Customer Reviews

Gunslinger Girl: The complete First Season [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Near the end of 2002 I lost interest in collecting and watching anime as a whole; Berserk, Cowboy Bebop (Perfect Collection) to name some were the last in my collection. After that, more new releases of anime just be became a drawn out cliche of animation and story telling. While most were good, they were nothing like those classics before them, and so I lost touch in this area of the Otaku world. However, come 2005, I came across GSG by chance, somewhat seeking to renew my interest in anime.

The rest is history, what I got from GSG is great story telling, slick animation, characters you can really feel for, and a fantastic and yet touching soundtrack. While the story is cruel and morally gray, it is more thoughtful than any drama-thriller on the market. That is saying a lot especially for an anime; this is where I realized that I had found a gold mine.

I will not get into the story of GSG because well, in this day and age you can Wiki anything. I will however discuss the quality of this newest edition to Funimation Blu-ray and if it is a worthy upgrade if you are a DVD owner already.

VIDEO:
To be upfront about it, this visual upgrade is not fantastic nor terrible. It is an upscale if anything, but unlike most recent releases of Funimation titles it is presented in 1080p24 rather than 1080i30. As you would expect coming from the DVD version, gone are all the compression artifacts and a plus for the clean lines. Appraised for being beautifully animated, GSG really does make its presence more than it used to from its SD form, both in color and detail. In the directors eyes, GSG is intentionally made to look at bit drab in terms of color to insinuate the bleak outlook to the film, but in this blu-ray edition the color pops and is much more vibrant while maintaining the bleak look. Detail on the other hand is somewhat inconsistent, clean lines in some areas then a bit soft in others. Not a deal breaker, but it is apparent. Overall I am certainly pleased with the results though it is by no means an Evangelion Rebuild caliber, GSG has certainly never looked this good.

AUDIO: JP/ENG Dolby 5.1 TrueHD
Like most Funimation titles, the benefits from upgrading is the audio. Encoded in both JP/ENG Dolby 5.1 TrueHD (fantastic!), GSG sounds terrific unlike its Lossy counterpart. GSG is not an action heavy type of film, but when it happens, the gunshots exploding along with the shells dropping come as clear and crisp than ever before. If that is not enough, you can actually feel if not hear the Cello's LFE in the constant soundtrack "TEMA". Most will agree that the soundtrack to GSG is as a whole, sweeping and heartfelt and yet mysterious and suspenseful. Hearing it in Dolby TrueHD fashion this time around is definitely more pleasing to the ears. Though if I had to pick something out of the whole thing it would probably be the song "The Light Before We Land" by the Delgados; it still sounds a bit thin and tinny.

EXTRAS:
Trailers, Commentary by the ENG dub actors, pretty standard stuff.

All in all, while not a huge upgrade, you have to realize that this is definitive version of GSG and it probably will not look and sound this good ever. Any fan will love it, newcomers will appreciate it either way, but any blu-ray enthusiast would have mixed feelings about this one. I would say check out this anime; it is unforgettable, told well, and the price is right.

This is the story of some little girls. Girls who were about to die, and were given a new life, but the cost of that new life is to become inhuman. They become cyborgs; a little bit human, and a lot machine. The reason these girls were rescued from certain death was not altruism. Their new life is as assassins under the direction of their "big brothers". The series is set in Italy, so the "siblings" are referred to as "fratelli".

They may be the most lethal little ladies around, but they are still little girls. Their emotions and reactions are those of young girls.

Strongly recommended if you want a series that mixes masses of gunfire with some thought-provoking moral questions.

The series is beautifully animated (something that sadly declines in the second season). This Bluray version shows off the beauty of the animation. I liked the DVD version, which was a good clean transfer, but the Bluray transfer is superb.

"Gunslinger Girl" may ooze creepiness, what with the almost panty shot right on the front cover, but I urge you not
to be thrown off by whatever possible apprehensions you may have about the content. Give it one or two episodes, and
you'll realize that Marvelous Entertainment was trying to craft true art using a very inartistic subject.

The Social Welfare Agency is, in the public eye, a somewhat docile area of the Italian government which specializes in
helping out the community in various ways. But their true purpose is something much more sinister. Finding little girls
who are on the brink of death, then giving them cybernetic implants for the purpose of turning them into heartless killing
machines, the SWA uses the girls in order to hunt down dangerous criminals and murder them for the safety of the people.
By altering these girls, they cut short their lifespan by countless years, and rewire their entire brain so they
have no memories of their prior lives. However, the latter of those two is probably for the best, considering the circumstances
the girls came from.

It's a fairly offbeat and absurd concept, but the way the writers wove the story around focusing on the characters themselves,
as opposed to the action they engage in, takes the show in a very gripping and emotionally kinetic direction. By the end of
the final episode (of this first series, at least), you will have formed a bond with almost every character, both adult
and child. You laugh with them, and you will cry with them. You will feel genuine compassion for the cast, forgetting that
they are only animated characters. This is one of the few anime I've watched that I literally forgot I was viewing animation
and not live-action cinema.

