Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino is an ugly show. Maybe Artland isn’t the worst studio on earth, but compared to what Madhouse built in the first season of Gunslinger Girl, Artland might as well be. But, whatever, the first season supposedly had an insane budget that Artland probably didn’t have, but still, Il Teatrino has some pretty of lousy animation. It also has some lousy pacing, direction, editing, fight choreography, and scripting. I don’t know how much, if any, this is a result of the original manga author Yu Aida getting involved and taking control, but I have to wonder if it is.
(Some mild, unspecific spoilers may be ahead)
Il Teatrino fails because it hangs the cyborgs out to dry in order to keep the main story alive. The A-story of Il Teatrino is a boy assassin named Pinocchio. He is similar to the Section 2 cyborgs in that he was spared death and given a second life as an assassin, a second chance that has bought his devotion, a devotion that creates guilt over free-will issues for those around him. The details are different. Pinocchio doesn’t seem to be a cyborg for one, but he functions as the mirror image for the cyborgs and is Triela’s foil.
Outside of an introduction episode and a few standalone episodes, the series consists of just an A-story. A 13-episode series might be able to get away with only an A-story, but in this case it doesn’t work because the A-story of Il Teatrino seems more occupied with Pinocchio than on Triela or any of the other cyborgs for long stretches of time. The show is Gunslinger Girl, not Knifethrowing Boy. So while he might be an interesting mirror, he’s not the one standing in front of the mirror, which generally is who we follow. I don’t care about Pinocchio as much as I do about Claes, Henrietta, Rico, Triela, and Angelica, the characters this show is supposed to be about. So I find myself not caring for the A-story.
I suppose Franca and Franco could be the B-story of the series, but yawn.
Il Teatrino artificially extends the lifespan of the A-story. The only reason Pinocchio is around in the last episode is that Triela and Henrietta suddenly loose 15-levels as soon as they start fighting Pinocchio. I’m not sure if this was because the animation crew just couldn’t animate a bad-ass Pinocchio, so settled on making Triela, who could slam a grown man and send him flying twenty feet into a brick wall, suddenly not strong enough to grapple a non-cyborg teenage Pinocchio. Or instead of animating a showdown with Henrietta, just had her stand there like a deer in the headlights while Pinocchio escapes, even though Henrietta is a berserker type with a fast switch. Il Teatrino hangs the girls out to dry instead of making Pinocchio bad-ass.
It probably would have been better after the first Triela vs. Pinocchio fight to not have any direct confrontation between Section 2 and Pinocchio until the final episode, just to avoid the sudden incompetence syndrome. Pinocchio shouldn’t be able to win a direct confrontation if Triela and Henrietta are worth anything as Section 2 cyborgs. Each time Pinocchio doesn’t lose brings the worth of the cyborgs into question, which is why Henrietta and Pinocchio should never have been within melee range if the only option to keep Pinocchio alive to the end of the series is Henrietta’s sudden incompetence syndrome.
I think a better animation (budget) would have made it more entertaining and relieved some of the issues by creating a Pinocchio that could believably drive Triela to the edge of her enhanced capabilities. I just couldn’t buy any of his victories. A Henrietta vs. Pinocchio battle could have been a real showdown instead of a convenient way to give Henrietta screen time and give Pinocchio a way to get another episode of life.
I’m guessing, but sure, it’s just following the manga, which makes a case for not being a slave to the source material in an adaptation. At least, improved animation would have made it fun to watch, even if it didn’t make the adaptation any better.
One disappointment was seeing Angelica survive to Il Teatrino. It’s part of the original manga, I guess, but I loved the final episode of the first Gunslinger Girl series. Claes, Henrietta, Rico, and Triela in field on a winter night as meteors shower the earth, sing the Ninth while the light in Angelica’s eyes fade away as Marco reads the story they all made for her. There was something pretty about it. Ah well, now my misinterpretation of the scene is gone and replaced with something else.
