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.
Gunslinger Girl did a fantastic job of setting up and showing all of this visually as well. There were so many clever directorial tricks used to communicate information. Take for instance the two way mirror, established early on in the scene. Almost every shot is centered around that mirror, focusing not on Henrietta or Angelica but the handlers behind it. Telling us how intently they are watching this scene. On top of that Gunslinger Girl also only focused on Henrietta’s reflection whenever she was talking to the doctor, visually showing us that she is lying be giving us only her reflection while also communicating how intently she is being watched. These sorts of decisions, like the focuses on the Pasta story or Angelica’s face when trying to remember something, are all over the episode. It might not have been fantastically animated but it was fantastically directed.
Meanwhile as I said above, the episode specific story was quite good as well. Gunslinger Girls opened slowly by showing us Henrietta and the trainers. Having them fawn-over her, talking about taking them away to ballet or football, etc. Things that could be easily passed off as jokes. Only as the scene progressed and we see them become more and more serious. As Henrietta begins to question her memory, as Angelica arrives and it all falls into place. It was great work characterizing the rest of this agency, of showing that they all do care for these girls on some level and would love nothing more than to get them out of there. As far as Gunslinger Girls goes, it was one of the best created and delivered scenes of the series so far and did a tremendous amount of work setting up the rest of the episode.
For proof, we need look no further than Angelica herself. In a single scene Gunslinger Girl established where she was, Henrietta, and where she is now/Henrietta will be. Her and Marco’s relationship is one built on mutual care and trust after all, with Marco clearly caring for her coming to see her as more than just his cyborg. So to see this relationship grow, while also seeing its current sad state, made for a great juxtaposition. It makes sense on Marco’s side to, as we see the Angelica he came to know and care for just… stop existing. Yes her personality is somewhat there, the body is there, but is it still the same girl her trained? Its something people deal with now, though primarily in older family members. So to turn that on its head here with a more father/daughter relationship worked really well.
Angelica also showed us how far the cyborg program has come, as it was said she was the first. Or if not the first, one of them. She is the progenitor of all of our current leads. The one who paved the way for their own implants and their work. It was very interesting to see the sort of infighting that can happen with such an untested agency. How they fill their time, how they got their start/grew and eventually became what they are today. The episode might not tie into the overarching terrorist plot at all, but it does provide a lot of good background information on the agency itself.
All in all, Gunslinger Girl was pretty good this week. I am still concerned about how the overarching terrorist plot is going to work of course. I want to see how that gets resolved, whether or not we will get any complete story. But as far as episodic and individual stories go, Gunslinger Girl is doing a great job. If nothing else I will be able to look back on episodes like this and think the time spent watching it was well worth it.
