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Posted (edited)

gunslinger.jpgtv-14.gif

Gunslinger Girl ( ガンスリンガー・ガール )

Madhouse Studios/MediaWorks/Marvelous Entertainment/Fuji TV/Bandai Visual, 2003

FUNimation (Projected Release Date: Late-2004)

Directed by Morio Asaka (Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits).

Rated TV-14 scenes of minors killing people with guns.

"The girl has a mechanical body. However, she is still an adolescent child."

"Henrietta" was an innocent little girl when her entire family was massacred and she was left for dead. She was rescued by a privately-owned social welfare organization and given cybernetic components over her battered body. Brainwashed by the organization, she and four other girls now work as cold-blooded assassins.

Story: A-

Reminiscent of Luc Besson's 1990 masterpiece La Femme Nikita and the 2000 runaway anime hit NOIR, Gunslinger Girl captures the essence of the European spy thriller. The major twist is children killing others like trained professionals. Gun afficionados will want to pick this title up, especially the first episode where Henrietta cleans house with an FNP90.

Animation: A+

Madhouse (Ninja Scroll, The Animatrix) is no stranger to ultra-violence, and they do an excellent job animating Gunslinger Girl's hard-boiled shootouts. Hisashi Abe's (Chobits, Aquarian Age) character designs completely shine throught the series.

Soundtrack: A+

Toshihiko Sahashi's European-style jazz/orchestra score is arguably his best work since The Big O. Add the opening theme, "The Light Before We Land" by The Delgados, and you have a soundtrack worth adding to your playlist.

Cast

Gunslinger Girl features Yuka Nanri (Mao in Macross Zero) as Henrietta, Kanako Mitsuhashi (Killua in Hunter X Hunter) as Rico, Eri Sendai (Yuki in Neo-Ranga) as Triela, Ami Koshimizu (Ashita no Nadja) as Claes, and Hitomi Terakado (Hanon in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch) as Angelica.

The Bottom Line

Gunslinger Girl can and will offend PTA groups, but who cares? It still kicks ass!

Links

Official Gunslinger Girl Homepage (Japanese)

Reference

Anime News Network

Edited by areaseven
Posted
Need to see this one. I hear the manga's been picked up for US release, but I don't know by whom. I also hear that's it's really depressing.

ADV has the manga and it will be in stores next month.

Hopefully, they won't screw this one up like Azumanga Daioh...

Posted
ADV has the manga and it will be in stores next month.

Hopefully, they won't screw this one up like Azumanga Daioh...

One can hope, but I won't be holding my breath.

Posted

With a review like THAT A7 I gotta pick this series up.........(and I haven't picked up anything new in months) :ph34r:

Posted
Which codec are you using for this? All I get is a green square with a few pixilated parts on it. :(

Sound seems to work...

have you tried the newest xvid build?

Posted

No - the only time I ever really update is when the new Mac Zero comes out and I find I can't play it. Otherwise I don't really follow it too much. :lol:

Guess I'll have to go out looking for this, heh :blink:

Otherwise, I did find a download from Ani-Kraze in a format I could play, but only Ep 1.

It's strange to see the hip things change from time to time in Japan - lots of recent releases have had a definete French influence, especially names and such.

I'm assuming that it was Spanish for the title song, no? That's the closest I could get just by reading the grammer anyway.

Posted

well for anyone who hasn't seen ep2 dont get your hopes up. for some inexplicable reason nearly 1/2 the episode is a recap of ep1 :( the remaining bits fill in the continuity from the first story. so in essence i view eps 1 and 2 as just 1 episode. hopefully this wont be the trend for the remaining 11 eps.

Posted
well for anyone who hasn't seen ep2 dont get your hopes up. for some inexplicable reason nearly 1/2 the episode is a recap of ep1 :( the remaining bits fill in the continuity from the first story. so in essence i view eps 1 and 2 as just 1 episode. hopefully this wont be the trend for the remaining 11 eps.

That's what happens when an anime series has a budget of US$12,000 per episode.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I caught eps 1 & 2 last night. The animation was excellent, as we've come to expect from Madhouse. The story was intriguing, but the extended recap of the first episode was a little weird. It was almost like I was watching episode 1.5, but I'm still interested nonetheless. For those who've seen it, is the manga any good? Which came first, the anime or the manga?

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Just finished watching episode 3. This one focuses on another girl by the codename of "Rico." And this is a rather sad episode. Can't wait for the other episodes.

BTW, which fansub are you guys downloading? I'm currently watching the Triad version.

Posted
BTW, which fansub are you guys downloading? I'm currently watching the Triad version.

i have 3 or 4 different versions. i'll sort out which one to keep at the end of the series.

Posted

you find them to be pretty competant subbers?

from watching alot and listening to japanese alot, i kind of can tell which groups are just pulling it out their butts. for example, anime junkies would regularly translate things in direct opposition to all otehr sub groups. the zhentarim just copies the english dialogue in things like tenchi and i'm pretty sure noir. animeone and anbu, almost always, everyone in the subbing community agrees that they are on top.

i love rice box and live evil too.

and i couldnt have gotten a better version of bebop than soldats.

Posted

well i do not know japanese. i can not tell if one group does a better job of translating then another. if i can follow along and the dialog matches up with the action on screen then i'm satisfied unless told otherwise. i cant complain about the quality of the a/v so yes i do think they are competant.

i agree the old r-b was quite good. onigiri is very good as well.

Posted

On the subject of fansub groups:

Triad - It's common knowledge that nobody's perfect, but the Triad (NewLife Anime, Ishin Digital and Anime-Fansubs) are pretty close. If you've seen the Azumanga Daioh fansubs, you'll know what I mean. I have yet to see a major flaw in any of Triad's fansubs. Current choice for Gunslinger Girl, Narutaru, Popotan and Ultra Maniac.

AnimeOne - They weren't exactly perfect with Macross Zero. Along with most of the other fansub groups, AonE's translation of Sara's song "Arkan" was wrong. Also, on episode 2, they used the word "Battloid" instead of "Battroid." Still, they're very respectable. Recent downloads include Wonderful Days, Peace Maker Kurogane and Sentou Yousei Yukikaze.

Rice-Box - Not as good as the Triad, but up there. Downloaded majority of Stellvia from them.

Anime-Keep - I've been getting a lion's share of fansubs from them. Their translations and subtitles are very consistent and easy on the eyes. They're currently my choice for Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Scrapped Princess, Grappler Baki, Onegai Twins and Maburaho. I'm just surprised that they decided not to fansub Macross Zero.

Infusion - I was impressed with their Macross Zero and Lupin III fansubs. But right now, they don't have titles I'm interested in.

Other Fansub Groups Worth Mentioning

Anime-In-Action (GaoGaiGar, Macross 7)

Hikari no Kiseki (Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar, Bottle Fairy)

HQA (Air Master, Urda)

Ishin Digital (Green Green, Asagiri no Miko)

LightShock (Metal Armor Dragonar)

NewLife Anime (Tsukihime)

NYO Coalition (Di Gi Charat Nyo)

Solar Fansubs (Gundam EVOLVE, RahXephon OVA)

#TV-Nihon (Kamen Rider 555, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon)

  • 6 months later...
Posted

Interesting news, A7. I never would have thought that Gunslinger Girl would be something Funimation would pick up. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they don't butcher the DVDs. And speaking of butchery, the cuts that would be necessary to air Gunslinger Girl on Cartoon Network would likely make it nearly unwatchable.

Posted
Is that an SPV Druganov in that girl's hands?! (bottom left) My favorite rifle!

Yes it is. Isn't Rico cool? ;)

Hurry up and make the sequel already!

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