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Gunslinger Girl #4-6
Gunslinger Girl Omnibus Collection 2
This omnibus edition contains volumes four through six of the hit Gunslinger Girl manga series completely relettered and retranslated. Seven Seas is pleased to republish Gunslinger Girl in two omnibus editions and will then release all-new individual volumes that have never been published in North America.
The Social Welfare Agency: a secret counter-terrorism unit for the Italian government that rescues troubled young girls and turns them into cybernetically-enhanced ruthless killers who do the government’s dirty work.
Yet the child assassins are not as heartless as they were programmed to be. Henrietta struggles with her conflicted feelings towards her handler Jose, while fellow agent Triela combats her own inner demons as she strives to remember the girl she once was.
Meanwhile, the clash between the Social Welfare Agency and the covert radical group known as the Five Republics continues. As the Five Republics targets one of the Agency’s handlers, the Agency plans its own counter-strike that will pit Triela against the professional assassin and martial arts master known as Pinocchio in a rematch to the death.
The Social Welfare Agency: a secret counter-terrorism unit for the Italian government that rescues troubled young girls and turns them into cybernetically-enhanced ruthless killers who do the government’s dirty work.
Yet the child assassins are not as heartless as they were programmed to be. Henrietta struggles with her conflicted feelings towards her handler Jose, while fellow agent Triela combats her own inner demons as she strives to remember the girl she once was.
Meanwhile, the clash between the Social Welfare Agency and the covert radical group known as the Five Republics continues. As the Five Republics targets one of the Agency’s handlers, the Agency plans its own counter-strike that will pit Triela against the professional assassin and martial arts master known as Pinocchio in a rematch to the death.
576 pages, Paperback
Published April 26, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 7, 2011
The Social Welfare Agency may sound like some do-good government program, but it is in fact Italy's leading counter-terrorism force. They take in crippled girls whose parents can no longer afford them, and transform them into killer cyborgs. The girls are programmed to follow orders from their handlers with fanatical loyalty and, on some levels, are little more than Terminators. But they still have the vestiges of little girl minds and their desire to please their handlers often manifests as girlish crushes -- if, you know, little girls went around murdering people for the sake of puppy-love. All of which is damn creepy.
This omnibus contains volumes four through six of the manga, which makes for an uneven book overall. Volume 4 largely focuses on Triela and her recovery after the battle with Pinocchio, an assassin who nearly killed her in the previous book. There's also a slice-of-life chapter focusing on Claes, a cyborg who was rendered useless when her handler died and now spends her days gardening, and two chapters where the SWA goes after an arms smuggling ring within the Italian military. But even with the action sequences, Volume 4 is very laid back. Things pick up in Volume 5 as a power struggle within the Padania terrorist group allows the SWA to locate Pinocchio and his companions, bomb-makers Franco and Franca. The sixth volume then switches gears as we're introduced to Alessandro, who's been selected as the handler for the first 2nd Generation cyborg. While the 1st Gen handlers are all from the police or military, Sandro is a spy -- the higher-ups in the SWA have decided the project could benefit from agents who are less hidebound. His 2nd Gen cyborg is also quite different from the other girls -- the scientists have dialed back the technology, using less brainwashing and making the augmentations less powerful, which allows them to use an older girl as their subject, in this case a 16 year old Russian girl named Petra.
Compared to the first omnibus, where the division between the original volumes was nearly invisible, this time there's a clear sense that we're getting three different books. It's not fair to criticize an omnibus for not being a unified work, but even judged individually I don't think these three volumes have as strong a narrative through-line as the earlier ones, which robs the series of its forward momentum. The parts are good, but at this point it feels as though the series is meandering. Hopefully the third omnibus will get it back on track.
This omnibus contains volumes four through six of the manga, which makes for an uneven book overall. Volume 4 largely focuses on Triela and her recovery after the battle with Pinocchio, an assassin who nearly killed her in the previous book. There's also a slice-of-life chapter focusing on Claes, a cyborg who was rendered useless when her handler died and now spends her days gardening, and two chapters where the SWA goes after an arms smuggling ring within the Italian military. But even with the action sequences, Volume 4 is very laid back. Things pick up in Volume 5 as a power struggle within the Padania terrorist group allows the SWA to locate Pinocchio and his companions, bomb-makers Franco and Franca. The sixth volume then switches gears as we're introduced to Alessandro, who's been selected as the handler for the first 2nd Generation cyborg. While the 1st Gen handlers are all from the police or military, Sandro is a spy -- the higher-ups in the SWA have decided the project could benefit from agents who are less hidebound. His 2nd Gen cyborg is also quite different from the other girls -- the scientists have dialed back the technology, using less brainwashing and making the augmentations less powerful, which allows them to use an older girl as their subject, in this case a 16 year old Russian girl named Petra.
Compared to the first omnibus, where the division between the original volumes was nearly invisible, this time there's a clear sense that we're getting three different books. It's not fair to criticize an omnibus for not being a unified work, but even judged individually I don't think these three volumes have as strong a narrative through-line as the earlier ones, which robs the series of its forward momentum. The parts are good, but at this point it feels as though the series is meandering. Hopefully the third omnibus will get it back on track.
June 14, 2015
This set of the omnibus (4-6) was filled with quite a bit of back story, which helped to flesh out some of the characters from the first set (1-3). Overall, though I enjoy the story and the pacing I think I may have enjoyed it more if I had read the volumes separately. Each of the back stories are extensive and made for much slower reading than the first omnibus. Very interesting story though.
August 30, 2011
One of the best manga series I've read. A must for every manga fan.
May 11, 2016
My memories of volumes 5 and 6 were hazier, which made some of those little sweet and sad moments even more awesome.
March 31, 2017
Getting interesting as the story progresses Good volumes.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews