The tournament finally comes to an end, and the story actually starts going somewhere.
Creative Staff
Story and Art: Yukito Kishiro
Translation/Adaptation: Fred Burke
What They Say
Caught in each other’s traps, the Martian markswoman Zazie and the despicable murderer Rakan begin to tear themselves apart, piece by piece! Meanwhile, Zekka’s distracted by the reappearance (or is that reincarnation?) of an old rival, whose presence may provoke the fiery death of millions in an antimatter explosion! Freedom, hubris, enlightenment and destruction as Alita’s saga reaches its climax!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the competitors exhausted, the final salvos are fired, with Alita’s team finally coming out on top. But before they can be declared the winners, the legendary monk Tunpo emerges from Toji’s body (having previously occupied it through spirit). As a member of Toji’s team, it looks as if Alita will have one more battle on her hands, but Tunpo has no real desire to fight. Instead, he accepts Zekka’s challenge in order to show how violence isn’t always the answer. Meanwhile, Director Mbadi, embarrassed that Alita has managed to win his tournament, plans the utilization of the Sword of Damocles weapons system to end Alita’s threat once and for all.
The last few issues of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order have basically been non-stop tournament battles, with little real plot advancement. Not being much for tournament fighters, they didn’t interest me that much. However, with the tournament finishing up pretty quickly in this volume, we finally get to move onto the resolution of Alita and her team winning the tournament. I really liked Tunpo for the short time he was on the page (he’s so kooky…what a jolly monk), and the results of Mbadi using the Sword of Damocles are far more interesting than anything that has happened in a while. It definitely appears as if we are starting to get somewhere again with the story, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.
In Summary
After a few straight volumes of nothing but fighting, the story picks up again in this one as we get to now see the fallout from Alita’s victory and Mbadi’s reaction to it. Things are definitely speeding towards a rapid conclusion to this story arc, and I’m finding myself interested in it again. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes in the next volume. Recommended.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: February 19, 2013
MSRP: $10.99