We Appreciate Manga

Our cyborg season ends with possibly the most influential cyberpunk manga. One that would inspire the creators of the Matrix movies with its mix of action and Cartesian philosophy. Known by its native title, Koukaku Kidoutai, "Mobile Armored Riot Police" it lives up to both names! Skip summary @ 13:06

076: Ghost in the Shell

By Masamune Shirow

English translation by Frederic L Schodt , Toren Smith and Stephen Paul

With Lettering by Scott O. Brown

Set in the year 2029, the world has advanced in terms of cybernetics, computerization and robotics. This is a possible future where flesh and blood bodies are replaceable and interchangeable, brains can be hacked into, altering memories and nurses are super sexy automatonic dolls, yet in this cyber-punk world exists a government task force known as section 9. A ragtag bunch of military trained agents who fight cyber-terrorism with the help of their spider like tanks, the Fuchikomas and their cyborg Major. Mamoru Oshii would direct the seminal animated movie adaptation. This would be inspired by many chapters more so than others, including the chapters 'Junk Jungle', 'Bye Bye Clay' and 'Ghost Coast'. Where Major Motoko Kusanagi encounters the Puppet master, a hacker that claims to have no corporeal body and is in fact a new conscious life form born from the net. A sequel, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence would base the story on Robot Rondo, where young girls have their consciousness digitally copied and enslaved in the body of robots. Masamune Shiro would continue to write more Ghost in the Shell stories in the tomes 'Man Machine Interface' and 'Human Error Processor'. Soon after publication, Ghost in the Shell would become a successful multimedia franchise.

The Problem with Remakes and the Evil Demon of Images:

On the podcast James' problem with the 2017 film is how it remakes the 1995 Mamoru Oshii classic. He equates his gripe to the same sort of gripe that Jean Baudrillard does with simulacrum, simulacrum itself isn't just delegated to the issues of Hollywood remakes but everything that encompasses the internet and virtual-reality. It creates a feedback loop with technology and the virtual becoming "more real than real" where people learn about sex not from the real world but from what they see in porn, a glamorous simulation of the real. A digestible if not regurgitated form of that which was once real, original, or authentic. Think of the movie Flash Gordon (1980) How many people have experienced that movie through the lens of another? Ted (2012) specifically? And how many people know that the 80's movie itself was based on a 1930's serial? The result is that we have others relaying their experiences to us and the risk is that it can easily become watered down and devoid of its original meaning if not given a new resonating meaning. Especially when taken outside of its original context or poorly recontextualised. For more you can listen to the Chobits episode where James first speaks of Baudrillard or better yet, read the words of Baudrillard himself.

"Motoko's Choice" - Transhumanism and the Philosophy of Dualism:

Renee Decartes Dualism implies that thoughts not only inhabit their own space but can also exist outside from the brain, the "res extensa" as he called it, through Dualism there is the implication that the Puppet Master's Network is multi-dimensional. Currently a digitized earth would not be enough, because the limit of virtual space is real universal space. Shiro doesn't explain that quantum computing exists in this story, neither does aliens or space travel exists (except for travel on the virtual confines of earth's internet), therefore Motoko's net is limited to earth, the res extensa of dualist philosophy. As of 2021, a capitalist world of doge coin, disinformation and non-fungible tokens, Motoko may have a poor deal. Yet an exception to this is that Decartes' "res cogitans" is as large as all living beings present and future.

Motoko could choose to live her life in the dreams and memories of others, she could live as a bat or a cat, especially if said memories and experiences are digitized/quantized or synthesized to future transhumanist ideals, expanding her consciousness, the net and her world, certainly Motoko/Puppeteers children could live like this. Motoko's choice to fuse with the puppeteer could be meaningless as future humans move away from carbon-based life, but one thing for sure is that Motoko will give it meaning. And she will live a meaningful life. Be it within a micro-verse of the res cogitans or macro-verse of the res extensa.

"Digitizing yourself isn't growing, it's not a macro way of exploring the universe, it's a micro way. You can't make any more lemonade if you don't have enough lemons for it."

This doesn't mean that Motoko is right or wrong in her choice, especially if she's preparing for an unknown future, in fact this may be a naturally human response when granted such new powers and opportunities.

Further Topics discussed:

• The pacing of the manga, in terms of action and Shiro's propensity to use annotations (we do and the author recommend you do not read them on your first time).
• Why is Major Motoko so hard to relate to?
• The humour of Ghost in the Shell
• Stand Alone Complex, the anime series.
• Lorn's 'Anvil' music (an example of transhumanism and the future of social networks)
• James Cameron's 'Terminator' franchise and how that also depicts the rise of a formidable and fully conscious Artificial Intelligence.

