Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino

Having being the first reviewer to actually finish the series, I'd like to say that, despite the obvious reduction in artwork due to changing production studios. They do try their best in trying to stay faithful to the manga. In which they do quite well in my opinion all the way to the final episode.

Story - (Great)
Basically the main story arc this time around is having the girls try to crack down on a radical terrorist organization. The story is simple enough to cause enough action, drama, and straight up melancholy sadness. Yu Aida does such a good job on the story that theres ... a high chance of having the viewer actually feeling sorry for some of the bad guys.

Art - (Fair)
The art is the obvious difference between the first season and second season. It's almost feels as if a different team was hired to do the art production, and you're 100% right. In all honesty its not the production companies fault that the quality is different. But its painfully obvious that they don't have that 1,000,000Yen per episode backing them. The Art, for the most part does its job not wonderfully, but pretty well. They still manage to hand paint a few landscape pictures of Italy and all its landmarks, they still draw the girls as cute as hell, its all just a little less detailed and polished as before. And you won't see any more brands (other than the guns and a Vespa) floating around. You can also tell money is a big factor in the first few episodes when you can see certain cost cutting techniques like "shaking" a still photo, or slow motion punches. But if you endure to the end you'll manage to see the most exciting episode in the GSG series.

Sound - Fair
Sound is another thing that is a mixed bag. All the action and other sound effects fit this show perfectly fine, but the SAME music plays over and over and over again. Once in a while a new song will appear but they go back to the same 3 songs throughout the whole series. But thankfully its not too intrusive, but its noticeable. That was my only issue with the sound. Everything else was just fine.

Characters - (Very Good)
Now the characters are just as lovable as before, but it does seem like they emit a little more emotion this time around. I can buy that since they are older and (for the most part) learn things. They do look a little different but that just takes getting used to. We do learn a little more of each of the girls and even get introduced to a new character. I was spoiled with falling in love with the dubbed version of the first season, so I never got a chance to pay attention to the seiyu's from there. But they seem to make the voices fit fine. Moe, tsundere, playful, and smart they all fit just fine in my opinion.

Enjoyment - (Good)
Overall its just like working at a big call center in America, everything is fine and smooth for the first year, and then you find out that they have to take massive cuts or send your job to India. It's the same job but, just with less money and quality. If you can keep an open mind, you can see they do their best to follow Yu Aida's dream. I sure hope they make Volume 6 (of the manga) into an OVA.

(First off, each season of Gunslinger Girl is only 13 episodes long. I don't know why it says 9001 here...)

This show, including its first season, had the opportunity to do many things really well.
It could have been a heartbreaking/warming story of the humanity of its "cyborg" characters and their relationships with their handlers.
It could have been about the humanity shared on both sides by terrorists, assassins, and government agents.
It could have been simply a badass show about assassinations and bodyguarding.

Best of all, it had the potential to do all of the above blended into something spectacular.

Unfortunately, it falls short ... of achieving anything remarkable by not quite ever developing its characters or story due to how much it tries to do in such a short episode count.

The one thing I really appreciate about Gunslinger Girl is that it never fails to make you feel a little sick to your stomach whenever you see one of the girls holding a firearm.

After watching the first season, I was excited, but now I'm rather sorry to see the second season.


Story 1/10 - the worst
Isn't it some fan-made sequel season?

Art 1/10 - I've never seen anything so bad. Art is worse than in Berserk.
The first season looked much better. All the characters in this season look like they were 19 years old. Why didn't they do the same as in the previous season?

Sound - Baaad
... OP- Some pictures ...
ED- Titles with highlights -_-. But the song is decent -_-
The main soundtrack has no atmosphere. In the first season we had a great soundtrack, but this ...

Character 1/10
Every character looks so awful. When I saw the first season and started this one ... it was a shock. The characters that looked between 30-45 years old now looked like 19-23 years old. They don't look like the first season. They do not behave like in the first season. Where did my beloved characters leave?

Enjoyment 2/10
If you really want to follow this sequel, you'll go through hell.

1/10 One of the worst sequels I've ever seen.