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!
As I said, this week was entirely Triela focused, another exploration of the relationship between cyborgs and their handlers. Previously we have seen Jose and Henrietta, a more classic “Brother/Sister” setup, while last week we saw Rico and Jean, the “Tool/Owner” relationship. Gunslinger Girl then reinforced both of those with Jean beating Rico and Jose treating Henrietta. This week introduced us to a third sort of relationship with Triela and Hirscher, the “Father/Daughter” relationship. Gunslinger Girl actually did a great job of showing this, rather than explaining it. Triela acted like a rebellious teenager while Hirscher acted like a father who didn’t know how to handle his child. He clearly cares, as we saw at the end with his explanation that he doesn’t know what she wants, along with his reticence to “conditioning” her. This is made even clearer as we learn about Hircher’s backstory.
How Hirscher met Mario, letting him go for information on a child trafficking ring. It sets him up as a good person who is willing to break the rules if he believes its the right thing to do. Delving into some future theory crafting here, if any of the current cast would “betray” the Agency, I think Hirscher and Triela are the most likely. The more I see, the more I figure Henrietta can’t. She is our central lead and having her fight Triela would be an emotional sequence for her. Meanwhile Triela seems like the most “human” of the girls, the most likely to go along with it. She has her period, Hirscher refuses to condition her more and she appears to be the oldest as well. Of them all, she seems the most likely to resist. This is all speculation however, so lets get back to the episode.
Getting back to Triela, Gunslinger Girl also did a fair job of working Mario into her plot as well. It’s a bit convenient for him to be involved to be frank. But it isn’t like Gunslinger Girl didn’t put in the work to earn that. Setting up that Hirscher knows him, and that’s why he was sent. How Mario connects back to why Hirscher joined the Agency in the first place, the child trafficking ring, etc. Gunslinger Girl even worked in a father/daughter plot with Mario, on the run and not being able to see his, connecting it back to Hirscher and Triela. All in all, as a stand alone episode, it was pretty good. We had action, heartwarming character moments and we learned a lot about Triela. I just hope that Gunslinger Girl manages to work it all into the main narrative, and soon.
So all in all, how was Gunslinger Girl this week? Well as I said above, as an independent episode, I think it works well. Everything was presented so clearly, I barely had anything to write about this week. I am only concerned about how it works into the show as a whole. Because if we are continuously given these one off character focused episodes, but we never actually see the characters working/interacting together in a meaningful sense… why bother? Gunslinger Girl has spent a third of its episodes on introduction, and it is high time we moved past that. Because if I have to sit through another character backstory I might start to wonder if Gunslinger Girl is episodic or not.
From what I remember, it did start off as episodic but began to develop an actual plot halfway through, so you may need to be patient on that one. But this is just based on my own memories from years ago, so they may be serving me poorly.
So long as it happens, I will be happy. Don’t get me wrong, these character episodes are good individually. I just don’t think they add together for much just yet. Gunslinger Girl is making a lot of promises right now that all of this will be relevant down the line. If it fulfills those, then great! If not, probably gonna lose some people.