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What type of podcasters would we be if we didn't cover horror manga before All Hallow's Morning? So, for this spooky time of Halloween, James and Will talk about the classic horror villain that is Tomie! Skip synopsis @ 8:43

075: Junji Ito's Tomie

By Junji Ito

English translation by Naomi Kokubo

With Lettering by Eric Erbes

After the funeral of one Tomie, an entire classroom is shocked to see her arrive to class. Especially since the class was responsible for murdering Tomie and hiding her severed body parts. Tomie's presence forces the class to struggle with their feelings of fear, guilt and love for Tomie as they all question their sanity and turn on each other.

But it's through the course of each tale, that Tomie gets more powerful and threatening. Turning her admirers into obsessed zombies that do her bidding. Those who claim to love Tomie eventually succumb to the urge of not just killing her, but decapitating her, shredding her into pieces and granulating her until every fibre of her being becomes one with the environment. Tomie can split into multiple copies of herself when under heavy stress, very much like cell mitosis or the heads of the mythical Hydra. She can even germinate, as each severed body part or blood drop from Tomie can grow and become another Tomie.

You kill one Tomie and eventually two will pop up.

Such is the case when Tomie's liver is donated to a young woman. Only for the liver to mutate and birth into a new Tomie. The Hospital staff cut Tomie out of the woman and house her in a culture tank so to study her. Only for Tomie to soon break free. Years afterwards, an entirely new generation of Tomies are created when a mysterious man goes around injecting baby girls with the blood of Tomie.

It becomes apparent that the man who infects the children is a past super model by the name of Ryo, having once been disgraced by Tomie, Ryo accidentally burnt his face after killing her, now he seeks revenge on all Tomie beings. Planning to make sure that the infected children live long enough to see old age, in doing so he can spitefully prove to Tomie and to himself that her supernatural beauty isn't beyond the cruelty of time. And Ryo himself would have the last laugh.

When the children come of age and transform into Tomie they do their best to kill each other until there is only one surviving Tomie left. In terms of personality, Tomie is a manipulate psychopath and a narcissist. She has no remorse or respect for anyone but herself. Regardless of how many copies there are of her and who she seduces, they all share the same traits, a beautiful woman with a mole below her left eye claiming to be the true Tomie.

Ryo holds the last surviving Tomie prisoner, and encapsulates her within a block of cement. He hears her cries inside the block and waits for years until the sounds from it turn into moans and howls. When Ryo breaks the block, he sees an elderly and physically gnarled woman. The truth is that he's gone mad and hallucinating. Somehow Tomie escaped thanks to this old crack, the wailing sounds being nothing but blowing wind within the hollow block. A wind that carries a somber note.

Topics:

• Tomie is equal to all iconic monster villains through fiction, as is the case with Dracula and Freddy Krueger, Tomie shares supernatural powers and like all good monsters, she even has a consistent weakness, fire!
• Unlike most iconic monsters, the origin story of Tomie is shrouded in mystery. Tomie starts out as a victim but becomes much more of a threat as each story progresses.
• If Tomei had another power, what would it be?
• Ryo looks like a villain from a Brian de Palma movie or a Dario Argento movie, a nod to the Italian Giallo genre of cinema, a type of movie that mostly features a blood crazed killer going about guised in a black rain coat.
• Best Tomie story, Tomie vs Tomie maybe? Best story Junji Ito story? Listen for the end.

• Julia Ducournau (pronounced Doo-con-nor) is a filmmaker and director of Raw/Grave (2016). She is interested in the grammar of body horror and the body as the subject in film.
• Could we ever fall victim to someone like Tomei? Although the theme of Tomie is obsession it remains a haunting portrayal of men who lack self-respect. Junji Ito was able to depict a perversion of love and show how powerful feelings and hormones could lead to destructive behaviour.
• You can find the Manben documentary about Junji Ito [here]!

Pop culture references/Product Placement:

• Tomie's ability to multiply herself is similar to Planaria, an aquatic worm which may have greatly been an inspiration for Junji in creating the story. Junji himself may have also been aware of James McConnell's studies of memory transfer between planaria.
• Psychic School Wars, a 1973 science fiction novel from Japan, written by Taku Mayumura. In 'Photo', there is a character who hates how Tomie is influencing the school and compares the situation to Psychic School Wars. Little does she know just how powerful Tomie can be.
• Another reference is to 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory', created by Roald Dahl and is best recognised thanks to Gene Wilder's performance as Willy Wonka, which is also based on Roald Dahl's novel 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Tsukiko from the story 'photo' wears a t-shirt that has the movie's title printed on it.

Tomie's appearance in other media:

• The Tomie book is visible on the shelf in one character's living room on one episode of Kim's Convenience.
• As of 2021 there are 9 live action movies, Miho Kanno was the first person to play her in the 1998 movie, whom Junji Ito was responsible for casting, and Miu Nakamura was the latest in 2011.

