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==THE MOVIE IS COMING! FOR THE MOVIE THREAD CLICK HERE!!!!== Battle Angel Alita is back!! Go read the first chapter right now!  ----------------------------------------------- What IS Battle Angel Alita? Only one of the greatest sci-fi mangas ever written! Known in Japan as "GUNNM", Battle Angel Alita and the sequel Last Order is a series written by Yukito Kishiro, that has been running for about twenty years. It recounts the story of a cyborg, whose wreckage is found one day in a pile of scrap by the cyber-doctor Daisuke Ido. Ido fixes her up and gives her the name Alita (Gally in the Japanese). She finds that she has lost her memories, all except for her physical muscle memory of an ancient Martian cybernetic combat art known as Panzerkunst. And thus begins her quest to find out who she really is and where she comes from. Through the entire run of the series, Battle Angel Alita is characterized by Kishiro's unique, kinetic, hyper-violent art style, obscure scientific and historical references (gleefully recounted in abundant gutter notes), and darkly wacky sense of humor. Alita fights all manner of cybernetic monsters and freaky villains, and encounters an entire world filled with madcap characters and moral dilemmas turned upside-down in a future made surreal by hyper-science. The original manga spans nine volumes, and the sequel, Last Order spans a colossal 19 volumes. I think it's one of the best action/fighting sci fi manga out there, and even though Last Order sort of meandered through a rather long tournament arc, it's still really fun to read just for the delightful feeling of not knowing what kooky fighting style or pseudoscientific wackiness Kishiro will come up next. Last Order ended in January of this year, and there was a short hiatus. It left certain questions unanswered: the biggest of which is the question of Alita's past. Who is she, really? Why was she born? Where did she come from? The current series, Chronicles of the Mars War, recounts this story and tells us, finally, just what happened to "Grünthal" -- the school of martial arts that specialized in Panzerkunst. Hopefully it'll be a lot of fun!   I don't see that the chapter is up on Crunchyroll or any other legal distribution method, so our best bet for now is to rely on scanlations, which can be obtained at Batoto. And, as always, remember... Flan is delicious!! 
DrSunshine fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Sep 11, 2018 |
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Nov 21, 2014 17:07
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Flan has returned! And holy poo poo, I can't believe we're getting to Mars in my lifetime. Also—and I realize it's because I only read the manga when it was pretty much finished—I actually liked the big, dumb tournament arc. 
Mordja fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Nov 21, 2014 |
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Nov 21, 2014 18:40
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I liked the tournament while it was ongoing. Robot karate is never not great.  Although to be fair, I did start reading after the vampire flashback finished.
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Nov 21, 2014 21:10
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Mordja posted:Flan has returned! And holy poo poo, I can't believe we're getting to Mars in my lifetime. I know, right??! For the longest time "Mars" was to BAA as Fishman Island was to One Piece or Elf Island was to Berserk! quote:Also—and I realize it's because I only read the manga when it was pretty much finished—I actually liked the big, dumb tournament arc. I have collected all the books, and I reread through them at least once a year, and the tournament arc actually is really fun reading when you're devouring it book by book. One thing, unrelated-- I've noticed that the art style looks just a tad different, again. I like the way that Kishiro is always tinkering with Alita's facial appearance over time. It makes it real fun to look through all the books and see how she's evolved.
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Nov 21, 2014 21:27
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I forget, do we already know that the mysterious martian ultra badass panzer kunstler from the end of Last Order is Alita's childhood friend or is it going to be the least surprising reveal in history?
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Nov 21, 2014 21:35
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Sindai posted:I forget, do we already know that the mysterious martian ultra badass panzer kunstler from the end of Last Order is Alita's childhood friend or is it going to be the least surprising reveal in history? It would be the most hilarious reveal if the person who had the same hair as Erika, remembered Alita as "Yoko" from old days, and practiced Panzerkunst actually turned out to be some flan-brained evil cyborg that just happened to have the same haircut.
