Gunslinger Girl Recommended

Publisher
ADV Manga
Writer
Yu Aida
Artist
Yu Aida
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2002

Gunslinger Girl Volume 4

By David Rasmussen
25th Jun 07

It's been awhile since we've reviewed this title… a long, long, long, long, long while.
We haven’t sat down and seriously reviewed Gunslinger Girl since… well… 2005! Two Thousand and Five! Two years!! But after two years, and a few biting open letters to ADV from me concerning the revival of important series (like this, or Aria which I am still waiting to see make it’s rebound) we see the return of Gunslinger Girl this July of 2007.

First off let’s recap on what came before (as of Volume 2).
Yes, I know, according to ADV there WAS supposed to have been a Volume 3, but it must have sold out or something because I have never seen item one of said volume at the three places I use to keep up my stock of review materials. Those stores? Locally I use Borders, via mail order I use both Barnes & Noble and Right Stuf International (all of these are great places to do business with manga purchasing wise, use them if possible). Ok, ok, nuff of my inability to land Volume 3 of Gunslinger Girl, let’s recap.

Deep in the heart of Italy a secret European agency known as "The Social Welfare Agency" (aka Section 2) is rebuilding little girls and turning them into killing machines that do their dirty work. Gee, how “nice” of them… not.

The first time we peeked into the little agency of sorrows we spent quality time with Henrietta, but she isn't the only puppet of the Agency as we found out in Volume 2. That time out, besides spending more time with Henrietta as she does some good work here and there, we'll also spend time with two polar opposites. Claes and Angelica. As we start Volume 4 we take a look at a day in the life of Claes.

Last time we met Claes she was in the market for a new handler, that didn’t last as her handler (Mr. Raballo) turned out to be the wrong choice for her. A guy who didn’t seem to care, Mr. Raballo had seen better days (ever since he had one of his legs replaced with a robotic leg, sidelining him from active duty in the process). Brought in to become Claes' handler with the promise to get him back in the saddle at the work he wants to do, he found himself suddenly faced with a "ward" that he just isn't ready to deal with.
Her shooting needed work, which led him to fix her with a hobby to get her used to her new "body"... fishing. That was nice and all… until he bonds with her and he ended up getting the severance package from his employers (the one that comes with a brass bullet instead of a gold watch).

Claes now has a new roommate (complete with handler and everything). Should be easy, right?
That is until her new roommate turns into somebody who’d like to cry, but the tears just won’t come.
Yeah, totally isn’t going to be a problem for the agency looking to create Borg like soulless killers.

Henrietta, meanwhile, seems to be getting closer and closer to her handler (which may or may not be reflected in turn). Not good, especially since it’s not the best of times to begin to get a crush on your partner when your expected to bring home the bacon for the home team and kill for god and country.

Then we bounce back to Treila, who seems to be getting over her lost to “Pinocchio”… but that doesn’t seem as important as the fact she’s thrown into the butchery sent on a mission to infiltrate a snuff film shoot which leaves her in a rather humpty dumpty like situation requiring all the King’s surgeons to put the killing girl back together again. Harsh doesn’t begin to describe this ending, but it also opens a wee bit of hope… maybe just a wee bit.

Then the story ends and we’re promised a future with a Volume 5 coming soon.
Let’s hope it does come soon.

Gunslinger Girl Breakdown the 4th
Does anyone talk about the series anymore? Two years ago, In a review of the series by Animerica (the VIZ connected Anime magazine) the series was noted as "A cruel premise... more thoughtful than the average thriller."

Nothing has changed. Cruel premise is still being nice to the title, especially how this one leaves one of the girls near the end. Yes, we are still talking about a secretive government organization that likes turning little girls into killing machines. Yes, we are still talking about girls programmed to kill anyone (including their own) to keep their bloody little secret a secret. Nothing has changed in the last two years, Gunslinger Girl is still Gunslinger Girl… but has those who once praised the title still feel the same way about the title after such a long wait between volumes?

I don't know about you but my belief in the title hasn‘t really diminished in the time between my last review and now, in fact I‘m glad to see the title ("cruel premise" or not) has finally made it’s comeback after so long. Yes Gunslinger Girl still has a dark taint, that is still noticeable to today. Still, like before that doesn't take away from the readability of the title, in fact it compels you to read all the more (even now).

Once again it’s not just the action and shooting, mind you, that will keep you reading. Far from it. It‘s the humanity in a title about a government that‘d like it‘s puppets to be humanity free that keeps you coming back. Stories like the experiences of Trelis and Henrietta, or Volume 2’s stories about the bond that (briefly) formed between Claes and Mr. Raballo, or Angelica's story from that volume. Those are a few examples of how good a read the title is without leaning too heavy on the "thriller" aspect of the read.

This time out I felt the action was muted abit in comparison to previous romps, and it focused more on the story and character development (of course that’s just me but that’s a good thing in my consideration). Yes, Gunslinger Girl still has action, but it also continues to have a kind of depth that's important to holding onto it‘s readership who now need to come back to rediscover why we praised this title 2 years ago.

If the title leaned too heavily on the action quota that two year hiatus might as well have been it’s death kneel, because it would have just been another action yarn and became instantly forgettable. But because this title is far more than it’s sum of action, that is why it deserves your attention even after being gone as long as it was gone. Depth, very human emotion (even as others struggle to strip said humanity from these girls) and action to boot? How can you go wrong with that!

After two years this could just as well have been a forgettable attempt to revive what could ultimately have ranked up to be a failed franchise manga, but as it stands it’s return is worth celebrating, and the title is worth re-embracing after so long (when July rolls about and Gunslinger Girl returns to bookshelves).
That is why Gunslinger Girl Volume 4 gets a score to match it’s return volume number. Gunslinger Girl Volume 4 gets a 4 out of 5.

-- David Rasmussen 25th Jun 07