Review for Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino Complete Season 2 Box Set (2 Discs)

Introduction

I loathed Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino when I first saw it. It's one of the shows that Funimation streamed to the UK way back when, and as I think that the first Gunslinger Girl series is one of the best anime series ever made, I was all over the sequel like a bad rash. And because I think the first series is so awesome, it was practically inevitable that I would find the second series to be a disappointment in comparison. It would be like trying to catch lightning twice. Besides, Il Teatrino comes from a different production company, Artland, has a different Japanese voice actor cast, and isn't actually a sequel at all, but a re-imagining of the story. What's notable about Il Teatrino is that the creator of the Gunslinger Girl manga, Yu Aida took a far more hands on approach when it came to his involvement in the series. I guess you could call this show his definitive vision. I do recall that in this instance, first impressions didn't count, and my opinion of the show ameliorated the more I saw of it. Time has also mitigated my estimation, and now when I think of Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino, I think of the positive aspects more than the negative. I guess that this would make it the perfect time to revisit the series, which is convenient, as Manga Entertainment are now releasing the show on DVD.


Note that while some retailers are listing the show as a complete release, with the OVA episodes on a third disc, I only received the two series check discs to review. I e-mailed Manga about this, and they tell me that the OVA will now be released separately at a later date.

If the concept of little girls with guns offends you, then look away now, as Gunslinger Girl probably isn't for you. It's the sort of thorny subject that invites comment and criticism from all quarters, as well as vituperative rants from Daily Mail readers. It also makes for good movies like Leon and Kick Ass. It's not the subject itself, but how you handle it that matters, and the first Gunslinger Girl series handled it spectacularly. The Il Teatrino series is based on the same material, so you can expect a similar approach to the subject.


The Social Welfare Agency is an Italian government organisation that takes critically ill young girls and turns them into cyborgs, trained in assassination. They are paired up with handlers who guide them through their missions, and are set forth to do the government's dirty work. In Il Teatrino, the focus shifts from the cyborgs and the handlers to the foes that they face. This time it's about the conflict that arises between the Social Welfare Agency and the Five Republics Faction terrorist group that is looking to implement its desire for the disintegration of the Italian state by any means. This time it will be a more personal conflict, between the fratello of Triela and Hirscher, and the young F.R.F. assassin named Pinocchio. Thirteen episodes of Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino are presented across two discs.


Disc One
1. Distance Between Two: Brother and Sister
2. Pinocchio
3. Simulacra
4. Angelica's Return
5. Evanescence and Reminiscence
6. Retirement of the Tibetan Terrier
7. Caterina and the Circle of Revenge

Disc Two
8. A Day in the Life of Claes
9. Clever Snake, Simple Pigeon
10. Flowers Of Goodwill
11. Budding Feelings
12. The Fighting Puppet
13. And So Pinocchio Becomes Human

Picture

Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, something of a rarity for television anime, which usually get a fuller 1.78:1 ratio. Theatrical though the ratio may be, there's nothing cinematic about the image, which sadly is an NTSC-PAL standards conversion. It's not a bad one; certainly issues like ghosting and a lack of resolution are kept to a minimum, while judder is absent. The image is clear and sharp enough throughout, and the animation comes across well.


The major nitpicks will come once you start comparing it to the first series. It's no contest really, the first series was animated by the brilliance that is Studio Madhouse after all, with a singular, melancholy style and subdued but emotive character designs. That show just oozed budget and quality. Studio Artland (Mushi-shi) animated Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino, and the results are markedly different, with a lower budget the first thing that hits you. The artwork is simpler, less nuanced, the character designs take a major knock, the overall frame rate of the animation is lower (in the first episode particularly there are corners cut by shaking a camera in front of static image to imply frenetic action), and the colour palette is a lot brighter and generic. Compared to the first series it is simpler, cheaper, less detailed and run of the mill. But it does do enough to tell the story, and there are still moments in the show that do stand out. Also, in a reverse to the usual way of doing things, it is the earlier episodes that suffer most from cut corners, the concluding episode of the series features some really engaging and dynamic animation.

Sound

You have a choice of DD 5.1 English, and DD 2.0 Japanese, along with optional subtitles and a signs only track. As always, I opted for the original language track, which for me this time was a disappointment. The show has been recast, and there is a completely different approach to the dub, making the young androids girlier and generic anime clichés. It lacks the subtlety and nuance of the original series, and it does take a lot of getting used to. In contrast, with the exception of Hirscher, the English dub cast return to voice the same characters as they did in the first series. As their approach to the girls was initially perkier than their Japanese counterparts, you'll find a lot more continuity between seasons in the English dub. The surround is unremarkable, but effective enough.


Where Il Teatrino has the edge over the first series, and quite unexpectedly is in the theme songs. The first series had some awesome music, with 'The Light Before We Land, and Dopo Il Sogno' perfect accompaniments to the show. I wouldn't have though that they could be bettered, but Il Teatrino's themes, 'Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi' and 'Doll' actually suit the story better. The incidental music in Il Teatrino is more variable, with some themes pretty thin, and others of the same high quality as the first series. Episode 8 ends in an Engrish rendition of Scarborough Fair, but for the English dub, it was re-recorded, so both versions are on this disc.

Extras

Both discs get static menus, and jacket pictures for capable players to display when the discs aren't spinning. All of the extra features however are on disc 2.

The most substantial is the Japanese Cast Interview - Marco, which lasts 21 minutes. In it, the voice of Angelica, Kana Hanazawa presents the show, and she, ostensibly interviews the voice of her character's handler, Kazuki Yao (Marco). I say ostensibly, as it's more of a free for all, as the pair discusses their characters and the show, as well as have a fair bit of fun as well. This is Part 2 of a five part series, Funimation obviously didn't licence all of the Japanese extras, but you will find another part on the OVA disc. For the other three segments, you'll have to import the Japanese DVDs, all seven of them, and learn to speak Japanese.