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Nov 21, 2014 21:38
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Well this is embarrassing, I didn't realize Alita's Quest 18 was the final LO chapter  I figured it was just on another one of its hiatuses.I personally thought the tournament was pretty bad, but all of the content after it was pretty much just as good as the pre-tourny material so as long as another ZOTT doesn't pop up this should be pretty good.
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Nov 21, 2014 21:46
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Oh boy oh boy! Christmas came early for this po' boy! Although, at the same time, it also means that Aqua Knight has even slimmer chances of coming back, right? 
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Nov 21, 2014 22:10
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Wark Say posted:Oh boy oh boy! Christmas came early for this po' boy! Aqua Knight was great stuff, but it ended pretty conclusively, I think. It's actually really worthwhile to track down the books, even though they're out of print, in order to get a look at Kishiro's art. There's a several-years gap between the original series and BAA:LO, and a major stumbling block for me, at first, was getting used to the art style in LO, which is much more polished. Aqua Knight fits neatly into the slot between the two and you can see how it's the perfect transition phase between 90's Kishiro and 00's Kishiro. EDIT: I think we've all thought this at some point 
DrSunshine fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Nov 28, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 16:01
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The tournament arc was awesome and I'll thumb-wrestle anyone who says otherwise.    From chapter 60.
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Nov 29, 2014 09:51
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I've only ever read the first 9 volumes. Do I need to read through Last Order before getting into this?
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Dec 2, 2014 13:06
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Definitely. Last Order effectively retcons the end of the original manga and takes the story into orbit and Mars Wars is a direct followup to that continuity.
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Dec 2, 2014 13:53
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Am I remembering it correctly? Last Order ended at the sea shore village right?
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Dec 2, 2014 14:06
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James Cameron is supposed to make a movie version of this after Avatar 2 and 3.
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Dec 2, 2014 15:02
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Simstim posted:Am I remembering it correctly? Last Order ended at the sea shore village right? It ended with Figure, Ido, and a bunch of their other buddies from the surface reaching Ketheres and discovering that organic brain Alita had been revived as a flesh and blood human. I guess now Figure and Alita can return to Alhambra and raise a family!!  On the other hand, brain chip Alita went off to Mars to discover the truth about her past.
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Dec 2, 2014 15:03
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Quellar posted:James Cameron is supposed to make a movie version of this after Avatar 2 and 3. This will never happen
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Dec 2, 2014 20:02
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Sometimes I think I have the worst avatar in the universe. Maybe I should make an animated gif of the relevant section, that'd be better right?
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Dec 3, 2014 03:38
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New chapter is out.
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Dec 8, 2014 17:04
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Puukko naamassa posted:New chapter is out. "GUNNM saga final chapter"? Oh god, I hope that doesn't mean he's been canceled again...  So far I've been really enjoying all the post ZOTT stuff. It has that crazy/wacky/dark feel that I've always loved from Kishiro's stuff -- he has that same madcap gothic feel that I get from Jean-Claude Jeunet/Marc Caro films. Baby Alita is also way adorable!!
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Dec 8, 2014 17:25
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I think you're being a bit literal there with the "final chapter" thing. All the notes are confusing me, I can't tell if they're from Kishiro or the translators, I'm too used to both. edit: they're marked differently lol, it was his notes.
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Dec 8, 2014 20:51
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It's the final chapter in the same sense that Shippuden is the final chapter of Naruto's story
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Dec 8, 2014 23:44
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DrSunshine posted:It ended with Figure, Ido, and a bunch of their other buddies from the surface reaching Ketheres and discovering that organic brain Alita had been revived as a flesh and blood human. I guess now Figure and Alita can return to Alhambra and raise a family!! Wait what, are there two gallys now. Last I recall after the tournament ended, Alita grew car ears, angel wings and buggered off to the surface of the earth to meet up with PTSD Ido.
