Battle Angel Alita - Last Order, Vol. 16

銃夢Last Order [GUNNM Last Order] #16

by Yukito Kishiro

When Doc Ido, a talented cyber-physician, finds Alita's head in a junk heap, she has lost all memory of her past life. But when he reconstructs her, she discovers her body still instinctively remembers the Panzer Kunst, the most powerful cyborg fighting technique ever known. In the postapocalyptic world of the Scrapyard, as the secrets of Alita's past unfold, each day is a struggle for survival.

Genres: Manga, Science Fiction, Comics, Cyberpunk, Seinen, Comics Manga, Bande Dessinée

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Yukito Kishiro (Japanese: 木城ゆきと) is a Japanese manga artist born in Tokyo in 1967 and raised in Chiba. As a teenager he was influenced by the mecha anime Armored Trooper Votoms and Mobile Suit Gundam, in particular the designs of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, as well as the works of manga artist Rumiko Takahashi. He began his career at age 17, with his debut manga, Space Oddity, in the Weekly Shonen Sunday. He is best known for the cyberpunk series Battle Angel Alita.

Reviews

[Tarot · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars for this volume and the series ~

Last Order pales in comparison to the original Battle Angel Alita (Gun Dream / Gunnm) series, which was so deep in its art, darkness, emotion, and hope in half as many volumes. This unnecessarily long series has very little coherent story even though it tries to invent an interplanetary community, and focuses way too much on endless fighting with bizarre creatures and none of the depth and character development that made the fights mean something in Gunnm. Reading both series is like watching an adult who fought so hard to discover him/herself reverting back into a violent, hormone-driven teenager. Don't bother, stick to Gunnm.

[osoi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Из хорошего:

В какой-то момент героев накрывает искажение реальности, от которого становится не по себе. После кристально ясного, исключительно линейного повествования – любой шаг в сторону или назад кажется настоящим событием. Несколько страниц я восхищалась этим обманом восприятия. Жаль, что серия очень редко радует подобными фишками.

Крылья = ностальгия по тем временам, когда у боевого ангела были более важные дела, чем драться в турнирах и перевоплощаться в сверх-сущности.

Из раздела «понакидаем больше трешатины»:

Предыстория одного участника оппозиции, а именно извращенца-насильника. Я не преувеличиваю, он сам себя так величает. Упустила из виду его раннее появление, а теперь же ему по непонятной причине уделяется так много пространства, что пройти мимо просто не получается. Поясняющий флэшбек показался неудачной попыткой оправдать его поведение и наклонности (мол, он не сам виноват, это все шальная пуля), что делает этого персонажа еще мерзотнее. В качестве «бонуса» - сцены насилия над стенами. Теперь я видел почти все.

hisashiburi

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm glad this series finally got back underway, what with the publisher change and the earthquake in Japan. Looking forward to the conclusion of it since I've been following this series for probably 15 years or so!

This is by far the best manga out there in my opinion. There's little wonder why James Cameron wants to make a movie about it, although I think this manga will still be the ultimate form of Battle Angel. Yukito Kishiro is a genius in both art and storytelling, direction and plot, dialogue and dry humor.

If you liked Dragonball Z when you were younger, have interest in martial arts, cyberpunk and the like, you should LOVE this series. Yes, it has dragged on seemingly endlessly, but what manga doesn't? And, *hopefully*, we are getting close to the end now!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure it's getting into a drawn out battle book, but there's enough outre sci-fi going on to have some moments where you feel you're reading about real science concepts from the future. Honestly, isn't that the skeleton of Alita: Last Order?

[ダンカン · Rating 4 out of 5]

The battle continues! Alita has evolve into... an angel?!? The origin of Rakan and Sechs defeated Zekka... or has he? All these in one single volume 16. All fights, nothing much to add on. Still a continuation that opens up many possibilities!

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Returning to this series after so long has left me with decidedly mixed feelings. Going into volume 16, I wondered if I'd remember where I left off, or what certain characters were doing, etc. Then I started reading it, and apart from some of the stuff with the Jovians, I had no trouble remembering where things stood. This is a problem, because it means nothing important is happening: it's just more of the ZOTT.

