So, what’s up with the post title? Well, I’m just a new writer “snatched” by Impz to work at THAT Animeblog. In spite of being a fan of anime series, my main area of expertise is Mangas. Ranging from oldies like Maison Ikkoku to recent series as Hatsukoi Limited, I like to read almost every kind of manga.
Having a bit of doubts of what to write as a first post, Impz suggested me to kill two rabbits with a stone: instead of having the plain “Hi I’m Extrange, i like manga, etc” post, why not also make an entry for Zenime contest?
The contest is about your favourite anime character and the reasons why you love him/her. But I’m going to do a bit of “cheating” here: my favourite character only has one OVA and it’s more known by her manga series; but it’s still an Anime character…
So, who’s my favourite? It’s Alita, the main character from Battle Angel Alita and Battle Angel Alita: Last Order.
I don’t care if she is fairly unknown from the mainstream audience, that she isn’t your typical Moe girl and that she doesn’t have real breasts or flesh. She is stubborn, tomboyish, unsecure, violent, mentally unstable; all the things you wouldn’t consider at first sight traits for your favourite character. I bet most of the guys will vote more in the Shana, Haruhi or Nanoha, which have their own hoard of fans supporting them. I don’t care. I choose Alita because she has tangible feelings and because, in spite of all the pain, she evolves and moves on.
First, we need to consider the enviromment in which she is inserted. Earth has become an anarchirc place, coming out from the worst nightmare of H.R.Giger and Mad Max, where the rule of the day is Survival. It has become common to become part human, part machine to stay alive or to simply kill better. The town where the starting events begins, Scrapyard, is made from the debris that falls from the giant orbital station floating above their heads, Tiphares. A good deal of Scrapyard’s efforts are to feed Tiphares with supplies to accommodate his elite polutation. And Alita, where she is? She is found amnesiac and half destroyed, hybernating for 300 year in Tiphares’ junk waste by a cyber physician called Ido Daisuke. Basically, she starts with a clean slate in this terrible world. An innocent soul in a corrupted land.
Even with Ido’s efforts to keep her safe, somehow, her fighting spirit is awakened and is found out she is a Panzer Kunst expert, a legendary cyborg, martial art. From here, her quest for her misterious past and memories begins. During the series, the events that she lives mold her with every word and gesture; she is shown not either as good or bad, always walking a thin line between both. She is confronted with many diferent realities and dreams apart from their own. She is inflicted with alot of pain and suffering. But even after all of these obstacles, she persists to walk their own path, trying not to stray from her ideals.
In Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, she is even challenged more deeply, reaching out to have to confront her own psyche and the memorieswhich are beggining to get unlocked from the depths of her mind. She also gets torn between her own selfish ideals and the paths of other characters. And again, in spite of all this, she continues her path.
I admire Alita. Although the only human part is her brain, she proves to be more human than most anime characters around. I hope you guys take a look into the dystopian world of Battle Angel Alita and support her in Zenime Contest.
Note: I used the English translation names in here because they are more known, specially with American readers, but I prefer the original names.For example, Alita’s original name is Gally and the manga is known as Gunnm and Gunnm: Last Order (Gunnm means litteraly “gun dream” in Japanese). Gally sounds much better than Alita, doesn’t it?
10 Comments
woohoo. i finally get to see it after much failed attempts over at zeNIME with the picture failure =P
Great job on introducing Alita.
Is there anywhere I could read/buy the manga from?
Hey… I saw a short anime series for Battle Angel a few years ago… it was awesome… it was like six episodes if I remember correctly but it was still great… you know if there are anymore to it? I read mangas on occasion but really prefer watching the animes… glad to see a new poster here…maybe you can get me into some interesting mangas…
good post
@V: You should try your local manga store, both Viz and Glènat published the two series; although I prefer Glenàt’s french translation since they use the Japanese names ( and they are cheaper here, a 60% difference in price from Viz edition.)
@gmanr26: Battle Angel Alita only had a 2 episode Ova in 1993. It was average but I didn’t really liked due to the whole changes they made to the plot. But the soundtrack wasn’t bad, Cyborg Mermaid ED was a nice tune.
About mangas: just ask me what genre you like and I can suggest something.
well… the only anime i read actively is Naruto…
I read Strain and liked that and 3X3 Eyes, and I read some of 666Satan
a better indication of the kind of stories I like are from anime…
recently I watched : Darker than BLACK, History of the Strongest Disciple : Kenichi, Claymore, Death Note
and i watch Bleach, Naruto and One Piece
and just started watching Blue Drop, Jyushen Enbu – Hero Tales, and Bamboo Blade
my fav animes are : Rurouni Kenshin : Samurai X, Furi Kuri, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Hellsing Ultimate, Full Metal Panic : Fumoffu, and some others i cant think of now
to be honest, when extrange first showed me the entry, I felt that the first image of her is rather haunting. I mean, it is a disemboweled robot, just like how a certain robot in a visual novel touched me to tears previously. It is quite a shame that I never bothered that much with manga, since it takes too much of an active involvement to actually read it.
The issue is also that I prefer to buy the original manga from the store, since manga is decently priced, and makes it better to buy the authentic copy.
i like gally better…
but its a great series(especially the firt version)
Oh hey, a new blogger!
Great post, Extrange. I love the pictures, they are so unconventional. I did pick up Alita the anime once, a long long time ago, but never really watched it because of the crappy resolution. I’ll have to look for the anime again.
Unfortunately I’m more of an anime person rather than a manga reader, so I guess I can only get the feel from the anime.
Great post!
yeah…
Alita is by FAR my favorite manga chick. her ongoing developement is fascinating. i particularly enjoy how they intertwine her emotional/spiritual growth with her growth as a warrior.
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[...] This is a joint post of Zenime and THAT Animeblog made for the Character Introduction Contest. You can see the THAT Animeblog version here. [...]
[...] This is a joint post of Zenime and THAT Animeblog made for the Character Introduction Contest. You can see the THAT Animeblog version here. [...]