The thing is, the first season was a fairly accurate adaptation of the manga's early shorter stories most of the time. I think the shading and more drab color of season 1 is more in line with the orginal manga then brighter and smoother looking of season 2, if we compare with the colored artwork seen on the volume covers for instance.
Also the manga is very depressing and it keeps treating each mission with gravitas. I never thought that the focus was girls with guns. "Girls and guns" is a mean to convey some military grade tactics and the methods of highly trained agents. That's how I viewed it. The 1st season is like that so I am astonished by the tone of the 2nd season
Personally I didn't like either, they were both boring. The main change from sea.1 to sea.2 was mostly just stylistic with a few extra shooting thrown in for good measure.
In Japan, people on the net were saying "the author needs to read the source material" and I have to agree. Now that I think about it, I can't even remember how the manga ended...
It's been years, but last I remember he killed off the G1 girls in a major military Op., barring maybe Triella though she loses her Handler instead. And then he focuses on his second generation of girls, who are all late teens instead. Thus further setting up the option of a "Fratello" pairing being romantically involved with each other. 🤷♂️ I stopped caring about the series shortly after, the long gaps between chapter releases didn't help either.
@@maximaxxx2531 Almost all died in the last operation. Henrietta commit suicide with her handler after a pact they made. Triela and her handler died from their injuries while huddled together, although her egg stock was preserved so that she can give birth to a "daughter" (who appeared at the end of manga). Only few unnamed Girls survived. Rico survived and for once her brutal handler hugged her and was happy she survived. The new red hair girl survived. Claes survived as she was in the agency, but she nearly was going to do a suicide attack on the Italian government soldier since Berlosconi was planning to disband Section 9 agency. But she stand down at the end. So Rico, Claes and the red hair girl survived. Also they all died from expiry date as the last epilogue chapter is set decades later in future where we see Trielas "Daughter" doing a college project for world peace. Ricos handler who got older has a photo of Rico on his desk donated some cash to Trielas daughter cause as a respect to Triela and her handler.
@@samphadhavihara4035 I recall when the second generation girls turned up. It feels like Yu Aida kinda ended the serie quickly. Maybe it was cancelled so he had to wrap up the series. We never get to see much about the new gen. Let alone a new spin off sequel.
This manga is one of the few who dared to imply government agencies aren't good. Heck, there's one member of the Fratello (Claes's handler) that wanted to talk to the press about the agency. The next panel about him is how he died in a hit & run "accident" just before his meeting. Good manga, definitely something worth reading
Seems you missed a few things in your viewing, though might just be whichever dub/sub you used. They do explain why the augmentations are only done on kids. It's basically becomethe standard explanation now for any fiction involving augmentation, it's that adults don't take to it and their bodies reject the augmentations. As for why use little girls, and by extension why not boys, it actually does sort of make sense and they allude to it in some of their conversations. Primarily seeing an adult with a child is naturally disarming. I mean what are the chances that father daughter duo over there are about to hand your ass to you? Basically 0 outside of this series, and you're probably just going to brush them off as passers by. A lone fighting age male like any of the actual adults in this show hanging around your hideout? Damn, I think he's a fed bro! On the other hand little boys while not typically seen as a threat still draw negative attention. For example a wary drug smuggler might be more suspicious of a boy as they're more likely to be up to mischief like pick pocketing which could expose their operation. Whether or not that's true of course doesn't matter, society views little girls as more innocent.
I think you've hit the nail on the head here. Ignoring Japan's somewhat disturbing sexualization of little girls for a second - children are seen as innocent, and while little boys can be seen as mischievous, most cultures identify little girls as the embodiment of purity. Therefore, putting them in a role of assassins is a subversion of expectations - or at least it would be in most of the west... The idea has become quite hackneyed in the realm of manga/ln/anime.
The reason the anime's first season differed so much from the manga makes perfect sense when you look at a timeline. The anime aired 17 months after the manga's first chapter was published. That means the anime entered production right before or right after the manga's first chapter was published. The anime producers had one volume of a manga to work on that was published during production and likely a concept sketch from the author on the larger plan of the manga so they took many artistic liberties. Yu Aida was an author who just started his first serialized manga so it makes sense he wasn't involved much in the anime and left it to seasoned anime staff. What Madhouse produced was very different than Yu Aida's vision. The first season of the anime focused on sentimentality and leaned into that tragic aspect of the story when the author wasn't focused on tragedy or sentimentality. Yu Aida did use that as an initial hook, but he had a much larger vision for that story that I personally he achieved by the end of the manga. It makes sense that many people liked the first season because people gravitate towards sentimentality. The problem with sentimentality is that it can't keep a story going. It's great for a movie, but it doesn't work for manga that would end up taking a decade to complete. The larger commentary of Gunslinger Girl makes more sense if you look at the world back in 2002. The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks shocked the world and everything changed overnight. Fear overtook the major countries at the time and they all took extreme and drastic action that they would come to regret later. The United States started two wars and even Japan sent its Self Defense Force to Iraq in a non-combat capacity. The story of Gunslinger Girl takes place after the Government of Italy took a drastic action they would definitely regret later to deal with the terrorism threats that had a legitimate chance of breaking the state. This is a story of a different era and I find it is the best one to capture the feeling of that era. I could say much more because Gunslinger Girls is one of my favorite manga but that would be too much for a UA-cam comment.
I only checked out how it ended, basically even the handler of the girls get killed by their own superiors as soon as they were no longer usefull and the series felt less like fetish with commentary than just a justification for the authors little sister fetish.
@@markusbarten455 It's clear you never actually read the ending based on what you've stated. Most of the handlers and girls die in combat in a desperate battle to stop a nuclear bomb from detonating. The girls who survive are kept in a secluded place where they would die of natural causes in a few years, and the handlers who survive would continue to work for the Italian government in various capacities.
@markusbarten455 this is exactly why you don't open your mouth if you literally don't give the literature you're reading the respect it deserves, you just wanted to talk shit out of something you never cared about.
The bittersweet tone of the first was why it's still one of my favourite animé. Thanks for explaining why I ended up dropping S2, and never got into the manga.
Oh man, I still remember this show! Watched anime first season then finished with manga, had no idea there was a second season before jumping into manga. Iirc the whole "why little girls" thing was pretty much the same vague explanation that was used for Little Sisters in Bioshock. I remember both of them feeling incredibly arbitrary but in general I'm willing to accept vague worldbuilding explanations if it's obvious the author really just wants specific vibes and aesthetic lol
vague? It was pretty openly stated the kids were chosen in the first few chapters because : a. the brainwashing works easier on children's brain b. the Gov agency hunted unwanted orphans cause no-one will be looking for them (since the kids aren't going to last more than a few years after bionic enhancements even if they survive their gunfights) c. nobody expects kids as assassins - just like in real life it wasn't for vibes and aesthetics, the author wants to point that the government agency here is just as bad as the terrorists. A point that was driven home by the last few chapters of the Manga ending.
