Anime: Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino

Pretty bleak in comparison with its prequel.

Usually when a show gets a sequel, one always hopes it will be at least as good as its prequel. These fears were mine too, as I thought back of the excellent ending sequence of the first series. Would this sequel manage to keep up the good character development? The answer is, unfortunately, no.

This series seems to focus mostly on an underlying story rather than the girls themselves, which isn't a bad thing to do – story continuity is most of the time a good thing after all. Unfortunately, the effects on the characters' from the first series is pretty harsh, as they always seem pretty bland and uninteresting. That could be compensated by a very good story, but despite the focus on the plot, the series never manages to become anywhere interesting.

Animation: Different character designs are a bad idea.

Gunslinger Girl wasn't exactly a very detailed piece of work. It worked with washed out colors in order to gain a sort of atmospherical effect, sort of aquarel-like. Il Teatrino continues that work, but here the setting feels way too flat and uninspired. The CG which appears a little more often, also seems hesitant, as if they tried to keep it in line with the aquarel-style.

But what makes the animation awkward is probably the fact that the character designs seem to be done by someone else. Where in the prequel the girls all had characteristic traits which made them look like round characters, its sequel ended up displaying them with bland, emotionless eyes. This often resulted in the characters looking like robotic objects. But when the characters look like dolls, the series loses its edge and one might lose his/her compassion for the girls.

Sound: Good music, good voice actors, lousy scripts.

The music is once again done pretty well. Nice songs, good BGM and positioned in places where they fit perfectly. I personally liked the overall sound a little less than in the first series, but it's still worth listening to and it suits the series.
The voice actors were still doing good jobs and I admit I liked hearing their voices. The only one I didn't like much was Marco, but that might be a personal opinion.

Story: Fails in a lot of aspects.

One of the problems of the show was that the dialogues were not all that great. Many times I wondered why the dialogues were so lousy, especially with The Triad doing the subtitles – a group with a good reputation. I tend to believe it is really a bad scriptwriter, since the same thing happened when other groups subbed the series. The result is that many dialogues simply feel like they have no clue how to deal with personal relationships.
So, with the dialogues being pretty lousy, the show takes a fair hit.

Also, as said before, the show tries to focus on the plot. The continuity of the plot is proper and does its work well, but it never manages to become anywhere near as interesting. There are plenty of other shows which do a much better job coping with political intrigues and the low quality plot makes the show look dull and uninteresting. The pace is pretty slow and several times I've noticed that the series tends to make slight jumps in time, seemingly to cut to the action-scenes a little faster.

The action-scenes itself are also not very interesting. In comparison to its prequel opening, where Henrietta mowes down several men when she enters the room, its sequel never manages to capture any single action scene which sticks to the mind. There is no impact in anything that happens; it's just action, like the stuff that happens in every other series. In this aspect the show loses more than it gains.

Characters: Completely clueless about personal relationships and personality traits.

The characters are still recognisable, but many characters seem to have gotten a bland look in their eyes, as if they are incapable of thinking straight. Unfortunately, their looks aren't the only thing which is entirely different from its prequel.

Henrietta, as the girl who developed a tremendous personality due to her semi-doubt in her relationship with her guardian, seems in this series as a flat character who is hardly capable of thinking anything but how she can please her guardian Jose.

The same goes for Triela, usually a very down-to-earth girl. Since she was one of the most mature girls in the series, she displayed a good sense of responsibility, romance, cynism and an older sister-role. In this series, however, most of this doesn't even make an appearance, despite a strong focus on her character. The part where they put her to live together with an ordinary teenage girl could lead to a really nice addition to her personality, but once that part ended, they discarded that entire idea.

There are, however, a few positive aspects in this: They put a lot of focus on a few characters which also played a role in the first series and next to the enjoyment of seeing them again, there was a fair bit of character development on that. If they would have completely focused on those characters, the show might have been a whole lot better.

To cut to the point, it seems like in this series, they had no clue about what the strong points of its initial success was.

Value & Enjoyment: There's plenty better out there.

I can't imagine anyone who appreciated its prequel for the character development and the personal relationships to enjoy this sequel. I also can't imagine anyone who enjoys action shows to enjoy this series as it simply doesn't have enough action – and if there is action, it simply isn't anywhere interesting enough to keep around.
The series therefore loses most of its value and doesn't seem at all worth to buy.
Only watch this series if you're really curious, or when you have never seen its prequel. Big chance you'll be utterly disappointed if you have.

Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino - A worthy sequel to the original series

Animation - 8/10
The animation for the series is very well done. Action scenes are smooth, fluid, and look very realistic. Scene and mood shots are also handled very well, and work to enhance the experience. You will definitely get the feeling of Italy. The characters are also handled very well, and their faces convey emotion really well. Even the grunts are given non-generic faces with realistic emotions, which really helps to ground the series, which helps considering that a major plot point of the series is that all the girls are futuristic cyborgs.

All of this stems for the show's exceptional eye for details, which is carried over from the manga. Things like streets, cars and merchandise are all based on real-life objects/locations and look like the real thing, but the most detailed objects in the series are the weapons. Every gun is based of a real-world gun, and the details of these weapons, such as how they handles, how it fires, down to its recoil power is accounted for, making the gun fights very nice to watch.

The show's big problem with animation however is the lighting. For the most part this manifests itself in several scenes being on the dark side. Not so much that you can't watch it, just make sure that whatever you're viewing the show on is properly calibrated or that you can quickly up the brightness, else it may become annoyingly dark at times, especially during the last two episodes. The other lighting problem is during outdoor daytime scenes. Some scenes early on never felt like they were really outside to me, instead like they were on some of those "outdoor" sets they have on cheap sitcoms, but this may have been just me.

Sound - 8/10
OP/ED - 9/10
When I first started watching the show, the opening song, "Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi" (たった1つの想い?) by Kokia, at first annoyed me, partly because I so enjoyed the first season's opening, "The Light Before We Land" by The Delgados, and was hoping for something similar, but as time went on I grew to love the song, and I believe it is a great fit for the show, especially given the lyrics about protecting their one and only, and how they want to live up to that person's expectations despite their faults, it really describes the girls and their thought processes.

The ending song, "doll", preformed by Lia and Aoi Tada; written and composed by Jun Maeda, is very nice instrumentally, and a good companion piece to the opening, although the song's lyrics kinda have me befuddled. They are kinda stereotypical "I was empty before you" stuff, I think, which makes sense given the girls' backgrounds, although I get the feeling something is lost in the translation.

Background - 8/10
The background music is, for the most part, standard fair. There are some pieces that might stick with you for a bit, but the real stand out is the recurring "Main Theme" by Ootani Kou. The song is ably named, as it's used repeatedly through the series, one of the few, and used beautifully during the climatic fight between Triela and Pinocchio. I recommend getting the OST, if only for this song, although the rest of the album is quite enjoyable as well.

Voice Acting - 7/10
The vocal performances are standard stuff, if a little lacking in emotional variance. The characters' voice don't often change that much, usually only having two options: happy or serious. As such, most of the emotion is conveyed more through visuals rather than vocals, but given the tone of the series, it's not really the actors' fault but the story itself.

Story - 7/10
The story picks up from the last series, with the Social Welfare Agency still fighting the terrorist organization Padania Republic Faction, who want an independent Northern Italy. Special Operations, Section 2 is called in to deal with more threats, etc etc. The political motivations are again pretty much glazed over, with more focus on the characters, who they are and what defines them. We do learn more about various characters' past, usually by moving between present day and flash backs, with bits and pieces shown and how they are all connected, but none of it ever really seems to stick.

The two characters who are focused on the most, Triela and Pinocchio, do manage to keep this system afloat, as their "Similar yet Different" upbringings, where in they seem to go through similar trials and tribulation, seem to give an underlying "Nature vs Nurture" tone to these parts. The series suggests that the two are nigh identical, and the only significant difference being what side of the law they learned from, although exactly what kind of message they're trying to push here is lost to me, if there is indeed a message at all.

Character - 7/10
The problem with the characters is that while they are all given different backgrounds and stories, they for the most part behave similarly and never really change. There are some differences and nuances, but these usually only come about when they are interacting with one or more of the girls. I suppose this is the trapping of action shows, where most of the time the characters' sole goals are to shoot the opposing force and survive, but given how much time is given to character background and interaction, you'd think they would be able to overcome this. The first series was much better at handling this, and I'm guessing they were hoping this would carry over.

The Triela/Pinocchio dynamic again keeps things interesting when they might otherwise be boring, but again not seeing exactly what their point to the dynamic is doesn't get it very far.

There is also some development with the Franco & Franca pair, which is welcomed after knowing nothing about them in the first series, and near the end it looks like they might actually be having some character growth, but this isn't expanded on to much, and given I wonder if it will continue.

Value - 8/10
The stunning visuals and beautiful sound are worth the watch, and alone give this series long term value and repeat viewing potential. The story's stiffness and emotional single-mindedness at times may make some episodes fall by the side in repeat viewings, but overall the series is still very well done.

Enjoyment - 8/10
A very stunning & realistic looking series, and if you're into action series, this is definitely one worth watching. The series isn't quite as good as the first, but fans of it will enjoy this series as well.