[US DVD] Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino Complete Collection

[E Nice]

One problem Il Teatrino had was that the dark, violent matter was toned down for the terrorists. They neglected the Agency's side, as well as how corrupted Italian institutions were with terrorist sympathizers, thus the Agency came off looking more villianous because the scope of the crimes committed by criminals were not shown.

Another problem was for an arc that was to highlight Triela they made sure to botch up her stories. Several times they ruined or excised key moments that would have further added to her and Hilshire's character development.

[Thomas Alan]

Another problem was for an arc that was to highlight Triela they made sure to botch up her stories. Several times they ruined or excised key moments that would have further added to her and Hilshire's character development.

That's sad to hear. Especially since Triela was the only one of the girls who really even had a storyline.

Angelica did to a lesser extent, but whevever they were going with her wasn't completed by the end of the season.

[Hayate Kurogane]

I think if the first season hadn't set the bar so high in terms of class, quality, skill of adaptation, etc., I wouldn't feel so badly about season 2, because it simply doesn't measure up, yet it demands to be compared since its existence is purely that of a continuation.

This is also an example of how an individual skilled in writing in manga is not necessarily as skilled in writing in anime, even if he's just adapting his own work. Two different situations, with two different sets of requirements.

You also know you're in trouble when one of the director's only other actual directorial credits is Bubblegum Crash, which we all know is a highly-praised, skillfully-executed continuation.

Artmic could've also used at least a halfway decent budget for the animation as well, though I guess it's the realities of business in determining that a second season would be potentially so profitable based on continuing manga sales and the reception of the first season, and thus only a middling-to-low animation budget given to a lower-profile studio would produce a result that would be acceptable in terms of return-on-investment numbers. Regardless of Artmic handling the animation duties rather than Madhouse, any studio is capable of producing better quality animation with more time and/or more money (an obvious example is TV series vs. OVAs or movies by the same studio). Such was not to be the case here.

And at least fans of the dub get cast continuity, since there is none in regards to the Japanese cast.

Probably the best thing to come out of this production is the gorgeous opening theme by Kokia, who's done precious little anime work but whose work in general is very much worth seeking out.

Speaking of music, does this release still include "Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkel in episode 8?

I'm surprised the video grade is as high as it is. The R2J discs feature some of the worst edge enhancement in recent memory, so either it's not a concern (due to any number of reasons), or FUNimation actually received better masters than the Japanese used to produce their own discs.

[E Nice]

Originally Posted by Hayate Kurogane

And at least fans of the dub get cast continuity, since there is none in regards to the Japanese cast.

Speaking of music, does this release still include "Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkel in episode 8?

The song is still there. They also included it as one of the textless ED songs in the extras.

The dub is another point of contention. It was not as good as the first season's dub. Franco and Franca sound remarkably different despite being the same VA's. Rico was the worst offender, failing to stay in character voice. Several of others fail to hold their character voice as well, but nowhere as bad as Rico.

Hilshire was not the same voice actor and it really hurt the character. I thought the first VA nailed him down perfectly as a desk jockey playing police officer/school teacher. The new VA sounded way to rugged and deep voiced, it just wasn't Hilshire anymore.

And lastly, Triela. For the most part she did alright, she was great in the final showdown, but she came off way too anime school girl than confused/rebellious daughter. I'd put some of the blame on the way Il Teatrino handled her character.

Ultimately the VA's performance was passable but just couldn't match their stellar first season performance for some reason. I'm left wondering if it was just a rush dub to explain the lowered performance.

[Thomas Alan]

Probably the best thing to come out of this production is the gorgeous opening theme by Kokia, who's done precious little anime work but whose work in general is very much worth seeking out.

Too bad it had absolutely awful images to go along with it for the first half of the series.

[pianocello]

Speaking about storyline, I'm not sure why people seem to think story-wise, that 2nd season is weaker compared to the 1st season. 1st season felt like a series of short vignettes and glimpses with no continuous storyline. The 2nd season is more about the girls (specificially Triela) vs. Pinocchio, Franca and Franco. Oh and I like the new girl, Beatrice. Watch out for a cameo by Petrushka around ep 5 - that does give us an idea of who they might cast, if they do a 3rd season focusing on Petrushka.

[Sensuifu]

Originally Posted by pianocello

Speaking about storyline, I'm not sure why people seem to think story-wise, that 2nd season is weaker compared to the 1st season. 1st season felt like a series of short vignettes and glimpses with no continuous storyline. The 2nd season is more about the girls (specificially Triela) vs. Pinocchio, Franca and Franco. Oh and I like the new girl, Beatrice. Watch out for a cameo by Petrushka around ep 5 - that does give us an idea of who they might cast, if they do a 3rd season focusing on Petrushka.

Personally, I think it's the other way around for the girls; they really had a bigger role in the first series. Il Teatrino focuses more on the story (agency vs terrorists and how/why Pinocchio, Franca, Franco, etc. are connected). The 2nd series also seemed more like a narrative of Triela's vendetta. There were glimpses of the other girls' role within the plot, but very little or nothing when it came to the personal involvement they had between their trainers...At least nothing as deep as seen in the original.