I feel the Little Sisters of Bioshock had more justified reasons for their inclusion, both in-universe and meta. Meta-wise, having Little Sisters be the source of ADAM (the most valuable resource in the game) made the decision on how to acquire said resource a moral one for the player. Choosing to rescue or harvest them to gain less or more ADAM respectively serves to give the game a dynamic difficulty and also calls into question the players integrity for a more personal gaming experience. In-universe, I'm pretty sure that the reason was that although ADAM is made by a type of seaslug and can be harvested directly, having the slug implanted in a little sister gives a greater yield over time and they happen to be great hosts for them. This also makes it possible to "recycle" used ADAM from people via a little Sisters imbibing of their blood. Scientists knew it was a messy role nobody would want to do - child or otherwise - but luckily Rapture so happened to have orphanages with many discarded children that nobody cared about. The Protector/Big Daddy program was also made with the little girls in mind. There's actually a good amount of lore on it which is cool. Sorry for the lore dump tho but I love Bioshock
@ostrichlord9097 I love Bioshock too, but I still think there's no satisfying in-universe explanation for why little girls are the only viable hosts for the slugs. There was some old concept art for little brother and Bioshock 2 has the grown up Big Sisters, so to me it looks like the writers just REALLY wanted to use small girls and the rest of the narrative had to bend around that
@DokuDoki That's true. They were even thinking of having no gatherers whatsoever and just having the slug. Still, I think that's as good as we could ask for when it comes to justifying game design. I respect the effort if nothing else
The Manga ending was bittersweet. Also dunno if this is canon, in the mobile Gacha game called Girls Frontline, there was a collab where I think Yu Aida the author personally wrote the story event for the game. The Event story is basically a continuation from the original manga ending set in the far future as Girlsfrontline is set in a future where Android girls armed with real life guns being mercenaries. These Gunslinger girls that appeared in the game is Henrietta, Triela, Rico, Angelica and Claes. They are all in a "Digital World" where their mind was uploaded in the computer before WW3 or something by Triela "daugther" who appeared at the end of the original manga.
I think it would at least make a lot of sense to have both be set in the same timeline and the technology developed for making cyborg assassin girls would explain why they used humanoid robots after WW3 for tasks too dangerous for humans (and why they need food).
@DatAlien yeah in the GG event. They made it "canon" that they share same universe with GFL. The GG are basically the prototype of the T-Dolls in GFL. As the game studio said, T-Dolls can't be pregnant
i was hysterical when the pv collab was first announced and i've actually been playing GFL before that (still playing now). Kokia song is so peak. and the plot delivers. depresso gacha game with depresso manga? splendid. iirc it's not a canon as the mangaka himself said in twitter/X, but still i'd rather think that those girls live somewhere in the digital world than just being ded. and almost like open secret that Yuzhong (GFL creator) made Bakery Girl and then GFL because of Gunslinger Girls, basically spiritual successor(s). one title of manga/anime and now we get super long series game with one of most extensive world-building called Girls Frontline, Girls Frontline 2, and Reverse Collapse Bakery Girl. just how much GG hurts you, Yuzhong
Damn I loved this series, and yes I COMPLETELY agree. Il Teatrino sucked and destroyed the vibe. I did enjoy the gunplay, especially Triela and her Shotgun work, but as you said that wasn't what made the story compelling. Even 14-16ish year old me was mature enough to see that. It was all the stuff between the fights that made it work. The uncomfortable looks from the handlers. The attempt to balance raising them as weapons and giving them some semblance of normalcy, and the confusing duality that the girls experience as a result of that. That was what made GSG so amazing to me. Incidentally Triela is 100% the reason why I have a shotgun setup with a bayonet. It ain't a Winchester 1897 with that iconic short sword of a bayonet, but it's my modern interpretation.
Years ago, when I first heard of Gunslinger Girl, I was hesitant to watch it because I wasn't sure I wanted to see a show about young girls being used & abused by being turned into sociopathic assassins. Kind of dark. In the end, curiosity won out & I watched season 1. And...I absolutely LOVED it! Then, I followed it up with season 2. I literally don't remember anything about season 2 except for my strong dislike of the drastically different visual presentation & being annoyed that the character implied to have died in season 1 is perfectly fine without explanation. Now I want to watch it again (at least season 1, anyway). A hauntingly beautiful show.
I remember when this came out. The first season was pretty good, I think I still have the DVD's. But I agree with you on season two. I saw it, but completely forgot it existed until you mentioned it and showed some scenes. Then I went "Oh yeah". I'm still convinced this was a major inspiration for Lycoris Recoil. Maybe with that success we'll get some more of GG in the next few years.
Watched both Gunslinger Girl and the Yu Aida's current running manga series, I feel like he kind of want to paint a romanticized relationship between a young girl and an old man, with a clear master and servant dynamic (, the new series pretty much switch the role around with the "young" girl being the master and the guy being the servant). GSG feels like a tug between that romanticized idea and what most of us perceived- a dark story about innocent girls being abused and exploited, while the ones doing so are driven by hatred and thus forgo their humanity. I think he knows the discrepancy between what he and what us expected, the later volumes of GSG still sticking to the dark theme but also having those weird tension between some of the girls and handlers shows that, and his attemp to emphasis more on the romantic aspect in the second season of anime was what lead to the production issue and studio swap.
I always found it very strange that S2 turned out like that considering the manga never leaves that dark tone. I would hope that season 2 is just a fluke and it wasnt him deliberately changing it to that. also while gunslinger girl treads a dangerous line i think its ending message of "the guy who fell in weird love with his underage partner is shot in the head and dies" so id like to hope aida had some degree of consciousness about what he was cooking up
Gunslinger girl was one of the first animes I'd watched and I really enjoyed every bit of it when I later found out it had a second season I was excited to give it a watch but was soon let down by how different it was or how different it seemed to me. I've never really seen or heard anyone else talk about this anime so its cool to see people still remember it.
Outstanding video. I was ready to roll my eyes and close the screen for the first minute or so of the video, but you wrote a compelling writeup. I'm going to check out Gunslinger Girl once I'm done with my current series. Great video, thanks for uploading. Have a happy Thanksgiving next week, Crusader.
I remember reading the manga and thought that it's dark tone fit well with the story, aside from all the action I started to question myself what kind of sick agency would use girls as tools to take down terrorists, I still have the manga till this day
love the premise, unique and intriguing. second season is truly rough but remember watching it without skipping or seething. i hope they got season 3. or even a full reboot with more passionate studio. imagine Gunslinger Girl with Lycoris Recoil quality 🤩
Great analysis, I remember watching the 1st season and being absolutely moved by the level of storytelling and detail hinted in it, like an incredible movie condensing down a great work further explained in a book but subtly implied and left open to interpretation. But it was quite surprising that he didn't like the direction, changed it and was in charge of what it became. I was pretty devastated after the poetic 1st season ended and I found the 2nd season, I desperately wanted to know more about the subtilties of character development the next season would offer but was quite disappointed with my older brother who came across it as well. I understand he didn't want things changed but I thought their adaptation was beautiful and I agree with the video.
As a huge fan of manga, it’s one of my favorites, I absolutely love the adaptation the first season of the anime provides. Madhouse did a fantastic job. The soundtrack is amazing as well. The manga genuinely made me cry, I had to take a break from reading after almost each chapter.
Noir is the best Girls With Guns Anime, in fact it's the best Anime ever made period. And it's an Anime Original so no Manga comparison discourse to deal with.
Noir is kino. I made a video on it last year are randomly stumbling upon that show and it was such a treat. I will watch the other ones in the "trilogy" at some point.
Every time someone covers Gunslinger Girl I get excited because even though this anime only really has a cult following it truly deserved the attention it gets, I love it. I found Season 1 on Netflix years ago as I was getting into anime and the music combined with the characters and the dark themes made for an engaging and original story. Most studios would take a story this implausible and make fun of it. But because Gunslinger Girls takes itself seriously the story has a tone most other anime don't accomplish that really puts you in the world and makes you feel bad for the characters. Season 1 was a masterpiece and Season 2 is good for the action and a more linear story for the most part despite obvious animation and voice acting pitfalls, it could have used the style of the original season and I would have been happy, the manga style practically is unique all to itself. The few anime original scenes give characters like Elsa more depth, not to mention the penthouse raid with Claes. I eventually got the manga and reading it from beginning to end you see the character development thrive (especially with the Handlers oh boy which is MOSTLY missing from the anime) and you could more or less split the manga into 3 parts, Season 1, the pinocchio arc, and the 2nd Generation Cyborg Era with the finale. It is a shame that we never got a complete adaptation but I can appreciate that we got 2 season of the anime even if there are flaws with the 2nd season. I love the anime and it finally got me to read the entire story that the author envisioned and I believe it was worth it. I rarely follow manga authors closely but Yu Aida is currently writing a new series set in Japan during the Meiji Restoration called The Valiant Must Fall and despite taking place in Japan rather than Italy so it covers completely new ground far the first 3 Volumes are pretty enjoyable!
