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Gunslinger Girl DVD 3: The Silence of the Stars
Violence: Medium
Sex/Nudity: None
Music:
Runtime Episodes: 13/25min
Overall Rating: A
Artwork: A
Story: A
Comments: I suspect that there is some serious security software written onto this DVD.  It plays alright, but playing it in windows media player or even the VLC player has some serious issues.  You cannot view subtitles in windows media player with this DVD and vlc does not let you jump forward or backward to another point on the disc which made reviewing this wonderful show almost a pain.  especially when trying to take snapshots.
Voice Acting English: B
Voice Acting Japanese: A
Genre: Mafia, Drama
Extras: trailers for Burst Angel, Samurai 7, Fruits Basket, Dragon Ball Z, Fullmetal Alchemist, Case Closed.  A production commentary (very well done), songs from the opening and closing, voice director commentary, building Triela (a serious cheat since they build Henrietta instead.  The many other extras do make up for this though.), dossiers on all of the girls however Angelica's is still withheld.



Date Reviewed: 12/28/08 Last Updated: 10/25/09

Basic Premise: The cracks in the Agency are shown and exploited in this DVD as a killer successfully kills one o the cyborgs and the Agency is under intense pressure to explain its usefulness to Section 1 who wants nothing more than to destroy section 2.  On top of all of this one of the cyborgs begins to show signs that she is nearing the end of her shortened lifespan.
Review: Ah, how I love this show!  The music is so lovely and it makes me feel like I am swimming in a heated pool or as if I am at the best Christmas time of my life.  The music can be heartbreaking or sad and beautiful.  As wonderful as it is it would almost be understandable if the story or character development or artwork were subpar, but that never happens in this show at any point.  The show is about love in all of its forms.

This DVD is departs from the first two in that it departs from the storyline from the manga much more than the others.  I am nonetheless very fond of this DVD.  It expands on the cyborg Else who only was given maybe a page or two in the manga and in this series has been given 3 episodes to flesh out her character.  Else is a cyborg whose love and/or devotion to her handler took the form of complete obsession.  

The first two episodes involves an unexpected vacation that Jose and Henrietta take after two of the Agents from section 2 are assassinated.  There's not much action in these two episodes, but that is fine as a great deal of the relationship of Jose and Henrietta is explored here.  These first two episodes also explore the possible bad consequences that conditioning of the girls can have.  While the girls have pretty much the same conditioning the way in which it is interpreted by the cyborgs can vary and that is something that the Agency has not been able to account for or control.  The Agency can get them to obey completely though.  The second episode explores in depth the nature of the relationship of a cyborg and her handler and how they are perceived when two Agents from Section 1 have a personal, frank, and unofficial discussion with Jose and Henrietta and asks some very direct and uncomfortable questions about the ethics and morals of the fratello relationship and in particular what the nature of Henrietta's devotion to Jose is.

The last two episodes involve a kidnapping attempt of a daughter of a prominant official only secretly the daughter has been replaced by Claes who is a close lookalike.  While Claes is somewhat defective in that she has been unable to fight after the death of her handler the agency does try to find uses for her.  I imagine that if they were unable to find uses for her then she would be decommissioned (killed).  Angelica is given her first mission in some time and the first in this series.  I still find it starnge that Angelica was the first girl to be recruited and conditioned by the agency and is also the youngest.  At least she looks to be the youngest.

The last episode shows the girls as they begin to be aware of their own very shortened lifespans.  It's a rather sad episode to tell the truth.  I can't say too much more without spoiling things, but in my opinion the ending of this series does not fit too well with season 2.

Conclusion: A wonderful if short series.  The time between season 1 and 2 is a bit long.  Some of the best points are the music, and artwork and the Japanese voice acting.  The character development is extraordinary too.



Publisher: Funimation
Related Website: http://www.funimation.com
Where Found: Pretty common.
Copyright: 2003/2005
Author: Yu Aida
If you enjoyed this anime try: Noir, Mermaid Forest


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