Battle Angel Alita, Vol. 6: Angel Of Death [Paperback]

Of course, no such thing is going to happen. At the last moment Alita is contacted by an agent of Tiphares and offered complete restoration - if she will agree to carry out the objectives of Tiphares as one of the 'tuned.' These are specially enhanced to be super killers (actually, the only 'tuned' is Alita). In no time at all, we find ourselves with Alita, guarding an atomic train bringing food and raw materials into the Scrapyard for further refinement and trans-shipment to Tiphares.

Soon Alita and several new friends are in a struggle to survive bandits and the desert. There isn't a lot of trust to go around, but there is an army full of bandits. Somewhere beyond the tough guys Desty Nova is hiding. He is Tiphares' real target and Alita is determined to make sure Nova keeps his word and restores Doc Ido. Naturally, everything that can go wrong does. It will take nothing short of a miracle to keep the 'Angel of Death' on track. Somehow Alita always manages to persist, to find surprising internal stores of strength.

With volume six, Alita becomes nothing but a weapon, a tool, and a good deal of the volume is spent with Alita fighting and battling. Of course, the still-beautiful artwork is filled with mature-audience blood and gore, so it's good to see Yukito Kishiro maintain his sense of dedication to the series. Probably the part where people might run into problems is with the plot.

Unlike the motorball episodes, volume six doesn't divert too far away from the main plot, but some of the volume is dedicated to a new character, Figure Four, who eventually falls for Alita (and vice versa). "Angel of Death" doesn't make it clear whether Figure Four plays a major role in future volumes, so this might frustrate some Alita fans. Also, the growth of the relationship between Alita and Figure Four isn't too realistic and feels a little sloppy.

But does this make "Angel of Death" like the motorball volumes? Not really. The main plot does manage to stay that way throughout the book: main. And although there is a lot of seemingly needless fighting, it can be considered "enjoyable" needless fighting. What fan of Alita doesn't want to see her wield a scythe-like blade with an evil snicker on her face? It's a lot better than seeing Alita battle for a silly motorball!

All in all, "Angel of Death" does make a few questionable choices in its execution, but in the end it's still an enjoyable read. But even if you feel that "Angel of Death" fell as low as the motorball volumes, look at it this way: at least the story in "Angel of Death" didn't span another volume!