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Dec 9, 2014 22:11
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Ka0 posted:Wait what, are there two gallys now. Last I recall after the tournament ended, Alita grew car ears, angel wings and buggered off to the surface of the earth to meet up with PTSD Ido. Brain chip Gally went all god mode and flew off to Mars to investigate her past and find that mysterious Kunstler. Ido and Figure Four went up to Ketheres, recovered Gally's organic brain and got her a new body. So there's Gally from the Last Order who has a couple of Quantum super-computers and an artificial singularity on her side, and there's the Original Organic Gally who died at the end of the first series and is now alive again.
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Dec 9, 2014 22:29
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Hearing it summarized like that really does lead one to suspect that Kishiro just kind of plays it by ear chapter by chapter with only a vague general idea of where he wants to go with it. It's kind of like Bleach except not as much a waste of time.
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Dec 10, 2014 00:25
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DrSunshine posted:Hearing it summarized like that really does lead one to suspect that Kishiro just kind of plays it by ear chapter by chapter with only a vague general idea of where he wants to go with it. It's kind of like Bleach except not as much a waste of time. I dunno, I mean, when you stop and think about it, it's basically the original Gunnm ending prior to the LO retcon.
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Dec 10, 2014 05:10
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Ataru13 posted:I dunno, I mean, when you stop and think about it, it's basically the original Gunnm ending prior to the LO retcon. That's kind of what I meant, actually. Like the general outline of the ending is pretty much the same as the very brief and rushed ending of BAA v. 9 -- we've got Alita with her fancy body, Alita "sacrifices herself" to save humanity, Alita with an organic body is reunited with wandering Figure. The major points are the same, but everything in between leading to those seems like the product of a lot of improvising. Not that that's bad! Personally I like Kishiro's style, it makes it amusing to anticipate what he'll come up with next.
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Dec 10, 2014 05:22
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Motivations aside, I'm glad Kishiro resolved a bunch of plotlines at the end of the last arc. One Alita is plenty. I wonder how much of the old cast will make it to Mars? I'm really hoping that Sechs stick around, but it doesn't seem likely. Zazie is almost certain to come back, since she's originally from Mars anyways.
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Dec 10, 2014 06:09
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Sechs and Figure Four compete against each other in a 200 chapter arm-wrestling tournament.
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Dec 10, 2014 07:49
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After vaguely knowing about this series for years, I'm finally hunting down the original series on Amazon because it seems really interesting. I'm not an anime and manga type of person anymore, but the series seems too good to pass up based on the summaries I've read. One thing I don't get is the prices for the original series. Volume 1 is comically expensive compared to the rest of the series, which are average around $7 or $8 each. I don't mind, but it's pretty silly. 
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Dec 13, 2014 06:16
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closeted republican posted:After vaguely knowing about this series for years, I'm finally hunting down the original series on Amazon because it seems really interesting. I'm not an anime and manga type of person anymore, but the series seems too good to pass up based on the summaries I've read. Huh. That's odd. It seems like the later unflipped Viz reprints are somehow unavailable or out of print -- I'm glad that I bought mine when they were, though! You can get a used copy of the old "flipped" versions that Viz printed in 1995, though. I guess with Kishiro moving to Kodansha and Viz being tied up with Shueisha the whole rights situation kind of got screwed up. Bummer! But man, you are in for a treat!! The Original BAA run is fantastically good. You'll find yourself cheering for Alita and immersing yourself in the grimy cyberpunk world of the Scrapyard. It is just so much fun to read, and Kishiro's art is delightful, sumptuous and gritty. Last Order is a pretty different feel and it gets lost in a 5-volume long tournament arc, but it's also good and has that Kishiro-brand weird/dark/wackiness. It took me a bit to readjust to it after finishing the original series, because the tone is pretty different. Though actually, nowadays I find the original to be a little bit too melodramatic, and somewhat prefer the more lighthearted and comical tone of LO.