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James tells Steven about the two non-cannon endings of Battle Angel Alita, draws comparisons between the James Cameron / Robert Rodriguez movie adaptation and the anime, as well as bring up how much the mangaka suffered from burnout. Over all, this was an amazing cyberpunk treat and it's fair to say both dudes have a crush on Alita.

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074: Battle Angel Alita vol. 9

Chapters 48 to 51

"No Brainer" and "Epitaph"

By Yukito Kishiro

Translation by Stephen Paul

Lettering by Scott Brown

Topics:

• Casting of the Alita: Battle Angel movie
• Indiskovar (indi 2.0)
• No Brainer (MIB, death of Bigot, Lou Collins fate)
• Ouroboros II (Nova, "Gentle Alita" or "Gally")
• Last Blade (Koyomi, The photographer, Den)
• Epitaph (Things we forgot to mention, the ending, the author)

The different endings to Battle Angel Alita.

As the majority of readers will know by now, Battle Angel Alita ends on a type of tragic cliff hanger, this was confirmed as canon when the new series 'Battle Angel Alita: Last Order' followed from the events of this chapter 51.

For a long time, the canonical ending was deemed to be the one in the Playstation videogame 'Gunnm: Martian Memory (a.k.a. Memories of Mars)'.

The following is a brief summary on the two endings, we'll refer to the original as the Shueisha ending and the other as the Playstation ending. Note that both endings count as non-canonical but start off similar since they take place after chapter 51. The two are similar in that Alita is revived by Nova and wakes up to find herself in the city of Zalem, she recalls some memory of her past life, we discover that prior to meeting Ido she crash landed on earth as she was making an attack on Jeru. The attack was pre-empted by Gerude, who Alita narrowly escapes from. On Jeru, Alita makes it her goal to save Lou from the MIB and liberate both Zalem and Jeru from the control of Melchizedek, with Melchizedek being responsible for cutting off Earth from its space elevator and creating the brain to biochip initiation. It becomes clear that Melchizedek is an AI infected by some sort of virus.

Shueisha ending:

Melchizedek is suicidal and decides to collapse the space elevator, to save the scrapyard and Zalem from the cataclysm Alita uses the Imaginos body that Nova gave her and fuses herself to the main bolt. Effectively Alita sacrifices her life. A few years later, searching for answers to Alita's demise is an 18-year-old Koyomi, now a photojournalist. Koyomi travels to Jeru where she finds a much older looking and jaded Figure Four, the two come across a dishevelled and decrepit Nova who leads them to Alita's grave, now known as the 'the tree of life' or the 'Nanomachine tree'. Which was created when Alita transmuted into the space elevator. Both Koyomi and Figure break the seed of the tree and set free a flesh and blood Alita. She retains all her memories and is happy to be in the arms of Figure again.

Playstation ending:

Alita leaves Nova to find out what infected Melchizedek. Meanwhile she takes part in the tenth "Zenith of Things" tournament, which involves the strongest fighters in the solar system all competing with each other. It's during this time that Alita meets Gerude, and although Alita loses a fight to Gerude she is spared because he sees that Alita's Panzer Kunst is different. And he can see that Alita has now become a defender of Earth and its people. Gerude is eventually killed by another "Kunstler", the main antagonist of the space arc, known as Zuoh, who calls his martial art "Panzer Faust" a newly developed form of Panzer Kunst. Zuoh intends to terrorise Earth and continue the terraformation war in spite of Melchizedek. Eventually with the help of a spy called Limeira, Zuoh is arrested by Martian authorities, putting an end to Mars' involvement in the terraformation war. During these events Alita revives a space ship for the sake of frontier exploration.

And it's in this conclusion where Alita is about to set off with her friends and allies on the space ship, known as Leviathan 1, that she finds that due to the absence of Melchizedek, Jeru has been transformed to resemble the likeness of Desty Nova's face. Alita chooses to stay behind on earth. Making sure that Nova does not make earth a personal playground for his experiments.

More Movie related topics:

• Tilly Lockey (So to sponsor the Alita movie, the designers at 20th century fox made designs for Open Bionics, as a representative of Open Bionics, Tilly wore the bionic arms on the red carpet, her previous arms were based on the Deus Ex: Human Revolution Videogame)

Comparisons between the Original Video Anime and the Live Action Hollywood movie:

Similarities

• Chiren is an original character from the '93 anime, played by Jennifer Connelly in the 2019 movie. She is a love interest for Ido and a sort of anti-villain. She plays a pivotal role in saving Yugo's life.
• Grewishka is a composite mix of the characters Kinuba and Makaku. He works for Vector and is played by Jackie Earl Hayley in the 2019 movie.
• Fang the Dog is killed by Grewishka, When Alita fights Grewishka she wears the dog's blood as war paint. There is no baby Koyomi involved in the fight.
• Megil (the werewolf) is absent from both stories.

