Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 1

Yukito Kishiro maintains his mastery over telling a griping, savage, brutal story in this last leg of Alita’s story, which begins by taking us back to her origin as the young cyborg child Yoko living on the war-torn surface of Mars. It’s amazing how quickly Kishiro is able to create an attachment between readers and characters, so that even with very little time spent with them, the death of a character is a truly impactful loss. For example, with a minor spoiler: there are two old men in the village Yoko and Erica’s new orphanage is, whom they meet as they take a tour of the town. Later, when the town comes under attack by an aggressive army, these two old men suddenly whip out rifles and start firing at the invaders with profesional military aim and posture. This INSTANTLY gives you a rushing feeling of “Oh my God! These two old vets are so fricken cool!” They take down the hostile scouts, and as they do so the scene transforms into their delusion, reliving the days of their time in the army, charging into battle with their squad to defend the children in the bunker. It’s exhilarating and heroic, and then tragic and heartbreaking as the surviving veteran’s delusion sees his squad leaving him behind in the moment before a missle wipes him out. Despite how frequent death is, each time it’s accompanied by a genuine pang of loss and heartbreak, no matter how little exposure we’ve had to the dying character. It’s a genuine wonder and proof of the author’s skill. Being a flashback to Alita’s origin, you know that she and Erica will survive--this removes some of the tension in their situation for the reader. And so to make up for that, Kishiro packs the pages full of tension for every other character. You have no idea who might die and who might survive, besides the two main protagonists; that tension, that hope, that dread, will keep you hunched over the pages voraciously reading to find out what happens next.Kishiro's other strength as an author is in portraying the harsh, dark side of mankind in graphic detail, while also contrasting it with inspiring heroes. At the orphanage Yoko and Erica meet Ninon Silber, who claims to be a noble of Mars who was separated from her parents, and will someday be Queen of Mars. She immediately sets herself up as an antagonist, trying to get Erica to throw Yoko away in favor of friendship with her. Ninon's behavior is creepy and arrogant, and when she later puts on a friendly face you just KNOW that she's planning some kind of vile trick. Which is why when her promise proves true, it's highly confusing. And then, as the town is destroyed by the invading army and Ninon's friends/followers are killed one after the other, Ninon dedicates herself completely to protecting the ones who are left, and you realize that her arrogant noble bearing is also coupled with a sense of duty, and her own strange kind of compassion.The original run of Battle Angel Alita is my favorite manga, Alita: Last Order lost sight of itself in my view but was still good, and now Mars Chronicles promises to be the strongest chapter yet in Alita’s incredible story.

So far so good. Nothing spectacular. However seeing Yoko’s backstory on mars is most interesting. I like that Yoko has been a cyborg for most of her life. The interaction between Erica and Yoko is cute as well. One thing about LO that I wasn’t too keen on Was all the phalic humor and the constant hyper violence. Here, the reader gets to take a break and just read on about interesting characters.

Its a great continuation of the Alita series. It already starts explaining Yoko's history. I love it.

I know I’m reading the alita deluxe edition and I watch the movie, but I fell in love with the manga and movie, so if you love cyberpunk sci fi or sf/fantasy comics or manga, this is for you!

I love this story and cannot get enough of it. Please Yukito keep them coming!

Ways love the Battle Angel Alita series.

loved alita since the 90s

Fun to return to this universe and get learn a little bit of Yoko/Gally/Alita’s past. Very nice to see more of Yukito Kushiro.

As you would expect given the cover art, Mars Chronicles is a prequel to Battle Angel and Last Order, which re-introduces Alita (Gally) as a small, frail orphan, growing up in a war-torn Mars.I wasn't sure if I really wanted to know about Alita's past, and I was initially disappointed they didn't just continue from where Last Order left-off. But my fear that by featuring kids it wouldn't be as dark and grim, was completely unfounded. Quite the opposite, Vol.1 is as brutal and unrelenting as ever.

Se trata del primer tomo de la saga correspondiente al pasado de Alita, y sus recuerdos de cuando era niña. Es una edición muy cuidada de Kodansha, con una composición prácticamente similar a la edición deluxe de la saga principal. Ésto hace que sea un formato excelente, con un tamaño adecuado para disfrutar de los dibujos.El tomo tiene 194 páginas, con algunas más de añadidos. Se trata de un cómic de tapa blanda, ligero, con una tonalidad de papel más tirando a reciclado que a blanquecino.En cuanto al apartado gráfico, el resultado es una maravilla. El dibujo tiene un detalle súper bien ejecutado, sin fallos de impresión. Combina rallado, degradado, así como tramas para dotar al dibujo de profundidad y volumen. Además, el contraste de tonalidades está muy cuidado, ayudando en todo momento a la visualización de las viñetas.

Incrível crônica. Entender o inglês pode ser um desafio...rsss

Nice Story

O Universo GUNNM é incrível. Alita irá trazer Erica para o bem? Quero muito ver o final. Será ela a única?