Manga: Battle Angel Alita

[Swallow Your Soul]

Ok so I've read briefly about this manga/anime in a dead old magazine and it sounds extremely cool so I looked about on the net for the manga (not downloads as I'm not into downloading manga off the internet - its a pain in the arse to read) from stores like Amazon. I also went to the Forbidden Planet in Manchester (my only relatively local comic store) and both Amazon and FP only sold 'Book 1', and seeing as the magazine I'm reading reviews books 1 and 2, and was published in 1994, I was wondering where exactly this second book is...

(as you might be able to tell I don't buy much manga so I'm probably crap at finding this stuff)

Also I downloaded the anime which I haven't watched yet but I checked the length and it is 45 minutes...is that right? My mag says the anime is in two 30 minute parts...

Can anyone help?

[shida]

Battle Angel Alita is the beginning of the story. There are about 9 graphic novels under this name.
Gunnm is the original name of it. Now there is a continuation of the novels called Last Order. Last Order picks up in the middle of the last book.(A fairly obvious place--2 pages of black with one lil picture) Last Order is a "complete sequel" as Kishiro put it.
As far as the anime, it was just 2 episodes ..45 min sounds right.. it isn't great.

For chronological order: start with battle angel alita, then last order but remember that last order cuts into the last book of battle angel alita.

as for the rest of the last book of battle angel..I guess just treat it as a alternate ending..

for the books: goto viz.com's store, they publish it so you can order it all from there.

hope this helps

[Swallow Your Soul]

Cheers for that, I saw the other books but I was a bit confused since they weren't numbered, I'll check out that site.

[Hakeem_21]

I just finsihed the first series who were great but the last order is confusing if you have read the first series.

Can someone explain what happened.

And lets just talk about this great futuristic manga.

[Munsu]

I just read the first two volumes, and I really liked it... I'll keep on reading.

By the way, all 7 volumes of Last Order are now up in mangatraders if you've had trouble finding it before.

I can't wait to see the movie James Cameron is doing, I bet it'll be sick.

[Ryllharu]

I just finsihed the first series who were great but the last order is confusing if you have read the first series.

Can someone explain what happened.

And lets just talk about this great futuristic manga.

I'd explain in this thread, but there's no good way to hide a spoiler still. I'll try my best to hide this. It's very confusing, so if anyone thinks I'm wrong somewhere, feel free to correct me where you feel it is needed.

serious spoiler[As said above, Last Order cuts into the last volume, changing the ending. In effect, Volume 9 is completely re-written. It basically ends when Nova reveals to the Tiphares that their brains are all chips. Somehow in all this Alita loses her body completely. The remainder of the volume never happens. Tiphares divides into factions, and Nova seems to come to his senses of sorts. He resurrects Alita into a new more powerful than ever body, and the story continues from there.]
Adding to the confusion, the scans availible and the initial books by Viz use the names from when BAA is translated as Gunnm, so Gally is Alita, Tiphares is Salem, and the rest are easy to figure out when they're associated with pictures.

Last order gives a more complete picture of Alita's past,the 'world' as a whole, and personally I find it to be much more satisfying than the ending of the original volumes.

[Munsu]

Thanks for hiding the spoilers, can you just answer me a quick question without discussing Last Order further at this moment.

Is Last Order a prequel to the original manga?

[Ryllharu]

No, Last Order takes place after BAA.

9 volumes of BBA, (read them all anyway, even if LO is a diverted plotline) and then read the volumes of Last Order

[Munsu]

Great thanks, that's what I was planning to do...

Also, do you know if Last Order is only 7 volumes? Or is it still ongoing in Japan?

Someone questioned me in mangatraders, and I wasn't really sure of how to answer him... Though my understanding is that it ends in volume 7.

[Ryllharu]

I've been reading Last Order and I've been buying the volumes as they come out here in the States. I can assure you that the series does not end at volume 7 of LO. I do not know how many volumes remain, but it is still ongoing.

There is a lot more story to finish.

[BravoSector]

I've been reading Last Order and I've been buying the volumes as they come out here in the States. I can assure you that the series does not end at volume 7 of LO. I do not know how many volumes remain, but it is still ongoing.

There is a lot more story to finish.

oh good. I don't want this one to end. Only 7 vols would definately not have been enough.

[Lefty]

I see this series going on for at least five to eight more volumes. Unlike the original this sereis is a along dranw out multilayered drama with so much inter conceting history and stories it will take a long time to get it all sorted and out in the open.

[fahoumh]

Sorry for bringing up the old thread, but I thought it a waste to start a new one. Anyway, I have Vol 1-8 and it has really been good thus far. I'm dying to read the next volume, but I've heard that Kishiro is only doing 9 volumes, like with the original series. I'm curious to see if that's true and if it is, how he's going to wrap up the series with only 1 more.

[Ryllharu]

You are talking about the original Battle Angel series, and not Last Order?

Battle Angel Alita ends with volume 9, and it wraps up the series pretty quickly, and if it didn't end in the manner it did, it would seem like it was unfinished (which I felt it was).

If you want what I obviously consider the real ending, you'll have to start reading Battle Angel Alita: Last Order. The plotline that diverges partway through volume 9 of the original series, and continues onward, revealing more of Alita's past, and the role she may play in the future. Nine more volumes so far, and it's ongoing.

[fahoumh]

Ahaha, I should have been more specific. I did mean Last Order...I've had the original series for 5 or 6 years now. And Volume 9 isn't available...is it?

EDIT: I guess Vol 9 was available as I found a scanlation. The series can't end here!

[fahoumh]

The first 2 Phases of Volume 10 (Phases 56 and 57) are available for anyone who hasn't read them: Link

[Ryllharu]

Is anyone still following Battle Angel Alita: Last Order?

Chapter 89 is recently released, find it on mangatraders.

The somewhat boring semi-final match between the gentic modification Venusians and the Electromagnetic Karate is finally over. This one really dragged on, and felt like the author really didn't know what he wanted to do with the series. It was hard to care about Homme de Feau (the beastman) and Olympe's subplot at all. Thankfully, Zekka ended it in a very nice and abrupt manner after the climax. After going so long without seeing the main characters, I'm just glad it is finally done.

Alita is finally back, no longer an octopus-face, and we are reminded that now she is a cat-girl (?). Moreover, what really brings me to necro this thread back to life is that a large chunk of Alita's past may once again be revealed!

It looks like we will finally see the fate of the other little girl that Alita/Yoko was rescued along with by the masters of Panzer Kunst. I forget her name, but we saw her training along side Yoko when they were still very young, and she was supposedly more adept at the training than Yoko was. If she continued on Mars all this time while Alita/Yoko burned into the atmosphere and rotted away in the Scrapyard, she could be an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.

Perhaps even Alita's newfound godly powers stolen from the Jupiter team will be challenged.

[fahoumh]

I'm still reading but I'm only up to Ch 87 since that's the latest one I've seen translated. It's good to hear the match is finally over...the whole space karate thing was pretty cool but I did find that kept dragging on.

The other girl's name is Erica.

I'm wondering how long Yukito is planning on making the series. Any idea how many volumes he's planning on releasing? Volume 12 is slated for release this October.

[fahoumh]

I'm not sure if anyone's still reading this, but they have up to Phase 95 here and Phase 96 is available.