This Week in Anime

Bring Out the Big (Girls with) Guns

Coop
Hyperfixations are a funny, Steve. You could be scrolling through film chatter on Bluesky one moment, then looking at Yahoo! Japan Auctions for fan books and official merch from a modern cult classic many moments later. Alas, that's me when it comes to the Baby Assassins films and their follow-up TV series right now. While it's not an animated series, oh boy, does this series share the same "Girls with Guns" spice that a handful of beloved anime titles are known for. Heck, the TV series even has an anime intro!

I'll drink to that!

Funny enough, your mention of the Godard quote just connected the dots for me in a big way. While spending time with some of the genre's most prolific titles (Black Lagoon included), I couldn't stop thinking "Huh, this is the kind of story you'd expect to see in live-action." But in many of those cases, each show quickly made it clear that its tales were animated for a reason.

That thought lodged itself into my skull almost right away, mostly because I started my viewing with Noir—the first entry in Kōichi Mashimo and Bee Train's Girls with Guns Trilogy. The moody atmosphere, the setting, the scant details, the proper neo-Noir stylings... I felt as if I was watching a French action film from the '90s (my mind often wandered to Léon: The Professional), but dialed up with some of the same visual ammo one would see in a series like Serial Experiments Lain. I feel like a curmudgeon saying this, but damn, they don't make anime like this often these days.

A lighter or trinket that just happens to look like a revolver is probably one of my favorite narrative tricks for subverting expectations—especially in regards to the inherent fear and tension surrounding firearms. It might be why Gunslinger Girl ended up winning me over very, very quickly.

Unlike the similar setup of Lycoris Recoil, Gunslinger Girl left me to really stew in the fact that the entire situation is incredibly messed up. These girls have been turned into weapons that solely exist to serve as assassins. Henrietta (a young tween!) firing off a machine gun is haunting, because it's not "hell yeah, action movie nonsense!" it's "holy shit, what is she doing?" I love the unease and confrontational attitude the series has about its subject matter. This is a "feel bad and really think about it" kind of show.

Also, "The Light Before We Land" is a real gut-puncher when tied to this intro. Wow.

Same here to a degree, especially because I'd see ads for these shows in Otaku USA or their DVDs sitting around FYEs, but considering how young I was back then, I'd often go "Nope, I'm not old enough for this" and keep walking for fear my mom saw me looking at the weird cartoons for too long. Looking back at it all today, it feels as if those titles were more directly (and thoughtfully) courting older audiences than simply leaning into trends of the day.

I was informed that Wu-Tang wasn't for me, a then-member of the children.

A mom with a gun, no less.

But this does remind me of my first proper encounter with a gun-toting girl show. Some time in the late aughts (probably not long before I started high school), I nabbed the first volume of Burst Angel from an FYE. If only I knew the series was from the pedigree behind M.D. Geist 2: Death Force. Popping my head in for a recent revisit, it didn't take me long to realize why I only remembered the early TV CG robot and Revy-At-Home—Burst Angel isn't particularly exciting or engaging. But I've got to tell you, the whole world-building bit about stupidly high import taxes hits hard in 2025.

On the topic of modern series, my brain goes right away to...

Always got to hang out with your director bestie while wearing matching shirts from your favorite anime.

Lycoris Recoil takes that "Wouldn't it be messed up if all these schoolgirls were assassins in a government program?" conceit we mentioned earlier, and injects it with a fun City Hunter vibe (intentionally so, apparently). Chisato's this wonderful loose cannon who'll go to any lengths to help people out, but when it's go time... You don't want to be in her way. It makes for a compelling contrast when she's sharing the screen with Takina, who is so used to the assassin program and hasn't really been out in the world before. Not to mention the clashes that arise from Chisato's dedication to saving lives.

This falls right into that "not super serious, but a lot of fun" zone John Wick tends to occupy. Full stop.

Aside from Lycoris and the recent theatrical release of Umetsu's Virgin Punk, Akiba Maid War is another barn burner from the past couple of years. Not unlike the Yakuza games, the series deftly balances surreal humor and horrific violence. Going from "moe moe kyuns" to multiple gunshot wounds and back again is a feat in itself.

Damn straight it does.

I'm glad we've got that girls-with-guns primer out of the way, because I love this series. And not only for the action and comedy, but also for how it builds upon all the elements we've been talking about throughout this column. Inverse of my initial Noir thoughts, Baby Assassins is a series that feels like it could be anime, but is best suited as a live-action production. Oh, and it's hella gay too.

The chemistry between Takaishi and Izawa is off the charts as soon as they're thrown on screen together. They work so well not only as a unit, but the two actively elevate each other's performances. You could tell in the first flick that they were cast against each other to complement one another—Izawa for her incredible stunt work and Takaishi for her expressive acting. By the time I hit Baby Assassins Everyday! (The TV series) both had greatly improved in areas they might've struggled a touch with to begin with.

Just you wait till you hit the third one...

In addition to these two lovable doofuses, it's the razor-sharp social commentary that fully brought me on board. The audience learns pretty quickly that Mahiro and Chisato have been thrown into a world of bills, institutions, and jobs they're not exactly prepared for. And it doesn't help that everyone around them tends to treat them as dumb due to their age. Even if they are assassins, the lethal profession becomes an allegory for being a working adult—a working young adult, whether dealing with projects that go nowhere, difficult coworkers, or inflexible power structures. These themes take a slight step back after the first film, but come Everyday, they're firmly back in focus.

Man, I am so excited for you to watch Baby Assassins 3: Nice Days... If you thought that action scene was amazing, Izawa's fight scenes with Sōsuke Ikematsu are some of the best I've seen in years. Ikematsu's raw physicality is powerful and unsettling in these dust-ups, making me wish he'd been able to fully utilize his physical talents in Shin Kamen Rider. That flick was big on the CG fights, both to its advantage and perhaps detriment in this situation.

Speaking of bugmen, there's a good handful of tokusatsu actors sprinkled throughout the entire series, too.

Most viewers can tell the first film wasn't made for a whole lot of money, which explains the digital blood and muzzle flashes. As the series goes on, there are way more practical effects, and whatever CG touches up present don't stick out as sorely. I'd say the same for the TV show, too.

By the way, I'm sure you'll greatly enjoy that the show holds up a massive middle finger to generative and predatory AI use.

In another case of "it's funny you mentioned that," Saori Izawa also appears in John Wick: Chapter 4 as a stunt double for Rina Sawayama.

Izawa's moving up in the stunt world and Akari Takaishi's playing the lead role in the NHK's current Asadora drama series. They both seem pretty busy these days, but I would never say no to spending more time with Mahiro and Chisato.

Come on Everyday Season 2 or Baby Assassins 4!

And keep the Blu-rays coming too! I'm thrilled that the entire trilogy is readily available in North America, both physically and digitally. At the same time, it's also rad that Baby Assassins Everyday! is on HBO Max, I hope that Well Go USA also gives the show a physical release. If not, I bet there are a few other companies out there that would be thrilled to have the girls' televised shenanigans in their catalog. There is a Japanese Blu-ray set after all...

Now, if we can only get the official blorbos...

And with that... You want some cake, Steve?