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Dec 13, 2014 07:13
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DrSunshine posted:Huh. That's odd. It seems like the later unflipped Viz reprints are somehow unavailable or out of print -- I'm glad that I bought mine when they were, though! You can get a used copy of the old "flipped" versions that Viz printed in 1995, though. I guess with Kishiro moving to Kodansha and Viz being tied up with Shueisha the whole rights situation kind of got screwed up. Bummer! Those are the flipped versions? Is there any way to buy the unflipped versions? I'm not a  -type that wants my manga as pure as possible; I just don't want to have to mentally adjust back to right to left when I pick up LO.  My understanding is that BAA and Last Order are like Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. Fallout 1 has a lot of craziness in it, but had a more serious plot overlying it so it was a bit harder to notice the crazy stuff. Fallout 2 lets the craziness shine, but can do serious just as well as the first part does when the time comes for it. Reminds me a lot of the relationship between BAA and LO.
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Dec 13, 2014 08:31
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Aha! Here we are! It's hard to find, since they're out of print, but these are the unflipped versions: http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Angel-Alita-Series/lm/2RO6IEJNGI2Q5 The prices seem quite reasonable.
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Dec 13, 2014 15:05
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DrSunshine posted:Aha! Here we are! It's hard to find, since they're out of print, but these are the unflipped versions: Awesome! Those prices are way better than the flipped ones as well. Thanks for finding that!
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Dec 13, 2014 21:11
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Christmas came early!  The second half of chapter 2 is out! I've always loved how Kishiro is able to give these sort of heart-breaking little vignettes and develop random side-characters in the span of a couple of pages.
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Dec 24, 2014 16:51
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After some bargain-hunting, I finally started the original. I ended my reading session right after Makaku dies. I loving love it. All of the major characters are very interesting. Even as early as volume one, you can tell Alita is different, and not because of her Panzer Kunst skills. The Scrapyard's denizens are self-centered pricks that don't give a drat if they see a man dying with a cyborg in his hands, enjoy blood sports, and will try to make you a cyborg for even the smallest injuries. Alita is different; while the other bounty hunters only care that Makaku didn't kill them, Alita is the only one that actually wants to stop him and save the baby. In fact, it seems to me that part of the reason why Alita went after Makaku after the bar attack was because of their reaction. I think that BAA does a great job with portraying the characters in a way that you can still like and be interested in them, despite their flaws. Alita wants to find her own way and driven by a need to help (ATM, anyways), but at the same time she's deceptive, cocky and jumps to conclusions. Daisuke is a genuinely nice guy, but at the same time he has a hidden bloodlust and wanted to make Alita his innocent waifu instead of letting her live as she wanted. Even the monstrous Makaku is actually a person that has his own understandable but twisted ethics instead of being a mindless beast. The characters actually feel like people instead of being cardboard cutouts meant to express x viewpoint. I love character-driven stories, so this is right up my alley. I can't wait to get into the rest of volume 2 later in the day. I'm trying to pace my reading so that I have enough time to properly digest each arc instead of just blazing through it as fast as possible. Also, volume 6 in still in the mail, so I need to space out my reading as much as possible until it comes so I can complete the series. It's probably one of my favorite reads in years, and this is from reading the first volume and a little bit of volume 2 instead of the entire series. I can't wait to see what the rest of the series has in store.
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Dec 25, 2014 10:36
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closeted republican posted:After some bargain-hunting, I finally started the original. I ended my reading session right after Makaku dies. Oh my gosh, dude, keep up this trip report. It's so fun reading someone's reactions to this series for the very first time. You're in for a hell of a ride, especially when Desty Nova comes on scene! 
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Dec 25, 2014 15:05
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Please keep in mind that the ninth volume, the ending, was written when the author was very ill and feared he may die, so he rushed that out. The actual series continues on into Last Order, and then Chronicles of the Mars War after LO. That said, the BAA ending is perfectly serviceable, if a bit too sappy.