Differences

• Desty Nova manages to possess and control Grewishka and Vector. Making it clear that those who work for Nova are puppets to his will.
• Yugo first meets Alita whilst he is working on the wind turbine, whereas in the 2019 movie Yugo pushes her out of oncoming traffic.
• Clive Lee's role in the 2019 movie is reduced to a cameo, for all intents and purposes, Zapan functions as a composite role in place of Clive Lee.
• The 2019 movie includes Nyssiana who seems like an original character but is actually based on the Mutant Woman who appears in the manga. In the 2019 movie she accompanies Grewishka and Romo.
• Alita is given a Berserker body by Ido, in the 2019 movie she finds the Berseker body in the ruins of a Martian spacecraft.
• Zapan frames Yugo for murder.
• Koyomi does not appear in the '93 anime but appears as a teenager in the 2019 movie. She becomes a friend of Alita's through Yugo.
• Alita does not fight the hunter warriors in the Kansas bar, unlike the manga and the 2019 movie.
• In the 2019 movie, Murdock the dog master, appears during the underground Grewishka fight. He uses his cyborg dogs to aid Alita. The fact that Grewishka kills Fang is enough motivation for him.
• In the 2019 movie Zariki is a Motorball champion who gets his Grind cutters stolen from Yugo and Tanji. Eventually they are given to Grewishka. Unlike the '93 anime, Zariki is not a hired goon for Vector. It is Grewishka who serves that function, thus Grewishka survives the underground fight to die in Vector's office.
• The presence of Motorball is the largest difference between the anime and the live action Hollywood movie. In the 2019 movie Yugo teaches Alita how to play Motorball on the streets of Scrap Iron City. And in her first appearance on a legitimate Motorball track she faces a conspiracy to kill her. We also see a brief cameo of Jasugun.
• As with the original manga, Zapan loses his face when he crosses Alita for Yugo's bounty. This is absent in the '93 anime.
• Alita experiences flashbacks of her mission that involves the invasion of Zalem and her target being the villainous Desty Nova.

Major differences from the Manga:

• By the end of the story Chiren's organs is packaged and ready to be transported to Zalem. Including her brain.

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Only near the conclusion of the original manga run do Steven and James find out that they have been reading different translations. Which spurs talk about the differences between the two. Including the original video anime. Which also had two separate English translations! Skip synopsis @4:30

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073: Battle Angel Alita vol. 8

Chapters 42 to 47

"One Last Broadcast" and

By Yukito Kishiro

Translation by Stephen Paul

Lettering by Scott Brown

Continuing after the events of the Panzer Bride saga, the rebel leader that is Den pontificates on the reason why he is still alive after fighting the TUNED agent Alita, knowing full well that his true body is that of Kaos' and that Alita could kill Kaos at any time if she so chooses. Koas realises this, with his telemetric powers he touches the blade which was used in the fight between Alita and Den. Once Kaos gains memories of the object's past, he realizes that he is Alita's hostage.

Kaos makes a final radio broadcast to not only warn the people of the rebels but to inspire peace. Alita decides not to kill Kaos knowing that he does not share the same murderous tendencies as Den, however she does lose respect for him on his persistence in wanting Alita's love. Especially when it comes to his telemetry as he should know better that Alita's heart belongs to another.

Kaos reveals where Ido may be staying and as Alita visits Ido she finds that the man has erased all his memory, including his memories of Alita. Ido's accomplices gives Alita the last video that he recorded for Alita. Within the video Ido tells her how the mad scientist, Desty Nova, revived his life, however speaking to Nova has scared Ido into sharing Nova's same madness and thus he decides to erase his memory before apologising to Alita. Alita leaves Ido, unable to rejoice with the only father figure she knows.

Meanwhile Kaos seeks out Desty Nova, by confronting the mad man who is his father he dares to gain a semblance of intimacy with Alita, and the chance to build upon the memories that he can truly call his own. Sadly, Kaos is defeated only to suffer more abuse, and as Alita makes way to Nova, she encounters a mysterious figure and recognises this person's acrobatic movements as her own "Panzer Kunst". Alita is told by the director of TUNED operations that this new antagonist is AR unit 2 of 12. And that before she can meet Nova she is to be tested as an agent in battle. Alita's life is saved by her TUNED private operator, Lou, yet the battle itself cost Alita an arm, a foot and an eyeball.

Via a transmissible electric shock, Alita is woken from her rest by the director. She is told that the rebels were defeated (apparently by AR unit 10) and is reminded that her job is to apprehend Nova, thus Alita still carries on, she's smart enough not to enter the front once she gets to Nova's place. Yet within Nova's lair, Alita finds herself on the old Motorball circuit that she knows well, waiting for her is the ghost of the athlete she defeated all those many years ago. Ready for another match, as is Alita.

