# Gunslinger Girl (2003)

> A state agency rebuilds dying children as cyborg assassins and pairs each with a handler who must make them perfect killers.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/29219

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 26
- Episode runtime: 25 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: action, drama, animation
- Network: Fuji TV, TOKYO MX
- Cast: Yuuka Nanri, Kanako Mitsuhashi, Eri Sendai, Ami Koshimizu, Hidenobu Kiuchi, Mitsuru Miyamoto, Rie Nakagawa, Hiroshi Yanaka
- TMDB rating: 7.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0476042/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: melancholic, bleak, tense, unsettling

## What critics say

Viewers rate the anime positively for its dark psychological take on child assassins and its emotional bonds between the cyborg girls and their handlers, though the audience score is modest.

## Synopsis

Gunslinger Girl (2003-2008) is a Japanese anime series produced by Artland and Madhouse, broadcast on Fuji TV and TOKYO MX, adapted from a manga. Set in present-day Italy, it follows Henrietta, a young girl whose dying body was rebuilt with cybernetic implants by a government welfare agency after her family was slaughtered. She awakens with no memory and is assigned to José (Hidenobu Kiuchi), the handler responsible for shaping her into a perfect assassin. Alongside her are other cyborg operatives such as Triela (Eri Sendai), Rico (Kanako Mitsuhashi) and Claes (Ami Koshimizu), each paired with a handler. The engine of the series is the tension between the girls' fragile childhood and the missions they are sent on, with each episode built around a targeted killing, an infiltration, or a political assignment. Across two seasons of thirteen episodes each, the show is a dark, melancholic study of engineered innocence and the bonds of care and control. Its tone is quiet, bleak and unsettling, with graphic violence rendered against ordinary cafés and streets. Fans of Elfen Lied, Noir and Léon: The Professional will find resonance in its portrait of trained young killers.

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