An orginization set in Italy called the Social Welfare Agency is really a counter-terroism unit that uses young girls remade into cyborgs as agents, along with older male handlers. Gunslinger Girl: IL Teatrino OVA is very much a companion piece to the Gunslinger Girl: IL Teatrino 13 episode series; deeping and further exploring some of the relationships between the girls and their handlers and dealing with some of the aftermath of the series. Even if you haven't seen the series, the emotional and psychological depth is apparent; it's more a deep character piece than an aciton series, even going as far to have only one action scene in the entire OVA.

Highlights

The first of the two episode on the set, "The Light of Venice, The Darkness of the Heart" starts when Jean's dead fiancee's brother decides to attack a safehouse of the terroist organization Five Replublics; which wishes to divide Italy into different states. Marco and his cyborg girl Angelica take it down. A mobster in Sciliy has ties to the terrorist unit, and Jean and Rico are assigned to take it out. That is the surface, but this episode goes into psychological detail on Ricos' fear of seperation from Jean, her need to feel useful and sublty touches on the morality of the whole situation.  How does the ocean make us feel; and why does it make Jean feel sad?

In the second episode, "Fantasma", we get to see Triela dealing with the results of the tough battles in the series; Also, Jean and Giuseppe take their girls Rico and Henrietta on a small vacation to the house by the sea. Here, we get more complexities on their relationships.  Even the small act of giving Henrietta a dress to wear has a complex psychological history; Jean too is confronted by a ghost from his past and must face up to the emotional consequences. 

Overall

If I had to summarize this series in one word, it would be "artistic"; either that or "deep".  Eschewing traditional anime exageration, the series takes this unreal concept and makes the characters so very very human. Their pain, their feelings, the family like bonds that somehow have grown.  It's sort of eerie how their handlers can be disscussing the emotional well bein of their girls and then switch into clinical depictions of how long they might last.  They're cyborg assasins, but they're also very much little girls, as the fine print by the series' title attests. 

The detailed animation (no doubt helped by the extra OVA budget) is beautiful and subtle; the lighting, the music, they all evoke a contemplative mood that helps push forward these small, emotional moments. This series has the complete AV package; wrapped together for maximum impact. The fact that these small vacations are all they will get in a rough, strange life is sort of humbling in a way.  It's a very unexpected anime, and this OVA is mostly extra thoughts on the series; well put together thoughts, but it's only a taste of the main series. The OVA is scripted well enough that you can pick up who is who just by watching it, but seeing the main series first would realy enhance the experience. I recommend watching that, and then buying this as dessert. Short, but a sweet finish to a very filling meal.

ComicsOnline gives Gunslinger Girl IL Teatrino OVA, 5 out of 5 little girls' dresses hanging in a simple closet.