Tag: Gunslinger Girl

3 Anime That Deserve a Second Chance

3 Anime That Deserve a Second Chance

Introduction

Sometimes anime are given anime original endings so that their stories wrap up within one season despite the source material continuing on. Other times anime simply never finish adapting their source material and are left, forgotten.

There are a variety of reasons why an anime would be left unfinished, or have its ending changed to wrap up the story early, but there are some which I believe deserve a second chance to finish their story. While I won’t say the four anime on this list are the best, I think they have the potential to be good if done right.

Oreimo had an anime original ending after the first season, but it was so successful that the first OVA rewrote the ending so that the second season, and true conclusion, could be made. If Oreimo deserved to finish, I see no reason why these four anime shouldn’t finish as well.

1. Fuuka

Fuuka is kind of in the same boat as Oreimo once was. The anime adaptation goes in a different direction from the source material and because of that, a second season following the story of the manga isn’t really possible at this point without some episodes being remade.

I’d say it’s still possible for Fuuka to get a second season that follows the events of the first season, but I don’t think anyone really wants that. Instead, Fuuka deserves to be adapted properly so that it can finish telling its story.

You may be thinking, “isn’t the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime basically the same thing?” No. Fullmetal Alchemist did break from the source material, but it did so because the source material wasn’t complete yet. It also actually finished the partially anime original story once it committed to that route, unlike Fuuka.

For those who aren’t aware, the Fuuka anime is essentially the prologue of the manga, but altered. In the manga, the titular Fuuka is hit by a truck and dies, while in the anime she stays around for longer and eventually decides to leave the band to pursue her solo career.

Fuuka’s departure is where the anime ends, but in the manga she’s actually replaced by another girl, also named Fuuka, after her death. So, it could really be argued that the “titular” Fuuka in the anime isn’t even the titular Fuuka; the one we never got to meet is.

So how could this be remedied? Alternate episodes would have to be released which set the record straight. Fuuka would need to get hit by the truck that she wasn’t in the anime, and then the new Fuuka needs to take her place as the lead singer of the band.

Once those changes are made, a second season could continue the story as it was originally intended. On the other hand, the current anime plot could be continued with Fuuka being replaced after leaving the band to go solo, but either way the anime doesn’t yet have an end.

2. Gunslinger Girl

While Fuuka didn’t go in the same direction as the source material, Gunslinger Girl was simply never fully adapted, probably because the anime wasn’t all that good to begin with. Yes, I rated both seasons of Gunslinger Girl at 4/10, but the story was good, the execution just wasn’t.

It looks and feels like a low-budget anime, and that’s the main reason I think it was never fully adapted. Unfortunately, only one or two of the girls in the series had their arcs completed, and these endings are what I enjoyed the most from the series.

Gunslinger Girl is a compilation of bittersweet tragedies, and those are probably my favorite kinds of stories. None of the girls get a what we would consider a happy end, but as far as they’re concerned, most of them do get happy endings to their arcs.

Everyone dies by the way. I’ll spoil that much because the anime never actually gets to that point. I think only one girl is dead by the end of the second season, but based on how good of an ending her arc was, I can only imagine how great the rest of the series could have been.

Needless to say, not only does Gunslinger Girl deserve to be completed, but it deserves to be well-made this time around. It was originally animated by Madhouse, which is kind of a big deal as far as studios are concerned, so I think they’d be able to give this series a proper adaptation if they picked it up again today.

3. Sakura Trick

The final series I think deserves a second chance is Sakura Trick. Honestly, I don’t even remember how this anime ended, but I’m pretty sure it had one of those ambiguous endings that leaves it open for future content, which makes sense since the manga continued for at least three more years after the anime.

I’d actually like to rewatch Sakura Trick at some point because I think I’d rate it higher now than I did when I first saw it. It’s a yuri romance anime about two girls who decide their friendship isn’t special enough, and so they kiss each other in secret because what else would they do?

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I found this anime to be strangely stressful to watch. Now that I’ve had more time to reflect on it though, I think that means it was actually a good anime. It somehow got me so invested that I got stressed every time Yuu and Haruka were almost caught.

The thing about continuing this anime is that it’s based on a four panel manga, and so I’m not entirely sure how much plot there was in the source material to begin with. Since I haven’t read it, as far as I know, the whole plot was anime original.

However, even if this is the case, the fact that there were at least three more years in the run time of the manga after the anime means there’s the potential for more content to be adapted. So, unlike the previous two anime, Sakura trick doesn’t necessarily need to be revived, but I’d really enjoy if it was.

