There are many anime that are well known out there and that's understandable. A lot of people know of "Dragon Ball Z," "Naruto" and "One Piece." However, there are definitely anime out there that deserve the same or even more recognition because of how different they are from the traditional anime that is seen by many. There are many titles slightly hidden from the popular reign of the so many well-known titles out there. "Gunslinger Girl" is one of these titles and with that there are three reasons to watch "Gunslinger Girl."
1) The storyline
Without spoiling anything, it's about this Social Welfare Agency run by the Italian government. It's like a military organization that used to counteract terrorists. However, different than other agencies like this, the agency takes the dying and severely injured girls, and have them go through this operation of changes. "Young girls who have experienced traumatic and near-death experiences fitted with cybernetic implants as agents. The implants, which consist of synthesized muscles and carbon fiber frames, result in heightened strength and reflexes as well as high resilience to damage and pain." (Wikipedia)
The girls are conditioned to be professional 'weapons' to use at their own will. Each girl is paired with an adult male trainer and they call this pair Fratello, which is the Italian word for sibling or brother. This trainer trains her in his unique way to do the tasks in which the agency wants them to do. However, the trainer chooses how much conditioning she gets. "A common part of each girl's regimen is brainwashing called "conditioning", which produces a deadly assassin with unquestioning loyalty to her handler but, if used excessively, also limits her life span." (Wikipedia) Each Fratello has a unique speed of progression because each handler/trainer is different. However, all of them have the ultimate goal of having an independent Northern Italy.
2) The Italian scenery and culture
This anime of course has a setting in Italy, so not only are the episodes named by Italian words and phrases, but there is also a lot of Italian scenery shown in the episodes (mostly in the later episodes than the first few). This anime is the first I've seen with so much Italian in it, so it's interesting to me especially because I'm Italian and I haven't been to Italy before.
The scenery is so beautiful and it just makes you want to be there as well in some episodes. However even if you don't necessarily care about that, the art style is very similar to the manga so its pleasing on the eyes. And doesn't distract from the seriousness, of the story line. But I feel that culture does add to the story a lot, especially because the fratello move around from place to place to take down certain targets and find out certain information. If you just watch the first few episodes, you'll surely understand what I mean by that.
3) The different characters
The character build-up is very mysterious to the fact that it reminds me of 'Orange is the New Black' style of character development. In which they had flashbacks to the moments that got them into jail, however much different of course. Most of the flashbacks are from the traumatic experiences the girls faced before the agency. Most of the characters that the audience grows attachment for are the cyborg girls of course, Henrietta, Rico, Cleas and Angelica are the main ones from the beginning. And their handlers, Jose
It's interesting to see the story and characters develop and wonder what they are going to to next. Personally, my favorite characters are Jose and Henrietta. But all the characters have an interesting back story and unique personalities.
Overall, the anime Gunslinger girl is a anime that i feel should be more praised and watched than it is currently. It's full of action mystery and as great characters and a story. It should be admired and watched just as much as all the other popular anime, if not more than others. Like many other anime it's eye catching, interesting to watch. However, I just haven't seen any other anime like this. I guarantee you won't regret watching it.
