The manga yanks all the skeletons out of the closet for this series. It's supposed to be sad, exploitative, and rake up feelings of disgust. The girls are essentially doomed to an early death. It's no coincidence an irritated Triela tosses asides a book ending with 'And they all lived happily ever after.'

The girls don't really act to stop 'terrorists' in the name of good, they just do it because that's what they're programmed to do. There are a few scenes with Rico beating various Padania operatives to death, killing one man by smashing one his head right into a car window, and it's not so much about triumph or heroics as it is extreme, mechanical brutality. It stands in nice contrast to a later scene of her cheerfully running across a beach, not a care in the world.