Also in the extras are 4 minutes worth of Original TV Commercials, the first version of the textless opening 'Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi'; incorrectly labelled as the 2nd textless opening, but actually the ending is 'Doll'; the textless closing for episode 8, 'Scarborough Fair' (you get the Funimation version or Japanese version depending on your audio options), and the 5 minute textless closing for episode 13, 'Human'.

Conclusion

This is my second time watching Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino, and I find that once again, my reaction to the show follows the same path of initial loathing that quickly turns to enjoyment, appreciation, and even warm affection by the time the end credits roll on the final episode. Again, it's probably because I had last watched the original Gunslinger Girl, and had it in my mind for comparison that I felt this way. Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino isn't a patch on that first series, and having seen that first series, it would be hard not to draw comparison, and critically whine about all the things that Il Teatrino is not.


Il Teatrino certainly doesn't have the budget, the animation quality, or the voice actor performances (Japanese) of the first series. The production values are markedly lower, and although Il Teatrino is the more recent production, it actually feels five or six years older. More tellingly, Il Teatrino doesn't have the same storytelling style, the depressed autumnal palette of colours; it doesn't have the amazing soundtrack that the first series had. The first Gunslinger Girl show was an anime designed to break your heart. It presented you with an awful, impossible situation, where terminally ill, or severely injured girls were brought back to health by using advanced cybernetics, but were then conditioned physically and mentally to become assassins for the state. They were brainwashed into becoming utterly devoted to their handlers, resulting in probably some of the most tortured and tragic relationships in anime. What made it utterly heartbreaking was that these girls were for the most part aware of their circumstances, they realised that the emotions they felt were forced on them by design, but were victim to those feelings anyway. Narrative was never really Gunslinger Girl's strong suit, but it excelled in creating character through emotion, and it became a singular experience because of that.


Il Teatrino on the other hand doesn't do character through emotion. It's far better at doing character through narrative. The story is Il Teatrino's selling point, and you could say that it outdoes the first series in that regard at least. It does try the same character through emotion approach that the first series excelled at, but with varying results. A Day in the Life of Claes for instance is pretty much a rehash of a similar episode in the first series, but without any of the emotional resonance, it feels like the show is just spinning its wheels for an episode. But then Flowers of Good Will comes along with the same approach, offering us Hirscher's back story, and it's as good an episode as any that the first series has to offer. But on the whole, Il Teatrino isn't as effective as the first series at this, primarily because it removes that introspective self-awareness from its little girl cyborg characters. These girls don't spend their free moments analysing their situations, they aren't always downbeat and subdued. Instead they can be perky, chirpy, wholesome, outgoing epitomes of the little girl anime clichés. They are like half a thousand other little girl anime characters, which is what initially sparks my loathing with episode 1. I think there is supposed to be an irony in the way that such delightful innocence contrasts with their day jobs as state assassins, but I just find it forced and less realistic.


What sells this series is the story. While the first series had its tale of assassins versus terrorists, I never really cared about it. Whatever shenanigans were going on in an episode regarding the villains, it all seemed secondary to what the cyborgs were going through. It's in Il Teatrino that you really learn what the Five Republics Faction and their supporters are about. Their plans to upset the balance of power in the country is a key element of the story, the manoeuvring that takes place in their higher echelons, the effects this has on the trio of antagonists, Pinocchio, Franco and Franca are more important than what Henrietta may be going through with Giuse in any particular episode. It's the complete reverse of the first series. Here the focus is on the story, and you'll find that it has parallel arcs to it that intersect and intertwine. On the one hand the story focuses on Triela and her handler Hirscher. On the other hand we have the F.R.F assassin Pinocchio, and there's his relationship with his 'Uncle' Cristiano, and the friendship that develops between him and the bombers Franco and Franca. The parallel between Triela and Pinocchio quickly becomes clear, both neglected and abused as children, and both rescued and rehabilitated to become killers, both becoming utterly devoted and loyal to their respective saviours, and both saviours having mixed feelings about this. They are two sides of the same coin, but fate has made them enemies. Their first encounter comes in episode 3, and it's so electrifying and dramatic, that it ensures that you will watch the series through to the end. Ultimately, Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino is a solid, well-written piece of entertainment, well worth watching.


If I do have an issue with the show, it's that I have to keep reminding myself that it isn't a sequel. It's another adaptation of the original manga source, but one that is apparently set some time after the first series takes place. Remind yourself that the two shows aren't related, and you won't be nonplussed when Angelica plays a significant part in the show, you won't be scratching your head when you see that Franco and Franca are yet to encounter the Social Welfare Agency when the show starts. Il Teatrino doesn't make it easy though, as it has flashbacks and refers to events that the first series also adapted. What makes the difference is that Il Teatrino often has a different angle on these events, or elaborates on other aspects. One of the most rewarding differences between the two, probably because of that greater focus on narrative, is that you get a lot more back story, you get to see just why Giuse's relationship with Henrietta is so fraught, and conversely why Jean is so cold to Rico, you get to see more of Marco's past and what effect working with the Social Welfare Agency has had on his personal life, and of course there is the outstanding episode that shows us Hirscher's past, and Triela's origins.


Il Teatrino has a carefully designated narrative direction to it, but it does take its time in getting to the meat of the story. It's a languid and gentle pace that may not appeal to all, but if you have the patience to stick with it, it will definitely reward. The sad thing is that Il Teatrino will always be compared to the first Gunslinger Girl series, and will always come off as second best. If that first Gunslinger Girl series did not exist, then Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino would be a great anime series, easy to recommend.