(L) Gunslinger Girl discussion

[iamandragon]

I'm itching for more too...13 episode is definately not enough...make it 130...

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by iamandragon

I'm itching for more too...13 episode is definately not enough...make it 130...

I don't think the girls can live that long...

Still, one can hope for more episodes. We just need the manga author to get more material done, and that someone out there decided to give the funding.

[wingdarkness]

In a second series I would hope they decide if they want it to be an action series, a cyborb teen angst series, or a psyco-analytical training series...the problem with the first series is it tried to be ALL these things, thus it wasn't truley great in any of these areas...But with that said I still enjoyed this series in a weird way...The final episode was pretty random though...

[dfens]

I don't think people get it. The series is pretty much over and done with it. Which is sad since this is one of my favorite series and I have pretty much all the merchandise etc.

wingdarkness the anime pretty much followed the manga word for word, scene for scene except episode 12 didn't happen and they altered 13 so that they could end the anime with that one and end the series for good.

If they want to make a second season they can their is plenty of material the first season barely covered 2 and a half volumes, of the current 6 volumes which I own all of them.

Latter on in the manga the story gets a deeper and much more action occurs. The problem was it should have been 26 episoded to begin with but at the time their was only 3 volumes of material so you can't blame them for such a short story that seemed like it was trying to be to many things at once.

[wingdarkness]

^But you do agree it was all over the place? The series kinda had an identity crisis...There were many really well done scenes with the girls examining their emotions (or lackthereof) and lots of good psyco babble in certain eps aswell, but you didn't know what the expect from episode to episode...Which can sometimes be a good thing, but in this case was a bit odd an unfocused...Obviously a 26 episode effort could have fleshed the story out more....

[molitar]

Well I know this is an old discussion but I been watching this on Tv. And ANYONE that says the Agency is not EVIL is totally and 100% NUTS! They killed the police chief because he was going to inform the public. Now an agency that will kill anyone to keep it's secret is WRONG and should be destroyed!

[Forbin]

Hehe, Molitar must be young.

Politics are so contrived all people see are the short end.
While I don't agree with Killing in general the killing in GSD is how politics occur every day.

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by wingdarkness

The final episode was pretty random though...

I was watching the series on IFC but not really keeping track of the episode numbers and was wondering why it has not been on the last couple of weeks. Then I looked into it an realized the "shooting star"episode was the ending.

Probably one of the poorer endings I have seen in an otherwise interesting and promising series. There was no sense that anything was accomplished or that most of the important characters reached any sort of resolution to any of their plot lines. It was like they just stopped in the middle of the story...

[Forbin]

Originally Posted by mdauben

I was watching the series on IFC but not really keeping track of the episode numbers and was wondering why it has not been on the last couple of weeks. Then I looked into it an realized the "shooting star"episode was the ending.

Probably one of the poorer endings I have seen in an otherwise interesting and promising series. There was no sense that anything was accomplished or that most of the important characters reached any sort of resolution to any of their plot lines. It was like they just stopped in the middle of the story...

Why so poor? The girls are just continuing their lives and are singing (in English version) a nice Italian song.
Is it a slam bang ending where all the girls self destruct? No, it's an ending where basically you cry at how they are living a pitiful life as lab rats where they have nothing but their 'brothers' to look after. That's just sad.

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by Forbin

Why so poor?

Becasue nothing happened and nothing was resolved.

The girls are just continuing their lives and are singing (in English version) a nice Italian song.

Booooring. It might have made a nice as a bit of character development for the girls, but hardly an ending.

No, it's an ending where basically you cry at how they are living a pitiful life as lab rats where they have nothing but their 'brothers' to look after.

That's just it, I didn't cry (and I'm probably the first one to emphathize with charactes and get misty-eyed over their problems). Neither did I cheer. The ending was just a big emothionless non-event to me that didn't particularly make me feel anything.

I'm not saying that all the girls should have died in a bloody, John Wu style gun battle, or even that they should have all died at all. But something should have happened.

Henretta dieing in Jose's arms. Jose dieing in Henrietta's arms. Some new medical development to prolong the lives of the girls. Some sort of real development or change in the basic condition of their lives. Some deep and significant change in one or more of the characters. It just seemed like there was no one and nothing different at the end of the series than at the beginning. It was 13 episodes of random violence and quite conversations that just never seemed to go anywhere.

I was just disappointed. I thought the series looked so promising at the beginning, with some very likeable characters, an interesting situation, and a forshadowed tragedy. For me, at least, it just never delivered.

[Aird]

This type of open endings happen quite often in anime. Full Metal Panic, Shakugan no Shana, Elfen Lied, The Melencholy of Suzumiya Haruhi to name a few all have similar endings. These stories were animated before it's source material was completed. It leaves the possibility for continuation at a later time. Maybe when the manga is completed there will be another season, who knows. If you want to find out what happens after the anime, I guess you'll need to read the manga.

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by Aird

This type of open endings happen quite often in anime. Full Metal Panic, Shakugan no Shana, Elfen Lied, The Melencholy of Suzumiya Haruhi to name a few all have similar endings.

I would argue that while all of these series are "open ended" in that they leave room for continuing the stories of the main characters, they all had some sort of resolution or climax to them that Gunslinger Girls lacked.

Spoiler for Full Metal Panic:

The first season ends with the climactic battle between Sousuke and Gauron, ending (seemingly) the Gauron plot thread that ran through the whole first season and .

