Battle Angel Alita, Volume 3

銃夢 [Gunnm] #3

by Yukito Kishiro, Stephen Paul (Translator)

Stunned by the way her relationship with Yugo ended, Alita hurtles into the sport of motorball in search of a fresh start and new possibilities. She turns herself into a honed, unthinking blade and launches herself up the ranks. Little does she know that her ultimate foes will be Jasugun, the supreme champion of motorball, and Dr. Ido, her own father figure!! The “Motorball” arc begins, famed for its riveting and kinetic battle scenes, and vast and varied cast of athletes!

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

217 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1992

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

[Tawfek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third volume of alita.
Still love the details, i don't really like the place she and ido are at.
I would prefer it if they got back together, not sure where we are going with the race arcs of the story.
Totally new territory for me since it wasn't covered in the movie, but i have to say this is very different than the movie, its really unique.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I'm enjoying the series of Battle Angel Alita, unfortunately, I didn't find this particular volume as entertaining as the previous ones. I found the plot was somewhat weaker. It didn't prevent me from liking Alita as much as I do, though. She's definitely a favourite character of mine. Plus, I'm a huge fan of the cyberpunk world that this series is set in. It rocks!

The character development in this volume seemed rather vague, and I feel that some of the characters that were introduced, had no real significance to the main plot. Plus, the roller-derby part came out of nowhere, and I didn't find it particularly compelling. That said, I do like the series and I will be continuing with it.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An homage to old sci fi movies?

This third volume begins with a heartbreaking first chapter, when Alita is losing a beloved person in dramatic fashion.



After that traumatic event she needs a change of scenery and feels she has to occupy her mind and her body with something else than hunting cyber criminals.

The book basically turns into Rollerball.



Only here it is called Motorball.

And Alita is trying to work her way up from the third league into the top ranks of the game.





When I first heard about it I thought this would be cool. I’m a fan of campy 70s and 80s sci fi movies. And this reminded me of several of them.

And it was indeed fun. But frankly, storywise the previous volume‘s been a lot better.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

This might work a little better in the upcoming movie.

[Shannara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has by far been my favorite of the series so far. Yugo was just not my favorite character so now that he's gone, I'm enjoying the story so much more! I love Alita's drive to be the best and forget about her past. It makes things interesting, but I am sad that her relationship with Ido is suffering. I can't wait to see if she will become the champion or if she'll be brought down by the current champ!

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 3 starts with an emotionally devastating chapter, but then turns into Rollerball Moterball. Although the moterball scenes do add a new aspect to the cyberpunk world of Atila, I didn't find it just as intriguing as the previous stories.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume 3 of Gunnm/Alita opens with a bang, closing the storyline of Yugo and his dream to leave the junkyard for the sky-city of Salem, with an heartbreaking ending.





Then Yukito Kishiro changes totally pace with the new action-packed saga of Motorball, a nice change of setting mixing cyberpunk with the awesome Rollerball (1973) movie and old sport manga/anime: Alita's coach Ed is just Niki Lauda Lanz from late 70s アローエンブレム・グランプリの鷹 Arrow Emblem: Grand Prix no Taka.






Having a blast of fun here re-reading this classic manga and just loved all the references/homages in this third volume so much that rised up my vote from 4 to 5 stars.

[Klinta · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I was very annoyed that I was dropped once again in the middle of the action without recollection of what was the last thing that happened, but I remembered most of the things quite swiftly, so I couldn't hold the grudge for too long.

I thought that this book got better with each page and had excellent character development (for Alita), it showed her different emotional states quite well and something that at first seemed a bit stupid grew to be pretty cool. And that ending, it shot me right in the heart. Why do they have to end on such cliffhangers? I was so not ready to be done with this book! But at the same time, it's not exactly enough to urge me to pick up the next one immediately.

I'm quite wary of the tech and fighting terms, I think there are too many of them, but I know I would get a scolding from other people for saying that as I should know where I'm getting into when reading Alita.

