ガンスリンガー・ガール -イル・テアトレーノ- Ep. 01

SPOILER Summary: Hilshire and Jose return from a trip to France where Jose picks up a gift for Henrietta and Hilshire one for Triela. Back in Italy, a terrorist group is causing problems and a citizen protest could be just the thing for them to use. As such, the Agency deploys the teams with Jean and Rico go with Jose and Henrietta to patrol together with Hilshire and Triela setting up elsewhere. After Jean and Rico move through a police line to patrol another section, a bomb goes off, giving Jose a minor injury. Jose keeps Henrietta from shooting anyone, but then she spots someone dressed in riot cop gear making a get-away in a van.

A girl from the Agency arrives on her Vespa, which Jose borrows and with Henrietta, pursues the van (Henrietta happy to be so close to Jose). The Agency decides to set up a trap, so Jean and Rico set up in one location and Hilshire and Triela in another place, so that with some carefully placed Agency-driven cars forcing the terrorist down the roads the Agency wants, the terrorist drive into the trap. Jean tells Rico not to kill but to injure so they can interrogate prisoners. A fight ensues with Henrietta taking out a terrorist, Triela taking out some, and Rico maiming a couple, whom are taken into custody.

Afterward back at their dorm that night, Henrietta writes about things in her diary and decides to pay Jose a visit. His room is unlocked but he’s not there. She looks around, then smells his shirt before falling on his bed and embracing it for a bit. When she gets up again, she sees the present on the desk and thinks it is for her. She carefully opens it and it is a small, golden kaleidoscope. However, she is surprised and depressed to see that on the base of the instrument is inscribed in French to a special person named Louise Antoinette Rolle. As such, she flees without returning the gift to the box and without closing the door so that Jose discovers this later.

Back in the room, she tells Claes and Triela this. Henrietta feels that maybe this is Jose’s girlfriends but Claes says it is the name of a girl who died in the 19th century who was the lover of a French writer who wrote a story about her with the heroine’s name being Henrietta. As such, Claes says the gift was for Henrietta. So Henrietta returns to Jose’s room to find him waiting for her. The two go outside with Henrietta happily holding the gift (back in its box) as Jose talks about the starts and planets. Back in the room, Triela calls out Claes on whether that French novel was really a love story, which it was not. Claes assures her that this little lie is OK.

Thoughts: You know, with this more “moé” design, it makes the girl assassins more freaky to me. I know that some have complained about that aspect but the innocent girl look is exactly what makes these girls the perfect assassins in that you never expect it, like how Rico took out two of terrorist.

Other changes are the voices. I did notice it, though its been long enough since I last saw Gunslinger Girl that the changes aren’t a distraction. Jean seemed somewhat nicer in this first episode than I remember him being in the first series. His chastisement of Rico was pretty mild, partially due to the change of seiyuu (and partially due to the direction no doubt).