Gunslinger Girl Three: A New OP

Muse - Starlight

I've represented Muse on this thread before, but I must return to them. Muse is an intriguing prospect: with tremendous showboating live sets and a raft of Gold albums they are as popular and mainstream as you can be, but with their scruffy appearance they still retain an indie sensibility, and with their classical roots and musical structure there's always the suggestion of something grand and frim rising up from underneath the effervescence. With all of these layers in their work they really do strike me as one of the ideal bands to represent the character of GSG. They also contribute to this with introspective, reflective themes that suit the generally slower pace of the show and its focus on expressing states of character. As well as having lyrics that could easily be construed as direct references ("All the souls that would die just to feel alive"), "Starlight" takes a tale of alienation and makes it an anthem - it seems designed for GSG and its terrible grandeur, cracks shot through the beauty of Italy.

How about "I just dropped in (to see what condition my
conditioning was in)" by Kenny Rogers.

rise against, hero of war or injection. will postwe link soon

A candidate for an ED:

Ludovico Einaudi - The Waves



While listening to the first series' ED while ripping footage for my next AMV, it occured to me that this music could serve as an ED in a similar vein. Not only is it authentic Italian music (composed and performed by a grandson of one of Italy's presidents, no less), scoring points for thematic consistency, it has a similar reflective character which could accompany a still or quiet scene, like the first series' continuous shot of a pistol in the rain. It also provides an opportunity for a little character development for Claes - heaven knows, she needs the screentime... look how the current manga arc kicked her aside in one page!) I imagine the ED taking the form of Claes providing the first two minutes of this piece as a short piano recital while the credits scroll on the other half of the screen.

Anastacia - Left Outside Alone

I'm not sure that I would actually use this song in the show itself, as I prefer to see the fratelli relationships as being more positive and constructive than the lyrics here depict (although the first verse could be an expression of a cyborg reaching out for contact through her handler's hard emotional walls). However, it's a pacy tune with unusual modulated vocals and a general thematic relevance that would help hook attention if it was used for a trailer.

Sting - Shape of my Heart



Leon: The Professional was one of GSG's main sources of inspiration, so I think that we should be be able to make a shoutout for the movie and find some place for this, Leon's own credit theme, in the soundtrack. It might be too obvious to put in the show itself, but it's something else that could serve well as a trailer accompaniment.
.

I think Robert may have come the closest to answering his own (impossible) challenge. Ludovico Einaudi is brilliant. Many of his compositions fit the mood of the series perfectly. The only problem is that a good intro needs to reach out and grab the viewer's attention immediately and Einaudi's music builds too slowly for that purpose.

My suggestion:
Pretty When You Cry-V.A.S.T.





Season one isn't overly explicit regarding the monstrous nature of what's done to the girls. Perhaps season three should force the issue right from the op.
Even omitting the second chorus, the track is more overtly sexual than I'm comfortable with; But from what I understand season three kind of goes there.
Also, exploitation and the destruction of innocence are major themes throughout the series. Personally, the only thing that makes season one tolerable is that it's entirely chaste.

Too much?

An interesting choice, Hamster. It's certainly very offbeat, which suits Gunslinger Girl's atypical nature in the first place. It'd need some editing to fit, but the chorus melody would definitely be a good hook for a new audience. The theme of the song isn't to my taste - I prefer to paint GSG's story with an optimistic tone, about how the girls and men alike are finding new worth and fulfilment even amidst their impossible situation - but it's certainly a challenging one which should again attract interest.

I just realized this thread existed. Huh.

Well anyway, I have to profess that I personally find the Series One ED and Series Two OP to fit perfectly. Take the Series Two OP and end the episodes with Series One ED and we're good.

Now, if we're discussing alternates, then for an OP, allow me to propose one of the following:

Hurt, cover by Johnny Cash, original by Nine Inch Nails


Madness, by Muse (how surprising)


Sing for Absolution, by Muse (and again)


..and just for kicks, even though it doesn't follow the tone of GSG at all:

Supremacy, by Muse (guess my favorite band)


..and if I may just suggest for Alfisti:

You Know My Name, by Chris Cornell



As for an ED:

Thule, by The Album Leaf


In My Defense, sung by Freddie Mercury, from the musical "Time"


Ain't No Grave (Can Hold My Body Down), by Johnny Cash





...massive post is massive.

since Gunslinger girl season 3 will expect Sandro-Petra...



it just need another singer XD

If I was producing Season 3 of GSG, because A&P's story is a fair departure from and doesn't strongly involve the remainder of the cast, I would probably recount their story arc as a parallel tale. The actual season itself would continue to focus on the wider Agency (ideally with original stories to help re-establish the setting because post-Pinnochio isn't really a great jumping-on point for new readers or viewers), while A&P's adventures would be extra OVAs included as bonuses to the DVD sets. "Gunslinger Girl: Matryoshka" has a nice ring to it, and it lets us have two different OPs for the main series and the OVA cycle.

Plus allows the Petra/Sandro haters to ignore them at will.

And costs about 50% more than doing the one set of episodes.

Presented for your consideration as an ED theme, Fade into Darkness by AVICII:

That was good, I liked it, Fade into Darkness, I can see that as a continuation of the story.
Johnny Cash's cover of the song Hurt, got my attention and never let go.
Wow.
It would make a great testament to the anguish the handlers who care must feel, teaching children brought back from the abyss, only to twist their new lives into well; '....an empire of dirt....'.
Go Johnny go, Johnny be....great!

Garbage - Not Your Kind of People



This song was recently used to accompany the trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but I think that it's something that could well be suited to Gunslinger Girl as well. The lyrics of alienation and dislocation are an obvious parallel, and the actions of the Social Welfare Agency themselves could quite easily be construed as "tatical espionage action", but more than that the very style of the song itself takes us back to the beginning and is similar to the Delgados' "Light Before We Land". The lead singer for Garbage is actually Scottish herself, too.

It'd very significantly change the tone of GSG, but I very much like it. The almost gentle atmosphere created by the melody is grounded well by the bass, and the overall sense of "we're different, don't judge us like the everything" is cruelly ironic when compared to the girls in GSG, as such a difference is usually perceived as humanizing and equalizing. Compare this to the extreme DEhumanization and subjugation of the cyborgs.

Or this

A Kool Poptart wrote:

Or this

1. Prefer the second one, though perhaps not as an OP. Just my own taste there. As in Intro though...
2. Found new artist to investigate and someone who apparently is at least partly into the Vocaloids. Brills.

Stay by 12 Stones seems approprite


Something by Abingdon Boy School might be worth looking into...I'll do that later.

El Conservatore wrote:someone who apparently is at least partly into the Vocaloids. Brills.

Make that two people...just didn't think anything that I felt was worth putting in the topic.

Another one for consideration - the OP to the Live Action TV drama of Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora:

My idea of an opening is No Emotion - Idlewild 


Outro, maybe Back to This - The Helio Sequence


I was also considering Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups.

The Idlewild song didn't really work for me as an opener - until I blanked the video and imagined a montage of scenes from the anime. Then it seemed a perfect fit. Good tune, TT.

Lol dang music video. It was a non conventional choice, but I'm glad you liked it!