Such a beautiful show. It really is a work of art, and the ending to the first season is incredibly memorable to me. Definitely my personal top 10 anime for sure
The first season made me fall in love with the idea and I began reading the Manga (as much as was out at the time) and when I heard there would be a second season with the Author directly involved, I was super excited to see the Triela-Pinnochio fight animated on the screen. Boy, was I immensely disappointed by the result. Probably more than you were. I got over some of it, and enjoy some aspects of the second series, but whenever I think about it, I am plagued by the thoughts of what could have been, and how far short what we actually got ended up being.
My brother-in-law lent me this along with FMA 03 years ago. Loved it! And this makes me So happy I never got around to watching season 2 or reading the manga.
Just go read the manga, instead of trying to make sense of the difference between seasons. The 1st season started production when There was only 1 VOLUME. So, Madhouse just took ALOT of liberties and made their own. Season 2 is actually manga faithful BUT, got a worst Anime studio instead.
Here's another connection via. Bittersweet Fools - the Bittersweet Fools OP is by none other than Makoto Shinkai, as one of his early works for opening animations for the game company minori. (Given how infrequently Bittersweet Fools comes up anywhere, I like to point that out when I can...) Gunslinger Girl was also produced by Madhouse, who were really in their stride in the 00s (they'll still shine through at times - just see Frieren). Not so much with Artland... The choice of plot path for Angelica makes a lot of sense for me, as it brings forward the decline inherit in all the first gen girls. With the limit of source material, it makes sense to have that be part of the finale for the original series.
this is classic (yet rare) case of "the adaptor (animation director) is way more skilled and experienced to understand the nuance than the original author itself"
I've been subbed to you for a while and that makes this video feel all the stranger as I just actually rewatched both the Gunslinger Girl seasons and started the manga. It had been maybe 15 years since I watched the anime the first time
While I liked both seasons, I liked them as separate animes, basically. I'd love to see more where the characters are taken seriously, but I also really liked the aesthetic changes in season 2. Give me my grimdark with pastels. Also, I liked how season 2 gave us more villain info. It really reinforces the tragedy of the world because the people these girls are killing aren't even some great evil. It's all just so unnecessary--you can really glimpse that a better world could have been. It makes very clear that the true villains are the people who created the program and shows how the girls and handlers try to make the best of it. I guess I want something in between the two.
A lot of mangaka are, in fact, trash, and will complain if their sexy violence teen garbage gets elevated. This is very important to keep in mind especially if you're the sort who buys into "director's cuts" and the idea that original authors should get all the credit.
I did not expect to like this series, but it's strangly grounded for the premise. I was actually okay with the second season, despite it's rough edges.
Same here. I actually liked S2 more- because it was an actual story. S1was ok. But I think smaller vignettes are better when they are all loosely connected to an over arching plot line. Even a small one is better than nearly none at all. At least for me. I didn't like the art/animation change or the many changes to Rico and the others. But I really liked Triella(sp?) a bit more in S2. Though the animation issues tried my patience, at times.
@@windeen i basically had the same take. Fortunately I'd fallen off the series for about a year before i got to the next season, so the quality shift didn't hit me as hard.
I feel attached to the girls in season 1 , season 2 came, I was like, who the fuck are they? These aren't my girls ... And then I read the manga ... Ooooh shit ...
It all make sense when you realize mad house do a lot of Shoujo adapts, they know how to focus on girl and girlhood and how it's a violent act even without guns
I hadn't heard that intro in a dog's age. Thanks for covering this one, I completely forgot about season 2. Probably because it's forgettable. (Also, hell yeah you included my favourite scene with Henrietta's gun jamming lmao)
"I don't have to think about it. What we do is clear, don't you think? I don't know any other answers than yes. And don't need to know." - A guy with a weird coffin.
@@mii9010 No, you don't credit studios just for contributions. It's Stolen glory and muddles how to judge an animation studio is good or not. and if you nitpick it, you'll find more studios represented by a handful of people helping on the project Macross is still mostly by Studio Nue Bubblegum Crisis is still mostly Artmic and AIC Megazone is also mostly Artmic and AIC why aren't you mentioning the ones Artland really did? Like ALL those random Light novel and visual novel adaptions? Like Umishou and Ichiban ushiro Daimaou?
@Kaimax61 No, it's not stolen glory Like I said, there's plenty co produced anime but we usually assign one name behind the anime because that's the people who are the brains behind it/responsible for thir image. Evangelion was animated by Gainax, but was co-produced by Tatsunoko because it was the only way a studio of Gainax's size could get NGE out the door. FLCL was able to be made because of Production I.G who were at the time leading anime studio when it came to digital animation And yes, Artland made those VN adaptions too, they also did Katekyo Hitman Reborn and other anime that sites like English Wikipedia can't be bothered to mention, you know I mentioned these ones because they're important anime they had contributed to, even the Macross wikipedia page states their involvement.
Season 1 of Gunslinger Girl was great. It is still beautiful despite its muted colors and often depressing atmosphere of seeing these girls being hurt and abused by an agency who just wants to use them and ultimately throw them away. The animation and art hold up so well, its music is top top notch and its opening and ending theme by The Delgados I still listen to on a regular basis. One of my favorite scenes in all of anime come from GG and that's the scene when all the girls are singing Ode to Joy together, its a scene that sums up what season 1 is all about really nicely. Season 2 is hot garbage. I wondered for so long why season 1 was so good and then season 2 was so awful and now I finally know. What blows my mind is that the author was going for what Season 2 was. Its actually mind blowing. Season 2 was boring tripe that had the 1 gimmick and no depth. You assumed that is what you are getting going into Season 1, but it surprises you, it defies your expectations. It reminds me a lot of Violet Evergarden in that regard, with that show you expect a pretty young girl being insanely violent, you get some of that, but the main focus is not on her capacity for violence, but on learning how to connect with others and that show is hailed as being a masterpiece. I find it funny that Gunslinger Girl has the connect to Chobits that it does and it makes a lot of sense. Chobits also can come off as very shallow if you don't know what it is and its overall stories can be somewhat unsettling, but it has a depth to it that makes it a great anime and a really good story. I could go on forever, but yeah... If the author is actually responsible for Season 2, then I just dont know what to say about that, I dont really want to be negative and I get that an author should be in control their work, but in this case, their actual view of their own work feels worse than the direction of Season 1.
5:31 they didn't make Legend of the Galactic Heroes, but they were one of the producers on one of the prequel movies, specifically "My Conquest is the Sea of Stars". One other popular anime that Artland did was "Reborn!"
On an unrelated note, I miss the 2000s and 2010s eras of anime when the anime have good plot, themes, and most of all, awesome action sequences. If you compare the anime of current years with those, you will find how smooth and good the action sequences. Nowadays, it doesn't matter how good the manga is, if your animation studio lacks funding or dedicated staff, the anime will be generic at best or downright horrible & unwatchable at worst. My favorite anime of the 2000s are Black Cat and Gun x Sword. If you haven't watched them, I highly recommend checking them out. Claymore is also an underrated gem but the anime is too different from the manga for me to enjoy. The action sequences are god-tier and didn't need massive budget to look THAT GOOD. Honest, the action sequences of those anime captivated me far more than the high-budget ones in today's famous series, such as Demon Slayer, FATE series, Jujutsu Kaisen, and some others.