Spoiler for Shakugan no Shana:

Another climactic battle, in this case between Shana and Hecate, a world-wide catastrophy is averted, and the relationship between Shana and Yuji reaches achieves a new (altough admittedly not final) level.

Spoiler for Elfen Lied:

The full story of the "history" between Kohta and Lucy is revealed. Kohta confesses to her that depite what has happend, he still loves her (or at least Nyuu and the little girl he remembers), granting her the thing she thought she would never recieve. Also (depending on who you think the shadow at the end repesents) provides for a happy ever after for all (or at least most) of the main characters.

Spoiler for The Melencholy of Suzumiya Haruhi:

The ending of the series climaxes in Kyon saving reality by convincing Haruhi that the normal world is worth saving, and it is at least implied that a relationship between the two of them is beginning.

These stories were animated before it's source material was completed. It leaves the possibility for continuation at a later time.

True, they all leave things open enough that the story can coninue, but on the other hand they do have proper endings in their own right. There is a climax to the story of each of these series that can stand on its own even if there isn't/wasn't a next season.

If you want to find out what happens after the anime, I guess you'll need to read the manga.

Again, its not so much I want or need the story to continue, as that if they are going to end the anime (or even just the season) there, they should have included an ending (open ended or not). Its is to my mind just poor storytelling. A story need a beginning, a middle and an end. The four series above have all three of those in one season. Gunslinger Girls in my opinion has only the first two.

[G. Zeus]

Henretta dieing in Jose's arms. Jose dieing in Henrietta's arms. Some new medical development to prolong the lives of the girls. Some sort of real development or change in the basic condition of their lives. Some deep and significant change in one or more of the characters. It just seemed like there was no one and nothing different at the end of the series than at the beginning. It was 13 episodes of random violence and quite conversations that just never seemed to go anywhere.

I guess they were simply trying to highlight the fact that there are many uncertainties concerning the morality of their practices and the futures of the girls, hence the the lack of what some may consider as a proper ending. GSG is one of those series which are meant to leave questions in the viewers' minds rather than giving answers directly.

I would argue that while all of these series are "open ended" in that they leave room for continuing the stories of the main characters, they all had some sort of resolution or climax to them that Gunslinger Girls lacked.

I think the "climax" of the series would be Marco's change in attitude towards Angelica as she lay dying(?). Granted it's nothing as earthshaking as those in the other series and there are those such as you who are left unsatisfied but I think it's fine to have a few subtle ones every once in a while.

[Cheshire Cat]

I liked this series, but it could have been longer...the episodes are only a half hour long and there're only 13 episodes, and with so many characters a lot of them haven't been explored fully...but I think what we're supposed to focus on was the idea of using artificial girls and certain moralistic issues involving them...

The ending pretty much goes back to the question of 'is it right to use girls as assassins?' Being merely tools of an organization to kill others? I don't think you can have a clear cut ending to the series you'd like because it's an open ended debate and there wasn't a specific goal in mind to achieve...

I take it as a sort of realistic approach to the show, that they're not there for some super awesome battle or an extravagent display of emotion between fratello and their girls (though Marco and Angelica could be considered so)...they're there because they ARE being used as killing machines for the limited time they have alive...but they have feelings and act like other normal girls, and that's what they show at the end...The one guy even says that their existance is wasted knowing they could be normal...

[Kalas_Raven]

^ That is why Gunslinger Girl is one of my favorite anime ever! ^_^

[TougeSil80]

Originally Posted by molitar

Well I know this is an old discussion but I been watching this on Tv. And ANYONE that says the Agency is not EVIL is totally and 100% NUTS! They killed the police chief because he was going to inform the public. Now an agency that will kill anyone to keep it's secret is WRONG and should be destroyed!

I have to agree with you on this. No matter how you spin it the agency is evil. They are not only using the girls as assins, they treat them like test subjects. WIth all the reconditioning and drugs. And in the end nothing changed, the agency is still there, the girls can't escape their fate of dying young. It doesn't have to be a good ending, bu tat least show us some change or something. (I watched this a long time ago, so some of the details might be off)

[Forbin]

Just in case you didn't know.

Check out the Unaired Section.

Gunslinger Girl 2 is now in production!!!!
WOOT!

[LucidLucifer]

I've got 4 of the Manag volumes, which is all that is available in English at this time. Apparently there are 6 volumes so far, but ADV is taking WAY too long to translate them. Still if you liked the anime you will ove the manga.

[TougeSil80]

Originally Posted by Forbin

Just in case you didn't know.

Check out the Unaired Section.

Gunslinger Girl 2 is now in production!!!!
WOOT!

Just saw that, can't wait. w00t!

[KholdStare]

I just recently finished this anime, and overall it was good. I liked the ending, and judging from this thread I'm probably the only one that does. I'm not a sadistic/pessimistic person to hope for any of the girls to die so what happened at the end was, for me, really emotional without going overboard, and that's what I like about it.

even though this anime has some very disturbing themes, one light that shed within the organization was the fact that the "brothers" didn't threat their girls as tools. Henrietta's relationship was good from the start, and the progress of Triela, Claes, and Angelica's handlers fratello was for me the main theme of the anime. The backdrop is quite unsettling, yes, but that's what makes this anime good. It's not a completely happy ending but not a tragedy either, but falls somewhere in between very close to my taste. I like anime that isn't all fictional. The organization and its actions exist within the anime to remind us of the corrupt governments in the world and raises some ethical questions about the controversial subject: If they are going to die anyway, would you save them and use them or let them die?