Past the fallout from the tournament, we start the next story arc.
Creative Staff
Story and Art: Yukito Kishiro
Translation/Adaptation: Lillian Olsen
What They Say
Living out his days in a remote fishing village, Figure Four hears a rumor he cannot bring himself to believe: Alita is dead! The news dredges up old memories, and soon Figure is back wandering a wasteland still scarred by the battle against Barjack, desperately searching for the woman who once loved him. Instead, he’ll stumble upon a village where a doctor named Ido has lost his memories…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the Onion Frame crashing into the moon after Mbdai released it from its orbit, Alita makes a deal to become a spy for a shadowy organization in order for them to intervene, restore the Onion Frame’s orbit, and give Alita a new body to return to. With that deal, she disappears. Meanwhile, in a remote fishing village, Figure Four is recovering following the war and worrying about Alita. When her gun appears in a black market sale, he becomes certain she has survived the tournament and goes in search of her. But in his search, he finds himself caught in on the wrong side of a mob searching for the infamous Desty Nova, and only by helping the accused can he possibly get any closer to finding Alita.
With the tournament now over, I’m finding myself a little more interested in what’s happening in this series. It picked up a bit last volume with the fallout from the tournament, but now that we’ve gotten away from it all together, I definitely feel more vested in what’s happening. I like Figure Four, and the whole situation with Desty Nova is pretty interesting. I’m particularly fascinated with Nova’s former nurse, Kanyam who is trying to atone for her sins. She knows a lot more than she’s currently let on (and probably a lot more than she’s even hinted at), and I’d like to see where that goes. They’ve done a really good job of introducing some fascinating characters into this series, and I never thought I’d be in a situation where I was really interested in something that didn’t involve Alita. But right now, I am.
In Summary
Now that we are moving beyond the tournament, the story is starting to pick up some more. This volume has moved us into the next phase of the story, and while I expect the end result will be another long, drawn out battle that will lose me along the way, right now, the storytelling is pretty solid. I like the new characters and conflicts, and I’d like to see where it goes. Recommended.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: September 24th, 2013
MSRP: $10.99