Category: Throwback Thursday

A day late on this weeks Gunslinger Girl, I know. Personally, I blame the pandemic because I have lost all sense of time, stuck at home all day. Enough about my excuses though, lets talk child assassins!

This weeks episode of Gunslinger Girl was a weird. Narratively it was all rather straight forward, and we will get to that in a bit. But in terms of direction I can’t help but think it was a mess. It felt like we were watching 3 separate timelines that were cut together without any real indication of which one we were currently watching. Is the Sicily trip the present? The murder investigation? Where does Henrietta getting a present fit into all of that, or Triela calling the investigators? All of these scenes look the same, so its impossible to tell when one occurs compared to the others chronologically. I get what they were going for, trying to run these threads in parallel so they can reveal information pertinent to another thread at the same time. But without any kind of indication, it just comes off as a mess.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 10 [Amare (To Love)] – Throwback Thursday” →

You all know the drill at this point, its another episode of Gunslinger Girl! We got guns, we got depression, and both are delivered by this weeks new girl Elsa. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, quick call out as Gunslinger Girl brought back its animation chops this week. Elsa’s opening firefight in the hotel was chef kiss, great. I will always love how fluid the series can be with the girls movements or the bullet casings falling to the ground. It makes the rest of the series seem stilted in comparison at times. Moving on though, this episode introduces us to another sort of “bad” Handler/Assassin relationship. Until now the primary example of that was Jean and Rico, with a very “Tool/Master” relationship. It was very professional in nature, with Rico knowing and being completely OK with this arrangement. Here though with Elsa and Lauro, we are shown a relationship of extremes. One of obsession and utter disinterest, both taking elements of prior relationships to terrible extremes. To be frank? It’s pretty damn interesting.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 9 [Lycoris Radiata Herb (Cluster Amaryllis)] – Throwback Thursday” →

Another week another slightly late Throwback Thursday post of Gunslinger Girl! I really need to get my schedule figured out, but for now lets talk about child soldiers. This week we get another standalone episode, and for all the issues that brings it was an interesting look at the Brother Sister relationship. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, this was another weird week for Gunslinger Girl. Once again we are given a standalone episode that has absolutely nothing to with the greater terrorist plot. It could have slotted in anywhere in the story and done the exact same thing, it feels disjointed from the series primary plot. That said though, it was a really good episode. In fact I would go so far as to say that these one-off stories are Gunslinger Girl’s best episodes. The focus on the Brother/Sister relationship and look at its overall life cycle was great. I loved in particular how it started us with Henrietta. Showing us her concerns on the subject before switching over to Angelica, who is nearly at the end of her cybernetic lifespan. Its a good look into the final fate that awaits our cast, even if it doesn’t slot neatly into the overall story.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 8 [Il Principe del Regno Della Pasta (The Prince of the Pasta Kingdom)] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all to the halfway point of Gunslinger Girls! This week we go to Florence, appreciate some art and shoot some bad guys. All in a days work for a child soldier really. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Start off I want to talk about Gunslinger Girls production a bit, because I think it looked pretty good. For instance just like last week Gunslinger Girls opened dramatically, with a beautiful shot of Florence. Having been there myself, the opening on the Duomo made it immediately obvious where we were. The Fountain of Neptune only adding to that, setting the scene/location really well. On top of the setting though Gunslinger Girls also nailed the gunfights this episode. Every shot felt crispy and clean, managing to really bring you into the scene. The only real complaint I have about the episode production wise would have to be the cars. I understand that cars can be hard, what with the rapidly moving backgrounds and portraying momentum. At times however they felt like still 2D images sliding into one another and it really took me out of the moment.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 7 [Protezione (Protection)] – Throwback Thursday” →

This week on Gunslinger Girl we finally dive into some plot, kill some terrorists and Henrietta gets some ice cream. What more could you ask for in a week? So without further ado lets dive in, and apologies for the delay, busy day.