Topics:

• Alita gets "prestiged"! The fight between her and AR2. And what makes a good fight scene.
• Translation differences between Viz and the Kodansha printing, as well as the Original Video Animation and Hollywood movie adaptations. 1994 Manga UK dub is based on the Viz translation, whereas the1999 ADV Films translation keeps Alita's original Japanese name of Gally, Hugo as Yugo and the Scrapyard is referred to as Scrap Iron City. This is faithful to the original Japanese text with the exception of minor characters. Zalem is a biblical reference to Salem, whilst the name Tiphares is a reference to the Kabbalah. Allegedly the man who changed Gally's name to Alita is Fred Burke (the same Fred Burke who did the translation for Neon Genesis Evangelion's Viz media release), Burke worked on the Viz translation of Battle Angel Alita with Sterling Bell, Matt Thorn and Toshifumi Yoshida.

Other references:

• Nova's base is at Norad Mountain. This is most likely based on the real world setting that is the Cheyenne Mountain in El Paso County, Colorado. Alluding to the setting of Alita being sometime in the distant future.
• Madness and enlightenment as a topic of this volume seems to have been inspired by the Russian philosopher and mystic George GurdJieff. "Life is Real only Then, When 'I am'". His students published a book after his death known as "The Fourth Way".

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We talk about more characters and moments in the cyberpunk epic, Gunnm, including a very supernatural dude who uses psychometry. Plenty of coil guns and stone tape theory talk in this one. skip summary @5:00 and remember, BLM always and forever.

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072: Battle Angel Alita vol. 7

Chapters 36 to 41

"The Grounding" and "Dual Man"

By Yukito Kishiro

Translation by Stephen Paul

Lettering by Scott Brown

The Cyborg Alita leaves her love at his fishing town of Al Hambra so that she can continue her journey as a TUNED agent. She promises to return but her quest to find the villain Nova is what drives her. Alita gains a new TUNED operator, the Zalemite Lou Collins, who provides intel and help for Alita. When attacked by ninjas Alita is helped by the drone known as Gabriel. And one of the dying ninjas streams a video to Alita. Through the ninja, Nova says that in order to find him Alita must find Den of Barjack first. Den happens to be a gargantuan cyborg terrorist, who intends to attack the city of Zalem.

Meanwhile Alita saves a young girl from a gang of bandits, the girl is non other than Koyomi, the baby Alita saved years ago, Koyomi is now a proud owner of a familiar cyborg dog as she journeys to find a radio host called Kaos. She gives Alita much insight into the scrapyard and what her past friends have been doing. And although Alita works for Zalem she regards the scrapyard as her home. Soon afterwards they are swallowed into a sinkhole, Alita saves Koyomi from drowning but damages her lungs in the process. When Alita wakes, she finds that she has no connection to Collins, that Kaos has saved her and has also fallen in love with her. Kaos can only speak using radio waves and so one must use a receiver to understand him, but Kaos also has the unique power of telemetry and through touch he can see the memories and emotions of a person's past. Kaos tells Alita that her real name is Yoko and that his father is Nova. On their way to Nova, they are pre-emptively stopped by Den. Den wants Kaos to surrender Alita and pledge his loyalty to Barjack. Alita chooses to fight Den whilst Kaos escapes. The fight is in favour of Den until Collins links back online to Alita and air drops the Solenoid Quench Gun.

Koyomi, who is upset by Kaos' obsession with Alita, is swayed over Den's words of rebellion against Zalem. Reunited with her dog, she sides with the crippled Den and Alita decides to spare Den's life so to catch up with Kaos. Eventually a rainstorm begins and Alita reaches Kaos to find him digitally possessed by Den, Den already having a transmitter implanted into him. Den fights Alita once again.

Topics:

• Alita's introspective moment and epiphany.
• Yasmin as a tragic figure.
• First impressions
• The Kaos character
• Koyomi

Other references:

• Al Hambra translates to "the red one" and implies that the war chronicle arc is set in California. The real-life city of Al hambra is eight miles from Los Angeles.
• Aztec Sun God,
• Telemetry (a.k.a. "stone tape theory" or "psychometry" or "pscychoscopy") the stone tape term came from parapsychologist T.C. Leftbridge. Joseph rodes Buchanan coined the word Psychometry and describes as such that "The Past is entombed in the Present! The world is its own enduring monument; and that which is true of its physical, is likewise true of its mental career. The discoveries of Psychometry will enable us to explore the history of man, as those of geology enable us to explore the history of the earth."
• EPR paradox
• The drone "Gabriel" is a biblical reference.
• The "BFG trope", shown with the Solenoid Quench Gun. This acts as a coil gun or a rail cannon, The word Solenoid implies that it is an electrically charged coil. Whereas a rail cannon specifically would use rails. It's also the type of weapon that is seen (if somewhat fantastically) in the videogames Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 3. Demolition Ranch have a video on using a rail gun. Technically the Large Hadron Collider itself is a coil gun. For more info you can always check out this video from Hacksmith Industries.