First season has that special "uncanny feeling" like Haibane Renmei and the likes, where it's "realistic" enough to pull you into the world, but you yearn for uncovering more of what the "world" is hiding from you. Realistic but creepy/intriguing enough to feel wanderlust
I think there are a couple of games that are a bit like this: nikke, guns frontline, honkai, especially the character known as the silver wolf of the Urals: bronya zaychik
I'll never forget that first scene with the P-90 in the hotel room, that was a major moment that got me into anime, even today that scene is just beautiful.
Nice video. learned quite a lot so thank you. when it comes to the anime, I'm going to be honest I watched it back in the day just for the "girl" part. in "gunslinger girl." regardless of the season or the tone shift.
i think the original story is supposed to be like "Sora no otoshimono (heaven's lost property)" or perhaps a bit more like the Grisaia series? how do i put it, at one side it was a ridiculous anime stuff on the other a very serious stuff? both series somehow manage to bleed in both the peace and serious part together in a way that induce anxiety? like SoraOto is an 2000 echi series, but i can't help but feel anxiety even when they are doing the echi daily life bit, the series is not afraid to kill or do something F-up.
Bought the manga and anime series years ago. Still read and watch it every year or so. Manga has some really heart wrenching moments and surprises with a fantastic ending
This anime inspires a young Korean boy in his high school to make his own version, now famous game called girls frontline. He even used his own storyline back when he still high schooler for collaboration with gunslinger girl.
Dude, I reallly had no idea that there was a season 2, and now that I know I will just move it to that place of my brain where those non-canon sequels exists, like Last Exile 2nd season or Pacific Rim 2.
Oh man what a nostalgia trip. I watched this series back when I was pretty new to anime, and yeah I'm pretty sure I dropped it in the second season. Art style change is already hard for me to accept, but also to have the characters act differently is something I cannot stand at all.
10:00 because the entire plot is just a summary author's fantasies about harem of yuri lolies with guns. And you're trying to find some sence where there was never one to begin with.
One thing I have noticed is that the early 2000s were a time when an anime was more likely to happen before there was enough material to fill the greenlit episodes. Sure, most manga/light novels are ongoing when anime season 1 happens these days, but there is at least enough to cover those first 12 episodes. If you produce an anime this early, you're essentially asking the director to make their own version.
I wholeheartedly agree, I absolutely loved season 1, and when I found out there was a season 2, all it took was watching the art direction of its opening to realize I never want to watch it.
"Season one took a lot of liberties with the source material." As someone who is finally reading the D.N.Angel manga after watching the anime as a kid...that just seems to be the M.O. of early/mid-2000s anime adaptations lol
@CulturedCrusader I see, well take it as a compliment since Chris Patton is one of my favorite voice actors. Look forward to seeing your other videos on your channel.
I really only heard about this series thanks to the Girls' Frontline collab, and I can see why they chose Gunslinger Girl since they both share a lot of similarities both premise and thematic wise with how girls are turned into weapons and have to come to terms with how much humanity they're willing to sacrifice or retain.
I remember learning about this anime on the anime wiki page in the early 2010s. It was like the random wiki page of the day that had it show up multiple times as the random wiki page of the day.
So speaking of the professional, it seems like this is La Femme Nikita the original TV show in season one and then La Femme Nikita the CW remake in season two
Just found the channel through this video, was totally expecting the topic to go in a very different direction and talk about how other works of an author color our perception of the original work (which you do allude to when bringing up Bittersweet Love). Love Hina is one of my favorite anime of all time, but boy is it hard to look at even the manga for it, let alone any of the other works of Ken "Campaigned for an elected seat on the grounds of less censorship on child nudity" Akamatsu. That, or maybe just talking about the common issue of late 90s/early 2000s anime adaptations being greenlit without knowing how the story ends, leading to a wildly different story in the manga and anime. Full Metal Alchemist famously had such a difference that they easily justified a second anime adaptation altogether, though another less well known example I adore is Chrono Crusade. The anime is a mostly-faithful adaptation up until around 3/4 of the way through (where the manga was when production began), only to go completely off the rails and end the story in a dramatically different manner altogether. CC's manga ups the scale of the conflict into a global war against a floating island fortress, complete with the sort of intense fights you'd expect of a shonen manga; meanwhile the anime is instead very somber and low-stakes, focusing on humanitarian work within a city damaged in the battle where the anime/manga split happened, and only features one major fight in the final six or so episodes (and it's between two secondary characters no less).
The thing is, the first season was a fairly accurate adaptation of the manga's early shorter stories most of the time. I think the shading and more drab color of season 1 is more in line with the orginal manga then brighter and smoother looking of season 2, if we compare with the colored artwork seen on the volume covers for instance.
Also the manga is very depressing and it keeps treating each mission with gravitas.
I never thought that the focus was girls with guns.
"Girls and guns" is a mean to convey some military grade tactics and the methods of highly trained agents.
That's how I viewed it. The 1st season is like that so I am astonished by the tone of the 2nd season
I was today years old learning that gunslinger girl got a second season
you have to watch the second season it’s so good!!!
Fucking same. I'm... not happy.
I got to Gunslinger girls from all the second season OP (Tatta hitotsu no omoi) AMVs that i saw, so i learnt about it from season 2, not s1
NO IT DIDN'T 👁️👁️
Personally I didn't like either, they were both boring. The main change from sea.1 to sea.2 was mostly just stylistic with a few extra shooting thrown in for good measure.
In Japan, people on the net were saying "the author needs to read the source material" and I have to agree. Now that I think about it, I can't even remember how the manga ended...
Everyone died...the end
It's been years, but last I remember he killed off the G1 girls in a major military Op., barring maybe Triella though she loses her Handler instead.
And then he focuses on his second generation of girls, who are all late teens instead.
Thus further setting up the option of a "Fratello" pairing being romantically involved with each other. 🤷♂️
I stopped caring about the series shortly after, the long gaps between chapter releases didn't help either.
@@maximaxxx2531 Almost all died in the last operation. Henrietta commit suicide with her handler after a pact they made. Triela and her handler died from their injuries while huddled together, although her egg stock was preserved so that she can give birth to a "daughter" (who appeared at the end of manga).
Only few unnamed Girls survived. Rico survived and for once her brutal handler hugged her and was happy she survived. The new red hair girl survived. Claes survived as she was in the agency, but she nearly was going to do a suicide attack on the Italian government soldier since Berlosconi was planning to disband Section 9 agency. But she stand down at the end.
So Rico, Claes and the red hair girl survived.
Also they all died from expiry date as the last epilogue chapter is set decades later in future where we see Trielas "Daughter" doing a college project for world peace. Ricos handler who got older has a photo of Rico on his desk donated some cash to Trielas daughter cause as a respect to Triela and her handler.
@@samphadhavihara4035 I recall when the second generation girls turned up. It feels like Yu Aida kinda ended the serie quickly. Maybe it was cancelled so he had to wrap up the series. We never get to see much about the new gen. Let alone a new spin off sequel.
I read it. It ended stupidly.
I feel like I'm one of the only people to seriously love this show. I'm glad to see it getting the recognition it deserves.
I think both are pretty great as for the Anime Season 1 is the best besides the Ovas
I question your taste
Omg I genuinely love this anime. Also, can we taking about how good the soundtrack is???
Season 1 was god tier and season 2 was mediocre.
Season 1 is actually one of the few animes which i recommend the english dubs.
I've had the cloth poster on my wall for decades, no you're not.
This manga is one of the few who dared to imply government agencies aren't good.
Heck, there's one member of the Fratello (Claes's handler) that wanted to talk to the press about the agency.
The next panel about him is how he died in a hit & run "accident" just before his meeting.
