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abubo · 2003-12-17, 21:01

*WARNING THIS THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT YET WATCHED THE SERIES*

I just wanted to start a Gunslingers Girl thread where we can talk about a specific issue which greatly interests me without the use of spoiler tags. We can also add to this thread as we watch more episodes. I'm up to 7 right now.

The question here is this: How much of their behavior is due to brain washing, and how much came from themselves? If some of their actions are genuine, what could possibly be their motivation?

From what I can tell the girls have several traits that's more or less in common, and all these I contribute to brainwashing:

1. Absolute obidience to their big brother's orders

2. Fearlessness in face of danger

3. Lack of conscience when it comes to killing

4. Lack of past memories or emotional attachment to their past/family

However I do find the girs have their own motivation, I believe:

Henrietta:

Aside from the brainwashing, she has total love and devotion toward Jose. She will do anything to please him or protect him. I don't believe this came from brainwashing, but from within herself. I do think her memories are erased but she is aware exactly what's happened to her body. As a little girl in love things like her past and the whereabouts of her family is not as important as making Jose happy. Plus Jose has repeatedly rejected using more "Rico"-like conditioning on Henrietta, thus I think aside from what I wrote above, Henrietta is her own person.

Rico:

I think she's the most emotionally wrecked and brainwashed girl thus far. She appearantly do remember her family and her past, but think nothing of it other than she really prefer having a working body rather than being sick and dying all the time. I suspect this rationalizing is actually due to brainwashing. She seemed to be trying to seek out her trueself, but Jan, her big bro, I think used extra conditioning on her to erase her humanity. In episode 7 she again showed a lot of heart... it seemed that Rico is constantly fighting her conditioning and trying to become herself again. She is the most interesting character to me right now. I secrely hope she will one day put a bullet in Jan's head.

Triela:

Triela is the most emotionally well-adjusted girl in the bunch. She also remembers her past and about her parents, and knows very well that she's a killer working for the gov't. She's even capable of independant thoughts and action, and even lying to her handler! Since she's been in the Corp for 6-7 years now, they probably trusts her enough to lower their brainwashing and treating her more like a regular agent. From the way her big bro treated her, I have a feeling that he's really seeing her more like a co-worker rather than a "little sister". I think Triela knows and understand very well that she's a special trained killer and totally accepted her life as it is. There maybe a sub-story involving her parents with the Corp, so she maybe doing it for them. I'll be waiting for her story to develop more.

Claes:

All we know thus far is that she has lost her handler and won't listen to anyone else, thus relegated to the role of ur basic lab animal. Emotionally, I think she has been re-conditioned after the death of her big bro but he has etched something deep inside of her which she won't forget, but she has no memory of him. Seemed like a closed book but I hope for something more. That episode was a tear-jerker for me.

Angelica:

Know nothing of her right now. May not be introduced to the storyline yet. Will update as we know more.

Corporation:

Just want to add some comment about them. Aside from Jose, I don't think any of them sees the girls as human being. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe a group of folks who are supposed to be the good guys can do these things to these innocent girls. I guess they must have rationed that if not for the CORP, the girls would have died, and in doing secret killing for the goverment, the girls were being patriotic and paying back the gov't at the same time. Still, sometimes I find it hard to believe that. If they were a secret mafia outfit with design for crime, then maybe I would have bought it more.

Hopefully we can generate some discussion from fans of this fantastic series. I'm sure all of you have your own theories. Please do share!

My hope for the end of the show: The girls band together and DESTROY the Corp, and run away to another country to live the rest of their lives without brainwashing. I hope they kill everyone except maybe Jose, since Henrietta will probably kill everyone on the planet before she allow Jose to be hurt. Boy that will kick ass.

2003-12-17, 21:01	Link #36
abubo Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2003	Gunslinger Girls' Psychology possible spoilers WARNING THIS THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT YET WATCHED THE SERIES I just wanted to start a Gunslingers Girl thread where we can talk about a specific issue which greatly interests me without the use of spoiler tags. We can also add to this thread as we watch more episodes. I'm up to 7 right now. The question here is this: How much of their behavior is due to brain washing, and how much came from themselves? If some of their actions are genuine, what could possibly be their motivation? From what I can tell the girls have several traits that's more or less in common, and all these I contribute to brainwashing: 1. Absolute obidience to their big brother's orders 2. Fearlessness in face of danger 3. Lack of conscience when it comes to killing 4. Lack of past memories or emotional attachment to their past/family However I do find the girs have their own motivation, I believe: Henrietta: Aside from the brainwashing, she has total love and devotion toward Jose. She will do anything to please him or protect him. I don't believe this came from brainwashing, but from within herself. I do think her memories are erased but she is aware exactly what's happened to her body. As a little girl in love things like her past and the whereabouts of her family is not as important as making Jose happy. Plus Jose has repeatedly rejected using more "Rico"-like conditioning on Henrietta, thus I think aside from what I wrote above, Henrietta is her own person. Rico: I think she's the most emotionally wrecked and brainwashed girl thus far. She appearantly do remember her family and her past, but think nothing of it other than she really prefer having a working body rather than being sick and dying all the time. I suspect this rationalizing is actually due to brainwashing. She seemed to be trying to seek out her trueself, but Jan, her big bro, I think used extra conditioning on her to erase her humanity. In episode 7 she again showed a lot of heart... it seemed that Rico is constantly fighting her conditioning and trying to become herself again. She is the most interesting character to me right now. I secrely hope she will one day put a bullet in Jan's head. Triela: Triela is the most emotionally well-adjusted girl in the bunch. She also remembers her past and about her parents, and knows very well that she's a killer working for the gov't. She's even capable of independant thoughts and action, and even lying to her handler! Since she's been in the Corp for 6-7 years now, they probably trusts her enough to lower their brainwashing and treating her more like a regular agent. From the way her big bro treated her, I have a feeling that he's really seeing her more like a co-worker rather than a "little sister". I think Triela knows and understand very well that she's a special trained killer and totally accepted her life as it is. There maybe a sub-story involving her parents with the Corp, so she maybe doing it for them. I'll be waiting for her story to develop more. Claes: All we know thus far is that she has lost her handler and won't listen to anyone else, thus relegated to the role of ur basic lab animal. Emotionally, I think she has been re-conditioned after the death of her big bro but he has etched something deep inside of her which she won't forget, but she has no memory of him. Seemed like a closed book but I hope for something more. That episode was a tear-jerker for me. Angelica: Know nothing of her right now. May not be introduced to the storyline yet. Will update as we know more. Corporation: Just want to add some comment about them. Aside from Jose, I don't think any of them sees the girls as human being. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe a group of folks who are supposed to be the good guys can do these things to these innocent girls. I guess they must have rationed that if not for the CORP, the girls would have died, and in doing secret killing for the goverment, the girls were being patriotic and paying back the gov't at the same time. Still, sometimes I find it hard to believe that. If they were a secret mafia outfit with design for crime, then maybe I would have bought it more. Hopefully we can generate some discussion from fans of this fantastic series. I'm sure all of you have your own theories. Please do share! My hope for the end of the show: The girls band together and DESTROY the Corp, and run away to another country to live the rest of their lives without brainwashing. I hope they kill everyone except maybe Jose, since Henrietta will probably kill everyone on the planet before she allow Jose to be hurt. Boy that will kick ass.