Review of Battle Angel Alita Vol 1 Fight 003
We left off last chapter with Alita sustaining life-threatening injuries. Or at least it looked that way. Actually, things get even worse before they start looking positive as Ido comes to her rescue.
Issue: Battle Angel Alita Vol 1 Fight 003
Name: What Has Value
Published: 2017 by Kodansha Comics
Blurb:
Creators:
Writer: Yukito Kishiro
Artist: Yukito Kishiro
Characters:
The Good: Daisuke Ido, Alita, Gonzu
The Bad: Makaku
My Reading:
Missing her arm and both legs, Alita still fights on, trying to defeat the brutish endorphin junkie. We learn his name is Makaku and he is a beast. This guy pretty much tore Alita apart in the last chapter but she keeps on going. She takes her one remaining arm and pokes out his eye, digging into the socket but he pulls her remaining arm off too. She’s in serious trouble.
Fortunately Ido happens by and jumps into the fray. As Makaku prepares to crack open her head and consume Alita’s endorphins, Ido fires up his hammer and tears into the monster’s remaining arm, severing it. He then slams it into the body but somehow Makaku’s head escapes. Alita’s severely hurt and unconscious but the head of the beast shows back up and impales Ido on a spike…now he’s in trouble.
It turns out the head is an independent cyborg unit and this cyborg is a legendary creature that no hunter has dared to attack. Makaku memorizes their faces and disappears leaving the two injured hunters to their fate. Somehow Ido drags himself and Alita into town and calls his buddy, Gonzu to help them. And as he does this, he promises Alita he’ll build her a warrior’s body to go with her warrior spirit.
What did I learn:
- Ido’s Hammer has a powered setting that powers it up significantly.
- Alita picked a really terrifying bad guy for her first hunt.
- The citizens of the Scrapyard enjoy death match fighting.
- The current fighting champion is Kinuba and he’s won 63 times…the loser is killed in the match each time.
My Thoughts:
As Ido says, each time he updates Alita to be a warrior, it moves her further from his idea of what he really wants her to be. But I can’t see how she’ll be able to do much of anything as a hunter if she doesn’t get some better body parts.
This battle was pretty brutal and it adds to the nature of this title. Kishiro is holding nothing back and poor Alita got seriously and graphically taken apart. I look forward to seeing how kickass Alita can be when she gets a warrior’s body since she’s already pretty deadly.
I’m really enjoying this volume and find that the answer to the question of the chapter’s title is that for Ido, Alita is the only thing that has value. He’s built her up and will do anything for her, even give up on his dream for her so that she can be what she wants to be. It’s really touching and I feel the characterizations are at least as great as the artwork and story of this title.
My Rating: B+
This comic can be found on Comixology or at your local comic book shop.
Daily Ramble 289.3 | Comics – Comics – Manga – Battle Angel Alita Vol 1 Fight 003