Title: Battle Angel Alita.
Series: Deluxe Edition Vol. 4.
Author(s): Yukito Kishiro.
Publisher: Kodansha Comics.
Format: Hardcover – Deluxe Edition.
Release Date: May 8th 2018.
Pages: 400.
Genre(s): Manga, Science Fiction.
ISBN13: 9781632366016.
My Overall Rating: ★★★★☆.
Also in Battle Angel Alita:
Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 by Yukito Kishiro.
Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition Vol. 2 by Yukito Kishiro.
Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition Vol. 3 by Yukito Kishiro.
Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition Vol. 5 by Yukito Kishiro.
Battle Angel Alita: Holy Night and Other Stories by Yukito Kishiro.
So much has happened to Alita since the day she was reborn by cyber-doctor Daisuke Ido. Every event has managed to successfully mold her personality and solidify her beliefs to the point where the line between cyborg and human was blurred out of her existence. Even in the mist of all the chaos she has encountered, she still found ways to discover happiness and love, eternal or not. Yukito Kishiro has shown great talent in inserting both a philosophical and poetical tone to Alita’s story while perking it up with humour, violence and sexuality.
Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition Vol. 4 collects both volume 7 and 8 of the original cyberpunk classic series and jumps forward 10 years after the previous events with her new friend Figure Four. After having shaken the hands of the devil, she’s now a TUNED agent whose main mission is to hunt down the mad scientist who was at the heart of all the chaos in the previous story arcs. As she travels through the desert, her story converges with that of the Barjack Rebellion and their terrifying leader Den. Her life is once again shook by the dilemmas to come, but also by the newly added cast members who will propel her towards her goals far sooner than she thought she ever would.
A plot line that has been teased and maintained throughout Alita’s story is her mysterious past. Very little of it is ever unveiled, but it remains one of the main attractions to the character as it continuously hassles her consciousness, especially when several characters claim to know of her past self. While intriguing, I still found that it has dragged on for a little too long. With only one more volume to go, fans have yet to have any real idea of who exactly Alita was and this forces us to ponder if her past is actually a key element to her plot that will get an answer soon enough or actually a needle in the back serving a much bigger purpose, something along the lines of it being a burden we always carry around but shouldn’t ever be considered the final decisive factor to what we want to become as a person.
This volume’s biggest attraction is also the introduction of a lot of new characters, especially one that brings into play a whole societal conflict that was a bit left aside in the previous volumes. What we get to enjoy is the Barjack Rebellion where those who have lived in the Scrapyard all their lives seek to destroy the reigning structure by taking down the floating city of Zalem where all the citizens are living peacefully away from the exiled. Kaos is also another character who brings a whole new level of awkward goofiness to the story, but his special talents proves to be highly valuable in the plot’s progression. Even though there are moments throughout the story where things felt overly-stretched-out, the ending definitely hints at a promising finale.
Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition Vol. 4 continues to be an action-packed and entertaining series that doesn’t suffer at the hands of time. Its story so far has proved its merits as a classic cyberpunk series, and what will happen to Alita in the end is what will determine how great this series truly is.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me a copy for review!
Did you know we were soon getting a live-action adaptation of our little Alita? Check out the trailer above!
Roars and Echoes 
And yet another fantastic looking entry.
You know what’s sad though? I just tried to read one of the tankouban manga I had and squinting at the little print gave me a mother of a headache. I think my days are over. Thank goodness I can get manga digitally now!
And back to you. Where are you finding the space for all these wicked awesome hardcovers? They are big and aren’t exactly space friendly…
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That is indeed a bit sad… Does that mean.. You’ll be selling/giving away your volume soon? 😮
Ah ha! Space is not an easy if you have a bat cave! 😀 Okay, in all seriousness, I’ll always make space for my comic book collection. I don’t have the hugest collection of books ever, but I can definitely find places where to put them for now. Once space becomes much more limited, I’ll probably start filtering out the books I don’t want in my long-term collection and make room that way. I know someday I won’t have a choice but to bend the knee to the digital lord, but I will do everything in my power to make that day as far, far, far away from the present day as possible. 😀
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Yes, Mrs B is going to go through and note which series she’ll read again and then I’ll be putting them up on Craigslist. Sigh. I feel like I’m putting up my firstborns.
