Battle Angel Alita: Last Order Omnibus 4

Alita: Last Order Omnibus #4

by Yukito Kishiro

MADNESS IN MULTIPLES

In the depths of Melchizedek,  Alita inches closer to recovering her dear friend’s brain but not before she is greeted by Mbadi and a rather duplicitous Desty Nova doppleganger. Meanwhile, Sechs and the other members of the Space Angels make their way through ZOTT, where Sechs comes to face a universally renowned Space Karate master in a show of technique, toughness and…thumbs?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Comics Manga, Graphic Novels, Seinen

640 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 2014

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

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fourth omnibus, comprising volumes 10-12 of the 20-volumes in The Last Order, clocks in at over 600 pages. Yukito Kishiro was clearly milking the series while trying to figure out what to do and I get the impression that he's very much a seat-of-the-pants writer. Hence, in the last omnibus we got hundreds of pages with no Alita, just a post-apocalyptic story about vampires.

In volumes 10-12, fortunately, Alita is back. (And the vampires have basically disappeared from the story.) It's been a couple thousand pages now, but you might remember that Alita originally went into space to find the brain of her friend Lou, who used to be her "operator" when she worked for Tiphares. Well, Alita's quest to save Lou gets mentioned maybe once or twice, but first, we have more pages and pages of freaky transhumanist mortal kombat teams fighting in the ZOTT. You know, that outer space tournament that's been going on for the last half dozen volumes.

With Alita back in the fight, it gets more interesting again. Alita has been resurrected (again) in a brand new even more super-powerful cyborg body (again) and for some reason, she is now a catgirl with a cybernetic tail. Wtf, Kishiro?

Aga Mbadi, aka Trinidad, who's the Big Bad of this series (so far) finally gets taken down a peg, and we learn his origin (it's still a little incoherent). Dr. Nova now has multiple clones, and they aren't all on the same side. Alita's rival (who's kinda on her side for the moment) is a hypermacho super-powerful cyborg space karate fighter named Zekka.

There is a lot of action. A lot of Alita kicking ass. But the series continues to be mostly an ever-escalating series of boss fights, with the writer occasionally remembering to mention the plot. There is a little bit of story advancement here, but at this rate Alita will have to fight the entire solar system before we get to the climax.

[Lars Olav Tungesvik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Better then Omnibus 3.

[Justin Abdallah · Rating 3 out of 5]

ZOTT is getting exhausting

This is the 4th (and not the last) book to feature the ZOTT. Granted...artwork is top notch. But I’m getting mentally exhausted at this point with the constant fighting and lack of interesting character stories. Alita has been resurrected what...2 times now?! And this time she has a tail??? What is happening to this series!

[Erick M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finalmente tuve la oportunidad de terminar el cuarto tomo y oh por dios, ya suelta al ZOTT, Kishiro!!
Similar a una montaña rusa, hay momentos en los que la serie tiene una calidad increíble, pero otras dónde las cosas se sienten demasiado meh y este volumen tiene bastante de ambos.
Regresando finalmente a Alita, está recupera finalmente el cerebro de Lou, se muere (otra vez) y regresa en un cuerpo todavía más poderoso (y con una cola). El torneo sigue ahí, sucediendo y Sechs no deja de demostrar en todo momento que es el absoluto GOAT de esta serie.
Seré completamente honesto, siento que las cosas se están alargando mucho. Kishiro se las apaña para llenar a la historia de múltiples peleas, historias de fondo de personajes nuevos y todo tipo de cosas, lo que no es completamente malo, pues incluso en esos momentos demuestra ser un escritor competente, pero no deja de sentirse que ralentiza intencionalmente la conclusión de una historia que, me atrevo a suponer, no conocía con exactitud, pues la historia tiende a divagar demasiado, especialmente en estos dos últimos volúmenes.
En general me la pasé bien leyendolo, y un último tomo de 600 páginas suena una cantidad más que decente para darle conclusión a la historia, pero tengo mis reservas con el ritmo que maneja.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what I want out of this series! No centuries-old, ponderous stories about vampires, but the existential cyberpunk action that has always been at the core of Battle Angel Alita. I tried not to rate this omnibus just in comparison to volumes 8 and 9 (because it really is that much better), but even on its own, it's a great installment. Mysteries are revealed, questions are raised, old faces reappear (sometimes quite unexpectedly), and there's finally a tangible goal for Alita & Co. to strive for, beyond just saving Lou. Last Order is back on track in a big way, and this return to form feels so good. I'm a little leery about what comes next, since I've been burned before, but if the series doesn't veer off onto another meandering tangent, it should be a blast.

[ダンカン · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Z.O.T.T. continues! Alita is back with a new body, The Space Angels is now going head to head against the formidable The Space Karate Force with new characters. The most powerful Karate martial artist Zekka. Aga Mbadi on his knees and more! The fourth omnibus volume reveals more action and other origins of other characters as the world building is bigger than before. While parts of the chapter did not explain the return of Alita on how she gets her new body, it can be overlook as the flow of the story is moving towards the intention of Yukito Kishiro of what he wants to deliver. Another great volume.

[Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun

It's a fun read and the art as always is great. With so many new characters it's difficult to get an idea of their strength and abilities and some reveals of supposed immense power are downplayed in really anticlimactic ways

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally starting to get good after volume after volume of ludicrous hyper violence! I look forward to this plot being discarded in favor of far more ludicrous hyperviolence

[John Funderburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another outstanding entry. Onto the next omnibus shortly!

[Garret Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful karate

Mystical karate tournement arc story, really funny and ridiculous moments give the grim universe a nice bit of levity, and overall a great entry into the series.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to say this was the most show stopper battle laden volume of the omnibuses thus far, perhaps a reaction to the intense story arcs that precede it in volume 3, but it's still pretty fucking ace. Cyberpunk turned space level martial warrior capitalist critique tale. The previously unreleased mini story at the end is also one of my faves of the mini stories they've been including in all the omnibus releases. =D