Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino is an excellent sequel to Gunslinger Girl. Though often criticized for being done with a different, and perhaps cheaper art style, everything about it radiates excellence. It's a worthy successor to the original series through and through.
The animation is perfectly fine. Sure it looks more traditional to anime than the style used in Gunslinger Girl, and perhaps a bit hard to take seriously, the truth is that you get used to it, whether you were a fan of the original series or not. The change in art style is not such a terrible loss. Everybody is still the same on the inside and still looks essentially like they used to.
A big thing in this series is character development. While an important aspect of Gunslinger Girl, it didn't do it quite as well as its sequel does. You get to see more of Henrietta's struggle for love and recognition by her handler, but this series decides to put more focus on Triela, and her own ongoing struggle against a Five Republics Faction assassin.
And that's where Pinocchio comes in. He, like the cyborgs, was also raised from childhood to be an assassin. Specializing in knives, this man has more close-quarters combat skills than Triela and thus, ends up becoming a rival to her. He and her have a lot in common as you find out progressively, and they both have their own struggles for parental recognition.
Another great thing about this series is the way they spend more time with the Five Republics Faction (also known as the Padanya). In Gunslinger Girl, you only really got to know about Franco and Flanca, but you didn't even get to know them that well. This series gives them plenty of screen time to explain more about their relationship and how they came to be freelance bomb-makers, as well as giving Pinocchio lots of decent development. Il Teatrino makes you sympathize with members of the opposition, and they become just as much main characters as the assassin girls and their handlers.
Il Teatrino teaches you to view war in a different way. It's a great series to show how everybody on every side of a war is still human, and everybody still thinks they're right in the end. It approaches things in a balanced manner. While it's still relatively obvious that the show intends for you to root for the Social Welfare Agency on a moral standpoint, you also find yourself sympathizing with the Five Republics Faction, and you don't end up feeling particularly loyal to either side, but instead hoping that nobody dies.
Don't worry about the preaching getting in the way of the fun. Fans of fancy fighting will find this series entertaining in that aspect too. Being a show about government assassins, there's plenty of shootouts and action to throw more excitement into the mix. But those who came for the action will find themselves staying for the story.
Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino assassinates the notion that "terrorists" are a bunch of gritty bad guys who hate everything and like to kill innocent people, and instead shows how they are often just as human as anybody else. The opposition in a war never fancies themselves "evil" and often has valid reasons for believing their own cause is just. This series shows you how killing is a tragedy whether it's a dead person on your side or a dead one on theirs.
Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino is an excellent sequel to Gunslinger Girl. Though often criticized for being done with a different, and perhaps cheaper art style, everything about it radiates excellence. It's a worthy successor to the original series through and through.
The animation is perfectly fine. Sure it looks more traditional to anime than the style used in Gunslinger Girl, and perhaps a bit hard to take seriously, the truth is that you get used to it, whether you were a fan of the original series or not. The change in art style is not such a terrible loss. Everybody is still the same on the inside and still looks essentially like they used to.
A big thing in this series is character development. While an important aspect of Gunslinger Girl, it didn't do it quite as well as its sequel does. You get to see more of Henrietta's struggle for love and recognition by her handler, but this series decides to put more focus on Triela, and her own ongoing struggle against a Five Republics Faction assassin.
And that's where Pinocchio comes in. He, like the cyborgs, was also raised from childhood to be an assassin. Specializing in knives, this man has more close-quarters combat skills than Triela and thus, ends up becoming a rival to her. He and her have a lot in common as you find out progressively, and they both have their own struggles for parental recognition.
Another great thing about this series is the way they spend more time with the Five Republics Faction (also known as the Padanya). In Gunslinger Girl, you only really got to know about Franco and Flanca, but you didn't even get to know them that well. This series gives them plenty of screen time to explain more about their relationship and how they came to be freelance bomb-makers, as well as giving Pinocchio lots of decent development. Il Teatrino makes you sympathize with members of the opposition, and they become just as much main characters as the assassin girls and their handlers.
Il Teatrino teaches you to view war in a different way. It's a great series to show how everybody on every side of a war is still human, and everybody still thinks they're right in the end. It approaches things in a balanced manner. While it's still relatively obvious that the show intends for you to root for the Social Welfare Agency on a moral standpoint, you also find yourself sympathizing with the Five Republics Faction, and you don't end up feeling particularly loyal to either side, but instead hoping that nobody dies.
Don't worry about the preaching getting in the way of the fun. Fans of fancy fighting will find this series entertaining in that aspect too. Being a show about government assassins, there's plenty of shootouts and action to throw more excitement into the mix. But those who came for the action will find themselves staying for the story.
Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino assassinates the notion that "terrorists" are a bunch of gritty bad guys who hate everything and like to kill innocent people, and instead shows how they are often just as human as anybody else. The opposition in a war never fancies themselves "evil" and often has valid reasons for believing their own cause is just. This series shows you how killing is a tragedy whether it's a dead person on your side or a dead one on theirs.
If I had any criticism for this series, it would be that it doesn't spend enough time on Jean or Rico. It's sad to see the way the girl still receives little recognition from her handler, who's as uptight and serious as ever.
Overall, this is an amazing show with an amazing plot, capable of reducing grown men to tears. Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino may very well be even better than the previous series. (
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