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Volume 6 a.k.a. the TUNED arc follows Alita as she joins a ragtag group of mercenaries. And James and Steve can't help but compare it to films like Aliens, War movies and Westerns, not bad for a cyberpunk story, no? Skip summary @6:27

071: Battle Angel Alita vol. 6

Chapters 30 to 35

"Judgement Day" and "Rainmaker"

By Yukito Kishiro

Translation by Stephen Paul

Lettering by Scott Brown

Synopsis

After the defeat of Zapan, Alita is condemned to disposal for the crime of using a firearm. However, she is saved by a man known as the Director Bigott Eizenburg, he communicates to her via a dream in the middle of her disposal procedure before saving her, Alita is hesitant to believe him, but when Bigott reveals that he is after Desty Nova it is then that Alita decides to work for his group TUNED, in the hopes that she can find Ido by tracking Nova.

We head towards an ambiguous time in the future where the authority of the scrapyard a.k.a. 'the Factory' hires mercenaries to protect their cargo from a gang of bandits.

A man called Figure Four Joins them, his most distinctive trait is that he is an organic flesh and blood man who is able to fight machines and cyborgs through his Qi and Hertza Hauen martial arts. He meets another mercenary, Yorg, who warns him about the dangerous woman on the other carriage. Alita. Figure Four introduces himself to Alita by pinching her harmonica and playing it badly! Luckily for him Alita finds him charming.

The train is attacked by Bandits. Their leader being Knuclehead. Alita manages to extinguish this threat and keep Knuclehead detained, cutting his vocal cord so that he can no longer make verbal threats. During the attack the nuclear-powered train went into meltdown, both Figure Four, Yorg and Alita survive the fallout by ditching the train; but it becomes apparent that the two men only slow Alita down. This leads to a tense discussion with Bigott on deciding the fate of the men. Figure chooses to settle things by fighting Alita. He loses. And he wakes finding out Alita has left him with Yorg and took off in a Dune Buggy.

A lot happens during these events, Alita obviously has a conscience, and Yorg has a family back home so she returns to pick up the men, but a cyclone creates the contrivance of losing Knuckehead and Alita and the mercenaries stubble upon ruins of a city not knowing at first that it is a military base owned by Barjack. The whole cyclone ordeal has Figure tie up Alita and scavenge for rations until he can trust her again. And although Alita is very happy to be fed by Figure Four, the man isn't exactly a smooth operator when it comes to winning Alita over.

A repaired Knucklehead returns with reinforcements, a party of the Barjack rebellion lead by Colonel Bozzle. Alita gives away her position by screaming and shooting at a butterfly, apparently the appearance of beady eyes on its wings creep her out. A shot from a tank targets them. Alita manages to save them due to the wall that falls having smashed out windows. Bozzle is an old friend of Yorg's and so Yorg sides with Bozzle in order to save his himself, this brings confusion to the fight and Alita is apprehended whilst Figure Four is left for dead.

Alita loses her legs and is interrogated by Bozzle yet Knuclehead is angry at being used as bait for the attack on Alita, Knuckehead attacks Bozzle and his socket soldiers. He kidnaps Alita and in their final showdown Figure manages to make a surprise attack and save Alita. Alita goes to give Figure a kiss until she is interrupted by gunfire. Bozzle and an unknown socket soldier have survived and seem to want to settle the score. In a twist of fate, the soldier is Yorg, and his final act of redemption is to rebel against Bozzle. Yorg dies in the arms of Figure and Bozzle dies too.

After burying Yorg, Alita and Figure travel on foot through the desert wasteland, with one last bastion of hope being that Figure thinks he can make it rain by singing. And you know what? By some miracle it does. Why fish is pouring from the Sky has yet to explained.

Topics

• The ending and the ambiguity of the miracle.
• The disposal scene.
• The train ambush attack.
• The romance between Alita and Figure Four.
• Yorg as a character.

Other references

• Figure Four is the second character appearing to use Hertza Hauen and Qi, the first being Jasugun during the Motorball arc.
• The Dryad Butterfly, Minois Dryas. Alita shares the fear of this butterfly with the Author Yukito Kishiro.
• Volume 6 contains visual allusions to the 1987 movie, Robocop, Alita smashes her hand through a wall to grab a soldier by surprise. And the socket Soldiers themselves are based on Peter Weller's costume and bald cap headpiece in the movie. Yukito Kishiro must have thought the bald cyborg in that film resembled a lightbulb and the socket soldiers are screwed into their bodies through such a way. This is no surprise since, Kishiro has mentioned how at one point he hoped the Robocop director, Paul Verhoeven would direct a live action film version of Alita/Gunnm, according to the October 1993 interview in Animerica magazine with Seiji Horibuchi. For Kishiro's interview and more you can purchase this book here. You can also find old scans and transcripts online too.

