Forum - View topicAnyone else have a problem with Gunslinger Girl?
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funnyman50
 Posts: 15 Location: nottingham, england |
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Now I admit I have only watch one or two episodes but I felt so uncomfortable watching little girls being brain washed and forced to kill people. I know its just anime and there for not real, but I just could not bring myself to keep supporting this anime.
What do you people think about this anime, do you think its wrong or just do you approve 
[EDIT: Fixed your thread title to be more articulate. -TK] |
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Skylark
 Posts: 827 Location: ORE NO TSHIRT |
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If you can't stomach this, then I advise you never ever watch higurashi no naku koro ni. Just throwing it out there. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2094 |
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I'm confused about what you're asking. I don't think many people would argue that brainwashing children into soldiers is a-okay. However, is it wrong for the show to have characters who do so? Of course not. Not everyone on the protagonists' "side" (including the protagonists themselves) have to be typical good guys. Heck, look at shows like Sopranos, Breaking Bad, etc., obviously these are not good guy characters and they do some pretty disturbing and cruel things. Even if it that means the characters are immoral, it doesn't make the show itself immoral unless the show goes out of its way to suggest this sort of behavior is completely justified. Even though I've yet to watch GG, I've heard the anime shows how horrible this treatment of girls is, so I see no reason to consider the show itself immoral. If I misinterpreted your question, I apologize. |
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funnyman50
Posts: 15 Location: nottingham, england |
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No not at all it was cool to hear you opion thanks for the post.
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Shichimi
 Posts: 349 |
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I think the problem some people may have with this show is that there isn't really any part where the creators openly condemn the actions of the Social Welfare Agency. Something I hope you keep in mind abouth this show is that whilst there is no condemnation, there's certainly no approval either.
Personally I think it was a good choice to leave out any moralising and force viewers to think about what they are watching. If nothing else, it starts threads like this. 
EDIT: Gah, thought I'd got their name wrong. 
Last edited by Shichimi on Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:25 am; edited 1 time in total |
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funnyman50
Posts: 15 Location: nottingham, england |
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That a good way of looking at it and thanks for the nice comment
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einhorn303
 Posts: 1180 |
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I don't think the Social Welfare Agency is necessarily doing anything evil. They're making small sacrifices in order to protect the peace and stability of Italy, as well as saving thousands of lives. Think about how many people would have been killed in the Plaza bombing of S1 EP6.
The two angles I have for doubting them are: 1. The "does it have to be brainwashed children?" question. One could say, what's wrong with just regular trained assassins? But the show goes out of it's way to state that only children can properly receive cybernetics, and the cybernetics does turn them into incredibly effective assassins. 2. The possibility that the Social Welfare Agency is just as corrupt as anyone else. There do seem to be some hints to this effect, but it's left rather purposely vague. I guess I'll have to wait until future volumes of the manga come out in English before being better able to consider this. Of course, I reject the argument that "any harmful act is five times as bad when done to children because zomg innocence!" |
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Shichimi
Posts: 349 |
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I dunno, man, I'm uncomfortable with just adopting an outright consequentialist view of this. I think that if government agencies start to think in terms of purely numbers hurt/damaged against numbers helped/saved, it could potentially lead to some unpleasant ideas.
Part of what troubles me with the brainwashing process is that the girls are still recognisably people; it would have been easier to accept if all traces of personality were wiped from them. |
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funnyman50
Posts: 15 Location: nottingham, england |
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Hmmmmmm the goverment going to far
some good points of view coming in, lets keep them coming |
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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I actually thought about the moral aspect of this show a lot when I first watched it. The Social Welfare Agency is clearly not exactly the guys in white hats and some of the villains can come across sympathetically depending on your point of view. The show doesn't use Black and White morality, a clear Good vs. Evil approach. It's very much a series with Grey and Gray morality. (TV Tropes can be a rather useful site for quick explanatory references and infinite time wasting.)
On the one hand, the Social Welfare Agency is preventing terrorist acts that would kill numerous innocent civilians and making breakthroughs in medical science for cybernetics, plus giving the girls themselves a chance to have some sort of lives. On the other hand, the Social Welfare Agency is also committing major crimes, from the clearly illegal surgery and brainwashing of the girls to the personal favor missions they carry out for politicians who support the agency. (Those are political assassinations against illegitimate targets.) At the same time, not all of the terrorists are exactly wrong in their anger toward the Italian government or the agency. Their methods are in many ways worse than the Social Welfare Agency, making them a little more than just the designated villains of the series but still. Ultimately, I guess I tended to feel that the Social Welfare Agency at least gave the girls longer lives and bodies that actually worked, despite the brainwashing, that seems pretty positive. Hell, some of the girls are better not remembering their previous lives. Rico's got about the least horrible background but look at Henrietta and Triela. Maybe the arguable improvement in the girls' lives and the public good of preventing the terrorist acts and improving the medical cybernetics is enough to balance the scales. Then again, maybe not. It's a harsh world the series is set in. If nothing else, at least we can all agree that the girls themselves are largely victims of horrible circumstances no matter how you look at it. |
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funnyman50
Posts: 15 Location: nottingham, england |
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Nice way of thinking, grey on grey is always hard path to tred
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12skippy21
 Posts: 785 Location: York, England |
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To quote the movie 'Lord of War':
"A bullet shot by a child is just as effective as one shot from a man, sometimes more so" The quote goes along those lines anyway. I did not have any issue with the story dynamic, afterall kid soliders are used throughout the world especially Africa. The relationships between the carers and the girls I found quite interesting and it does raise an issue which often goes ignored in the impoverished areas of the world. Also, I do not think they are brain-washed, not in the conventional sense anyway. They maintain their individual personalities, they have just been shaped to do their job effectively. Although I like others feel it is wrong to indoctinate children along a moral pathway. I was more surprised at the physical conditioning the girls had just to avoid hormonal imbalances. Overall I like shows which have darker themes to them (Higurashi is also awesome), I would recommend you finish it but not to the point of upsetting you. |
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funnyman50
Posts: 15 Location: nottingham, england |
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Cool i will finish it one day but there are other thing on my playlist at the min, thanks for all the replys keep them coming.
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ten_tokoyomo
Posts: 2 |
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funnyman50
Posts: 15 Location: nottingham, england |
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i must admit that the anamation and sound track is very good but i just felt so errr lol if you like it thats cool, thats what keeps anime fresh if we all like the same thing anime would be same
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