Gunslinger Girl Volume 3: Silence of Stars (Region 1 Import DVD)

Despite its girls-with-guns storyline and doe-eyed characters dressed in schoolgirl outfits, the action anime series GUNSLINGER GIRL eschews its genre's typically breezy comedy style for a dark and brooding exploration of female childhood. Set in Italy, the series centers on a little girl named Henrietta, who is taken in by a seemingly benevolent social welfare agency after her entire family is murdered in a massacre. But the organization is really a front for a secret government program that adopts terminally ill or orphaned girls, erases their memories, and endows them with implanted cybernetic devices that transform them into perfectly conscience-free assassins. As part of the reconditioning process, the girls are partnered with older male agents who not only provide them with professional instruction but act as their surrogate older brothers. Moody, stylish, and violent, the series chronicles Henrietta's training with her partner Jose with equal parts high-octane action sequences and poignant character studies of the pair's evolving relationship. The anime continues with four more episodes.