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James and Steve discuss which other actors would have played a good Desty Nova, story-wise Zapan returns to settle the score. So basically, we get Karma as a theme! Skip plot summary @5:51

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070: Battle Angel Alita vol. 5

Chapters 23 to 29

"Lost Sheep" and "Lion and the Lamb"

By Yukito Kishiro

Translation by Stephen Paul

Lettering by Scott Brown

Synopsis

Zapan, who previously fought Alita, helps out the homeless with his love, Sarah.

Suffering from post-traumatic stress after Alita tore off his face, it only takes seeing Alita on TV, now a Motorball champion, to trigger his mental breakdown. Forgetting his strength, he decapitates Sarah and sends her head flying into the soup that she cooked for the homeless. He scoops out her head, apologises and walks off.

Two years later, Alita has quit Motorball and lives by herself. She spends her nights as a songstress, entertaining at the Kansas bar with Shumira. Shumira is both the bar maid and the baby sitter for Koyomi. During the day Alita teaches self-defence classes and reads Hans Henny jahn.

Zapan, now a wanted man, is on the hunt for Alita. But it's not so simple, As Sarah's father, an old man with a pack of robot dogs, intends to avenge his daughter. Alita is respectful for the old man, during the fight, and perhaps to Zapan too, since Alita gives Zapan the chance to strike by playing him a song instead. In the end, it's the old man's dogs who gives the fatal blow to Zapan.

On Alita's birthday, Ido gives her the seeds for sugar snap peas and Alita gets a letter from her old friend Umba. He reveals that he tried his best to salvage Alita's Berserker body but it is now bought and owned by the man Desty Nova.

Ido goes to visit Nova whilst Alita plants the peas. Nova introduces his next project to Ido, to revive Zapan's corpse with the Berserker body. His explanation as to why; to develop Karma and to observe the possibility that mankind can overcome their karma. Nova believes his nanotechnology is key to live a life of no consequence, no Karma, but Zapan can't be controlled and makes an attack on every one in their wake.

Not long after this Alita is escorted to Ido and Nova, Alita knows Ido well enough to grab her Damascus blade beforehand. On arrival at the ruins of Nova's lab stands Nova and his entourage. She asks about Ido and so Nova gives her Ido's head in a box. Alita is devasted, and her attempts to murder the lot fall short as their Nanomachines give them superhuman healing. Nova claims to be able to bring Ido back to life and gives Alita appropriate ammunition to fight Zapan who is now on his way to Kansas bar where he kills Gonzu.

Alita is too late to save the bar and is treated like a pariah. The community blames her for turning Zapan into a monster and so vouches to turn her into a scapegoat. They plan to hand her over to Zapan so that the monster can find peace. Alita refuses to go down without a fight.

And in their climactic battle Alita wins. The last thing we see of Zapan is that he wakes to find that Sarah is still alive that his journey for retribution was just a dream.

Topics

• The character Eelai is Nova's "Paramour" according to the 2017 Kodansha translation, Merriam-Webster defines the Paramour word as an "illicit or secret lover". She is a hypersexual woman that can be quite common in boy's manga, regardless of the comments James has on this character and the role of BDSM, one should not take his words too seriously, after all BDSM is a consensual and adult practice. A far interesting question is if Eelai will ever have her way with the Doctor Ido character.
• Who could have played a good Nova in a life action film? The actor that James forgets the name of is actor John Glover (who is on twitter for those who are curious), he played as villainous characters in 'Smallville', 'Gremlins 2: The New Batch' and 'Batman & Robin'. Other actors name dropped is Jim Carrey and Jeffrey Combs.
• Karma and scapegoating as themes for consequence. Cancel culture now being referred to as consequence culture by academics.
• Zapan's return and vengeance.
• Alita's growth as a character and plausibility of becoming a singer.

Other references

• Eric Drexler, The term "nano-technology" had been coined by the Tokyo University of Science professor Norio Taniguchi in 1974 to describe the precision manufacture of materials with nanometer tolerances, and Drexler unknowingly used a related term in his 1986 book Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology to describe what later became known as molecular nanotechnology When people say nano-technology in science fiction they are usually referring to Drexler's premise.
• The manga has chapter titles which have biblical symbolism; the lamb is a symbol of purity and as such is considered most worthy of sacrificial ritual. The Manga very much depicts Alita as the would-be lamb/scapegoat. In the King James translation (KJV), Ezekiel 46:4 reads:

  "In the burnt offering which the prince shall offer to the Lord on shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish"

  …and in Leviticus 12:8 KJV it reads:

  "But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'"

  This is very much in a similar way to how one uses scapegoats. However, a "sheep" often refers to a follower of God, and Jesus Christ is considered "The Lamb of God", The Lions are a reference to how Roman emperors persecuted the Christians. With origins as early as Ignatius of Antioch. In fact, Ignatius' open letter (his epistle) to the Romans states:

  "I am God's wheat and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts to make a pure loaf for Christ. I would rather that you fawn on the beasts so that they may be my tomb and no scrap of my body be left. Thus, when I have fallen asleep, I shall be a burden to no one. Then I shall be a real disciple of Jesus Christ when the world sees my body no more."