I mean, the fights are still well-drawn and everything, but I miss the days when the plot was the focus, and the fights just facilitated it. It doesn't help that, by the end of the volume, we're essentially right back where we started. Blows are traded, damage is dealt, and people pull new abilities out of their butts, sure--but nobody gets defeated, and no progress is made in moving along the story. At least, not to any appreciable extent. And that can be fun sometimes, if that's what the series is built around, a la Dragonball Z, but Last Order (and Battle Angel Alita in general) started out much more focused on philosophical/existential quandries. But that former focus has turned into the briefest of lip service in this volume.

By this point, I think the ZOTT has gone on for longer than the entire original Battle Angel Alita series, and it's contributed far less to Alita's story. Dynamic as the fights are, this tournament arc has definitely outlived its welcome.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason, the last four volumes of the series were not released in a sixth omnibus volume, but have to be read individually. So Volume 16 collects the issues following Omnibus Edition Volume 5.

And hey, guess what? The Z.O.T.T. tournament is still going on!

We're still reading one-on-one battles between Zazie and Rakan, Sechs and Zekka, and Alita and Toji, respectively.

The battle between Zazie and Rakan is finally resolved (good riddance, space rapist). Sechs and Zekka are still trying to out-machismo each other. And Alita's initial easy trouncing of Toji suddenly suffers a reversal as Toji's survival instincts kick in and he metamorphizes into something else which can suddenly kick Alita's ass. Resulting in Alita being "destroyed" except then of course she is "reborn" (again), this time as a winged catgirl...

So, again, this is just more superhero battles in space. But since at least one of them has ended, maybe we will finally see the end of the Z.O.T.T. next volume?

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final Zott battle continues, as we see each of the 3 matchups progress further.

This volume is literally just that. A continuation of the fight that began in the last chapter - but they dont reach their conclusion. Dont get me wrong, I like the fights alot, and Alita kicking ass is always a fun thing to read, but this Zott thing is getting stretched to its absolute limit. I think we have had the majority of the volumes since "Last Order" started, concentrating on Zott. And again, it's fun, but we want to carry on with the story and more importantly, with more details on Alita's past.

Which is the biggest drawback of this series. Yukito Kishiro has opted to focus away from the mystery of who Alita was and is, and instead just gives us fighting. I think the book works best when it is a mix of the two. When Alita has to struggle internally, while at the same time battle externally.

One thing I will say though is that the art is great, and the fights are really good and exciting. Here's hoping Kishiro can wrap things up in the next volume.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm finding the Z.O.T.T. tiresome. The best moments in this volume are Alita regenerating with wings in an echo of the Rusty Angel cover, and the origin of Rakan, which, though a break from the Z.O.T.T., is back to more of the phallic humor I complained about earlier. After Rakan goes insane, he is poking through everything he can with his member (which is scrambled it standard manga style).

This volume has no subtitle ("Angel Cake" in volume 10 seemed pretty desperate, though), and the sound effects are in the original Japanese with tiny translations. That may have to do with the new publisher, Kodansha rather than Viz. Since a note by Kishiro notes a change of publisher to Kodansha, Viz may never have published an edition, or perhaps Viz simply lost the rights when Kodansha began an English language arm.

[Fraser Simons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having a fighter who’s a self proclaimed rapist coupled with him being a violent criminal because he was shot in the head is a bad look. Why would the Karate Team accept him, just because he fought well? He’s a RAPIST. Constant doing perverted things.

It would have been alright volume if not for that crap.

[Yuiko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this series more then the original

[David Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Manga

The Alita story improves and matures In this series. The artwork reminds me of some of Mobius from heavy metal magazine in the 70s.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The battle continues with some time distortion thrown in.

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good Sci fi manga series, really good awesome art and action scenes but the overall story wasn’t that great 😁✌️❤️❤️

[Lars Olav Tungesvik · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5

[John Funderburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This series... still bananas 😂

[Vitaliy Hristyuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heat of Battle! Man's power! Incredible karate!

[Marko Stefanovic]

Want to read

[Keegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my book the main character her name is Alita and she is a battle angle, and in the story, it explained how in her past she was a fierce warrior and she fought with the best warriors until there was a future robot that wanted to kill her but then she stopped him and that robots name was toji. in this book, I like it because it's like a futuristic war story, My recommendations would be for middle school kids. it would be great to give them that war story.

[Jesse VanDeWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's taken me 15 volumes to come around on this series. I still enjoy the original more, but Last Order has its own thing going. One cannot deny the sheer magnitude of the fights, nor the zaniness of the various techniques being employed.
This wouldn't be a great jumping on point for new readers, but this series might be a fun lark to start from the beginning.

[Bouilloire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le combat qui n'en finissait pas