To end on a positive, at least the cyborgs seem happier in their daily lives this time. Some of the episodes outside of the main plot were good, even the Angelica episode. Some people might not care for the Claes episode, but I find the Claes episodes in both seasons thoughtful and her back story poignant. I also liked the episode where we learn how Triela was given her second life.
Hmmm…I thought the animation was pretty good compared to the first. I think the colors were a bit better. I do agree with you on the plot and such. It was very, very weak. The plot should’ve focused on the girls.
I like that one episode that focused on Claes.
The terms get mixed around, but for animation I’m specifically referring to how movement and motion was rendered, not anything else. Il Teatrino is quite noticeable in its lack of animation and very poor physics. I can see finding the character design and color palette and the environments attractive. But the actual art of rendering motion was pretty awful in Il Teatrino.
I’m going to watch the first season, hopefully this month.
I still find it weird when they switch studios and continue the story… hmmm.
The first season is one of my favorite anime.
I ranted so much over the first episode of this series mostly because I was aghast that the production values fell that far. Afterwards, I just couldn’t bring myself to empathize with the characters like I did from the first season. All the heart was gone, leaving behind some soullessness behind.
A shame.
I remember the mass hate when the first episode came out. A lot of what made it a special show was missing to me as well. Il Teatrino does bring out some of the lighter sides of their lives though, so it’s not as heavy as the first season, but it was that weight that just lent GSG so much.
Gunslinger Girl is one of my favorite shows, probably position number 3 behind Haibane Renmei and Eureka Seven. I’ve avoided watching this one because, frankly, I’ve heard very little to nothing good about it, and I’m such a fan of the original it would pain me to see it followed up by something that seems to be as mediocre as I’m told this one is.
The stills I’ve seen alone are enough to steer me clear, considering the art style and palette of the original is half of what made it so great, and that appears lost in this one. Maybe there’s a reason while the manga authors usually don’t have control, similar to movies where the author has control and how many of those movies are pretty poor adaptations. It’s a different medium, and a person who is good with the medium of manga or literature isn’t necessarily going to be good at translating to the screen or television.
Gunslinger Girl is on my top 10. It took me about four episodes into Il Teatrino just to recover from my feelings of displeasure over the changes. Il Teatrino in many ways is a flavorless sequel and it’s not just the art style, but how the visuals were implemented in the first that are now missing that really detracts from the viewing experience. There were a few cuts that I said to myself, this probably looked good in the manga, but this transition is amateurish as far as moving pictures go.
Il Teatrino is another example of an author taking control of their adaptations for the wrong reasons. They made decisions that were perfectly valid in their medium and then get angered when those adapting it to another went the other way, failing to understand the reason why that decision was made.
I watched the first Gunslinger girl and I liked a lot. Now I must say I havent watched this show yet, but there are some good and bad opinions out there.
Well, some people did actually like this, so it is possible to enjoy. Good luck on that front.
I watched awhile back. But I really liked the intro song for some reason. From what i remember they tried to do way too much in one season and it really showed.
They did make the girls much weaker compared to the first season where they were a lot tougher. The hand to hand combat part in the beginning did attempt to bring out a weakness but they played it out wrong.
Along with trying to flesh out the antagonist sides. There were 3 different antagonist forces at the end and they attempted to make you feel sorry for them. Sure it might work in a longer season or manga where you have a ton of time to work things out. But in 13 episodes its never going to be pretty.
I think it could have been done in a 13 episode series, but that would require a pretty tight series composition and a good understanding of depicting the passing of time.
They did try and make you feel sorry for them didn’t they? I get that the story doesn’t want black and white, since the cyborgs themselves are in a pretty shady setup to begin with, so I don’t fault the attempt to get the viewer to see some alignment with the antagonists, but definitely wasn’t working.
Hmmmm… I think I read a bit too much here giving the fact I just received the boxset yesterday from rightstuf. Still, I managed to watch half the series when it was still being subbed before a particular group *cough* The Triad *cough* dropped it halfway and I didn’t bother to pick it up again until the R1 DVD’s was out.
