Gunslinger Girl - Il Teatrino - Episode 7

As we reach the seventh episode of Il Teatrino, once again we find the focus shifting away from the girls themselves, with this particular instalment focusing on the story of one of the terrorists. Thus, we learn why Franca has chosen the path that she has, as well as seeing her get into (and rescued from) a very sticky situation.

While Franca's reasons for becoming a terrorist are at least somewhat understandable, due to her father being imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit and then dying in jail before this could be brought to light, her response to this miscarriage of justice seems to be rather disproportionate. I know this has been referenced by another character in the last episode, but it must be said that much of her personality is something of a paradox - Here is a woman who will stop to help a pregnant woman, but yet has no qualms about extinguishing innocent lives as part of her vague campaign to 'change things'. Of course, we could easily drift into a deep and never-ending discussion about the roots of terrorism, but sticking solely to this series Franca's justifications and need to follow the path she has chosen seem rather weak, especially for someone so intelligent and with so much to offer - I simply can't buy her reasoning for taking such desperate measures.

Aside from that big question mark hanging over the episode, we do get to see Pinnochio at his most terrifyingly brutal, doing him justice as an opponent to be feared. Beyond that though, by the end of the episode there isn't a huge amount that has changed from how it started, and even the appearance of Section 2 feels like a rather token effort. Not a bad effort, but the continued focus away from the main characters doesn't really help the series all that much considering how the original Gunslinger Girl's true genius was in its portrayal of the internal and external struggles of the girls.