Ashen Victor: Motorball Diaries From The World Of Battle Angel Alita

by Yukito Kishiro

A sports drama about the dangerous game of motorball set in the dismal world of the Scrapyard, where Snev, a motorballer who has not competed in some time is coaxed back into the game by his beautiful prostitute friend.

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

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

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

[chvang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gritty, dark, and nihilistic (along with the stylistic black-&-white drawings, use of and use of shadows), this is less an Alita story and more like a Sin City story. Yukito Kishiro was definitely inspired by Frank Miller.

If you're a fan of either series, I recommend it. It really does read like a Sin City story plonked down into a motorball arena.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

1st: I have not read any of the Battle Angel Alita.
I thought the art and story to this was just fantastic! The marathon man aspect (don't want to spoil the story)!

[Mayank Agarwal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one volume manga has the best of what Yukito Kishiro is good at - character driven story in sci-fi punk setting. It starts off great with building up the plot. Mid way we get an inkling of something brilliant to come but it doesn't pan out. We get a decent ending which is supported by good art.

I thought the killer is going to be Snev in his drugs infused stage- would have been tragically brilliant

[Wombo Combo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really solid spin off. Would love to see more stuff like this. Pretty dark, but no darker than the rest of the series, though there wasn't any humor so it may feel darker. Really really good stuff

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad and very dark.