Battle Angel

Battle Angel
by Hiroshi Fukutomi

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DVD details

Actor: Kappei Yamaguchi, Mami Koyama, Miki It?, Shigeru Chiba, Shunsuke Kariya
Director: Hiroshi Fukutomi
Cinematographer: Hitoshi Yamaguchi
Editor: Satoshi Terauchi
Producer: Joichi Sugito
Producer: Kazuhiko Ikeguchi
Producer: Matt Greenfield
Writer: Akinori Endo
Writer: Yukito Kishiro
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Animated, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 54 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-12-07
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: ADV Films

DVD Reviews of Battle Angel

DVD Review: Good enough for what it is
Summary: 4 Stars

Battle Angel. This title was one of the first titles to truly make me appreciate anime, in a couple of aspects.

One: Storyline. While incomplete in this OVA, I discovered the Manga off of which it was based and found out that there was much more to it, that this was incomplete. And what was given here is very good. For a while I thought anime was all about the action (the first ones I had seen were mostly fighting game ones as well as Toonami stuff), but in watching this as well as shows like Evangelion, Blue Seed, and the Heroic Legend of Arislan, not only was I seeing glorious action sequences, but I was enjoying the storyline.

Two: Watching Anime with it's original Japanese audio track. I had taken a look at this at my local Blockbuster, but for a while put it aside because of this. Of course, at the time I was a young, naive pre-teen and just learning what anime was, and to cap it all off, I didn't particularly like reading. But one day I decided to give it a go. To say the least, it was... different. It gave me a whole new look on viewing Anime. Since then, I have always preferred subs.

As for the OVA itself? Well, I mentioned one of it's faults already: it's an incomplete story. In all honesty, only die hard fans of the manga NEED to have this, because the thing it's best for is as a little add-on to the manga. But on it's own, Battle Angel is actually a pretty good film. It's well-written, well-drawn, well-animated when it needs to be, and all-around good fun.

BUT! It is definitely not for children. My father did not really care too much as long as I could handle it at my young age, but it really is R-rated material, mainly because the violence is very graphic. Perhaps the gore is a wee-bit exaggerated at times, but not to the level of something like Apocalypse Zero, Violence Jack or Ninja Resurrection. The sex-related stuff is pretty tame in comparison to the violence. Breasts and butts are bared, but only for a quick glimpse. There is also one brief sexual situation.

Overall, I can't say that this OVA adds great depth to one's collection, but what it does do is give you a bloody good time for your money. Give it a try.

DVD Review: Hmmmm. . . . It's okay
Summary: 3 Stars

I bought this knowing that the story would be different, and it was! I liked it, but I'll have to try listening to it in Japanese. Alita (Gally, in this OVA), has SUCH an irritating voice in english. She's too girly compared to the manga. There should have been more action, but what was there was pretty good.

Hugo was a jerk, not the out of reach tease he was in the manga.

I have to say there were way too many sex scenes! (Just two, but it was indecent!)

I enjoyed it, especially "Tears Sign" ("Tears of an Angel" in the manga).

If you choose between this and the manga though, get the manga. 5 million times better!

DVD Review: Disappointing
Summary: 1 Stars

Bone Fox's review is pretty close to how I feel about this anime. I am also a die-hard Battle Angel Alita fan and this attempt to convert the novels to an anime is a joke.

Too much of the story is left out. For example, the first face off between Alita and Makaku where Alita suffered a defeat, which in turn leads Ido giving her the berserker's body (which plays a massive role in book 5). Makaku's past and how he came to be was left out and replaced with him receiving help from a made up character that was never in the novels. Another massive mistake was leaving out the "small fights" between Alita and Zapan which later leaves to what is know as "the point of no return" in the series. There are other big mistakes and holes in the story. To type them all would lead to about 3-4 pages long...

I agree with Bone, if you have never read the novels, you may like this anime. If you have read them, this anime will make you sick and wish that it never came to be. I truly hope James Cameron can do the movies that he is planning to do and do them right and stay true to the novels. I know Cameron is a big fan of the series, but I am worried he may already be making the mistake of wanting to cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ido. Arnold as Ido...it doesn't fit...

