Gunslinger Girl: Complete Box Set Actors: Yuka Nanri, Hidenobu Kiuchi, Mitsuru Miyamoto, Kanako Mitsuhashi, Sendai Eri Language: English Formats: Animated, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only) Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Number of Discs: 3 Audience Rating: Unrated Studio: Funimation Prod Release Date: September 19, 2006 Amazon.com: Technical Details - Add To Baby Registry - Add To Wedding Registry - Add To Wishlist - Tell A Friend - All Customer Reviews - All Offers Description The Social Welfare Corporation is a secret military force that has been "saving" orphaned girls by making them more machine than flesh. No longer children, they are assassins… and an even more frightening truth will change everything. Box Set Features: • Exclusive collector’s box • 13 Episodes • 325 Minutes of Content • Audio commentary • 16:9 widescreen • 5.1 English audio Amazon.com Henrietta, Claes, Triela, Angelica, and Rico, the adolescent heroines of the broadcast series Gunslinger Girl (2003), are orphans who have been turned into petite assassins through cybernetic implants and brainwashing. Each girl has an older, male "handler" from the Social Welfare Agency, a covert branch of the Italian government, who oversees her training and takes her on missions. The miniature murderers travel through Italy, dispatching criminals, right-wing terrorists, and uncooperative police officers with a cold-blooded efficiency Scarface might envy. The girls remember a few scattered fragments of their past lives, and the only feeling they express is a mixture of affection and adoration for the handlers. This lack of emotion makes them singularly unappealing as characters and robs Gunslinger Girl of the pathos of Saikano. None of them feels a shred of regret for their murderous actions: In episode 8, Henrietta complains that's she's only killed four people in the last month. The results suggest Key the Metal Idol re-made by Sam Peckinpah. Although Gunslinger Girl was one of the first examples of the "murderous moppet" genre of anime, it ranks among the grimmest series of recent years. (Rated TV 14: considerable violence, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon |