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.
Story wise this episode both fits into the last, yet doesn’t. It’s a separate story in that it has absolutely nothing to do with the bomb makers or the train attacks. They didn’t lead into this one with the last episode at all. However it still connects to the overarching plot with the Republic by having Filippo know what the next plot, aside from just having the ledger. It’s clear that Gunslinger Girl is building into a much larger political plot with this Republic. So much so that I doubt we are going to actually finish it this season, and since I know there is a second season I know for a fact they don’t. This is a little sad, one of the best things about Throwback Thursday is how the shows are typically complete story wise. If Gunslinger Girl can nail a satisfying ending however, it should be fine.
Meanwhile as a standalone story it was quite fun. A classic sort of spy thing, saving the witness while deceiving them, keeping them in the dark as long as possible etc. Gunslinger Girl did a great job setting all of this up, starting in the plaza and having Jean and Rico introduce themselves as effectively tourists. Giving us 3 separate factions that are all working against each other to secure Filippo. I just wish that the Republic side had been more… effective? Perhaps show them working with the gang, or fighting the gang since they are all competing for Filippo. As it is they are dealt with in the opening segment of the episode and just don’t come off as all that competent. You could perhaps say the early phone calls were to the aforementioned gang, but that still doesn’t resolve the agent’s themselves incompetence.
As for characters, Filippo was interesting and I hope we see more of him. I enjoyed his passion for art and his dreams of being an artist, his story of how he fell into being an accountant for a gang. I especially liked how Gunslinger Girls contrasted him to our leads. How he had given up on his dreams, going on about how fewer options adults have compared to children. All the while talking to Rico, a child with no options who can never be anything more than an assassin. Add on to that her small speech at the end about his death being a waste, implying she knew how few options she had, and it made for some good stuff. I always love it when Gunslinger Girls contrasts the situation these girls are in to everyday normal people, using it to drive home what their lives are like.
All in all it was another solid episode from Gunslinger Girls. I’m not in love with it yet, the series hasn’t caught my imagination nor truly invested me emotionally in what is happening. It comes across as very… forward and matter-of-fact in how it presents a lot of information, without much in the way of “style”. However its been an interesting ride so far and if nothing else I am enjoying the jabs at governments, their use of children and the general concept of child soldiers as a whole. A series in a similar situation for me was actually Monster, a fantastic crime drama with a very similar visual style to Gunslinger Girl. And just like Gunslinger Girl I remember not being particularly interested in it until all its cards where on the table and it was firing on all cylinders. Maybe Gunslinger Girl is waiting to do that to.
