Long time fan, first time poster!

Hey there! I very recently finished collecting the last book of Gunslinger Girl’s manga, something that has been on my wish list since about 2011 when Seven Seas rescued the lisence. A few days ago that wish finally came true due to a kind soul who accepted an offer I made on eBay that was for less than $100. The inflation of prices for this volume alone has been like nothing I’ve ever seen before and I’d almost given up hope entirely after seeing prices like $700 per the regular on sites like Amazon that were clearly set by bots, and sellers unwilling to budge such a ridiculous price tag for an out of print paperback!

I first discovered GSG through the anime sometime in 2005 back in middle or high school and was instantly hooked by the somber tone and contradictory feeling mix of cute little girls with government conspiracy, anti-terrorist plots and of course, guns! It was a new combination that attracted my attention and came with a gripping, dark story that was cathartic and relatable as a troubled teen, if not a little bit of a safe wish-fulfillment for me as a kid who’d grown up crushing on older men most of his life too!

I discovered this forum while dicking around in the TVTropes page and found a link to someone’s lovely timeline of events in the manga! I’m a fan of slower, nostalgic internet communication and fandom hangouts so this looked like a fun way to reconnect with what was left of the fandom!

I enjoy reading and writing fanfic, text-based role play, drawing and like many people here it seems, also have some GSG fan characters to continue exploring the themes present in GSG with my own spin! I run a website where I host my adult-oriented original and fan art, and have been debating creating a GSG fansite these days! 

Don’t feel afraid to PM me or strike up a conversation! I’m not much for debate but I’ll always speak my mind and would love to discuss this series with other fans!

Welcome!

As Alfisti once said, all the members really having fun here have OC fratelli, even if they only roleplay with them in the chatroom.
Greetings, Lukadian!
I'm not saying that Gunslinger Girl is dark, but my first exposure to the anime was through Netflix, which recommended it to me after I faved 'Grave of the Fireflies,: "Hey, you like a story about a couple of orphaned kids starving to death, you're gonna LOVE this!"

Hey there Kiskaloo and Thescarredman! Thanks for the warm welcome!

Gunslinger Girl’s charm I think lies in its maturity in handling it’s darker themes (especially interesting considering it’s doujin origins!) and tact. Things are implied rather than shown in full, and GSG is no stranger to going very dark and tragic places, but it’s never felt…alienating or reveling in that fact! It’s less misery and suffering porn and more well plotted tragedy! Pulls taught on those heartstrings just righ!

That said I can kinda see why Netflix’ algorithm would probably slot it in right after Grave of the Fireflies, but comparatively GSG may have been a little more palatable haha! 

Very excited to learn more about y’all’s RP scene (if there’s is one! Looked like there were a couple of older threads…) and to meet everyone’s OCs! Mine are more like AU incarnations of some completely original characters since they slotted into the GSG world very well! Was kind of a guilty pleasure/Self entertainment but who knows, maybe I’ll actually flesh it out a little more!

"Italians love their tragedies. And the best tragedies are the ones where everybody dies."
The forum used to have a very lively RP and collaborative fiction community. Most of those members have drifted away, alas, and most of the RP stories were accidentally erased by one of the admins during a housekeeping session. There's still a good one on FFnet, though, hosted by Professor Voodoo, titled 'Hunters in the Dolomites."

Just my two cents but I feel another thing that's beautiful about it is that you can usually find something new when rereading/rewatching.( By which I mean less as "I never saw that" and more "so this is why they did something") which at least by my standards usually means great thinking and presentation behind a work.

(On second thought, those heel realizations are usually gut punches... ouch)

Well said. One of our members has made rather a detailed study of the first season anime, going over many hidden details and providing a very thoughtful take on the show's symbolism.
Gunslinger Gnosis: (neichusanime.blogspot.com)

Welcome!!!