Overall, I wish the whole book would be as cool as the second third, it would definitely rate better then.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun volume to read! I enjoyed the Motorball stuff and seeing what happens in the story post, Hugo. The artwork is still amazing and when you get a full page of a single drawing of Alita, it's really amazing! The only complaint I have with the artwork, but this is with every black and white comic/manga, is that you sometimes can't tell what's going on, because there's no colour to clearly separate characters from each other during fight scenes. Still excited to read the next one.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume delivers a poignant finisher to a love-ish-story, then follows it with more worldbuilding, great bleak cyberpunk views, a speedy sport, and especially foreshadowing on Desty Nova. He's been popping up from time to time - only once have we seen his face, in a flashback - and we still have no real clue what's up with him. Things are picking up.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alita drowns her sorrows by immersing herself in the deadly sport of motorball, while Doctor Ido schemes to get her back. First part of a story arc that continues in the next volume.

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

personally I didnt think this was as good as the first two volumes. I still enjoyed it amd carrying on with the series but I hope it picks back up a bit.

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second re-read and yup same same.

This issue starts with Ido searching for Alita coz she had disappeared following events of the last volume and to forget about Hugo Alita is now participating in very dangerous and rough game where quasi-robots fight to win a race and of course Alita is a rising champ there. The entire book is based on and around these races so seeing this and also guessing how the next issue is going to be, it's plain to see why the trailer include so much of the game clips after all if 2 of the 9 issues focus on the game it deserves to be in the movie and the trailer and more and more. Nice action again and nice illustrations.

So while I continue on my quest to read the story before watching the movie, you should do the same and just Keep on Reading.

I have always loved comics, and I hope that I will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics or Diamond Comics or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on the international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I can. I Love comics to bit, may comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

[G · Rating 2 out of 5]

The motorball arc deserved three stars, but I'm so annoyed by the introduction of the Shumira and how bad her character and her relationship with Ido is, that I had to take at least one star away.

Neither this cool arc nor any manga containing a page of Shumira holding Ido's arm like a prized possession to make Alita jealous deserved this rating, but I had to compromise.

I wonder how many more teenage girls Ido's gonna save throughout this series, all of whom will (of course) fall in love with him though he's not interested and thinks of them as his daughters (If only teenage girls had the sense to not immediately fall in love with the strange man who arrived at the nick of time to save them from getting gang-raped by another group of strange men).

[Carlex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.

[Karina Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

El dolor y la pérdida muchas veces pueden entregarte nuevas oportunidades, pero todo ello tiene un precio.
Gally sumida en su propio dolor desconoce el mundo de que le rodea, se sumerge en un idealismo que es más propiamente efímero que real, y es precisamente esto lo que nos muestra este tomo, los claros oscuros comienza a aflojar y en quien realmente se puede confiar.
Gally desea convertirse en la cuchilla de acero más pura, Ed Crystall el título de ganador de la mortorball, Daisuke Ido encontrar a Gally cueste lo que cueste, y llevarla de vuelta a su hogar, pero que es lo que desea el destino.

second review
¿por qué y para qué evitamos tanto el dolor?, esta es una de las grandes interrogantes que se trata de dilucidar en este tomo, Gally sumida por el dolor, camina largamente alejándose de todo aquello que la lastimo, no entiende porque teniendo un cuerpo de metal debe de cargar con los sentimientos de una persona normal, no quiere volver a sentirlo y muy en el fondo desea convertirse en ese metal del que está construida.
Sin embargo, la poca experiencia hacia otras personas la vuelve en el blanco fácil de muchas confrontaciones y deudas, no tiene individualidad y la diferencia, por mucho que ella así lo aplique y crea, es el dominio de alguien y algo más sin que esta haya accedido.
Este ha sido uno de los tomos mas lento de la historia, la dinámica es entretenida y las acciones bastantes coherentes, pero la introspección de la misma Gally parece haberse callado dentro de su sistema, el dolor persiste, sin embargo, es evitado y diluido en diversas carreras de motorball, desea convertirse en ese alguien indestructible, tanto por dentro como por fuera, pero la realidad es mucho más compleja.
Revisando lo que anteriormente había dicho, y reseñado, sigo sin entender la frialdad y la distancia que la misma Gally extiende a su alrededor, el tomo dos fue un salto al vacío y por el cual tuvo que pagar, pero de verdad una nueva actividad, un nuevo trabajo o una nueva ocupación va a callar el dolor no procesado como si muchas de sus vivencias jamás hubieran aparecido, esto te descoloca de la Gally atrevida durante los primeros tomos, y te quedas pensando quien es esta, un nuevo personaje o una supuesta evolución mal integrada, por esa misma razón mi evaluación ha bajado dentro de la misma, pero espero que un nuevo entendimiento de los tomos consecutivos cambie esto.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really, really like he art. It is so detailed, with lots of interesting quirks and great sense of action, speed, and perspective (usually). Backgrounds are often incredibly detailed and feel alive, and the character designs are varied and have a lot of energy.

But this time even more than before, Alita is really coming across as a horrible Mary Sue. My gosh it’s annoying, and she is cocky as cuss word. Never played Motor Ball before? It’s okay, she is better than everyone else on her first try, including pros who presumably have been doing the sport for years. She leaps through the league, taking out excellent fighters, and even when she appears to lose or have a draw in arm wrestling competition with the top player, it is revealed that she really won because I guess she just can’t lose. And of course all the “good guys” like her or might even be in love with her.

Geez Louise it’s annoying.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is obviously not a complete review, but my immediate thoughts (in comparison to the two previous volumes) are:

1. The story's pacing is less compelling.
2. Character development feels more forced and less significant.
3. Attitudes of characters we're probably supposed to like are weirdly more inhuman, including Alita herself.
4. The setting's tonal shift from literal "living in a landfill" to "roller derby" is abrupt, jarring, and a touch off-putting.
5. It's still enjoyable enough that I want the next volume.

[Gustavo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Los primeros capítulos con el final del arco de Yugo son super tristes, para dar paso a una fija de las historias futuristas: el deporte extremo de turno. En este caso el deporte es motorball, un deporte de cyborgs sobre patines que es practicamente una copia de Rollerball.

Un poco lento el volumen, pero igual mi yo de 17 años sigue pensando que es genial asi que no hay nada que pueda hacer.

[DeannaReadsandSleeps · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It takes patience to correct a misconception with words, and I’m the hotheaded type. Do you want to understand what I’m about? One blow should be enough to teach you!”

OOP! Alita said ain’t no time for talking, these hands stay ready! Love that!

Anyway what the heck is happening lmao. At least the art is phenomenal.

[Krissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really liking this series. It sucks that only volumes 1-3 are in KU. Otherwise, I'd have read them all. Oh well. The 3 I read were great. I loved the characters and the artwork.

[scafandr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Поддержу всех читателей, кто высказался на тему метаний Юкито от одной темы к другой. Первый том был кибербоевиком, второй заиграл любовными нотками, а третий ушёл с головой в кровавый спорт. Честно говоря, я к этому не очень был готов.
Любовная линия была завершена буквально на первых страницах этого тома. Один разворот я даже сфоткал и выложил в инсту, потому что очень хорош был. Галли морально потеряла себя и ушла в небытие, Док ищет свою подружку и неожиданно находит её на спортивных состязаниях (гонки-гладиаторы). Естественно, Док хочет вернуть Галли назад или хотя бы поговорить с ней. Галли же просто хочет выхода всех эмоций, которые распирают её изнутри.
И этот том больше про спорт. Про мощных крутых ребят, которые готовы раскрошить друг друга, чтобы стать победителем. Как бы вроде и всё так же бодро и задорно, но сложно предположить, что же будет в следующих томах. 8/10

[chvang · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up. The bloody (but without the blood because they're cyborgs) sports arc is cheesy, especially with all the talk of martial arts techniques and spiritual martial arts mubo jumbo. It's simultaneously too cheesy to be taken seriously and not cheesy enough to be enjoyed.

Also, the action scenes are kind of bland. You would think a sport where cyborg contestants (with battle modifications) routinely take out their competitors with extreme violence wouldbe exciting, but so far it just consists of shouting out a move with a pretentious name, a rough sketch suggesting movement, and that's that. Not very kinetic, not exciting, and there's no story in the contests either. I hope the next chapter is better.

[Marko Bojkovský · Rating 4 out of 5]

kakva je ovo spektakularna, prezabavna fešta klišea.

