Ask John: What’s John’s Opinion of the Gunslinger Girl Anime?

Question:
I’ve heard bits and pieces about the current TV anime Gunslinger Girl. It seems to follow the same kind of route as Noir with the European settings. Could you tell us what you know of it, especially with regards to the quality of artwork and animation?

Answer:
Gunslinger Girl was a 13 episode TV series broadcast on Japanese television between October 8, 2003 and February 18, 2004. The series was adapted from the ongoing manga serial by Yu Aida. Unlike Noir, which is a mystery/suspense story revolving around a pair of female assassins for hire, Gunslinger Girl is the story of a small European governmental agency that trains and employs biomechanically enhanced adolescent girls to perform politically motivated assassinations and other covert missions. In my personal opinion, the animation series is a frustrating amalgamation of brilliance and unexplored potential. With a budget of nearly $100,000 per episode, there are few recent anime TV series that are as visually impressive as Gunslinger Girl. Nearly theatrical quality animation, distinctive character designs and crisp background art make the series compelling aesthetic viewing. But unfortunately writing that lacks pacing and story and character development seriously hinder the show’s expressive ability. Because the series storytelling is so sparse, it’s difficult to tell if the show is aimless or intentionally trying to express a sense of existential transience. The show’s first 9 episodes are all self-contained stories that continue to introduce new characters and give viewers a continuing look at the daily lives of the characters. The final four episodes consist of two, two episode long story arcs. This structure results in the Gunslinger Girl anime having very little continuity from episode to episode. Tension aroused in one episode is resolved in the same episode so that there’s never a feeling of growth or progress throughout the show. Unlike Noir, which was an action drama, Gunslinger Girl is not an action oriented show. The action scenes, when they occur, are thrilling but brief, and frequently seem like an interruption of the dramatic focus of the show rather than a climactic event. Furthermore, the characters themselves never develop nor learn anything from experience. The characters in the final episode are the same as those introduced in the first episode. No relationships have been significantly strengthened; no one has gained from experience. The end result for the viewer is that the series seems pointless; attractive, but insubstantial.

Sadly, the adult instructors in the series, even after seeing unmistakable evidence of the effect their actions have on their adopted little sisters, fail to respond to their dependants in any productive way. If this is an intentional indictment of the cruelty of adulthood, or an intended illustration of the emotional distance between human beings, it fails because neither point is ever implied. In my own analysis, the fact that I’m able to interpret possible meanings from the show is, in this case, not a positive; it’s a desperate measure to extract some meaning from an anime series that seems to be pointless. Because it’s so underwritten and undeveloped, the Gunslinger Girl anime never creates any empathy between the viewer and the characters. The young girls hint that they’re unhappy, but overtly claim to be satisfied with their lives. Since we’re never given any additional evidence either way, the viewer is left in apathy. Occasionally the series is exciting, and occasionally we feel pity or sympathy for the girls, but instead of mining those reactions and involving viewers in the events depicted, the series simply discards whatever brief instances of empathy it creates by introducing a new character, or simply not continuing to develop that effective instance.

In summation, the Gunslinger Girl anime reflects the girls it stars. It’s attractive to look at, but it has no personality nor depth nor meaning. Like a piece of ice, or glass, it exists and reflects back whatever you choose to see in it or interpret from it; but within itself there’s just an emptiness where better writing would have placed an emotionally resonant or morally challenging or philosophically engaging core.