Customer Reviews

Battle Angel Alita Vol 1

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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There are several manga series that enjoy popularity in the US, but have never completely broken through to best-seller status here. We seem to be too much influenced by the availability of a corresponding anime film or series. With manga like 'Battle Angel Alita,' this is a particular shame since I think the comic would make a perfect transition to automation. Yukito Kishiro's art is graphic and finely detailed, there is a tremendous amount of action, with plots that are full of unique twists.

The story opens with Ido Daisake, part time hunter-warrior, part time humble repairman, pawing through piles of technological super junk for robot parts. Unexpectedly, he finds the head and torso of an attractive cyborg and sets out to rebuild her. After some work collecting what he needs, Alita (named for his dead cat) is up, about, and in trouble. Alita, it turns out, has surprising battle skills, and sets out to become a hunter-warrior herself. The second half of the manga tells the story of Alita's first major conflict - with Makaku, another cyborg who is all head and tail (except when he is 'borrowing' what parts he pleases).

All of this takes place in the ground level (and sewer) of a Bladerunner-esque under-city called the Scrap Yard. It is the industrial plant and trash can for Tiphares, the upscale city in the clouds where jury-built cyborgs never get to go. Most residents are at least partly artificial and many are like Alita, a brain and central nervous system inside a mechanical contrivance. Despite all this dehumanization, Alita manages to be more than a machine operator. Somehow, her ethics and humanity have survived the fall to make this series much more than a choreographed hack and disassemble story. This is a manga with exceptional artistic and narrative values.

Battle Angel Alita is one of the best manga I've ever read. The art is incredible. Ignore any reviews that say it's not great. It's very violent, though. Not quite as much in the first as in some others, but the first is still really violent. The art is some of the best I've seen, by the way. I would DEFINITELY suggest this book for anyone who likes a good action anime or manga. However, it's not just action. It has a really great storyline along with everything else.
Basically I can sum it up by saying this: Great art, great story, great everything.

After hearing the hype about Alita, I actually bought the first volume of the series. And what can I say. Annoying , silly looking heroes, a stupid giant villain who does little more than laugh constantly. Speaking of the so called "ultra violence", I didn't see any. Sure, there are pictures of the bad guy eating brains, but the character design is so ugly that it just fails to be disturbing. I can put it this way: the violence in Alita is equally disturbing to the scene in Shrek where lord Farquad tortures the gingerbred man. I couldnt care less about the characters, they were too stupid and too full of tired old cliches and sentimental junk to be interesting. "Somewhere deep inside me is a heart bla bla bla". Reading the reviews here makes me wonder if we really read the same book. oh well.

After reading the first book in the Battle Angel Alita series all I can say is WOW! From the moment it starts you are drawn into the futuristic heap of a city known as the Scrap Yard. It is located under the floating city of Tiphares, and is an opposite of the gleaming, floating structure, full of brothels and endorphine junkies (you'll find out about that later on in the series), where there is no police force and crime is enforced by bounties placed on criminals. The book opens as Dr. Ido, a loveable scientist with a dark side, stumbles upon the remains of a cyborg while digging through garbage for parts. She remembers nothing of her past, so he takes her under his wing, naming her Alita.
There's not many bad things to be said about this book. It draws you into to its futuristic yet strangely realistic world with its dark, grungy atmosphere and keeps you convinced in its realism with characters that are so well developed you'll be questioning who are the real heroes and villains. It does rely a lot on the battle scenes(pointed out by the title and by the fact that the chapters are called battles) which leads me to think that anime might be the better medium for this story, and it also is extremely gory, featuring decapitation, blood, and sadistic villains. These drawbacks aside, Battle Angel Alita is one of the best manga I've read and I would strongly recommend going out and buying it.

After reading the first book in the Battle Angel Alita series all I can say is WOW! From the moment it starts you are drawn into the futuristic trash heap of a city known as the Scrap Yard. It is located under the floating city of Tiphares, and is an opposite of the gleaming, floating structure, full of brothels and endorphine junkies (you'll find out about that later on in the series), where there is no police force and crime is enforced by bounties placed on criminals. The book opens as Dr. Ido, a loveable scientist with a dark side, stumbles upon the remains of a cyborg while digging through trash for parts. She remembers nothing of her past, so he takes her under his wing, naming her Alita.
There's not many bad things to be said about this book. It draws you into to its futuristic yet strangely realistic world with its dark, grungy atmosphere and keeps you convinced in its realism with characters that are so well developed you'll be questioning who are the real heroes and villains. It does rely a lot on the battle scenes(pointed out by the title and by the fact that the chapters are called battles) which leads me to think that anime might be the better medium for this story, and it also is extremely gory, featuring decapitation, blood, and sadistic villains. These drawbacks aside, Battle Angel Alita is one of the best manga i've read and I would strongly recommend going out and buying it.

Well, first of all, I read Battle Angel Alita: Angel of Victory, #4 first out of all the books. It was at our library, and I knew nothing about Battle Angel Alita. I became engrossed, and found myself buying Battle Angel Alita #1 at our bookstore. I am now planning on getting the whole series. After hearing many reviews about this and hearing it was great, I was excited. I read it, but didn't actually see what they'd meant. I love it, but I have to admit was a bit disappointed. Alita is rebuilt by Dr. Ido, and runs off killing things and signing up as a hunter-warrior. I've read a couple pages from Tears of an Angel, which appears to be a possible winner. But, still, I recommend this, and the story does get better! It took me a bit to find a complete listing of all the novels, but here it is...
Battle Angel Alita #1
Tears of an Angel #2
Killing Angel #3
Angel of Victory #4
Angel of Redemption #5
Angel of Death #6
Angel of Chaos #7
Fallen Angel #8
Angel's Ascension #9
I hope to all who buy this you enjoy it, and I hope you get the whole series and enjoy this deep, complex story! Highly recommended!

I really liked this manga! The art is very well drawn. The storyline is very intriguing... Yukito Kishiro is a very intelligent guy! If you just look at the cover, you'll see how hard it must be to draw all those parts. The book has a lotof that... lots of metal trash... its amazing. The characters are well developed... and the villains... nothing spectacular about them, but not bad. The story is fine. However, there is a little question of overdoing the violence. Multiple heads go rolling/get skewered/are eaten (one of the characters is an addict to a chemical made in the brain)/get crushed/ have half gone..... et cetera. And they show a boy's body rotting in the sewer(he lives, at least). But the old man and the dog... I think they do live... they are shown at the bar later. Still, it is kind of disturbing and I would rate it 16+ at minimum...IF you have a strong stomach. But even if you dont, youll like Alita and it's interesting... i recommend getting!!

For those of you looking for a manga story that provides realised characters interacting in an interesting and fully developed environment, I suggest that you look elsewhere. Some will argue that the title character's search for her identity is enough to elevate this work into that category. I have to disagree as that aspect of the story seems both predictable and superficial.

That does not, however, make this a bad piece of work. This is, in fact, probably the best example out there of the action manga style of art. I love the superdetailed technology and the flowing fight scenes that go on for pages. That alone, in my opinion, is worth the cover price.

I couldn't find anything spectacular about this series. The story is very hackneyed (amnesia, special fighting abilities, loses first fight but comes back stronger, on a quest to discover self), and the artwork is... well, it's Manga. Comparing one manga book to another is not unlike trying to find differences between Everclear's songs. Sure, the panels flowed smoothly and the art is clean... but again, nothing special.
If you're into manga, you might enjoy this. However, if you're getting sick of the genre, this will only make you sicker.