Gunslinger Girl (Review)

One of my good friends lent me this last month and I must say I'm glad he did. It's about a branch of the Italian government that runs a specialized assassination squad. Believe it or not, the assassins are little girls, taken from life or death situations and controlled with chemical and psychological conditioning which grants them with extreme levels of strength and agility. The girls are led by Adult handlers that guide them in operations against terrorists and the mafia.

Gunslinger Girls is a different type of show, the closest genre I can associated it with is an action drama. The show's more focused on the drama than action, largely because everything that plays out is incredibly serious and things are rarely ever funny. Everything is character-driven and that along with various relationships and attitudes of the main characters really succeeded in sucking me into their world. The girls never find their situations troubling, regardless of their conditioning, since all of them have been rescued from worse, and their relationships with their adult handlers are varied and intriguing and thankfully never reach a disturbing level except for an excellent and tearful two-parter that hits all the right notes. The only slight downside I can find to the show is that there isn't any sort of distinguishable story arc here. It's largely just a brief glimpse into the lives of special little girls. It's truly a wonderful series and though it's may not be for everybody, it at least deserves a look.