Good manga, definitely something worth reading
Not a trait that people should care about when trying to pick a story but 'kay 😂
@@DargorVWhy not?
@@ironmaster6496 he´s a fed, a fed watching videos about little cyborg girls for future CIA plans
one of the few? do u just not watch anime
I wonder if Jean ever did come clean to Claes about what happened to Raballo
Seems you missed a few things in your viewing, though might just be whichever dub/sub you used. They do explain why the augmentations are only done on kids. It's basically becomethe standard explanation now for any fiction involving augmentation, it's that adults don't take to it and their bodies reject the augmentations.
As for why use little girls, and by extension why not boys, it actually does sort of make sense and they allude to it in some of their conversations. Primarily seeing an adult with a child is naturally disarming. I mean what are the chances that father daughter duo over there are about to hand your ass to you? Basically 0 outside of this series, and you're probably just going to brush them off as passers by. A lone fighting age male like any of the actual adults in this show hanging around your hideout? Damn, I think he's a fed bro! On the other hand little boys while not typically seen as a threat still draw negative attention. For example a wary drug smuggler might be more suspicious of a boy as they're more likely to be up to mischief like pick pocketing which could expose their operation. Whether or not that's true of course doesn't matter, society views little girls as more innocent.
I think you've hit the nail on the head here. Ignoring Japan's somewhat disturbing sexualization of little girls for a second - children are seen as innocent, and while little boys can be seen as mischievous, most cultures identify little girls as the embodiment of purity. Therefore, putting them in a role of assassins is a subversion of expectations - or at least it would be in most of the west... The idea has become quite hackneyed in the realm of manga/ln/anime.
Yeah this video is bad
@@icipher12stop watching anime then
@@mysmallnomanlol cope and seethe
@@jdools4744 k
The reason the anime's first season differed so much from the manga makes perfect sense when you look at a timeline. The anime aired 17 months after the manga's first chapter was published. That means the anime entered production right before or right after the manga's first chapter was published. The anime producers had one volume of a manga to work on that was published during production and likely a concept sketch from the author on the larger plan of the manga so they took many artistic liberties. Yu Aida was an author who just started his first serialized manga so it makes sense he wasn't involved much in the anime and left it to seasoned anime staff. What Madhouse produced was very different than Yu Aida's vision. The first season of the anime focused on sentimentality and leaned into that tragic aspect of the story when the author wasn't focused on tragedy or sentimentality. Yu Aida did use that as an initial hook, but he had a much larger vision for that story that I personally he achieved by the end of the manga. It makes sense that many people liked the first season because people gravitate towards sentimentality. The problem with sentimentality is that it can't keep a story going. It's great for a movie, but it doesn't work for manga that would end up taking a decade to complete.
The larger commentary of Gunslinger Girl makes more sense if you look at the world back in 2002. The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks shocked the world and everything changed overnight. Fear overtook the major countries at the time and they all took extreme and drastic action that they would come to regret later. The United States started two wars and even Japan sent its Self Defense Force to Iraq in a non-combat capacity. The story of Gunslinger Girl takes place after the Government of Italy took a drastic action they would definitely regret later to deal with the terrorism threats that had a legitimate chance of breaking the state. This is a story of a different era and I find it is the best one to capture the feeling of that era. I could say much more because Gunslinger Girls is one of my favorite manga but that would be too much for a UA-cam comment.
This sounds logic and makes sense
I only checked out how it ended, basically even the handler of the girls get killed by their own superiors as soon as they were no longer usefull and the series felt less like fetish with commentary than just a justification for the authors little sister fetish.
@@markusbarten455 It's clear you never actually read the ending based on what you've stated. Most of the handlers and girls die in combat in a desperate battle to stop a nuclear bomb from detonating. The girls who survive are kept in a secluded place where they would die of natural causes in a few years, and the handlers who survive would continue to work for the Italian government in various capacities.
@markusbarten455 this is exactly why you don't open your mouth if you literally don't give the literature you're reading the respect it deserves, you just wanted to talk shit out of something you never cared about.
Make this into a UA-cam video
A gunslinger girl video? in 2024? man today is just a happy day
Wtf i thought this was a video from like 6-7 years ago
I cannot believe we still got any sort of content for gunslinger girl
Thanks m8
The bittersweet tone of the first was why it's still one of my favourite animé.
Thanks for explaining why I ended up dropping S2, and never got into the manga.
i’m not even a big fan of anime anymore, but I genuinely look forward to these uploads. Helps me trim the fat of what’s worth checking out.
Oh man, I still remember this show! Watched anime first season then finished with manga, had no idea there was a second season before jumping into manga. Iirc the whole "why little girls" thing was pretty much the same vague explanation that was used for Little Sisters in Bioshock. I remember both of them feeling incredibly arbitrary but in general I'm willing to accept vague worldbuilding explanations if it's obvious the author really just wants specific vibes and aesthetic lol
vague? It was pretty openly stated the kids were chosen in the first few chapters because :
a. the brainwashing works easier on children's brain
b. the Gov agency hunted unwanted orphans cause no-one will be looking for them (since the kids aren't going to last more than a few years after bionic enhancements even if they survive their gunfights)
c. nobody expects kids as assassins - just like in real life
it wasn't for vibes and aesthetics, the author wants to point that the government agency here is just as bad as the terrorists.
A point that was driven home by the last few chapters of the Manga ending.
I feel the Little Sisters of Bioshock had more justified reasons for their inclusion, both in-universe and meta.
Meta-wise, having Little Sisters be the source of ADAM (the most valuable resource in the game) made the decision on how to acquire said resource a moral one for the player. Choosing to rescue or harvest them to gain less or more ADAM respectively serves to give the game a dynamic difficulty and also calls into question the players integrity for a more personal gaming experience.
In-universe, I'm pretty sure that the reason was that although ADAM is made by a type of seaslug and can be harvested directly, having the slug implanted in a little sister gives a greater yield over time and they happen to be great hosts for them. This also makes it possible to "recycle" used ADAM from people via a little Sisters imbibing of their blood. Scientists knew it was a messy role nobody would want to do - child or otherwise - but luckily Rapture so happened to have orphanages with many discarded children that nobody cared about. The Protector/Big Daddy program was also made with the little girls in mind.
There's actually a good amount of lore on it which is cool. Sorry for the lore dump tho but I love Bioshock
@ostrichlord9097 I love Bioshock too, but I still think there's no satisfying in-universe explanation for why little girls are the only viable hosts for the slugs. There was some old concept art for little brother and Bioshock 2 has the grown up Big Sisters, so to me it looks like the writers just REALLY wanted to use small girls and the rest of the narrative had to bend around that
@DokuDoki That's true. They were even thinking of having no gatherers whatsoever and just having the slug. Still, I think that's as good as we could ask for when it comes to justifying game design. I respect the effort if nothing else
The Manga ending was bittersweet. Also dunno if this is canon, in the mobile Gacha game called Girls Frontline, there was a collab where I think Yu Aida the author personally wrote the story event for the game. The Event story is basically a continuation from the original manga ending set in the far future as Girlsfrontline is set in a future where Android girls armed with real life guns being mercenaries. These Gunslinger girls that appeared in the game is Henrietta, Triela, Rico, Angelica and Claes. They are all in a "Digital World" where their mind was uploaded in the computer before WW3 or something by Triela "daugther" who appeared at the end of the original manga.
I think it would at least make a lot of sense to have both be set in the same timeline and the technology developed for making cyborg assassin girls would explain why they used humanoid robots after WW3 for tasks too dangerous for humans (and why they need food).
