Customer Reviews

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Vol. 11

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

after reading the awesome volume 10, this was quite a disappointment. not only does alita pretty much absent, there's waaaaay too much z.o.t.t. coverage. it reminds me of when rollerball got too much coverage from the original series, except z.o.t.t. gets even more coverage! i guess if you like the drawings and all the pow-wow illustrations, this would be awesome, but i wanted more story. i hope volume 12 is better and actually features our heroine.

Often Battle Angel Alita: Last Order has progressed without many sightings of the main character herself, and Volume 11 is no exception. Although Kishiro is an incredibly talented artist, anyone growing weary of the Z.O.T.T. and its 25-page fights (and as cool as those fights are, I'm one of them) will find little change here. Be advised that the Anomaly, a giant freakazoid Freudian monstrosity, makes this volume pretty much rated NC-17 (if Alita's flashback to Yoko's space station massacre in Volume 6 didn't already get the job done for the series as a whole). While I've certainly seen far worse than the Anomaly in the bizzarro world of manga, its presence is a little unfortunate because the Anomaly makes the series inaccessible for some readers who might otherwise be able to appreciate Kishiro's talent.

That said, Battle Angel has never been appropriate for the faint of heart and this volume just reinforces that fact. This is rather ironic since this seems to be the first volume in the entire Battle Angel series in which brains do NOT appear, bashed or otherwise. If I'm wrong, please post a comment (Kishiro must have spent weeks in high school just practicing drawing brains).

However, anyone who enjoyed Zekka's party-crashing in Vol. 10 and was waiting for the return of karate master Toji will not be disappointed, as this duo must take on the Anomaly - hey, someone had to do it. The Jovians finally unleash their Z.O.T.T. contender, Warmen 609, which manages to be more diabolic than every other Z.O.T.T. combatant that came before it, Anomaly and Starship Cult included. Sechs gets his chance to slug it out with Warmen while the increasingly ineffective Elf and Zwolf pretty much sit the match out. Sechs does get some help from a familiar face that many fans will be glad to see return.

The action depicted throughout is full of the excitement and wild attacks fans have come to expect from Kishiro, though this volume ends up with 95% of its content being exactly that. Part of the problem with Alita's absence is that because most of the storyline is directly linked to her, the story cannot advance much. So what we end up with is a subplot of the rivalry between Toji's master Tunpo and Zekka and Toji's increasing respect for Alita as he fights. There are also a few brief insights into Jovian culture, not the least of which is their ruthlessness, and the introduction of a Mecurian race to the solar system.

What prevents this volume from descending into an all-out UFC marathon is Kishiro's bizarre sense of humor - in addition to the scenery-wrecking Anomaly, we have the Jovians using "green-friendly" metallic helium missiles and Super Nova, who has decided to appoint himself a color commentator, sporting an honorary doctorate from Ketheres Orbital University. Notably absent characters are Caerula and the rest of the Stellar Nursery Society, Tzycrow, and Queen Limeria's Martians (with one notable exception). Even Mbadi only has a few lines this time around.

Three stars for the general lack of story, but the action remains some of the best in manga. Fans will rush through this volume wanting more of everything, especially when our missing heroine finally does make her triumphant return.

Like others have stated in their reviews and I have stated in my Battle Angel Alita (the original series review), there is a lot of fighting which, while interesting, does detract from the overall storyline and exploration of the characters and their journey.

This volume continues the Z.O.T.T. tournament and involves better action than seen in most of the original series and that includes the roller derby like sport, which I found boring. It also includes flashbacks far into the past, which explain a lot of various things and not just in Alita's past either.

The main antagonist in this, Trinidad, is very much like Lex Luther. He is highly intelligent (utilizing the minds of other geniuses) and makes use of this in quietly gaining power, while very carefully crafting his public appearance as a good and well loved military hero. It's not entirely clear what his motives are, beyond general aggregation of power.

Various new characters introduced in Last Order, including hilarious appearances from...new versions of Desty Nova. Desty Nova, as a character, is hard to classify. He might be considered an anti-hero or an anti-villain or perhaps none of the above. He is quite crazy and has a motive in exploring if people can escape their karma, which seems to be greater than any typical villainous motives, such as gaining power. He assists Alita at various points and we get to find out more and more just how genuine his assistance really is.

I think that "Last Order" is even more interesting than the original series, and while you can read "Last Order" without reading the original, I strongly suggest reading the original for the backstory. You may wish to skip over some excessive fighting portions, but make sure to read the parts central to the story line and character development.

After 11 volumes Last Order is feeling very padded.

While the original Battle Angel Alita series moved along at a good pace, with characters progressing over the course of decades, Last Order has spent 11 volumes covering a few days in time.

While the mad ideas for foes were once bonuses to the plot, now it feels like the whole point of the book is to throw in increasingly insane robot battles.

Worse yet Alita barely appears in this one, after also being largely absent from volumes 8 and 9 as well.

The robot fights are first rate of course, and the art is as good as ever, but the series as a whole has lost a lot of steam.

The beginning of Angel Cake is absolutely the funniest moment in LO so far! But definitely humor that is not meant for kids!

The fight between Toji and Zekka vs Anomoly is great. Many references are used from the previous series (Battle Angel Alita), such as when Jupitor's seeded fighter in the semi-finals is infected with the Berserker virus in the last fight of the volume between Jupiter vs Sechs, and a returning surprise character from earlier in the series!

And Mbadi searches for the Fata Morgana and any remains of Alita, but to no avail.

Zekka and Toji find reasons to hate each other, and we get a little of Zekka's past.

Overall, it was a great volume, almost as good as Volume 10!

Having had read this series since its inception, I'm used to its little quirks; used to the fact that - in order to get to the decent story and character interaction - I have to wade through bucket-loads of brains, gore and innuendo...

That said - this issue was a little weaker than most: the whole arena plot is getting repetitive and the polish seemed a little lackluster (or as lackluster as a couple-hundred expertly drawn pages are likely to get).

If you like the series - get the book anyway; if not - well - maybe this isn't the right spot to break into it.