''Gunslinger Girl'' (stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in l ...

) is a Japanese manga series by Yu Aida. It began serialization on May 21, 2002 in '' Dengeki Daioh'' and ended on September 27, 2012. The chapters were also published in 15 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes by ASCII Media Works. Set in modern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, the series focuses on young cybernetic girls and their adult male handlers who use them as assassins under the directions of a government organization. The manga series is licensed for an English language release in North America by

Seven Seas Entertainment Seven Seas Entertainment is an American publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original English-language manga, but now publishes licensed manga and light novels from Japan, as w ...

. A thirteen-episode

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

adaptation produced by Madhouse aired in Japan on

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

from October 9, 2003, to February 19, 2004. A sequel titled ''Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-'' and created by

Artland is a Japanese animation studio. It has produced numerous noted anime series, including the award-winning ''Mushishi'' and epic ''Legend of the Galactic Heroes''. It is also well known for producing the anime adaptation of '' Katekyō Hitman Re ...

premiered in Japan on

Tokyo MX TV JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, N ...

on January 8, 2008. It spanned thirteen episodes, concluding on April 1, 2008. Two additional episodes were released on DVD in Japan on October 24, 2008. Funimation has licensed both anime seasons and the OVAs. In 2012, ''Gunslinger Girl'' won the Excellence Award in the 16th

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a ...

Plot

Set in Italy, ''Gunslinger Girl'' follows the exploits of the Social Welfare Agency (often referred to as simply "the Agency"), ostensibly a charitable institution sponsored by the Italian government. While the Agency professes to aid the rehabilitation of the physically injured, it is actually a military organization specializing in

counter-intelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

and

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

. It is composed of two independent branches: Public Safety, its surveillance and intelligence-gathering division, and Special Ops, the anti-terrorist division. Special Ops is itself divided into Sections 1 and 2, the latter of which employs 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 Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

frames, result in heightened strength and reflexes as well as high resilience to damage and pain. Each girl is paired with an adult male trainer, or "handler", and together they are referred to as a '' fratello'' — Italian for "brother". The handler is responsible for the training, welfare and field performance of his charge, and is free to use whatever methods he considers suitable. While these methods vary according to the handler, 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. Each ''fratello'' exhibits a unique dynamic. Most of the handlers have police or military backgrounds and were recruited directly into Section 2. Most also chose their own cyborgs from a list of candidates, though some appear to have been assigned a cyborg. The Social Welfare Agency primarily concerns itself with dealing with the

Padania Padania (, also , ) is an alternative name and proposed independent state encompassing Northern Italy, derived from the name of the Po River (Latin ''Padus''), whose basin includes much of the region, centered on the Po Valley (), the major plai ...

Republic Faction (PRF or RF), an organization seeking an independent Northern Italy through acts of terrorism and bribery.

Media

Manga

''Gunslinger Girl'', written and illustrated by Yu Aida, premiered in Japan on May 21, 2002 in the monthly '' Dengeki Daioh'' magazine and was completed with the 2012 September issue. The chapters are also being published in collected volumes by ASCII Media Works, with the first volume released on November 27, 2002. The series was collected and published in fifteen volumes in Japan. When

ADV Manga A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gree ...

was formed in 2003, the ''Gunslinger Girl'' manga series was one of the first titles the new branch of ADV Films licensed for an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

release in North America. The first volume was released on November 18, 2003, with the next two volumes not released until 2005. At the 2005

AnimeNEXT AnimeNEXT (AN) is an annual three-day anime convention held at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The convention was previously held at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, and the Garden Stat ...

convention, ADV representative David L. Williams said the slow schedule was due to ADV Manga feeling that they had rushed into the manga market in a period when it was too saturated with new manga titles. After the third volume was released that year, the series went on a two-year hiatus. Release of the series resumed in July 2007 with the publication of the fourth volume, and six volumes were released as of April 2008. On April 8, 2010, manga publisher

announced that it has licensed ''Gunslinger Girl'' and will be re-released, with a new translation and in omnibus format.

Anime

''Gunslinger Girl'' was adapted into a thirteen-episode anime series based on the first two volumes of the manga. It was directed by

Morio Asaka is a Japanese storyboard artist and director. After graduating Osaka Designers' College, Asaka entered Madhouse. He was inspired to become a director by '' Phoenix: Yamato Chapter'' and made his debut as an episode director in episode 40 of ''Y ...

and produced by Madhouse,

Bandai Visual was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and f ...

Marvelous Entertainment (MMV) was a multinational corporation that produced animation, music, video games and television series. MMV is known for its involvement in the ''Story of Seasons'' series. They merged with AQ Interactive in 2011 and became Marvelous AQL; the ...

and Fuji Television, with music by

Toshihiko Sahashi is a Japanese composer. He graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1986. Sahashi has composed music for various anime series (including OVAs, movies, and drama CDs), video games, movies, dramas, and musicals. His ...