@DatAlien yeah in the GG event. They made it "canon" that they share same universe with GFL. The GG are basically the prototype of the T-Dolls in GFL. As the game studio said, T-Dolls can't be pregnant
i was hysterical when the pv collab was first announced and i've actually been playing GFL before that (still playing now). Kokia song is so peak.
and the plot delivers. depresso gacha game with depresso manga? splendid.
iirc it's not a canon as the mangaka himself said in twitter/X, but still i'd rather think that those girls live somewhere in the digital world than just being ded.
and almost like open secret that Yuzhong (GFL creator) made Bakery Girl and then GFL because of Gunslinger Girls, basically spiritual successor(s).
one title of manga/anime and now we get super long series game with one of most extensive world-building called Girls Frontline, Girls Frontline 2, and Reverse Collapse Bakery Girl. just how much GG hurts you, Yuzhong
@shiki-o6n it not canon? Damn :( and I was hoping Henrietta and her friends would had a happy after life.
@@shiki-o6n I been away from GFL. But did M4 survive in GFL2?
i was cheering loud af when pinocchio threw that girl out the window. gave it a 0/10 when pinocchio died😭
Damn I loved this series, and yes I COMPLETELY agree. Il Teatrino sucked and destroyed the vibe. I did enjoy the gunplay, especially Triela and her Shotgun work, but as you said that wasn't what made the story compelling. Even 14-16ish year old me was mature enough to see that. It was all the stuff between the fights that made it work. The uncomfortable looks from the handlers. The attempt to balance raising them as weapons and giving them some semblance of normalcy, and the confusing duality that the girls experience as a result of that. That was what made GSG so amazing to me.
Incidentally Triela is 100% the reason why I have a shotgun setup with a bayonet. It ain't a Winchester 1897 with that iconic short sword of a bayonet, but it's my modern interpretation.
Years ago, when I first heard of Gunslinger Girl, I was hesitant to watch it because I wasn't sure I wanted to see a show about young girls being used & abused by being turned into sociopathic assassins. Kind of dark. In the end, curiosity won out & I watched season 1. And...I absolutely LOVED it! Then, I followed it up with season 2. I literally don't remember anything about season 2 except for my strong dislike of the drastically different visual presentation & being annoyed that the character implied to have died in season 1 is perfectly fine without explanation.
Now I want to watch it again (at least season 1, anyway). A hauntingly beautiful show.
the OP is
the Delgatos - light before we land
The entire album (Hate) is great.
I don't even watch anime but your sens of humor and personnality made me binge watch your last 15 videos
I remember when this came out. The first season was pretty good, I think I still have the DVD's. But I agree with you on season two. I saw it, but completely forgot it existed until you mentioned it and showed some scenes. Then I went "Oh yeah".
I'm still convinced this was a major inspiration for Lycoris Recoil. Maybe with that success we'll get some more of GG in the next few years.
Watched both Gunslinger Girl and the Yu Aida's current running manga series, I feel like he kind of want to paint a romanticized relationship between a young girl and an old man, with a clear master and servant dynamic (, the new series pretty much switch the role around with the "young" girl being the master and the guy being the servant). GSG feels like a tug between that romanticized idea and what most of us perceived- a dark story about innocent girls being abused and exploited, while the ones doing so are driven by hatred and thus forgo their humanity. I think he knows the discrepancy between what he and what us expected, the later volumes of GSG still sticking to the dark theme but also having those weird tension between some of the girls and handlers shows that, and his attemp to emphasis more on the romantic aspect in the second season of anime was what lead to the production issue and studio swap.
I always found it very strange that S2 turned out like that considering the manga never leaves that dark tone. I would hope that season 2 is just a fluke and it wasnt him deliberately changing it to that.
also while gunslinger girl treads a dangerous line i think its ending message of "the guy who fell in weird love with his underage partner is shot in the head and dies" so id like to hope aida had some degree of consciousness about what he was cooking up
Because they got a shitty animation studio,
Gunslinger girl was one of the first animes I'd watched and I really enjoyed every bit of it when I later found out it had a second season I was excited to give it a watch but was soon let down by how different it was or how different it seemed to me. I've never really seen or heard anyone else talk about this anime so its cool to see people still remember it.
Outstanding video. I was ready to roll my eyes and close the screen for the first minute or so of the video, but you wrote a compelling writeup. I'm going to check out Gunslinger Girl once I'm done with my current series. Great video, thanks for uploading.
Have a happy Thanksgiving next week, Crusader.
3:32 Griffithhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
I loved the show it was an experience for sure. it introduced me to the Delgados who've been one of my favourite bands of all time 🙏
I remember reading the manga and thought that it's dark tone fit well with the story, aside from all the action I started to question myself what kind of sick agency would use girls as tools to take down terrorists, I still have the manga till this day
Straight up my favorite (finished) manga. Never forget the Kingdom of Pasta.
love the premise, unique and intriguing. second season is truly rough but remember watching it without skipping or seething.
i hope they got season 3. or even a full reboot with more passionate studio.
imagine Gunslinger Girl with Lycoris Recoil quality 🤩
- Imagine Gunslinger Girl with Violet Evergarden quality and ability to make you feel the drama and make you cry.
Your writing in this episode is phenomenal man. Probably one of my favorite videos you've done.
Great analysis, I remember watching the 1st season and being absolutely moved by the level of storytelling and detail hinted in it, like an incredible movie condensing down a great work further explained in a book but subtly implied and left open to interpretation. But it was quite surprising that he didn't like the direction, changed it and was in charge of what it became. I was pretty devastated after the poetic 1st season ended and I found the 2nd season, I desperately wanted to know more about the subtilties of character development the next season would offer but was quite disappointed with my older brother who came across it as well. I understand he didn't want things changed but I thought their adaptation was beautiful and I agree with the video.
This video gave me a newfound appreciation for gunslinger girl. I might just give it a rewatch.
You have my interest crusader.
As a huge fan of manga, it’s one of my favorites, I absolutely love the adaptation the first season of the anime provides. Madhouse did a fantastic job. The soundtrack is amazing as well. The manga genuinely made me cry, I had to take a break from reading after almost each chapter.
Noir is the best Girls With Guns Anime, in fact it's the best Anime ever made period. And it's an Anime Original so no Manga comparison discourse to deal with.
Noir is kino. I made a video on it last year are randomly stumbling upon that show and it was such a treat. I will watch the other ones in the "trilogy" at some point.
I found Noir to be boring
Honestly every anime from that director I did not enjoy since he has reoccurring problems
The show was okay, certainly good back in the day, but it's OST was the true star
Noir is unremittingly depressing. GsG's moments of light kept the audience from going numb from it all.
@@thomasthedoubter6813 Noir is ultimately a Love Story, it always makes me smile.
Every time someone covers Gunslinger Girl I get excited because even though this anime only really has a cult following it truly deserved the attention it gets, I love it. I found Season 1 on Netflix years ago as I was getting into anime and the music combined with the characters and the dark themes made for an engaging and original story. Most studios would take a story this implausible and make fun of it. But because Gunslinger Girls takes itself seriously the story has a tone most other anime don't accomplish that really puts you in the world and makes you feel bad for the characters.
Season 1 was a masterpiece and Season 2 is good for the action and a more linear story for the most part despite obvious animation and voice acting pitfalls, it could have used the style of the original season and I would have been happy, the manga style practically is unique all to itself. The few anime original scenes give characters like Elsa more depth, not to mention the penthouse raid with Claes. I eventually got the manga and reading it from beginning to end you see the character development thrive (especially with the Handlers oh boy which is MOSTLY missing from the anime) and you could more or less split the manga into 3 parts, Season 1, the pinocchio arc, and the 2nd Generation Cyborg Era with the finale. It is a shame that we never got a complete adaptation but I can appreciate that we got 2 season of the anime even if there are flaws with the 2nd season. I love the anime and it finally got me to read the entire story that the author envisioned and I believe it was worth it.
