"Gunslinger Girl" revolves around the life of child-assassins in a film noir type setting with a feel of science fiction. There is a strong political influence in this series as it looks to bash the Italian government. For those that do not know, Italy is still deemed to have a fascist government since the death of Benito Mussolini. But the purpose of Gunslinger Girl isn’t to point out that Italy’s government is fascist. However, the feel of Italy’s fascist government is still there.
The setting takes place in modern day Italy revolving around the lives of young girls that look no older than twelve years of age. They are all orphans supposed to be under the car if Italy’s Social Welfare Agency. However, it’s revealed that the social welfare agency is a mere front set up by the Italian government. While posing as a welfare agency, the government secretly trains these girls to become assassins. If you’re picked up by the social welfare agency, you’re forced to become an assassin or a "cleaner." Gunslinger Girl presents the aspect that while a group make seem charitable on the outside, it’s a different story behind closed doors.
What’s going on behind closed doors is the thing that matters the most. In the case of Gunslinger Girl, it’s a secret military agency using those girls for counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism. The series does an interesting take on how the government is capable of exploiting children for their own self gains and interests. Though, everything is grounded in reality except for their abilities. The children’s abilities are a result of having synthesized muscle fibers giving them an edge over everybody else in battle.
As a result, these girls have become perfect weapons. These girls are like cyborgs. This is reminiscent on how child soldiers are used in South America, Central America, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Southeast Asia.
Gunslinger Girl does a great job visualizing how organizations and other groups of capable of such exploitations of children. In order to be a good "soldier," one must be programmed like a robot to carry out orders unquestioned.
There is a lot of political intrigue involved with Gunslinger Girl. This is one series one should definitely check out.