*Some people might consider this a spoiler. I don't agree with them. There's not really anything to give away.* OK, so girls who are cyborg assassins and part of a secret government agency. Yeah, this plot began forming in my head, something a little Witch Hunter Robin and a little Noir. The girls are kickassassins, wielding a large assortment of firearms, stronger than the average human, enhanced senses, deadly training . . . a I began to think that they were all great friend, involved in this secret agency that had a . . . *dramatic music* secret agenda (or some other secret). Either way it was a conspiracy and the girls would find out about it and have to fight for the truth and fight for their lives! It would proceed through a large discovery of who they really were and how they became to be . . . and for what devious purpose they were created before finally fighting to freedom and exposing the twisted agency director for what he really was!! Boy . . . that was wrong, but in the good way. This anime sounds SO typical, SO clichéd and SO pushing the line with prepubescent children shooting and killing (eh, there are far worse). But, this would not be a spoiler to say that none of the above happened. There is no plot to really spoil either. This is like a collection of "dear diary" entries. 13 episodes that introduce you to the characters and let you get to know them. Climax? Hah, we don't have time for a climax, you need to know exactly what Henrietta things of Jose. Plot twists? Nah, seeing Triela with a teddy bear is far more amusing. Unifying enemy/foe/force to fight against? Well . . . we could . . . but we'll just show you what Rico thinks of Italian art instead.
Sound absolutely dull so far? If someone told me THAT was what this anime was about . . . I probably wouldn't have watched it. IN fact I began watching it because I trying to get my action fix on very quickly after watching Now and Then, Here and There for the umpteenth time and following it up with Grave of Fireflies. I needed something with suspense, action, possibly even some envelope pushing. I thought this anime would have it all. But it didn't. It did have action, but you honestly could have done without it. AND when it did have the action, it was using the action to tell you something about the characters. That's all this anime was about. The characters, their interactions, their relationships with their handlers.
I absolutely love this anime. It is both heartbreaking and uplifting. And it's also great to see an anime like this out there. I'm not a purely avid anime fan, but of what I have seen, I've seen nothing like this. It's absolutely wonderful, and surprising that I could find so much enjoyment getting to know the day to day troubles that a young girl goes through . . . a young cyborg assassin girl, from cramps to taking pictures, to naming a teddy bear, to having tea, to growing a garden, to getting plenty of head shots with your assault rifle.
Sound absolutely dull so far? If someone told me THAT was what this anime was about . . . I probably wouldn't have watched it. IN fact I began watching it because I trying to get my action fix on very quickly after watching Now and Then, Here and There for the umpteenth time and following it up with Grave of Fireflies. I needed something with suspense, action, possibly even some envelope pushing. I thought this anime would have it all. But it didn't. It did have action, but you honestly could have done without it. AND when it did have the action, it was using the action to tell you something about the characters. That's all this anime was about. The characters, their interactions, their relationships with their handlers.
I absolutely love this anime. It is both heartbreaking and uplifting. And it's also great to see an anime like this out there. I'm not a purely avid anime fan, but of what I have seen, I've seen nothing like this. It's absolutely wonderful, and surprising that I could find so much enjoyment getting to know the day to day troubles that a young girl goes through . . . a young cyborg assassin girl, from cramps to taking pictures, to naming a teddy bear, to having tea, to growing a garden, to getting plenty of head shots with your assault rifle.