Yukito Kishiro

I have a feeling that with this volume (originally two books - Zappan's revenge and Rain Maker) Alita becomes a more serious book. We see Scrapyard as a true fiefdom of Zalem, people working in factories and crime rampant in the streets.

After leaving the deadly sport arena Alita is living more or less normal life as bounty hunter and singer/dj in the bar New Kansas, until, by sheer accident, enemy from the past (Zappan) comes back. What happens is that Alita faces a perfect storm that show more culminates in confrontation with Zappan (who got few updates again by sheer accident), confrontation with citizens of Scrapyard who just want her to leave so they can go back to normal life (since every lowlife with the grudge destroys everything in order to get to Alita) and very very hard loss that will leave our heroine in total shambles (and I mean, this part was bruutal in a way of "Seven").

Finally, crazy doctor (Mengele and he would make good buddies) Destiny Nova comes on stage .... to stay until the very end of story.

Second part of the book finds Alita working as Zalem undercover agent in the wastelands. Here she will find her love but also encounter mysterious organization called Barjack Army that threatens the Zalem by wreaking havoc on factory outposts outside the Zalem.

Without going any further into details (because it is truly worth the read, story is amazing) Alita will find herself in the epicenter of several events. Here enemies she will know but also she will need to figure out who are her friends.

Art as always is just beautiful. Entire wasteland outside the Scrapyard is so reminiscent of Mad Max and (at least for me) of W40k/Unification Wars - filled with crazy megalomaniac warlords and armies that have found old weapons and technology and try to carve their path in this post-apocalyptic world.

With that being said I truly hope new movies get made, but considering that story becomes very mature I am not sure it will be happening soon (although I will always keep hoping, first movie was a gem imho).

Highly recommended to all fans of cyberpunk and good ol' fashion SF action. show less

This escalated quickly.

As story progresses, it is more than obvious that it is much darker than the original arc. In order to find the way to resurrect her friend Lou, Alita and her friends decide to participate in the so called ZOTT, battle royale organized in Kethares under supervision of Aga Mbadi and Ladder. While tournament allows for disenfranchised, and in general Ladded opposition to participate (during which time they enjoy full amnesty) it is obvious that there is more to this show more tournament than meets the eye (views of masses enjoying the carnage through direct TV broadcasts or in the arena is ...... unsettling .... original arc's rollerball like fights seem minuscule and safe in comparison).
During all of this time Alita tries to remember who she really is - contact with armies of children fighting to the death on huge colonial ship, now more acting as a space station due to danger of its engines, wakes something her that she has this urge to rescue these children and topple the order that enables such gruesome things. It is obvious she can do a lot, and has certain instincts that prove beneficial to her survival but she still gets mentally blocked in crucial moments. There is lots of philosophy here,very common in martial arts/lone warrior fiction and movies - our hero needs to find who she truly is and this can only happen at the end of the bloody path she finds herself on.

ZOTT participation is a diversion for all means and purposes, because it enables Alita and her entourage to get back to Kethares, unhindered by Ladder, in order to find out where are the brains (including her friend's Lou) stored. But this whole endeavor will start triggering memories that might prove Alita is maybe not who she thinks she is.

Of the characters in this book, Caerula Sanguis is very intriguing one. I expect her to play greater part as the story progresses.

I love this entire Jason Bourne vibe, and man does it end on a cliffhanger. I need to get my hand on volume 3 ASAP.

As was the case two non-Alita comics are included in the end, very ..... dark? this has become theme here I guess :) ...... story of a diver on newly found ocean world and very funny, but strikingly too-real Headman of Tokyo story, that while written in much lighter way than the diver's story is not light read at all if one takes into account the society of the story and corporation actions. Both are recommended.

Highly recommended, cannot wait for volume 3. show less

This is new story arc for Alita, and in my opinion this one is much much darker than the original story one.

Alita gets resurrected by the crazy scientist Nova on the floating city of Tiphares. She is awaken so she can help Nova with something but events go epically wrong and soon Alita finds herself wandering this giant city and trying to figure out what is going on. She is searching for her friend Lou (whom I have to admit I dont recall at all) and it seems that Nova is the only one who can show more help her find Lou. Unfortunately, path leads to heavens, through mysterious world of Ketheres that hangs above Tiphares, as a form of sword of Damocles, and seems to be the place where Alita might learn more about herself, maybe more than she wants.

And so story begins.

I have seen some reviews critical of the setting, but I am not sure why. It seems that Tiphares is just tip of iceberg - what we get introduced here is power arrangement in the whole Solar system. We get introduced to parts of humanity that have evolved beyond recognition on Jupiter and Venus and everywhere in between, we see glimpses of war on Mars that Alita barely survived as a child, and this is not beautiful picture. This is world of immortal population who sees kids as existential threat and tries to exterminate them wherever found under nuts pretenses of limited resources. This is cruel world of people who have forgotten what being human really is, and (considering how elites think and work) I shudder at the thought that some idiot might read this and take anything from here as good idea, instead of just enjoying the story.

With sudden appearance of Aga Mbadi, enforcer of what is called Ladder (sort of a UN in Solar system) it becomes obvious how something happened in the past, monumental f***k up that created Alita's world in the way that it exists today.

At the end of the omnibus we get two comics by the same author that are not related to Alita at all. They show some very interesting ideas that author also found their way into Alita story line.

Very interesting story arc, definitely worth attention of all SF and cyberpunk afficionados.

Recommended. show less

This is one of the most beautifully drawn graphic novels I ever had pleasure to read. Presented in large format, with clean black-and-white [and occasional color] pages it is truly a gem.

Named Alita by a cyborg engineer that found her in the scrapyard under floating city of Zalem our protagonist tries to recall her past and soon finds out that she is a very experienced fighter with quick and deadly reflexes that help her find her way into bounty hunter guild. Although she looks very young, show more her chassis (for a lack of better word) is couple a hundred years old. She is remnant of long lost past and technology that was once available to humanity.

Volume #1 follows Alita as she fights maniacal cyborg murderers (Makaku is very, very disturbing) and falls in love with a very shady character Yugo. It ends with a cliffhanger that gives more insight into true nature of Zalem and in general social divide between those above (in the floating city) and those below (on ground).

Cannot wait for the volume #2.

Highly recommended to all fans of manga, cyberpunk and action SF in general. show less