If you havent heard of The Social Welfare Agency and you dont know anything about their operations consider yourself lucky. This top secret program has been picking up little girls in dire situations and turning them into indentured assassins through brainwashing and cybernetic implants in order to serve the best interests of the Italian government. This program isnt perfect as you can probably imagine but theyve been getting more or less consistent results ever since they were green lit. At least that WAS the case until a new threat recently popped up and started to become a real thorn in their side. A pair of vengeful terrorists have come into contact with a former child assassin of their own and theyve become a real headache for the Agency and their pint sized killers. The Gunslinger Girls are back for a brand new adventure and its no lie that Pinnocchio is going to be their toughest opponent yet. Its never a good sign when the second season of an anime comes out a whole five years after the previous season. Its an even worse sign when that second season is picked up not only by a different studio and director but by a far less well known studio and director with less primary production credits to their names. The original Gunslinger Girl was produced by Studio Madhouse which to be fair doesnt sound immediately promising as their work has been hit or miss over the years but it was also directed by Morio Asaka who is one of my personal favorite anime directors of all time. Not only does he have a keen eye for the best aspects of the story and design of an anime he also usually knows just the right way to change it for the medium of animation without running afoul of gatekeepers and purists often surpassing the quality of the original work. Hes also great at working under strict budgets which makes him the perfect fit for Madhouse who sometimes genuinely seem to treat their directors the same way Vince McMahon treated his NXT callups. Unfortunately the second season does not boast either of these well known and established names. It was produced by a studio called Artland and directed by a man named Akira Mano and through some strange coincidence Ive only seen one title from each of their limited resumes. With Artland the only title of theirs Ive seen that they had primary production duties for was Mushishi which I havent seen in almost fifteen years and while Im not going to pretend that I remember it well I can at least recall it looking better than this. As for Akira Mano Il Teatrino is one of only two anime that he has ever directed himself the other being Ghost Hunt which is a show I absolutely adore even if the direction and visual quality could be a bit hit or miss. These were the primary entities behind the production of Il Teatrino and Im just going to rip the bandaid off right now this season looks like absolute ass. If you have any sensitivity to animation quality whatsoever you will NOT be able to get through the first episode of Il Teatrino without feeling shocked by how terrible it looks. Throughout the entire episode there are maybe three shots that actually featured any noticeable animation period? Okay maybe thats an exaggeration but you wanna know whats not? Theres an extended sequence in the first episode that shows still images of rioting and public turmoil in the Italian streets and I swear they just placed a gritty filter over them and shook them for dramatic effect. Dont get me wrong most anime will do something like this at some point especially during fight scenes and high tension action sequences but this is like a dozen or more still images in a row thats the kind of shit people notice. Sure the original series didnt have a high budget but it was directed more than well enough to compensate but it takes Mano over half the series to figure out how to direct it competently let alone well. The visuals are constantly switching between long key frames featuring little to no movementlip flaps posture switches and the like and sequences featuring so many quick key frame cuts in a row that they can honestly start to feel disorienting and make following the story kind of a chore. When there is motion on screen you better believe they get their moneys worth out of it by putting that shit on a repetitive loop. Ive been noticing how character images are bounced in rhythm to create the illusion of walking for decades but I dont think its ever stood out as starkly as it does here. Theres a shot in a hotel where one of the girls is jumping on a bed and its literally just the same animation of her bouncing on the same leg over and over again and this kind of animation cycling shouldnt be so damn easy to notice. The character designs have also changed dramatically which Im pretty sure was done to make them look more like they did in the manga but they looked a lot more cartoony in the manga which translates here. Their color palettes are brighter they blush more their eyes are bigger and slightly more moefied and I get that its probably more accurate but the redesigns of the first season worked a lot better with the tone of the story. I dont specifically remember what the soundtrack of the first season was like so forgive me if this also describes that but this seasons soundtrack is really limited and repetitive... Like theres this one really somber track that they play during what are supposed to be sadder and more emotional moments as well as often at the end of every episode before the ED starts but its overuse kind of makes it sound ironically funny like something youd do in an anime that was supposed to be parodying the act of emotional manipulation. Playing the same sad song over and over again until it becomes a running gag. The OP is a decent enough song but the animation accompanying it is borderline incoherent with how many still images it throws at you at a rapidfire pace. There hasnt been much change to the english dub in terms of acting quality or presentation you still have Funimation doing some of their best work with pretty much everyone returning to reprise their characters. Jerry Jewel makes a fantastic addition to the cast as the new antagonist Pinnocchio and he has some genuine chemistry with Caitlin Glass who continues to play his main rival Triela. Unfortunately the rest of the cast kind of takes a back seat plot wise so while their actors DO manage to slip back into their old roles like they never left theres less importance to said characters which doesnt leave them with much to do. Laura Bailey feels particularly let down by this because the first season elevated her to almost main character status making her the heart and soul of the story and here shes kind of just a girl with a crush. The same kind of applies to the rest of the cast who are still perfectly incharacter just without a lot of opportunities to show it off. Sometimes it really does feel like originality in media has been slipping silently away from us doesnt it? Sequels reboots and adaptations have been commonplace for generations and even when it comes to the anime market which is usually dripping with new intellectual properties thanks to the billions of light novels and manga waiting to be adapted most new titles are still following the same exact trends while adding little to nothing to whatever lucrative genre theyre trying to ride to the bank on. When it comes to specific media being revisited however we all have different opinions on them. Some new entries stick too close to the original to be worth watching others stray too far off the path and piss off a highly