DVD Review: Depends
Summary: 2 Stars

To begin, I am a die-hard fan of the Battle Angel Alita manga. When I first saw this 'episode' of the Battle Angel anime and the anime version of 'Tears of an Angel' I was very disapointed. I agree with the offcial reveiw that it is impossible to translate Yukito Kishiro's extensive manga into an animated format without losing the incredible artwork. However, the loss of the story is what disapointed me the most.
I feel that the depth of the original plot is simply cheapened in the anime. The main villian (Makaku in the manga) has been replaced by a simple "brain eating gladiator". The intense scenes where Alita attempts to save Koyomi from Makaku are completly left out. The anti-hero Desty Nova, who plays a significant role in the later books, is also missing.
If you have never read the manga, you may enjoy this.
If you have read and enjoy the manga, you may want to save your money.

DVD Review: A horrific sci-fi story about violence and love!!
Summary: 5 Stars

Good:
* Intense blood and gore.
* Deep storyline (easy to understand).
* Cool character desing (so look alike to the anime in Kill Bill).
* Great action scenes with good animation (there were like 3 or 4 action scenes).

Bad:
* The graphics were kind of smudgy.
* Sad story.

The story is simple because is about this robot girl called Gally who want to become an assasin for hire so she can get a better life but later the problems become more complicated.
This anime is not those who seeks for action-packed, this is more like a violent movie but is still a classic and very recomended for anime fans.

P.S: The english dub was GREAT but way to overacted at times, I think the voices were better than the acting but is worth to hear, so don't pay to much attention to the other people because is not THAT bad. In fact! this is one of the best dubs I ever heard since Princess Mononoke and Twilight of the Darkmaster.

Adios!

Description of Battle Angel

This film contains graphic violence and brief nudity.

Known as Gunnm in Japan and then Battle Angel Alita to Western manga readers, Battle Angel (in all of its incarnations) is now part of the canon of Blade Runner-inspired anime cyberpunk.

The film version follows a "Hunter Warrior" and cyborg healer named Ido. Ido formerly lived in the floating land of Zalem (Tiphares in the book), the paradise that hovers over the refuse heap of Scrap Iron City in which he now resides with his former lover, Chiren. In his travels as a bounty hunter (killing spine thieves in a world in which human nerve tissue has become the most precious commodity), Ido one day discovers and repairs the remnants of a cyborg whom he names Gally (Alita in the manga). Though possessing the body of a young woman, Gally embodies Ido's most sophisticated and lethal cybernetic skill. In the first episode on the DVD, "Rusty Angel," Gally challenges Chiren's own creation, Greweicia--a brain-eating gladiator--to a death match. In "Tears Sign" Gally discovers that her first love, Yugo, has put himself in the employ of the spine trader Vector so that he can earn his way, he thinks, to Zalem. Gally confronts her fellow bounty hunters to protect Yugo, only to watch him horribly wounded in a plot to capture her for Vector.

Yukito Kishiro's finely detailed line drawings in the original manga (like a cleaner version of Miyazaki's style in the Nausicaa books) are impossible to translate into film. What the film loses in detail, however, it makes up for in its intense action sequences and shadowy mixtures of color and a darkly cinematic soundtrack. Anime fans should be prepared for some pretty graphic violence--including some horrific scenes of decapitation. Also, the action keeps the plot moving at breakneck speed, so character development often seems to happen in leaps; you'll want to read the books to learn more about Gally/Alita and her world.

For English speakers, the DVD is best watched in the original Japanese with subtitles. The dubbing seems to raise the pitch of everyone's voice, changing the mood of the film from tragic-cool to slightly comical. Gally's English is especially annoying. With her original Japanese voice (sometimes childlike and sometimes a seductive whisper), she is a perfectly deadly heroine with a leather-clad style that anticipates The Matrix. --Patrick O'Kelley

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