I rarely follow manga authors closely but Yu Aida is currently writing a new series set in Japan during the Meiji Restoration called The Valiant Must Fall and despite taking place in Japan rather than Italy so it covers completely new ground far the first 3 Volumes are pretty enjoyable!
I'm gonna start following your videos now, been intrigued by you tackling not-so-known shows 🔥
This was the show, along with Cardcaptor Sakura, that showed me just how great Morio Asaka is as a director. Just excellent
Such a beautiful show. It really is a work of art, and the ending to the first season is incredibly memorable to me. Definitely my personal top 10 anime for sure
The first season made me fall in love with the idea and I began reading the Manga (as much as was out at the time) and when I heard there would be a second season with the Author directly involved, I was super excited to see the Triela-Pinnochio fight animated on the screen. Boy, was I immensely disappointed by the result. Probably more than you were. I got over some of it, and enjoy some aspects of the second series, but whenever I think about it, I am plagued by the thoughts of what could have been, and how far short what we actually got ended up being.
My brother-in-law lent me this along with FMA 03 years ago. Loved it! And this makes me So happy I never got around to watching season 2 or reading the manga.
Thank you for the kino man.
I really liked the first season years ago, but I couldn't get into the second season. Maybe one day I'll try again?
Don't
Be yourself, you will never know if its good or bad without watching it
Watch it if you want, you'll soon forget it ever existed.
Just go read the manga, instead of trying to make sense of the difference between seasons.
The 1st season started production when There was only 1 VOLUME. So, Madhouse just took ALOT of liberties and made their own.
Season 2 is actually manga faithful BUT, got a worst Anime studio instead.
Here's another connection via. Bittersweet Fools - the Bittersweet Fools OP is by none other than Makoto Shinkai, as one of his early works for opening animations for the game company minori.
(Given how infrequently Bittersweet Fools comes up anywhere, I like to point that out when I can...)
Gunslinger Girl was also produced by Madhouse, who were really in their stride in the 00s (they'll still shine through at times - just see Frieren). Not so much with Artland...
The choice of plot path for Angelica makes a lot of sense for me, as it brings forward the decline inherit in all the first gen girls. With the limit of source material, it makes sense to have that be part of the finale for the original series.
this is classic (yet rare) case of "the adaptor (animation director) is way more skilled and experienced to understand the nuance than the original author itself"
P90 go pew! pew! BANG! BANG!
Gun_sounds.mp3
I've been subbed to you for a while and that makes this video feel all the stranger as I just actually rewatched both the Gunslinger Girl seasons and started the manga. It had been maybe 15 years since I watched the anime the first time
thanks for making this video, this is my most favorite series and i hope more people can get into it
Thank you fornthis cultured video. I really didnt expect a gunslinger girl video in current year.
While I liked both seasons, I liked them as separate animes, basically. I'd love to see more where the characters are taken seriously, but I also really liked the aesthetic changes in season 2. Give me my grimdark with pastels.
Also, I liked how season 2 gave us more villain info. It really reinforces the tragedy of the world because the people these girls are killing aren't even some great evil. It's all just so unnecessary--you can really glimpse that a better world could have been. It makes very clear that the true villains are the people who created the program and shows how the girls and handlers try to make the best of it.
I guess I want something in between the two.
I didn't know there was a Season 2 of the anime... Still MadHouse did a superior version of this story, very tragic and beautiful 💜
The manga is peak though.
Holy fuck, gunslinger girl content on 2024
I’ve always wanted to see Gunslinger Girl, but never got around to it. This was a great video, thank you for sharing.
A lot of mangaka are, in fact, trash, and will complain if their sexy violence teen garbage gets elevated.
This is very important to keep in mind especially if you're the sort who buys into "director's cuts" and the idea that original authors should get all the credit.
I did not expect to like this series, but it's strangly grounded for the premise. I was actually okay with the second season, despite it's rough edges.
Same here. I actually liked S2 more- because it was an actual story. S1was ok. But I think smaller vignettes are better when they are all loosely connected to an over arching plot line.
Even a small one is better than nearly none at all.
At least for me.
I didn't like the art/animation change or the many changes to Rico and the others. But I really liked Triella(sp?) a bit more in S2.
Though the animation issues tried my patience, at times.
@@windeen i basically had the same take. Fortunately I'd fallen off the series for about a year before i got to the next season, so the quality shift didn't hit me as hard.
I feel attached to the girls in season 1 , season 2 came, I was like, who the fuck are they? These aren't my girls ... And then I read the manga ... Ooooh shit ...
It all make sense when you realize mad house do a lot of Shoujo adapts, they know how to focus on girl and girlhood and how it's a violent act even without guns
i was so excited when season 2 came out, and I shut it down 10 min in from how shallow it become
I hadn't heard that intro in a dog's age. Thanks for covering this one, I completely forgot about season 2. Probably because it's forgettable.
(Also, hell yeah you included my favourite scene with Henrietta's gun jamming lmao)
"I don't have to think about it.
What we do is clear, don't you think?
I don't know any other answers than yes.
And don't need to know."
- A guy with a weird coffin.
12:42 That "camerawork" took me out for a solid minute LMAO
Really love watching your video breakdowns
Are you doing a video on Jormungand next to keep with the child soldier theme?
I need to rewatch that
@@CulturedCrusader Nah, it's not that good.
Marginal operation is MUCH better at being metal gear solid and chiren soldiers.
No, Artland worked on some of the most iconic anime of all time, including the original Macross series, Bubblegum Crisis and Megazone
That's stuff they worked on with other studios. In terms of solo productions, they haven't done much.
@@CulturedCrusader Doesn't make their contribution any less relevant, there many anime that are co-productions
@@mii9010 No, you don't credit studios just for contributions. It's Stolen glory and muddles how to judge an animation studio is good or not. and if you nitpick it, you'll find more studios represented by a handful of people helping on the project
Macross is still mostly by Studio Nue
Bubblegum Crisis is still mostly Artmic and AIC
Megazone is also mostly Artmic and AIC
why aren't you mentioning the ones Artland really did? Like ALL those random Light novel and visual novel adaptions? Like Umishou and Ichiban ushiro Daimaou?
@Kaimax61 No, it's not stolen glory
Like I said, there's plenty co produced anime but we usually assign one name behind the anime because that's the people who are the brains behind it/responsible for thir image.
Evangelion was animated by Gainax, but was co-produced by Tatsunoko because it was the only way a studio of Gainax's size could get NGE out the door. FLCL was able to be made because of Production I.G who were at the time leading anime studio when it came to digital animation
And yes, Artland made those VN adaptions too, they also did Katekyo Hitman Reborn and other anime that sites like English Wikipedia can't be bothered to mention, you know
I mentioned these ones because they're important anime they had contributed to, even the Macross wikipedia page states their involvement.
0:30 do you know the implication of the tiple parenthesis thing?
He most certainly does.
I don't ?
What is it ?
@black-fenrir35 antisemitic dogwhistle. i think you may google "antisemitic echo" or smth bc this thing is called echo i think?
Season 1 of Gunslinger Girl was great. It is still beautiful despite its muted colors and often depressing atmosphere of seeing these girls being hurt and abused by an agency who just wants to use them and ultimately throw them away. The animation and art hold up so well, its music is top top notch and its opening and ending theme by The Delgados I still listen to on a regular basis. One of my favorite scenes in all of anime come from GG and that's the scene when all the girls are singing Ode to Joy together, its a scene that sums up what season 1 is all about really nicely.
Season 2 is hot garbage. I wondered for so long why season 1 was so good and then season 2 was so awful and now I finally know. What blows my mind is that the author was going for what Season 2 was. Its actually mind blowing. Season 2 was boring tripe that had the 1 gimmick and no depth.