protective fanbase. You can fail by not adding anything to the franchise and you can fail by not sticking to preestablished lore as an absolute rule. Ive mentioned before in my reviews and more than a few times in my feed posts I dont personally consider accuracy to be a mark of quality. FMA Brotherhood may be accurate to the manga but I still prefer the 2003 series by a wide margin. The Higurashi anime might not hit the same orgasmic quality of themes or whatever that the visual novels and manga were able to reach I dont care I still love it. True most of this is because I dont generally read a lot of manga or light/visual novels and I just strongly prefer to sit down and watch an anime instead of reading but I do also think its kind of silly to go into a piece of media with a checklist and a pen seeing what they got right and what they got wrong instead of just allowing the experience to happen. Then again Im not immune either. I remember getting really pissed off at the movie version of the Batman storyline Hush because of a major change they made to the ending but I digress I USUALLY try to go into sequels reboots and adaptations with an open mind. On the one hand Il Teatrino could not possibly be more different from Gunslinger Girl. The first season was quiet thoughtful somber with occasional action scenes. Il Teatrino is mostly loud frenetic action with occasional quiet scenes. The artwork and animation are distinctly different to a point that it can be severely jarring to anyone watching the two shows back to back with no warning. On the other hand as a pretty unexpected side effect of this you could technically watch Il Teatrino on its own without seeing the first season at all and you would kind of be better off for it because youd be experiencing Il Teatrino with fresh eyes and no preconceived expectations. For this reason Im going to be looking at Il Teatrino as both the sequel that it is and as the standalone series that it COULD be. In case you were wondering yes this is why I put a distinction in the two titles. As Ive already alluded to Il Teatrino is a jarring sequel. Just about everything about it is different from Gunslinger Girl with the exception of the English dub. Everything about the tone the visuals the designs and even the pacing is like a completely different story. In fact probably the biggest difference that youll notice right off the bat... And which might just piss you off something fierce... Is that it kind of retcons the ending of the first season? Now keep in mind I am assuming youve already seen Gunslinger Girl so Im going to drop a spoiler here... At the end of the final episode its heavily implied that one of the girls die while the others are enjoying a rare moment of childlike wonder and while her death isnt technically confirmed it does make for a seriously beautiful tearjerker ending that fits the themes of the season perfectly. As of this season shes back with only the briefest she got better explanation and really the only thing they do with her after reviving her is explore her degradation a little further which okay sure. Youre pissing people off unnecessarily but you do you. Im going to retread some points from my previous review here sorry about that but the reason Gunslinger Girl was able to grab hold of the hearts of so many viewers without squicking anybody out over its potentially controversial premise was because it was about more than just little girls being used as assassins it had a point to make. It had something to say specifically about how true evil is able to exist and breed in society especially when people just accept everyday evils as part of the system and the slippery slope that can lead to. The concept of child soldiers and the Social Welfare Agency never missed a step in supporting those themes and backing up the point of the series. There is none of that in Il Teatrino which is just an action series about secret agents battling it out in a game of cat and mouse against some of the most bland and unremarkable terrorist cells Ive ever seen. Not only does it fail to represent the depth of its predecessor but if you think about it this seasons story never really needed child soldiers in the first place which calls their very existence in the story into question. In Gunslinger Girl the Social Welfare Agency is unquestionably evil and the girls are unquestionably victims of a predatory system that uses the altruistic implications of giving them a second chance at life as an excuse to commodify and exploit them. In Il Teatrino its occasionaly implied that the Agency is fucked up but theyre mainly written as the good guys fighting the evil terrorists. Gunslinger Girl very intentionally made me feel sorry for the girls wishing there could be a better path for them. Il Teatrino feels like its trying to sell me action figures of them. I said in my previous review that Gunslinger Girl was able to skate perfect tens on the thinnest ice possible but Il Teatrino ventures out onto that same ice without even stopping to wonder WHY its so thin in the first place thus falling through at every turn. We do see some fairly unfortunate side effects of the girls conditioning and how theyre forced to live their lives but none of it ever feels as visceral as it did in the previous season it honestly feels more incidental than tragic because theres no emotional gravity to it. Il Teatrino has nothing to say. It has no point to make. The closest it gets to depth is having a character named Pinnocchio who struggles with his conscience and even that turns out to be pointless. And dont get me wrong I have nothing against pointless entertainment but you can not tell a story about subject matter THIS sensitive unless you have a damn good point to make through it. Otherwise all youre making is edgy emotionally manipulative sensationalist tragedy porn. Viewed on its own completely divorced from the first season Il Teatrino is a shallow action fest with a creepy and uncomfortable premise that it does not need to have and does not know how to justify. It would honestly be better if it was a brand new and legally distinct anime starring an entirely adult cast of secret agents battling it out against the same exact terrorist cell. It would be better if it were the most generic action thriller known to man and make no mistake thats the nicest thing I can say about it. Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino was available from Funimation which means its currently either available from Crunchyroll or its out of print I dont know which one. In either case its pretty hard to find for an affordable price online. The original manga by Yu Aeda is available from Seven Seas. My attempts to be more fair to this season didnt pan out well did they? I dont want to be the kind of reviewer who trashes a sequel series for not living up to the standard set by a previous installment but a sequel/adaptation/remake can be different without being terrible. Admittedly it doesnt happen often but the possibility is always there and I dont want to have my head too far up my ass to appreciate it when it does happen. I came into this review totally open to the chance that I could appreciate this season on its own merits but unfortunately Il Teatrino is a train wreck no matter how you look at it. I dont know maybe a hardcore fan of the manga might have a different opinion of it than I do but for me this series is an absolute war crime of a sequel and just not very good as a standalone action anime. I give Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino a 3/10