Yukito Kishiro

Second volume of Alita continues the story where the first volume ended.

After the tragedy that strikes at the beginning of the volume Alita is on the brink of despair and walks away from Ido and [what has become her] home to participate in motor-ball, gladiatorial sport (not unlike Rollerball if anyone remembers that SF movie acting James Caan - if you did not do yourself a favor and watch it) in which person can very easily die permanently (considering all the participants are cyborgs and death is not so terminal in this world).

As story progresses we get introduced with the entire gallery of motor-ballers - some helping Alita some bent on killing her for mere joy of killing her and some puzzled by her stand and motivations.

During the constant battle in the rings [and especially following the grand finale against Jashugan], Alita starts to have her memories awaken and slowly she starts to remember who she is (at this point in story-line she is far from the full recall but first steps are made).

Art is excellent, especially beautiful are two-page illustrations that can easily be made into posters.

Highly recommended to all fans of SF, cyberpunk and of course Alita story and universe.
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This is an interesting collection of short stories set int he Alita universe. In it we follow Ido and his path to becoming cyborg-doctor in Scrapyard, we follow Alita as she chases down mysterious assassin (and barely manages to defeat him), Alita on a mission to neutralize one of the droid's used for controlling the Zalem factories, and finally Koyomi's attempt to raise back the Barjack revolution that does not quite work out thanks tot he old hand who knows what war actually is.

While Alita's stories are straight forward action stories in manner of lone martial artist challenging the forces of evil (place any Kung-Fu movie from the 70's here :)) Koyomi's and Ido's stories are more personal. In both stories our main protagonist's try to find their true purpose, meaning of life and this brings them on a path where they learn more about world around them but also they manage to defeat their inner daemons - Koyomi's destructive nature (out of sheer rebellious approach to everything that is so natural to everyone young) and Ido's general dislike of cyborg (being from Zalem where there are no cyborgs as is case in Scrapyard) that prevents him from becoming a cyborg doctor/maintenance [as an upgrade applied to his previous expert knowledge of biology and being a gifted physician]. These are stories of fear, but also coping with tragedy and finally accepting life as it is.

Art as always is beautiful, I know I repeat myself but again I can only say pure joy for the eyes.

Highly recommended to all fans of Alita universe and SF action.… (more)

Alita is on a hunt for Barjack leader, Den. During this hunt, she will come across strange personas in the desert (Kaos) and come across from persons from her past (Yokomi and of course monster Dr. Nova). What becomes as a straight forward search will soon evolve into something much greater - secret that shattered one so close to Alita that memory wipe was the only way forward.

Story is more complex at this point, as it progresses less and less things remain black and white, gray area expands and not all people involved in fight against Zalem are bad, misdirected maybe but in general fully understanding what is going on. On the other hand what seems to be forces on the side of the angels, they might be working more with daemons.

And as part of this we follow Alita herself - as she engages in the fights it is clear that she has a very wild, almost berserker side that relishes combat. As time goes by, Alita also evolves as a character with a more human side than before and she learns to use force with control, not just unleashing it on everyone in sight.

Finally, secret of Alita herself, of her origins slowly starts to unravel.

Art as always is excellent. There are several pages, especially fights between Alita and AR's that are truly epic.

Highly recommended to all fans SF dystopia and always epic SF action.… (more)

Conclusion of the original Battle Angel Alita story line.

As is always the case, heroes in epic stories like this cannot make it out unscathed. Book has two endings - first one is pretty much in line with what one might call realistic ending. After all after surviving the madness at the hands of Dr. Nova, Alita (very like Nicholas Cage in 8mm) tries to find place of love and peace. But as it is usually the case in world driven by madness it is very difficult to escape. So this one was quite a surprise for me, quite dark ending that is the only to be expected considering that Alita cannot discern friends from enemies any more, since everyone seems to have secret agenda or two.

We are given details of the very disturbing torture of Alita herself, not unlike Neo's isolation on ghost sub station. She is aware that she is forced to live in the "dream" somehow constructed by Dr. Nova. And this is where we can see how Alita has become true human - because even aware that what she sees around is not real she takes refuge in this fantasy because it is so good to see back the people she loves. For people who think this real-or-not aspect is silly, trust me there is nothing more cruel than skewering ones view of reality.

Second ending is more of a link-up to spin off volumes. Only way to save the Scrapyard is to sacrifice oneself so that Zalem does not fall on it and destroys it. Alita accepts this and in unselfish sacrifice for all means and purposes becomes the rock on which new world blossoms. ending is touchy but would resonate with anyone who read old legends and myths. Through sacrifice comes transformation and new world follows immediately after. Through exposure of Zalem's great secret (purge of GIB was truly a twist) both Scrapyard and Zalem finally link to the outer space and there is future for for both sky-dwellers and ground dwellers.

What resonates with current times is reaction of Zalem's youths when they are told they can continue as independent personas, true human beings. Enslaved by years of tyrannical world of utility-means-life they are terrified of the prospect of making decisions on their own. Dystopia at its best. And also what we find about about Alita shows us that she was a zealot at one time, uncompromising and blood-thirsty. And man, how changed she became since Ido found her in the waste pile.

Art as always is excellent, everything I said before remains the same. Pure joy for the eyes.

I cannot wait to start on follow up volumes :)

Highly recommended to fans of SF dystopia and pure SF/cyberpunk action.

P.S.

This volume also contains SF noir story Ashen Victor. Centered around motorball player Snev story is placed in the Alita universe but it is standalone story without usual Alita cast. Snev is motorball player that continuously ends up destroyed on the tracks. His career is in the air when suddenly his friend, prostitute named Beretta ends up murdered in a most gruesome way. Soon, story takes a twist that includes motorball league, club management and various crime elements.

Art approach here is different from the usual Alita art - it is more akin to the Sin City, large black and white panels with constant dance of the shadows. In my opinion here we have much more realistic figures (Sin City was full of abstract forms like in Mignola's work) and this makes it much more enjoyable for me. In any case as a standalone story I guess it would be for people that need to have every issue for completeness sake. For other I would recommend it but keep in mind this is standalone story that is in no way related to main (or any follow up) Alita volume.… (more)