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Dec 26, 2014 05:05
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Captain Invictus posted:Please keep in mind that the ninth volume, the ending, was written when the author was very ill and feared he may die, so he rushed that out. The actual series continues on into Last Order, and then Chronicles of the Mars War after LO. That said, the BAA ending is perfectly serviceable, if a bit too sappy. I was planning on going into LO after finishing up volume 9 anywho. At the rate the original series is going, I think I may need the ZOTT to cool down while still enjoying Alita and the Alitaverse. Finished up the Hugo arc a bit ago. To me, the main point about the arc was dreams. For Hugo, his dream was abstract and he had no real plans with it, but he dedicated his entire life to it, like his brother had. He staked everything, including the reason why he lived, on his goal, and when he learned it couldn't happen, he lost everything. With his dream gone, he considered himself just a bag of money because he had spent most of the past three years gathering money instead of being a kid and building relationships that kids get into. His last-ditch effort at trying to get to Tiphares was basically a dying man's last movements. I think Hugo's ambition is why Alita fell in love with him in the first place. Before, Alita seemed to only live for the day. But with Hugo, she saw something more in him; a real drive to do something. Her love for him unlocked her own abilities to dream. However, her dream was grounded and actually had potential instead of being "Reach space city, then ???". She showed she was willing to help take care of Hugo, which is a lot more than Hugo's far-out dream. That's why, unlike Hugo, she can recover from losing her dream; she can plan ahead, even if the future looks bleak. Zapan also echos Hugo's fate. He became obsessed with a dream; ruining Alita, no matter if it meant her dead or her turned into a monster. However, I think he really wanted her dead, which is why he lost it when she showed him Hugo's head. His back-up way for ruining Alita was just an excuse to assure himself. When he couldn't legally kill Alita, he lost it. I'm sure he'll survive because he also has something besides his dream; being really pissed off. One thing I liked is how, despite Alita's ingenuity, even she couldn't save Hugo. No matter what tricks she had up her sleeve, he wad doomed. He had a breakdown (that kinda reminded me of Freeze's freakout in Batman Beyond for some reason, as far as losing hope goes) that made his drive to Tiphares lead him to his death. Even if he got back to the Scrapyard in one piece, If it was revealed that Hugo was still alive (which I'm sure Zapan would've eventually figured out), he would be in the same situation that he was in, but with Alita as a victim as well. Alita learned the hard way that all of her skills can't save everyone. Him getting sliced up was an act of mercy. Overall, I wasn't too into the Hugo arc at first, but after getting past around the halfway point, it clicked. It's a much deeper experience than the Makaku arc was and is a lot more than just "star-crossed teenage lovers". The whole thing is Alita experiencing something beyond "beat the bad guy and save the day!" and that even being the super bestest cyborg in the world can't save a man if he wants to die. She learned about having a future, but at the cost of being the perfect hero. closeted republican fucked around with this message at 08:58 on Dec 26, 2014 |
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Dec 26, 2014 08:40
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That's probably the best way the Hugo arc's been put, honestly. Good work. I came to similar conclusions, but you're very good at enunciating exactly what makes it better than typical tragic teenage romance in fiction.
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Dec 26, 2014 10:48
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Hm, I wonder if Hugo's arc could be taken as a deconstruction of the typical shonen hero's arc? Like, Hugo is the perfect example of a shonen hero at first -- headstrong, a bit of a rogue, but good-hearted, and always running determinedly forward towards his dreams and goals. What's more shonen that that?! However, he's not born into that kind of world. The reality of the Scrapyard is too harsh and too cruel for shonen dreams to take flight, which is why it results in his tragic downfall. Tears of an Angel really struck me as poignant when I first read it, as a teenager. I guess it's because I really connected with the passionate emotional core that surged through it. Reading it again nowadays, however, I find it just a tad maudlin -- for example, why does Alita fall in love with Hugo so quickly? She barely knows the guy. How did she develop such a quick, intense bond with him? Well, I guess it's more of a crush than a real romance, in the end, and I believe that, in the end, Alita does eventually realize the danger of developing too strong of an attachment to people that you've just met. This kind of ties into her reaction and behavior in volumes 3-4, too, I would suspect, only in 3-4 she takes that lesson and runs with it too far in the opposite direction.
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Dec 26, 2014 15:32
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