I understand the production move from Madhouse to Artland was disappointing as we can see Artland decided to cut the cost here. Even if they did went all out, I doubt they could’ve produced the same quality as Madhouse did. Trying not the let the animation deter me, I focused more on the story and I found it was good. Character development on Pinocchio and Triela wasn’t that strong and I didn’t know what’s the deal with the other characters as I haven’t gotten that far yet.
Even if it comes down as a below average series compared to Season 1, I won’t let it get to me too much as the love for the Gunslinger Girl franchise is just too great to make me hate it.
Sorry about that. Didn’t put up a spoiler warning because I thought I was being unspecific enough to avoid them. Even though it’s normal for the antagonist to last until the end, I guess it is a mild spoiler to find out that they do indeed last until the end.
I love Gunslinger Girl. The franchise is still one of my favorites and eagerly await a third season, but I think the hate Il Teatrino gets comes from how much people liked it to begin with.
I’ve been following the manga for four years, and I really prefer the first season myself.
I actually preferred the colour palette in the original adaptation. It gives off that very muted vibe that somehow looks more Western in setting, since the whole series is set in Italy and all. It also paints a very bleak picture that is well suited to the subject matter. It was almost like a political commentary.
However, when I compare it to the manga, the first series seems to push it in a different direction, and they take artistic liberties in doing so. I can understand Aida’s being upset since Madhouse actually moved around the chronology a bit. For example, the last episode is actually supposed to be somewhere earlier on in respect to the other episodes, and Angelica was never implied to die in the original.
I never did get past half of the first episode of Il Teatrino so I can’t comment on it.
I only read the first volume of the manga (I’m not much of a manga reader). Madhouse messed with the chronology and probably instilled a little more density into the atmosphere than the manga. But, they didn’t strike me as radically different. It’s been so long since I saw the manga, so I can’t really be too clear on that point, but I recall while watching the original season for the first time liking the direction. Seeing as there’s a brighter tone in Il Teatrino, Aida likely didn’t like the more oppressive tone in the Madhouse production, but that’s all speculation. I think the dread in the atmosphere added a lot to the first anime.
I happened to notice it on the shelf in Best Buy the other day, and just had to pick it up. I knew nothing about the first series when I, much the same, spotted it on the shelf; but I took the bait anyway.
I really thought they tried too hard to put too much into the story of the first set, in retrospect, and it did make me a little uncomfortable at first because of the creepy factor, and it seemed like it didn’t have quite enough action. But as far as action goes, I suppose I should be thankful for what I got in this second series.
I do share a lot of your grievances, about the quality of animation motion, but on the whole I really felt satisfied and did not find myself pre-occupied with it. Although I thought that close-ups (like on a statue for instance) lacked detail and looked frightfully blurry. I was also quite annoyed with the whole Pinnochio-centric storyline. Although I will part ways with you now on a few things..
Looking at it as a whole work, I thought that a lot of the girls got relatively equal time. I especially enjoyed the “A day in the life of Claes” and Triela’s origin episodes. It actually took me a minute to connect the dots – but I was still left wondering what her handlers role was. He seemed to have intimate knowledge of her situation (as I would suspect) but at the same time it almost seemed confusing, as if we were supposed to think her handler was the same man from the back-story flashback. Or maybe he is? I don’t know I was pretty tired at that point so probably just need to re-watch it..
Approaching GSG from the idea of it being a character study, I think has allowed me to find it more enjoyable than when I originally thought it was just girls with guns action. I think approaching the second series from the “character study” angle left me more satisfied in terms of some of the plot devices as well, as opposed to the way you felt..
I noticed they did tone down the exploration of the girls’ feelings for their handlers, but found it particularly interesting when that girl Triela was guarding essentially got her to admit she was in love with her handler. I actually think she is the most interesting character, perhaps because she is indeed older than the rest of the girls, is far more jaded, etc. I think it would be interesting to see further works put her in a situation where she is really “alone” with her handler and how she might act (would she make advances? how would she act when he pushes her away (assumedly)? )
But getting to the whole Pinnochio thing. I can understand why they wanted to make the girls fail repeatedly. Especially in Triela’s case, she took it very hard and it affected her professional performance as a result – I don’t see anything wrong with that. However I have one or two episodes left to go so I can’t completely comment on the whole situation.
