Wow. With this scene, I take back anything I’ve said concerning bad directorial quality for the 2nd season of Gunslinger Girl. There was moe, there was inhumane violence and it blended into the OP magnificently. Suceeded in giving me Higurashi-like chill down my spine WITHOUT the use of psycho-moe, which is a keen display of the director’s brilliance.

The character design is still rather awful though. Pinnochio wasn’t meant to be moe. In fact in the manga he was drawn to be a more serious, cold-blooded character:

The moe totally messes the entire Pinnochio vibe up.

For non-followers of the manga, Gunslinger Girl is currently splitted into 3 arcs:

1. Introductory Arc (manga volumes 1-2): Introduces the cyborgs and the state of modern terrorism in Italy. Covered mostly in season 1.

2. Pinnochio Arc (manga volumes 3-5) : Arguebly the best arc in the entire manga where a young terrorist operative (Pinnochio) is so skilled that even a lone cyborg is unable to take him down. Many have said this arc is impossible to animate properly and I believe I’m gonna be dissappointed at the end of Il Treatino.

3. 2nd generation cyborg arc (manga volumes 6 onwards): Instead of robo-loli moe cyborgs, Yu Aida introduces a sexy, older looking ones that are supposedly even more skilled than the 1st generation ones. I’ve only read volume 6 and there isn’t any interaction between the 1st generation and 2nd generation cyborgs yet, but I bet it would be explosively interesting.

A 3rd season is definitely in order, and I sincerely hope Madhouse takes the helm once again since the emphasis on moe has been lessened.