You assumed that is what you are getting going into Season 1, but it surprises you, it defies your expectations. It reminds me a lot of Violet Evergarden in that regard, with that show you expect a pretty young girl being insanely violent, you get some of that, but the main focus is not on her capacity for violence, but on learning how to connect with others and that show is hailed as being a masterpiece.
I find it funny that Gunslinger Girl has the connect to Chobits that it does and it makes a lot of sense. Chobits also can come off as very shallow if you don't know what it is and its overall stories can be somewhat unsettling, but it has a depth to it that makes it a great anime and a really good story. I could go on forever, but yeah...
If the author is actually responsible for Season 2, then I just dont know what to say about that, I dont really want to be negative and I get that an author should be in control their work, but in this case, their actual view of their own work feels worse than the direction of Season 1.
I watched this while making a marinade for chicken thanks man.
It's what I'm here for
5:31 they didn't make Legend of the Galactic Heroes, but they were one of the producers on one of the prequel movies, specifically "My Conquest is the Sea of Stars". One other popular anime that Artland did was "Reborn!"
me just listening to a video in the background
the video: youre obsessed with me
On an unrelated note, I miss the 2000s and 2010s eras of anime when the anime have good plot, themes, and most of all, awesome action sequences. If you compare the anime of current years with those, you will find how smooth and good the action sequences. Nowadays, it doesn't matter how good the manga is, if your animation studio lacks funding or dedicated staff, the anime will be generic at best or downright horrible & unwatchable at worst. My favorite anime of the 2000s are Black Cat and Gun x Sword. If you haven't watched them, I highly recommend checking them out. Claymore is also an underrated gem but the anime is too different from the manga for me to enjoy. The action sequences are god-tier and didn't need massive budget to look THAT GOOD. Honest, the action sequences of those anime captivated me far more than the high-budget ones in today's famous series, such as Demon Slayer, FATE series, Jujutsu Kaisen, and some others.
agreed
There are just as many great anime these days there's just more to choose from, and naturally when that's the case, you're going to have some stinkers
First season has that special "uncanny feeling" like Haibane Renmei and the likes, where it's "realistic" enough to pull you into the world, but you yearn for uncovering more of what the "world" is hiding from you. Realistic but creepy/intriguing enough to feel wanderlust
It was so underrated, and now we'll never see season 3 😭😭
I think there are a couple of games that are a bit like this: nikke, guns frontline, honkai, especially the character known as the silver wolf of the Urals: bronya zaychik
The second season is so different from the first, its more like a reboot that's closer to the manga than an actual continuation.
UNNNH, Time Machine Blues still!!! This is why youre the F*cking goat, CC
I'll never forget that first scene with the P-90 in the hotel room, that was a major moment that got me into anime, even today that scene is just beautiful.
Nice video. learned quite a lot so thank you. when it comes to the anime, I'm going to be honest I watched it back in the day just for the "girl" part. in "gunslinger girl." regardless of the season or the tone shift.
ANOTHER VIDEO
SWEET
Waiting for the day this dude becomes the next gigguk or mothers basement in popularity. We need more anime videos in this style.
i think the original story is supposed to be like "Sora no otoshimono (heaven's lost property)" or perhaps a bit more like the Grisaia series?
how do i put it, at one side it was a ridiculous anime stuff on the other a very serious stuff? both series somehow manage to bleed in both the peace and serious part together in a way that induce anxiety? like SoraOto is an 2000 echi series, but i can't help but feel anxiety even when they are doing the echi daily life bit, the series is not afraid to kill or do something F-up.
Bought the manga and anime series years ago. Still read and watch it every year or so. Manga has some really heart wrenching moments and surprises with a fantastic ending
This anime inspires a young Korean boy in his high school to make his own version, now famous game called girls frontline. He even used his own storyline back when he still high schooler for collaboration with gunslinger girl.
I’ve had this in my MAL account for so long I’ll need to check it out. Thanks for the video. 🎥
Yet another perfect review :D
Dude, I reallly had no idea that there was a season 2, and now that I know I will just move it to that place of my brain where those non-canon sequels exists, like Last Exile 2nd season or Pacific Rim 2.
Oh man what a nostalgia trip. I watched this series back when I was pretty new to anime, and yeah I'm pretty sure I dropped it in the second season. Art style change is already hard for me to accept, but also to have the characters act differently is something I cannot stand at all.
10:00 because the entire plot is just a summary author's fantasies about harem of yuri lolies with guns. And you're trying to find some sence where there was never one to begin with.
One thing I have noticed is that the early 2000s were a time when an anime was more likely to happen before there was enough material to fill the greenlit episodes. Sure, most manga/light novels are ongoing when anime season 1 happens these days, but there is at least enough to cover those first 12 episodes. If you produce an anime this early, you're essentially asking the director to make their own version.
5:44 Every shot from s2 so far looks like they are trying to do slow motion, but just lowered the frame rate to do it.
Algorithm bump. Love your stuff bro. Absolutely killing it with these videos
I wholeheartedly agree, I absolutely loved season 1, and when I found out there was a season 2, all it took was watching the art direction of its opening to realize I never want to watch it.
"Season one took a lot of liberties with the source material." As someone who is finally reading the D.N.Angel manga after watching the anime as a kid...that just seems to be the M.O. of early/mid-2000s anime adaptations lol
Pretty good analysis dude,your voice reminds me of voice actor Chris Patton. Are you two long lost brothers or something.
I get that a lot
@CulturedCrusader I see, well take it as a compliment since Chris Patton is one of my favorite voice actors. Look forward to seeing your other videos on your channel.
an anime about a group of bosses that are bizzaire enough to fit into a metal gear game for snake to face.
Thank God I took the advice of people on forums back then not to watch the second season. Now I know why.
I really only heard about this series thanks to the Girls' Frontline collab, and I can see why they chose Gunslinger Girl since they both share a lot of similarities both premise and thematic wise with how girls are turned into weapons and have to come to terms with how much humanity they're willing to sacrifice or retain.
I remember learning about this anime on the anime wiki page in the early 2010s. It was like the random wiki page of the day that had it show up multiple times as the random wiki page of the day.
So speaking of the professional, it seems like this is La Femme Nikita the original TV show in season one and then La Femme Nikita the CW remake in season two
Damn, not sponsored! I guess I won't watch this one then
Season 2 feels more like, "oh, so they're completely brainwashed now."
The editing style of this video reminds me of Monogatari. Not sure if that was your intention, but it’s pretty cool. Great video.
I do shameless steal from that series. One of the things I love most about Monogatari is the editing style.
@@CulturedCrusader never watched it, but from the clips I’ve seen about the anime, you recreated the style of it perfectly. Great work👍
@@CulturedCrusader You live up to your username then
Just found the channel through this video, was totally expecting the topic to go in a very different direction and talk about how other works of an author color our perception of the original work (which you do allude to when bringing up Bittersweet Love). Love Hina is one of my favorite anime of all time, but boy is it hard to look at even the manga for it, let alone any of the other works of Ken "Campaigned for an elected seat on the grounds of less censorship on child nudity" Akamatsu.
That, or maybe just talking about the common issue of late 90s/early 2000s anime adaptations being greenlit without knowing how the story ends, leading to a wildly different story in the manga and anime. Full Metal Alchemist famously had such a difference that they easily justified a second anime adaptation altogether, though another less well known example I adore is Chrono Crusade. The anime is a mostly-faithful adaptation up until around 3/4 of the way through (where the manga was when production began), only to go completely off the rails and end the story in a dramatically different manner altogether. CC's manga ups the scale of the conflict into a global war against a floating island fortress, complete with the sort of intense fights you'd expect of a shonen manga; meanwhile the anime is instead very somber and low-stakes, focusing on humanitarian work within a city damaged in the battle where the anime/manga split happened, and only features one major fight in the final six or so episodes (and it's between two secondary characters no less).