. The song "The Light Before We Land" by Scottish indie rock band

The Delgados The Delgados are a Scottish indie rock band formed in Glasgow in 1994. The band is composed of Alun Woodward (vocals, guitar), Emma Pollock (vocals, guitar), Stewart Henderson (bass guitar), and Paul Savage (drums). Biography The band was fo ...

was used as the opening theme. The series premiered in Japan on

from October 8, 2003, to February 19, 2004. The series also aired in Japan on the

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

network

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

, which later aired the series on its networks worldwide, including its

networks in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

(where the series received its English language television premiere). ''Gunslinger Girl'' was later aired in the United States on the

Independent Film Channel IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American basic cable channel owned by AMC Networks, originally launching in 1994 as a TV channel devoted to independent films. The Independent Film Channel originally operated as a com ...

in January 2007. In late 2004,

Funimation Entertainment Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

licensed the rights to release the first season of ''Gunslinger Girl'' across North America via a three-volume

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

series, releasing the last volume on September 6, 2005. On September 19, 2006, Funimation released the complete ''Gunslinger Girl'' series in a three-DVD box set, with another version released on December 11, 2007. FUNimation's release of the first season is also available for download on iTunes,

PlayStation Store The PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital media store available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable conten ...

, and

Xbox Live Marketplace Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) is a digital distribution platform used by Microsoft's Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The service allows users to download or purchase video games (including both ...

. A second season of the series, entitled ''Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-'', was officially announced in the October issue of '' Dengeki Daioh''. It premiered on

on January 7, 2008, and ran for thirteen additional episodes until its conclusion on March 31, 2008. The second season was criticized for its lackluster animation, but earned praise for its more focused story line. This second season was animated by

and featured a new staff, with ''Gunslinger Girl'' creator Yu Aida being fully involved as the project's chief writer and supervisor. FUNimation has also licensed the second season and is currently streaming subtitled episodes on its website as well as on

Veoh Veoh () is an American video-sharing website, launched in March 2006. It was originally launched as a virtual television network application, and then became a video-sharing website in March 2006. During the mid-2000s, it was one of the largest ...

, promising a Region 1 retail release in 2009. Two additional episodes (14 and 15) were released on DVD in Japan on October 24, 2008. The sequel is licensed for English language release in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment and in North America by Funimation Entertainment. The second season made its North American television debut on October 19, 2011 on the

Funimation Channel Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specialize ...

. ''Gunslinger Girl'' and ''Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino'', the latter including the two additional episodes, were added to the Netflix library in Canada, Singapore, the United States, and Australia as well as some other countries in January 2016.

Video games

A set of

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s have also been produced for the PlayStation 2, released only in Japan. These take the form of

rail shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a Video game genre, sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certai ...

s in which the player controls one of the girls on her missions. The series is composed of three volumes. There is an additional rogue ''fratello'' in these games, who go by the names Earnest (handler) and Pia (cyborg). Earnest and Pia do not appear in the manga or anime, nor are they ever mentioned. Pia's preferred weapons were the

Desert Eagle The Desert Eagle is a gas-operated, semi-automatic pistol known for chambering the .50 Action Express, the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol. Magnum Research Inc. (MRI) designed and developed the Desert Eagle ...

.50AE and

M16A1 The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...

with M203 grenade launcher. On January 9, 2020, it was announced a collaboration between the mobile game

Girls' Frontline ''Girls Frontline'' () is a mobile strategy role-playing game for Android and iOS developed by China-based studio MICA Team, where players control echelons of android characters, known in-universe as T-Dolls, each carrying a distinctive ...

and Gunslinger Girl, in which the characters of Angelica, Claes, Rico, Triela and Henrietta would become units available in the game. alongside a new story event merging the world of "Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-" into the world of Girls' Frontline, a future in which humanity suffered a third world war and environmental collapse, leading to technologically advanced tactical doll or "T-Dolls" are used in combat.

Other

On December 21, 2005, an

image album An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

for ''Gunslinger Girl'' called ''Poca Felicità'' was released by Marvelous Entertainment. It contains various songs for each of the girls (sung by their respective voice actresses), as well as an instrumental for Pinocchio, extra songs by Josefa, and two other instrumentals. Revo of

Sound Horizon Sound Horizon is a Japanese symphonic rock musical group with composer () as the leader and only permanent member. They describe themselves as a "fantasy band" and have released works that closely resemble classical suites. Their songs often r ...

wrote all the music and lyrics for the album. The cover art was drawn by Yu Aida.

Reception

In 2012, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs announced the winners of the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards. The ''Gunslinger Girl'' manga won an award for excellence.

Jonathan Clements Jonathan Michael Clements (born 9 July 1971) is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shi Huang, as well as monthly opinion columns for ''Neo'' magazine. He is also the co-auth ...

and

Helen McCarthy Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such anime reference books as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and '' Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author o ...

feel the trauma suffered by the girls allows ''Gunslinger Girl'' to show them as "submissive blank slates in the style of

Chobits is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the Japanese manga collective Clamp. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from September 2000 to October 2002, with its chapters collected ...

", feeling that while some handlers treated them like objects, those that tried to befriend them used methods that were like "the seduction of 'damaged goods' in less mainstream works such as the

Lolita Anime is a collection of adult OVAs produced by Wonder Kids. It contains many notable firsts, as the first erotic original video animation ( OVA), depicting hentai scenes which include yuri Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Gi ...

References

External links

*
''Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-'' anime
at

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

''Gunslinger Girl'' anime
at

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

''Gunslinger: Il Teatrino'' anime
at

* {{Morio Asaka 2002 manga 2003 anime television series debuts 2008 anime OVAs 2008 anime television series debuts ADV Manga ASCII Media Works manga Artland (company) Bandai Visual Dengeki Comics Dengeki Daioh Kadokawa Dwango franchises Girls with guns anime and manga Fuji TV original programming Funimation Italy in fiction Japan-exclusive video games Madhouse (company) PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Political thriller anime and manga Rail shooters Seven Seas Entertainment titles Shōnen manga Terrorism in fiction Tokyo MX original programming Video games developed in Japan