Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino 01 and First Impressions

Distance Between People: Brother and Sister
More Screencaps from Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino Episode 01

Guiseppe (the subs call him 'Jose') and Hilshire are at a French souvenir shop, where Guiseppe is trying to decide what to give Henrietta. Overhearing the two men talking, the shopowner shows Guiseppe something he might like. Later, on the train back to Italy, Hilshire gets a call from his superiors, briefing him on the next mission.


The opening theme is Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi [Sample @ 4shared], performed by KOKIA. The ending Doll by Lia and Aoi Tada [Sample @ 4shared].

Rome is going through some civil disturbance and police officers have taken to fighting the rallyists outright. Guiseppe and Henrietta and Jean and Rico are on their way to the Colosseum to observe the events in case terrorists take advantage of the situation.

Rico plays around while walking behind Jean, causing him to grab her and order her to walk properly. When Henrietta sees Jean holding Rico's hands, she attempts to hold Guiseppe's hand as well but stops when he turns to her to ask if anything is wrong.

Upon arriving at the place, Jean and Rico decide to separate from Guiseppe and Henrietta when a bomb suddenly explodes, throwing the unsuspecting Guiseppe down on the ground. Thankfully, he is not hurt. Even so, he has to calm down Henrietta, who has already drawn her gun.

A fellow member of the Social Welfare Agency (SWA) arrives in a Vespa motorbike, which Guiseppe promptly borrows in order to chase the terrorists.

While Guiseppe and Henrietta are going after the terrorists, Jean and Rico are keeping track of their location and advices Guiseppe that they would be moving the chase to a residential neighborhood. Hilshire and Triela, who have been observing the events from a distance, move into position as well and lay down a trap for the terrorists.

Meanwhile, one of the terrorists notices the Vespa tailing them. They wait until they are at a quieter street before they start shooting. Henrietta shoots back, killing the shooter who thereafter falls down, effectively forcing Guiseppe to stop.

The other SWA teams cut off the terrorists' route, forcing it to enter a residential neighborhood, as planned. They run into Triela's trap and has to stop and disembark. Triela starts shooting them one by one but two escape and run towards a fountain, where Rico is waiting.

Thinking the blond girl to be harmless, the terrorists think they are scot-free, when Rico suddenly pulls out her gun and shoots their legs. Earlier, Jean has told her not to kill the terrorists, but merely to incapacitate them. But when one terrorist draws a gun and aims for Rico, Jean unhesitatingly kills him with his own gun.

Back in the terrorists' vehicle, Triela is looking for the last of the terrorists. The man tries to attack her with a knife but she quickly disarms him and shoots him at point-blank range, causing blood to splatter all over her clothes and face. Hilshire arrives just then and is a bit shocked to see the blood-soaked Triela.

The mission is a success. That night, Henrietta goes up to Guiseppe's room for a visit, but finds the room empty. She finds Guiseppe's shirt on the bed and embraces it. But after a while though, she notices the gift box on the table and surmises that it's the souvenir from France.

Inside is a golden kaleidoscope, but then Henrietta notices the French inscription at the bottom, which said that it is for someone named "Louis Antoinette Rolle." Henrietta replaces the gift and leaves the room, depressed because she thinks that this woman is Guiseppe's real girlfriend.

Triela tries to comfort her, but it is Claes who manages to get through to Henrietta when she says that Louis Antoinette Rolle is the lover of a 19th century French writer who wrote a novel where the main character is named "Henrietta." According to Claes, the gift is a nice metaphor.

Now comforted, Henrietta goes back to Guiseppe's room but this time, he is there waiting for her. The two of them go for a walk, the gift now in Henrietta's arms. Back in the room, Triela is asking Claes if the story about the French writer is true. Claes says that she tweaked the story a bit and that the golden kaleidoscope is probably a fake since the device did not yet exist in the 19th century.

COMMENTS:

Okay, first thing's first, I haven't seen the first season, so I don't know how the second season compares to the first. I was expecting a lot of action, but apart from the brief exchange of bullets, this episode was kind of meh in terms of that. Even the chase scene was pretty bland.

And I'm not a loli fan so I find it just odd this whole "brother-sister" relationship between the little girls and their handlers. God, I hope they don't capitalize on that or make it into a full-blown romance, because...eek!

But I do understand that the girls need a human side to them, considering that they are supposed to be cyborgs or some such. Hmm, I think my favorite character is Triela, because she wields some ass-kicking rifle with a HUMONGOUS bayonet at the tip. Gotta love that. LOLz.