Starting off I want to bring up Gunslinger Girls production again, as that was a big selling point initially. The animation in the first episode was fantastic, from the falling bullets to Henrietta’s movements. Sadly that hasn’t really carried through the rest of the episodes. It’s not terrible, but most of the time Gunslinger Girl lacks the same… oomph it had early on. However as if to offset that, this episode really upped the cinematography. The opening segment with the trains in particular caught my attention. Without a word, Gunslinger Girl managed to setup the bomb and the two trains fantastically. Heightening the tension, letting one pass but the bomb tick on before throwing another train coming from the opposite direction. Will this one pass? What about another? When will the bomb blow? It was a fantastic introduction to the episode and its plot.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 6 [Gelato (Ice Cream)] – Throwback Thursday” →

Another week, another episode of Gunslinger Girl, and another new cast member is introduced. This week we get another Brother/Sister pair, a deeper look into the Agency and just a bit of tragedy. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off I want to explain where I am at with Gunslinger Girl. Because you see, I think I’ve had the wrong idea of what exactly this show is. After the first episode I was expecting a crime thriller of some kind, a character driven pew pew shootemup with morally questionable children. And so as we worked through these last 4 episodes I ended each one thinking “Great, when does the plot start?”. As many of you have told me, this was clearly a mistake. That isn’t what Gunslinger Girl is about, shooting guns is just a consequence of the setting. Rather Gunslinger Girl is about… well, the girls and those watching over them. About their relationships and how they interact with each other. I want to say its almost episodic in nature, but who knows where it will go. As for me, I’m just along for the ride now.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 5 [Promessa (Promise)] – Throwback Thursday” →

Another week, another episode of Gunslinger Girl. This week marks more of the same for our child soldiers, which is both a blessing and a curse. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Now like I said, this week is very similar to the last two. It’s a character focused episode, this time dialing in on Triela and her own relationship with the Agency. However while this is interesting on the macro level, its always nice to learn about our characters, as a viewer I am starting to lose engagement. 4 episodes in it feels like all we are doing is getting info dumps on these characters, rather than moving forward any sort of plot. Gunslinger Girl has taught us about Henrietta, Rico, Triela and their brothers, but it hasn’t really challenged them in any way. It hasn’t set anything in motion, it just feels like they are existing in this world and nothing more. So while these individual episodes are nice, I just wish/hope they tie into a larger plot moving forward. That said, onto details!

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 4 [Bambola (Doll)] – Throwback Thursday” →

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.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 3 [Ragazzo (Boy)] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all to episode 2 of Gunslinger Girl! Where last week gave us a fair bit of action and gunfights, this week we slow it down and get to know our characters. There is a lot worth talking about so strap in!

Alright let’s get the negatives out of the way first, because there was really only one. And to be frank, I really have no idea why Gunslinger Girl did this. A stylistic choice perhaps, but I could do without the 5 minute opening recap. Maybe they wanted to reintroduce us to the scene, since this episode primarily takes place in the middle of episode 1. In that sense, it’s not a bad idea to reintroduce us to how episode 1 started. However we didn’t need 5 fulls minutes of that, just give us a quick rewind or something. Considering the themes and ideas Gunslinger Girl is trying to tackle, you’d think it would trust its audience to be smart. To be able to follow along between episodes, especially considering how sudden it treats some of its flashbacks. Let’s just hope this isn’t going to be a consistent thing.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 2 [Orione (Orion)] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all to the new season of Throwback Thursday, this time featuring Gunslinger Girl! Anime is well known for it’s loli’s, and well known for gratuitous violence, but what about gratuitous loli violence? That is a sentence I never thought I would write, but here we are, so without further ado lets jump in!

Starting off, lets talk visuals, because I am a bit mixed on Gunslinger Girl. Animation wise, it’s great. Once everything starts moving, guns start shooting and characters get running, everything is smooth. The big standout here was of course Henrietta’s gunfight near the end of the episode. Firing, shells hitting the ground, bullets hitting the environment, reloading, it all looked great. I also like the expressiveness on characters such as Giuse, I understood his emotions throughout the episode just from his face. But that brings me to the character designs, which I’m less enthused about. They aren’t bad, they just felt sort of.. flat? Washed out? I can’t tell if it’s the emotionless eyes or perhaps I just need to dial back after the colorful nature of Princess Tutu. Because it reminds me a lot of anime like Monster, which I love dearly. I suppose we will see moving forward.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 1 [Fratello] – Throwback Thursday” →