Gunslinger Girl was one of those anime that stuck with you for a long time…got under your skin, if you will, in the same way that all good art does. It’s probably a stretch to compare, say, Michelangelo’s David with an anime about secret cybernetic government assassins. And who happen to be little girls. But art is art, no matter the form, and Gunslinger Girl’s impact went far beyond its sci-fi/anime trappings and into the realm of aesthetics and beauty. The sequel, , doesn’t approach the technical mastery of the first series (the animation, in particular, has taken a huge hit), but still manages to pack a lot of emotional punch.
The uninitiated would do well to track down a copy of the first 12 episodes, which remain the true masterpiece. The Social Welfare Agency, as it is euphemistically called by the Italian government, uses high technology to rescue terminally ill young girls and give them new cybernetic bodies. Being saved from death has its price, as the girls become assassins, complete with Bourne-style psychological conditioning, weapons training, and a handler assigned particularly to them. These teams, known as fratello, then eliminate targets determined dangerous to the state. As in the first series, Il Teatrino fully comprehends the atrocity of turning an innocent little girl into a compulsive killer, but unlike the first doesn’t quite milk it for all it’s worth.
This being fictionalized Italy, mafia-type enemies can be found behind every tree, but the chief antagonist of Il Teatrino is a separatist group known as the Five Republics Faction (FRF). Central to this story are Triela, the best of the cyborg girls whose brittle psyche can’t handle failure, and an assassin for the FRF known ironically as Pinocchio, a young man who manages to beat Triela in combat and shares many of the same qualities. The action of the plot serves as a background on which to paint a series of interconnected stories about the price of revenge, what it means to be human, and the responsibility of a parent.
Heavy sounding stuff, I know. Don’t worry—Il Teatrino at its heart is a fast-paced action-spy movie, but with lyrical qualities. But just like the first go ‘round, Il Teatrino takes just enough time to pause to think about the implications of its subject matter—so much the better. While it may not be David, or even the first GG, it’s certainly well-executed art, despite a reduction in animation quality and a more heavy-handed style.
score 8.5 out of ten
verdict A solid sequel to the mastery of the first series, with a more focused story that comes at the expense of animation and character development.
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