Gunslinger Girl

Set in contemporary Italy, the narrative follows a cohort of severely injured young girls plucked from hospitals nationwide who are cybernetically augmented, indoctrinated, and trained as assassins by a covert division of the Public Corporation for Social Welfare, Section 2. Each girl is paired with a male 'handler' who oversees her training, deployments, and conduct. Each handler is free to condition his cybernetic assassin to the extent he sees fit, boosting lethality and loyalty at the expense of human individuality and lifespan.