It does sound like they could have done it much more tastefully and intelligently though. Overall I thought it dragged on in the beginning with Franco et al. But I am just hoping that there will be continued releases for this series.
It really is an interesting character study more than anything, and I want to see what happens to these girls all the way up to the end of their lives.. Its such a shame that many in the community has scorned GSG and passed it off as some kind of pedo-centric shit. It deals with real issues that real human beings deal with emotionally at their ages, and that someone in their positions WOULD be dealing with because of their conditioning and circumstances.
People can criticize that angle now, but everyone will praise it in the future, just like every other property that has bucked the trends and challenged peoples perceptions of entertainment, through dealing with pseudo-real life issues.
We don’t diverge that much. I’m just being obnoxious while we’re walking down the same street. I guess the problem for me is that since it does try to get you to understand the characters and their situation, that when it sort of disrespects its own build-up from the initial season to clumsily move the story for the second that it feels like a cheat. But, I’d definitely like to see another series. They hint that the cyborgs have a limited lifespan, due in part to the conditioning, so there’s a lot of ways they could explore it.
I’m pretty sure that Hilshire was the agent in Triela’s back story. The handlers know their cyborg’s origins, which would be difficult to deal with, considering. Both Triela and Claes are the most autonomous of the cyborgs. Hilshire keeps Triela’s conditioning to a minimum and Claes has no handler and does what she pleases in her closed environment. It makes them interesting characters and relatable. Claes does things a certain way and doesn’t exactly know why, yet she takes satisfaction in her life. I always find her condition gives me the most to dwell on.
I finished things up the other night. Only really had two episodes to rewatch or something like that.. I fell asleep through one of them.
I found the end confrontation to be pretty satisfying, although I do wish the series had more similar action. Triela certainly went all out, and it was kind of gratifying to watch. But then at the end I was yelling at the T.V screen, saying “oh no you didn’t kill her” over and over, because let’s face it.. Even an android could probably die from a hit to the eye like she sustained. So was kind of a relief to see her not dead.
The ending with her and Hilshire was very good I think.. It was actually kind of surprising in some ways, but that may just be because I don’t remember his demeanor from my viewing of the first series months before.. I thought her dialogue was perfect and funny at the same time, in that beat-up sarcastic “been around the block a few too many times” way… Which I can relate to on a personal level.
Definitely gave a sense of maturity the way they embraced though, so who knows where that could lead, if they let it.. It wouldn’t gross people out too much I think, as she is clearly much older than the other girls and it shows.
What are your opinions on the Manga (and any other works that may exist?), have read it? I’m thinking about looking into it if I can relate to it the same way as I can to the Anime, and I’m sure there is a lot more story to go through in print vs screen.
Triela and Hilshire have always had more of a push back relationship. Sort of like a father and a teenage daughter, except you know, the daughter is a cyborg assassin. I think they made it obvious in both series that they do actually care about each other even if when confronted with the other they’re always pushing away, so it felt right to me how they reacted in the end, even if they’ve never been that way before.
That’s true..I had never considered the Father/Daughter dynamic. Not sure if I suck at identifying those kinds of things, or I just intentionally overlook them because of my own turbulent relationships. (sitting through crap in movies like “I love you dad/son” really drives me nuts.. just makes me uneasy, don’t know why, lol)
I appreciate your analysis of the series ^_^ Like many have said before I immediately noticed that the visual clarity and crispness was gone, and for me that takes a lot away from it. I enjoyed GSG because the beautiful imagery and the storytelling (mostly because it wasn’t at a rushed pace). But I already like it! it just seems to be more based around the people and less about the visual aspects of the series. thanks