Yuu Sonoda from the anime Sakura Trick
Yuu Sonoda

Conclusion

As a special bonus, Highschool of the Dead is another anime that probably deserves a second chance. Unfortunately it will likely never be finished because the author died last year, but there is enough material to make a second season at least.

However, with the author no longer around, it’s probably difficult to get the rights to make a second season and so it will probably go unfinished in that regard as well.

I didn’t officially add Highschool of the Dead to this list because I haven’t actually seen it yet, so as far as I know, maybe it doesn’t actually deserve a second season. It’s on my PTW list though, and I know what it’s about and how popular it is, so that’s why it’s here as a bonus.

So what anime do you think deserve a second chance? Do you agree with any of my choices? Do you think Highschool of the Dead should get a second season? Maybe you think Akame ga Kill needs a more complete adaptation? Let me know in the comments.

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Gunslinger Girl

Gunslinger Girl

Gunslinger Girl anime cover art featuring Henrietta
Gunslinger Girl Cover Art

Overview

Gunslinger girl is a drama anime which takes place in Italy. It follows the Social Welfare Agency which is a front for a top-secret government agency which uses child cyborgs as assassins. Young girls who would have died from their injuries and have no living family are taken and given a second chance at life as cyborgs working for this agency.

These girls now possess superhuman strength and receive both weapons and tactics training. However, this is not without its drawbacks. Due to the trauma they sustained, the girls are forced to go through conditioning which makes them obedient to their “handlers,” adult agents who act as their superiors.

This conditioning makes the girls more obedient and efficient, but at the cost of their personality and memories. The level of conditioning received it decided by the handler of each girl so some girls have more extreme conditioning than others. The girls also form very strong, sometimes one-way bonds with their handlers because they are completely dependent on them.

Characters

While multiple of the girls are considered main characters, the one who is the primary character of the series is Henrietta. She is the girl with the most personality in the series, followed by Triela.

Henrietta has a fairly small amount of conditioning compared to some of the other girls because her handler sees her as a surrogate for his own sister. She also knows that she is treated better than the other girls because of this. However, her conditioning completely blocked out her memories from before joining the Social Welfare Agency because of how traumatic her circumstances were.

Triela is the oldest of the girls turned into cyborgs. She acts as a mentor to the other girls, but has issues of her own. Of all the girls, she’s the one who understands their situation the best and acts rebellious at times, even telling her handler to increase her conditioning if he doesn’t like her making her own choices.

In the second season of Gunslinger Girl, Triela becomes more of a main focus as she tries to make sense of whether or not her life has meaning anymore.

Rico is one of the girls who became a cyborg for the Social Welfare Agency without going through serious trauma. Instead, her cyborg body is a second chance at having a life she otherwise wouldn’t have had. Because of this, she does not have her memories erased. Even though she is treated harshly by her handler, she rarely shows any signs of being unhappy.

The final girl I’ll mention is Claes. She no longer goes on missions due to the death of her handler. Instead she lives in the dorms with the other girls, but helps with cyborg research rather than missions. New technologies are first tested on Claes before they are put into the field with the other girls.

Henrietta shooting her P90 out of a moving vehicle from the Gunslinger Girl anime
Henrietta shooting her P90

Conclusion

I watched the first season of Gunslinger Girl almost two years ago, but just watched the second season this past week because I decided it was finally time to finish it. Overall I think this series is a 4/10, but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. It has some animation and voice acting which is awkward and not very good at times which are part of the reason for this low score.

One of the things I like least about Gunslinger Girl is that it’s an unfinished anime. While the manga continued on, the series didn’t get a season after the second and so the anime ends without getting all the way through the manga. I think if the anime was actually a complete version of the manga it would be a better series overall.

Seeing the conclusions for some of the character arcs would definitely make the series more enjoyable in my opinion. I’ll spoil some of the manga here to explain my point. During the series we see a lot of the relationship between Henrietta and her handler compared to the other girls and their handlers, but we don’t see the end of her story.

**Spoilers Ahead**

While the anime doesn’t get this far, Henrietta does eventually meet her end. Traumatic memories of her past cause her to accidentally shoot her handler. He knows he’s going to die due to his injuries and understands that Henrietta won’t be able to live without him, so they form a suicide pact and both kill each other.

The fact that Henrietta and her handler were able to die together by each other’s hands is the culmination of their relationship, but the anime never even got that far. If you’re familiar with some of my favorite anime, you’ll know that bittersweet endings such as that are my favorite which is why I’m so disappointed about this anime.