49. Gunslinger Girl by Yu Aida

Gunslinger Girl by Yu Aida
ISBN: 1413900208
ADV Manga, Houston, Texas, 2003
176 pages
Alternate Format: Manga

Teaser: The Social Welfare Agency "rescues" crippled, damaged little girls who have been orphaned or abandoned and provides expensive and miraculous cybernetic enhancements to restore their bodies. It isn't out of the goodness of their heart, however. No one will miss these little girls, and with a little brainwashing, they have the perfect tools for certain "special" tasks. Who would ever suspect a little girl as an assassin?

Summary: Henrietta survived the horrible attack that killed all six other members of her family. She is horribly traumatized, and badly injured. Giuseppe selects her to become his partner, and she receives the surgery that replaces her lost arm and leg, and enhances the rest of her body. She also receives a large dose of the conditioning agent, which erases all memory of her past and leaves her with a strange innocence. Henrietta is fiercely protective of her handler, Giuseppe, and utterly loyal.

There are several girls that have undergone this process, each with a handler of their own. Each chapter in this first volume focuses on a different girl, starting with Henrietta. Each girl has some past that brought her to the agency, and each handler has a different way of treating the cyborg girl he is in charge of. Henrietta is given a minimum of the brainwashing drug after her past was erased, and is treated like a little sister by Giuseppe. Rico was given very little of the brainwashing drug at the outset, so she still recalls her past. Her handler gives her fairly high maintenance doses however, which leaves Rico pliable and obedient, and he treats her as a tool. Triela's past is not revealed, but her past was erased at the outset, followed by low maintenance doses, which allows her somewhat snarky attitude to shine. Triela is the most "teen" of them, and her handler acts as her mentor and guardian.

Each girl gives another glimpse into the mindset of the main players in this story, as the girls and their handlers consider what it really means to be human.

Evaluation: The story of Gunslinger Girl focuses on what it means to be human, as the emotional innocence of the girls is juxtaposed against their bloody "jobs." This strange balance of innocence and cold killer is strangely compelling, and thoroughly enjoyable. The characters have a great deal of depth, and the emotions don't feel at all contrived. The manga format works well with this story, allowing the expressions of the characters to tell the story just as much as the words do. Readers should be prepared for frequent gunfights and quite a lot of mild gore, however. While the black ink blood is not terribly shocking when compared to the special effects full color blood seen on your average crime drama on television, there is still quite a lot of it, and fairly frequently. If you are looking for a good story about what it means to be human, and can take the gore and violence associated with the government-assassins-fighting-terrorists part of the plot, Gunslinger Girl is an excellent choice.

Challenge issues and age recommendation: This story is focused on little girls that are brainwashed, cybernetically enhanced, and used as assassins. Most of these girls were the victims of horrible crimes, and these and other crimes are not glossed over. There is quite a bit of violence and gore, but most of the gore is in the form of black and white blood spatter and bullet injuries, without any real detail. Due to the subject matter, violence and gore, I'm recommending this for readers 16 and up.