As for the high-definition transfer in this Blu Ray set: I own the Viridian Collection DVD of the anime, and viewed this
particular set at my friend's house over the course of a Saturday. While the image IS noticeably crisper, there is also
a major flaw which has plagued other Blu Ray anime releases, and that's the fact that EVERY LITTLE IMPERFECTION is
exposed. The animation is great, don't get me wrong; it's just that Blu Ray is sometimes too crisp for the picture
in anime, and even the tiniest off detail can rear it's ugly head in high definition.

Other than that, though, there should be nothing that dissuades you from purchasing this anime. This is one you'll
remember years down the line, and will be a point of comparison to other shows of it's type that you'll watch.
Don't pass up this anime, especially at this price.

Plot: A+ (Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, emotionally charged and action-packed.)

Animation: A+ (Beautiful. You'll forget you're watching animation.)

Dub: A (Every V.A. did a fantastic job with this series; nothing is half-assed.)

Sub: N/A (I didn't watch the subbed version. Sorry!)

Music: A (Beautiful orchestral sets, coupled with traditional Italian music, and sandwiched between two
amazing opening and ending themes.)

HD MASTER: B+ (Looks good, but exposes little imperfections you may not want to notice.)

OVERALL GRADE: A+ (Must-See)

Do the ends justify the means? Apparently, in this animation, the Italian government believes so as they secretly programming young adolescent girls to become killers. The series never glorifies what is being done to these girls, it just tries to explore the many consequences and paradox between innocence and bullets.

The storyline is well thought out, the drama and action scenes are good, and the character development is so well done that it could bring you to tears for the situation these girls have to go through.

This animated series went on for two seasons and I wish they continue to do more, although it doesn't seem likely. As of this writing, the original manga is only now coming to a conclusion and it looks like it's going to be a tragic one.

Although it's sad and has no comedy relief I think this is one of the best dramatic animated series I've ever seen.

I haven't watched enough of the series to comment on the content (a series review would probably be better for that) but it seems all right. The video quality, however, is crap.

Calling this ugly mess an upscale is an insult to upscales. I have personally upscaled AMVs with AviSynth, and I'm by no means an expert but I can get a 480p series to look much better than this. They've probably dramatically reduced the compression artifacting and gradient banding you'd get with a DVD playing on a 1080p screen, so it looks a lot cleaner than a 480p file can look but it's not perfect. The lines are nothing short of blurry, not to mention overly darkened. There are some things where I can't tell whether it looks bad because of art style or upscaling quality, but overall the image quality you're getting from this is nothing to speak positively about.

The audio quality seems good; as with the video quality, I don't have a DVD copy to compare it to, but I doubt it's worse and it might be better. However, the subtitles are out of synch. They play a half-second to a full second after they should, which ruins certain scenes. I wish I'd watched this earlier, I might have returned it.

I only paid about $12 for this, and based on the image quality I'm not sure I would recommend buying the Blu-Ray unless you catch it on another cheaper-than-the-DVD sale, but with the subtitle problem in mind I'm not sure I'd recommend it at all. Can anyone with the DVD tell me whether that has subtitle synch issues?

A tragic tale of doomed orphens who become assasins. Thankfully, the action scenes are the best I have seen in anime since "Ghost in the Shell". I like the Mafia government angle in the storyline.Ghost In The Shell (English Dubbed)

I wasn't too sure about this anime at first, but after watching the first few episodes, I ended up liking it. It has a great storyline and the action is decent. The characters are likable and not so annoying like how most females are portrayed in anime. The story sucks you into wanting to watch more and they go into enough detail to let you know what's going on and how each girl ended up the way she did. I also like the idea that ALL the storyline of each character collide with or will eventually collide with each other to become one. I still don't understand why it's just girls (besides the fact that the title is Gunslinger Girl) and not boys as well, but besides that, the anime is well worth watching and owning.

Well, people buying these DVDs probably know about the story or read the manga already, so no need to get into that.

I have a PS3 and a 1080i LCD TV. Video quality is excellent on my set. If you have the appropriate hardware, I'd recommend this set.

I saw Gunslinger Girl, Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino, and the two OVAs. I truly enjoyed the whole anime series and experienced catharsis by watching it. It dealt with deep emotions, ethics, and loss. It is sad if you only watch the first season (though it was really good), but the two OVAs give the story closure and ends on a hopeful and healed note.

I'm not going to go into the plot of Gunslinger Girl, other sites and reviewers have that covered, but here is the deal, Funimation has yet again releases another upscaled piece of garbage.

This Blu-ray set has a number of issues with the video. The images are blurry, the lines are fuzzy, everything as a glow around it, there is a lot noise in the video, and artifacting during many scenes. The only saving point to this whole thing, is that the animation is simple so major issues are not as noticeable. If you own the DVDs, stick with them as they are the best quality available.

If you want a HD version of this anime wait for the official release from the studio, not some cheap Funimation weekend project. I ended up returning this because I am not going to pay for this horrible mess of a release.

I added a screenshot to the images section to show how bad this release is. Make sure to look at it full size, as it naturally looks better at a smaller size. Also the screenshot was not altered in any way from the Blu-ray source.