Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Gunslinger Girl by Yu Aida ISBN: 1-4139-0020-8 Publisher: Unknown Publisher - Being Researched Pub. Date: November, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Nature vs. Brainwashing?
Comment: Henrietta has been taken in by the Social Welfare Agency after surviving a brutal attack on herself and her family. She has been changed, her missing body parts replaced with artificial ones and her mind conditioned, with drugs and training, to be the perfect killing machine. At least, as perfect as you can get and still be a little girl.
She is just one of a group of assassins, each one controlled and taught by a adult handler, each one dealing with their brainwashing and their own normal emotions.
Can a programmed killer fall in love? Can a conditioned assassin pick life over death? Can Henrietta ever truly live?
Rating: 5
Summary: hmmmm....hmmm...*.*
Comment: Gunslinger Girl first caught my eye in Newtpe Magazine (If you don't know this magazine, pick it up, it's amazing, and if you do, pick it anyway ^o^). I thought the anime would be good, but I was very suprised to find that before I got my hands on the anime I got to read the manga. This doesn't often happen. Let me just say, I'm glad I read the manga first. I was shocked that the drawing style of the people was so harsh! I would catergorize it with GTO or Onizuka..yetch.. but the backgrounds are very very well drawn and expressed. Also, the angles are well-done, too. It really adds to the experience of reading. Not many mangas do this (at least not the ones I read to this specific effect), so I was really grateful. The storyline was quite different from what I'm used to. I'm a shojo enthusiast, but I also have a serious side. The serious side was very satisfied with the story. I kept wanting to cry, especially in chapter three. Hoo boy. *Whimper*. It just goes to show you that these girls do not have any shred of a normal life. Also, throughout the book, I kept wondering what the girls will do in the future after they outgrow thier "young girl innocent 'I, being a young girl would never be expected to tote a gun so don't suspect it'" visad. I suppose they will probably die either in battle or due to thier "conditioning" before this happens, ne? Anyway, I didn't think that this book would be a multiple-times-reader type of a book, but it definitely is. It's a good investment in your money because not only did I read it multiple times, it also took me quite a while to read because my eyes wanted to drink in all the scenery! So, give yourself a kleenex and read this drama-filled thriller. You won't regret it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Dangerous Little Girls
Comment: Girls with guns is not anything new in the Japanese story canon, and as one can expect, Yu Aida's manga has plenty of the conventional plotting elements. Dying girls are given a new chance at life, their memories wiped away, their bodies enhanced to create a unit of highly deadly assassins. The agency pairs a trainer/brother up with each cyborg girl and uses these pairs to deadly effect within a world of terrorists and warring political factions.
Despite the premise, it was a bit of a surprise to discover that the story within the pages was neither an action-packed fight fest with bullets constantly flying or full of scenes of high emotional outbursts. There's plenty of violent gunplay within the story's context, but this volume focuses primarily on psychological exploration of innocence and violence, and the unusual relationship between cyborg and trainer. This is not a comedy series, despite the indication on the cover jacket. In GUNSLINGER GIRL the emotional energy appears as controlled as the girls themselves. There are no exaggerated takes, no crying scenes. Small smiles and frowns dominate the emotional landscape, but become much more powerful for their restraint.
Since this is not set up as one smooth-flowing story, but rather broken into five chapters, the narrative does lose a bit of its action-adventure energy, and makes for a slower paced story. A sense of bittersweetness underscores this manga from beginning to end, the feeling that what has happened to these girls is terribly wrong, and yet unescapable. There is some concern about the young nature of the girls and their relationships with their brother/trainer but I found the overall relationships did not imply anything salacious. While the love attachment fostered may not be exactly proper, this is part of the poignancy of this story. There are no inadvertent panty flashes or seduction scenes to imply otherwise. It is possible that the story arc will gain momentum from this introductory volume to come up with an interesting storyline for our heroines--with so little in this story that's not conventional, it may be difficult to pull off this manga series, but it has potential.
To my mind, the artwork is one of the best parts of this particular manga. Beautifully drawn, the images consist of clean lines and borders, with little ornamentation, allowing the frames a clear and Spartan quality. The action scenes contrast nicely with the more static dialogue scenes, really evoking the sudden transition of these girls from innocent children to deadly killers. And while the violence is brief and refrains from being overtly gory, it is nevertheless effectively drawn. Yu Aida clearly knows his weaponry, and the attention to accuracy of the various guns the girls use will likely be appreciated by readers who are weapons enthusiasts.
This is a decent action/drama manga containing moderate violence, minimal sexual reference and no sexuality of a truly graphic nature. No chibi cuteness and plenty of realistic weaponry. But be aware that the psychological explorations certainly mean this manga is for a mature audience and may not be appropriate for the preteen reader. I'm looking forward to seeing where this series will go.
Happy reading! ^_^ shanshad
 |
Title: Azumanga Daioh Volume 1 by Kiyohiko Azuma ISBN: 1413900003 Publisher: Unknown Publisher - Being Researched Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
 |
Title: Full Metal Panic by Shouji Gatou, Retsu Tateo ISBN: 1413900011 Publisher: Unknown Publisher - Being Researched Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
 |
Title:Haibane Renmei - New Feathers (Vol. 1) With Series Box ASIN: B00009WNVG Publisher: Pioneer / Geneon Pub. Date: 26 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $30.43 |
 |
Title:Noir - End of the Matter (Vol. 7) ASIN: B0000C9JET Publisher: A.D. Vision Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $26.98 |
 |
Title:Noir - Terminal Velocity (Vol. 5) ASIN: B0000A2ZOO Publisher: A.D. Vision Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $26.98 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
