. However lets take a step back and ask, what if this is relevant to the overall plot? We know in the first episode they were looking for, and found, a party member. This episode we see them assassinating a Congressman, presumably of that same party, and framing it as terrorism. To me this hints at a sort of… internal civil war, though a quite one using assassins and children. I have no idea where it will go yet, but I’m expecting nowhere good.
All in all though, how was this weeks episode of Gunslinger Girl? Well the animation was basic but never bad, and the VA’s often felt stiff or flat, though maybe that was on purpose as well considering the children. The story however was engaging and did a great job of not only introducing Rico’s character and building on Henrietta’s, but also fleshing out the Agency how exactly they treat these girls. It forced me to ask a lot of questions about this arrangement, about whether or not they are bad guys or “good” guys doing bad things. So all that in mind, I think it was a pretty good episode. I’m hopeful that we can start an actual plot in earnest soon of course, but if Gunslinger Girl can keep giving us character episodes this good, I wouldn’t mind waiting. Just give me more Rico, please.
This was one of my favourite episodes of Gunslinger Girl. It shows that the agency is not just the government’s dirty-job squad (a sort of Church of Necessary Evil), but the dirty-job squad of anybody with enough connections. It also shows how for Rico, even though there is still a part of her who is a little girl happy to make friends, that part loses out to her “brainwashed killing machine” side. No matter how grateful she’d be for a working body, I’m willing to bet the agency made sure of her loyalty with generous amounts of “conditioning”.