List Price: $19.98Price: $1.99
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304256589
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6304256582
Label: Adv Films
Languages: JapaneseOriginal LanguageAnalogEnglishDubbed
Manufacturer: Adv Films
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Adv Films
Release Date: November 11, 1998
Running Time: 70 minutes
Studio: Adv Films
Theatrical Release Date: 1996
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
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
Average Rating:
Rating: 
-
Fans of the manga will no doubt need it. It was hard to watch and enjoy this without noticing the obvious differences from the manga. Still when I approach something that is derived from a video game or comic. I completely forget everything I know about it and watch the movie as a movie. Therefore, I pretty much enjoyed Battle Angel. The story really didn't appeal to me but the action made up in some ways. I didn't care too much at all for Gally's high pitch voice. Anyway, if you never read the manga ... Read More
Rating: 
-
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 ... Read More
Rating: 
-
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. ... Read More
Rating: 
-
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. ... Read More
Rating: -
Unique, beautiful, and well story-lined.
This is number one in my anime collection. Just about every bad review gotten for this movie was because of people who read the manga and therefor had major bias since a movie will just about never be the way you pictured it would be from reading it.
Joy, love and peace.
