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Okay, this is the first review I've even written and the first anime I've ever graded 1/10, but after watching just the first half of the first episode, it is easy to see how poorly this season compares to the first.

For one thing, the animators are extremely lazy. In the first season, movements were fluid. The girls made firing guns and taking bullets a work of art. Even the few short combat sequences were poetry. But in Il Teatrino, the animators took a still image of a mob attack and shook it. Literally, they shook the image to give the illusion that the people were ... beating on each other. And when they let Jose fall in slow motion I knew there was nothing worth watching.

The mood of the episode was also entirely different. Somehow, all the heaviness in the first season disappeared, like all of a sudden they were unconcerned by the fact that these girls have such terrible pasts coupled with a very limited lifespan. The girls also suddenly became cheerful, destroying the characters they built in the first season. Rather, they seemed like entirely different people. They've become.. schoolgirls.

Another thing I miss about the old Gunslinger is the background music. The first season's BGM carried the mood of each episode, saying "Hey, these ain't just Lolis with guns. These are Lolis with guns and a story to tell." Comparing the first ep of the second season with the first ep of the first is a no-brainer. The only up-side to the music was Kokia's opening theme. (Yeah, I'm in love with Kokia).

All in all, I don't recommend Il Teatrino for anyone - not for fans of the first season because they'll be terribly disappointed, and not for those who've never seen Gunslinger Girl, because they might get a wrong impression of the first season.