[Victor The Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quickly shocking start as after a tragic event, Alita creates something of a new life and finds it in a sport called motorball, and meets new faces and to a lesser extent, old faces. A (100%/Outstanding)

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

So we see the end of the Yugo arc and t=get into motor ball. It's pretty interesting with some good moments, but I do hope we get back to learning more about the world in the next volume.

[Fraser Simons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Battle Angel Alita in printed form sticks pretty closely to the OVAs (from 1 to start of 3)I watched ages ago. It's over-the-top cyberpunk aesthetic that, at first glance seems nothing but aesthetic. Put out in 1990, I think it's pretty impressive. It was trying to tell a much more philosophical and nuanced tale than most of the late 80's cyberpunk media with the exception of Ghost In The Shell, published in 1989.

Luckily there's quite a bit of depth even with the typical manga fan service---at least there isn't the sexual fan service though? It's more typical gender rolls and how male/female interactions are, and it is an older manga. What is great about it is that even with all this, there is still an exploration of interesting questions and the translation has a lot of helpful extra side bars expounding on some of the sparse philosophy drops. Each villain is further contextualized beyond normal manga that is hyper violent like this one, too.

They are always the product of the terrible city they live in, and way of life that allows for them to eek out an existence. The ordinary citizens look up at a city suspended from space, where everything might just be better than the literal massive scrap yard they live in; controlled by factories that have laws that protect the corporation and not its citizens and perpetuating violence by paying people to hunt and kill anyone who breaks these laws. All of which serve their own ends as I've said.

Alita struggles with the perception of her body from outsiders dealing with the stigmatism of being a cyborg, embodiment issues (handled from a very male perspective) and a Cartesian mind/body duality when she is placed in a body of a killer and (as of halfway through vol.3) still doesn't recall her past but does cyborg martial arts, and does it well! Is it her body, or has she always been a weapon? There's some interesting stuff that undeniably makes it better than a lot of the stuff coming out around then. Especially 80's cyberpunk, in general, media wise.

About halfway into vol 3 though, the story takes a bit of a nose dive as Alita wants to be rid of her memories over Yugo, and shed her former body entirely. Also the doctor becomes pretty toxic, in general. It's a lot less satisfying than the first two volumes. Will keep going, though!

[Alexander Engel-Hodgkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7/5

I remember first seeing the OVA years ago and loving it. Still haven't gotten a DVD for it yet, but I'd love to. I found this volume at my local pawn shop out of sheer luck and snatched it up before anyone else could, and I'm glad i did. Within the cover pages rests a very nostalgic cyberpunk manga aesthetic that Shirow Masamune perfected and immortalized in his Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed works. It's like a trip back to the 90's.

Kishiro's artwork is definitely a highlight. It's dirty yet polished, clearly representing a world that is cluttered, dirty, and amoral, without hiding details with excessive shadows or blotches. It rivals Masamune by a close margin.

Now, anyone who's seen the OVA won't be lost if they pick this up before Vol. 1 and 2 (like I did), since the OVA more-or-less adapted the first two volumes pretty faithfully. Alita abandons her old life of sentimentality after a grave loss to try and hide her sorrows in a Rollerball style sports tournament with giant robots and a high death ratio. Neat. Doctor Ido tracks her down and joins the other team in a very ill-thought-out attempt to make her feel insecure and come back to him looking for some sort of forgiveness, as he feels she abandoned him out of spite and a lack of gratefulness for everything he'd done for her--which is by far the weakest element of this volume. Ido didn't strike me as such a childish character in the OVA. Perhaps they changed his character during its adaptation from the original source material, or maybe it's a new side of him that readers of the original manga and viewers of the OVA are mutually new to.

Despite Ido's over-emotional stupidity, I'd say this volume deserves a solid four stars. It's amazingly drawn, the world is expanding and realized, and the story and dialogue is fairly well written.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go track down a copy of the OVA...

[Michael Poley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading through this series on Comixology and I've repeatedly surprised about some of the dark/interesting choices.

The story is rooted in 80s/90s cyberpunk sensibilities, which makes for lots of uniquely funky ideas. I was surprised how moved I was by the overall dark sensibility, which has Alita losing her only love and then swapping bodies to escape from the emotions that were trapped in it.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4.5]

[Jason Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm loving this entire series.