Another week another late post of Gunslinger Girl! I can only blame the pandemic so many times before it stops working as an excuse, but here we are. So without further ado lets dive into the episode and see what Henrietta and Jose are doing on vacation!
Overall, this episode was basically just a follow up to the last, unraveling what all happened. For the slower members of the audience it outright stated what happened with Elsa, while for the rest of us it followed up on Fermi’s side of things. Following Henrietta and Jose to Sicily, chatting with each other and discussing the philosophies of the Agency etc. There really wasn’t much new here. Rather, Gunslinger Girl seemingly took the opportunity to reframe things, to make us look at it from another angle. As up until now we have primarily seen the story from the perspective of the Cyborgs, from Henrietta and co. This episode seems to want to zoom out and explore it a bit from the Fratello’s side though. Letting Jose discuss it with Fermi while showing us just how close Henrietta is to ending up like Elsa herself.
We have seen glimpses of it prior to this. Moments of extreme protectiveness of Jose or her willingness to get hurt. In this episode alone we saw her chase the purse snatcher and point a gun at herself to prove a point. Between this and the previous bit with the memories, how she is slowly losing herself, Henrietta is starting to break down. I doubt she is going to off herself and Jose like Elsa did, Jose is nothing like Lauro and actually cares for her. But its likely that she is going to run headfirst into danger with no regard for her life and pay for it. And at that point, the difference between someone taking their own life and not caring what happens to it is almost semantic.
That said, Gunslinger Girls did tackle something interesting this week in Fermi and Elanora. On the surface its just a simple investigation. Following Henrietta and Jose on a personal quest to learn about what happened, discussing philosophy along the way. However what stood out to me was this question of “how different are they”. The idea that when compared to Fermi and Elanora’s partnership, how different is the Fratello/Cyborg relationship? Both love their partners, help and defend them etc, yet one is acceptable and the other isn’t. Is it a difference of conditioning vs love? But does it matter how that love comes about if the end result is the same? Is it because Henrietta is a child, despite the fact that she is better equipped to handle threats than Elanora ever could be?
I don’t know how much of this Gunslinger Girl intended, if the pairings were purely on gender lines, but how the episode split the cast is what sparked this. Putting Fermi and Jose, discussing the morals of using the Cyborgs, how both see them as children etc. Meanwhile Elanora and Henrietta, both subordinates and both in love with their superiors, go off on a mutual quest to cook, to be “normal girls”. Its not perfect, the whole purse snatcher seemed odd since Henrietta clearly saw him coming, but overall I can’t help but think the parallels are intentional. Gunslinger Girl has been doing this sort of thing from the beginning, comparing and contrasting the different girls relationships. So it makes sense it would do it with relationships outside the Agency as well. I still have no idea what sort of finale its building to, but hey, the episode worked.
So all in all, how was this episode of Gunslinger Girl? Once again the show is at its strongest when its focusing on Henrietta and Jose’s relationship, exploring the implications of it and how it compares to “normal” relationships. Henrietta is surprisingly emotional for how inexpressive she is and it makes for some fantastic scenes such as this episodes finale. I have no idea how Gunslinger Girl is going to end, but so long as it focuses on this relationship, I can’t see it failing. How about you though? We are nearing the end here and I am curious about how my wonderful readers are feeling about the series? Are my issues unique to me, or do you have some of your own? Let me know down below and I will see you next week!
