History Manga / GunslingerGirl

* FanDisservice: The obsession the girls have for their older male handlers (though Yu is [[ObliviousToLove careful not to have things]] the [[NoYay other way round]]; even Sandro doesn't put the moves on Petra until her AnguishedDeclarationOfLove), the occasional suggestive shot in early chapters, Henrietta's pre-cyborg {{rape|AsDrama}} and [[{{Squick}} mutilation]], the [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman detached manner]] with which Sandro checks out his [[NakedOnRevival new cyborg]], and a [[{{Sideboob}} half-naked]] Triela in the SnuffFilm scene.

The sequel/second season ''Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino'' gets a {{crossover}} with ''VideoGame/GirlsFrontline'', which features all of cyborg girl protagonists [[spoiler:including the dead ones]].

* BleachedUnderpants: The series' original incarnation was a doujinshi series with some graphic sexual content.

* FanDisservice: The obsession the girls have for their older male handlers (though Yu is [[ObliviousToLove careful not to have things]] the [[NoYay other way round]]; even Sandro doesn't put the moves on Petra until her AnguishedDeclarationOfLove), the occasional BleachedUnderpants shot in early chapters, Henrietta's pre-cyborg {{rape|AsDrama}} and [[{{Squick}} mutilation]], the [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman detached manner]] with which Sandro checks out his [[NakedOnRevival new cyborg]], and a [[{{Sideboob}} half-naked]] Triela in the SnuffFilm scene.

** In the manga, Claes finds herself on the verge of tears after watching ''Film/ARiverRunsThroughIt'' because the fishing scenes subconsciously remind her of fishing trips she took with her handler. In the anime adaptation, she's reading ''[[Literature/ChildBallads The Elfin Knight]]'' and the song ''Scarborough Fair'' (adapted from the ballad) features prominently.

** In the manga, Claes finds herself on the verge of tears after watching ''Film/ARiverRunsThroughIt'' because the fishing scenes subconsciously remind her of fishing trips she took with her handler. In the anime adaptation, she's reading [[Literature/ChildBallads The Elfin Knight]] and the song "Scarborough Fair" (adapted from the ballad) features prominently.

** Both Sandro and Hilshire quote from ''Horatius at the Bridge'' by Creator/ThomasMacaulay to explain their motives.

* ShownTheirWork:
** The author's grasp on Western literature and art is surprising for a Manga; references have included ''Horatius'', ''Tosca'', and the ''Rape of the Sabine Women''.
** Also, as previously noted, the illustrators and storyboarders went to great lengths to accurately capture the culture, architecture, and major landmarks of different regions of Italy and avoid NationalStereotypes about the features of the characters based on their countries of origin.

** There was an ethnic conflict in the Balkans that involved the explosion of a nuclear weapon.

* SmallGirlBigGun: All of the girls. But most of the time, the girls will use sub-machine guns or smaller caliber pistols. We've seen Rico handle some VERY large weaponry, though (up to firing a G3 machine gun "Franchise/{{Rambo}} style"), and Triela's default weapon is a Winchester 1897 "trenchgun" (army shotgun) with bayonet. The first DVD volume is even titled "Ragazzine Piccole, Armi Grandi" — literally "small girls, big guns" in Italian.

* RazorFloss: Used by Triela in one episode to off a {{mook}}.

* BrandX: Section One agents are seen using a "Nakia" phone in "Caterina and the Cycle of Revenge".

* LeaveNoWitnesses: Rico befriends a boy working as a bellhop while scoping out her target, but Jean orders her to kill anyone who sees her committing an assassination. While leaving the hotel room after the hit, she runs into the boy and in one of the more memorable scenes of the series kills him while [[CreepyChild smiling cheerfully]] because she [[MoralMyopia remembered the right words to use in a situation like this]]: "I am sorry." However, this is the only example of this trope, and is used more to [[KickTheDog highlight her handler's ruthless nature]]; other handlers just use the MoveAlongNothingToSeeHere approach.

* BrandX: Section One agents are seen using a "Nakia" phone in an episode of the second season.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Jean and Jose are driven heavily by revenge and are easily distracted by it when they learn that their adversary for the arc is Giacomo Dante, their family's prime killer. Surprisingly, Jean is consumed by it much less than Jose, and when [=PFC=] Aprea wanted to join the [=SWA=] attack on Dante's group to avenge her friends, he told her that she should go enjoy her youth for their sake and that he will take vengeance for them, showing that he didn't want anyone else to go down the path he and his brother did.

* TakingTheBullet: Triela catches a 40mm grenade fired at Beatrice in the head; fortunately it's only a smoke grenade and just knocks her unconscious. She also takes a bullet while bodyguarding Roberta Guellfi.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[spoiler:The cyborgs live out their final days on an offshore research vessel with the Agency doctors; Rico died a year after their arrival and Claes is the last remaining first generation cyborg. Petra dies of leukemia and gives a LastRequest that Sandro contact her family (it's not mentioned what happened to the other Second Generation cyborgs). The Social Welfare Agency is reduced to conducting cybernetic research, while the SWA personnel are either restored to their previous jobs or are transferred into a new intelligence agency, of which Jean Croce eventually becomes Director. Roberta Guellfi moves to the United States to raise Triela's daughter, who grows up to become an actress.]]

** A flashback panel shows it was Franca (now a bombmaker for Padania) who coaxed her friend Patricia into meeting Marco (now an Agency handler).

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Once Dante has been captured and the Turin plant secured, the Prime Minister sends in the Italian army to destroy the SWA. [[spoiler:Subverted when, instead of a BolivianArmyEnding, all SWA personnel surrender peacefully.]]

** Petrushka is named after the ballet by Music/IgorStravinsky, and there are also references to [[Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky Tchaikovsky's]] ''Theatre/SwanLake''.