Good to know you aren’t suffering for space just yet. Hopefully by the time you would be, you’ll be able to afford a bigger place and not need to downsize 🙂
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Man, oh man, oh man… Having to depart from those precious… beautiful… books… I can’t do it. You’re definitely the bigger man here. Hope you’ll survive the process hahahah
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Well, if my “progress” in getting rid of Oh My Goddess is anything to go by, these volumes should still be around for quite some time 😀
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I can’t wait to get started on this series. Hopefully with my upcoming vacation in September, I can finally read some of these (and finish Monster which I still haven’t done so far). It’s nice to read this series has withstood the test of time. Hopefully the series will have a satisfactory ending. Will you be reading the follow up to this series as well? 😊
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I look forward to the day you do finally get around to checking these out. It’ll be nice to finally hear the opinion of someone else on this series. 😛 I do want to try out the prequels and what not, but I won’t collect them unless they come in a deluxe edition. Those tankuban manga size are bit underwhelming alongside my hardcovers/paperbacks. To start collecting those again (yes, I used to do it back in high school) would easily take away so much of my room space! 😛
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The follow up to this one has some very cool, oversized omnibus type mangas and look seriously wicked (and there are only five of them so they are easy to collect). While not as cool as these editions, they are still very nice 😊😊
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Ouuuuh, I didn’t know they were oversized, I’ll have to look into that. It’s definitely going to play a big role in my decision to get my hands on them now! 😁 Thanks for the info!
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Awesome to follow your journey in reading this series Lashaan, it does sound enjoyable. A shame that there’s been little progression in Alita’s mysterious background this far in though, but I suppose depends on how it all concludes.
Were there ever any anime adaptations of Alita? I’m rather dubious about the live action version and after ‘Ghost in the Shell’ I’m wondering if Hollywood adaptations of manga properties are going to become like video game movies (in that they never seem to work but they keep trying anyway)?
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Yep, the final volume should really tell what the writer’s main goal was in this series. There’s indeed an anime adaptation for this series which is well-appreciated by fans. I haven’t seen it yet though. Ahh, I totally agree with you. Both video games and manga have very bad luck in regards to live-action adaptations. Hopefully the day will come when one will finally be a success. The recent news of Henry Cavill being cast for the Witcher series sounds promising though! 😁 Then again, it’s not a movie hehe.. This reminds me: Can’t wait for The Last of Us 2!!! It’s been a while now, but that E3 gameplay reveal was PHENOMENAL. I do remember you being just as much of a fan of the series too. Oh, I also can’t wait to dive into Insomniac’s Spider-Man game this week!!!!
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It’s cool that Henry Cavill is getting roles in things like the Witcher and Mission: Impossible, but I’d much prefer a new Superman movie!
Yeah, still looking forward to Last of Us 2 and I pre-ordered Spider-Man as soon as it was announced. The online retailer dispatched it yesterday so fingers crossed it’ll land very soon – I hope it lives up to the hype, we really need some good super hero games outside of the Batman Arkham series.
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Tell me about it! I am a bit sad that the reaction from critics and a bunch of fans to DC’s/Warner Bros’ movie slate and marketing tactics has been negative; I feel like this is just making them go all nutty about what to do next and how to do it, while being relevant in a Marvel-dominating box office. I for one know that we both will adore anything they release, but the messy plans they have right now is a bit disconcerting nonetheless!
Oh yes. Nothing beats the Batman Arkham series. I am really looking forward to Rocksteady’s next game. Something tells me their next project will be a game-changer, literally. I mean… Imagine a Superman open-world game. Or something even more ambitious like a Justice League game. I know there were rumours about a Suicide Squad game from them, but man, anything by them will be an insta-buy!
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Absolutely, I mean, Justice League may have been a little rough around the edges but I still really enjoyed it and hope we eventually get to see another team-up. Hopefully Aquaman and Shazham hit the ground running but like yourself I don’t want them to just ape Marvel’s style – both brands need there own style and identity.
Definitely and I’d really like to see a Superman game from Rocksteady as I feel they’d find inventive ways to make it work!
I’ve got me hands on Spider-Man and so far it’s pretty darn good!
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I swear, I could be swinging around the city all day without doing a single mission! Insomniac has done it again! 👌
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Haha, likewise…I’ve become obsessed with picking up all those backpacks as well! It’s a gorgeous looking game with some nice mechanics, hopefully this’ll lead to a slew of more superhero games.
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And all those costume variants you can get! Man, it’s like a fan’s dream come true. I’m definitely curious to know what the big plan behind this will be.
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Looking forward to seeing how the series/story line will be presented on film.
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Same here. Doubt the movie will cover the whole series, but I’m sure they’ll make sequels if the first movie is not a flop!
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