  For more reading check out the Order of Saint Ignatius website and this article by Kuba Shand-baptiste.

• "Demon Dogs" as a term has been used to describe the Cerberus or the "hounds of Hell", although Steven mentions it within British lore, however, and perhaps coincidentally the notion of a dog from hell actually permeates from a lot of cultures. Sadly, when it comes to dogs many myths persists to this day, especially in Islamic instances. One can't help but wonder what Islam's stance on cybernetic dogs would be.

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The conclusion to the Motorball arc where we see lots of CONTENT WARNING violence and the first example of gratuitous nudity in the cyberpunk manga; interestingly it's not from Alita! Skip synopsis @ 4:31

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069: Battle Angel Alita vol. 4

Chapters 18 to 22

'Martial Ball' (a.k.a. "Head Banger's Ball" in some translations) and 'Ars Magna'

By Yukito Kishiro

Translation by Stephen Paul

Lettering by Scott Brown

Synopsis

Out on the Gregory circuit, Alita looks to find new members to build her team. She works her way through every battle on the track and earn her self some allies in the coming battles. In the meantime, Ido has his own confessions and concerning situation with Jasugun, which questions his loyalty to the champion, or to Alita, the daughter which he never had.

Topics

• The humor of Alita, Kishiro maybe using a venn diagram whilst plotting the story beats so to help him transition between scenes in the least emotionally jarring way possible, or perhaps through intuition he is a master at tone, balancing humor with a sense of the natural. Tiegel being comic-relief and an allusion to the tortoise and the hare fable.
• Action scenes, particularly Zafal being underwhelming in her last scene and Jasugun's last stand.
• The flashback scene being the boon that Alita acquires. Through Motorball she evokes her warrior spirit and finds herself again.
• That infamous shower scene with Shumira is noteworthy since it's the first case of gratuitous nudity within the run of the manga, more so interesting since Alita as the main character and is never sexualized to such an extent if any. The pacing of this scene has it wedged in between the exchange that Ido and Jasugun have.
• Desty Nova.

Other references

• The character Zafal is physically based on Grace Jones.
• Tabasco sauce, a popular brand of chilli pepper sauce, Tiegel drinks it to get his boost in the Motorball race.
• Agoraphobia, a real-life phenomenon in regards to those with social anxiety disorders.

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Alita demonstrates more of her badassity in the beginning of the 'Motorball' arc, which featured prominently in the James Cameron/Robert Rodriquez movie. Skip synopsis @ 4:04

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068: Battle Angel Alita vol. 3

Chapters 13 to 17

'Killing Angel' and 'Second Stage'

By Yukito Kishiro

Translation by Stephen Paul

Lettering by Scott Brown

Synopsis:

Devastated by her loss, Alita runs away from Dr. Ido. Ido spends days as a wanderer and intends to put his work on hold in order to find her. When he hears the cries and screams of a girl coming from a back alley, he knows too well that it is not the Alita he is searching for. Luckily for her, Dr. Ido finds himself a weapon and obliges to save her. In doing so she rewards him by taking him to see Alita. The girl, named Shumira, buys Ido a ticket to a sporting event, there we see that Alita is competing in the deadly sport of Motorball. When Ido reaches out to Alita, he is greeted coldly, she turns her back on him and walks towards her next destination.

Through Shumira, Ido meets the reigning Motorball champion, Jasugun. Ido works with Jasugun as his personal tuner in order to defeat Alita and make her question her career path. But to Ido's terror, Alita is not one to back down.

Their paths cross on the market, and the both Alita and Jasugun begin to compete in an arm wrestle. Alita wagers her cybernetic heart and literally puts it out onto the table. Jasugun forfeits the arm wrestle but not before blowing out Alita's arm actuators. The two decide to settle things in Motorball, where Alita must assemble a team in order to compete with him.

Topics:

• In the chapter, 'Second Stage', Alita's tenet expressed within this volume is "Every human being needs something to stand up and fight against. If you run away or protect your own hide, you're bound to go soft and rot away. You've got to keep fighting or else you'll ruin yourself. At the very least, that's the kind of person I am"
• Alita vs Ido, and how they're psychological battles compare to the more comical action scenes and violence throughout the manga. As well as how their character embellishes the action.

Other references:

• Damascus Steel, is a legendary metal and is the closest thing to antiquity that would resemble the fictional metals of Tolkien's Mythril and George R.R. Martin's Valerian Steel (Dragon Glass). Damascus steel is merely an alloy that has a distinct marbling and wood-grain look to it. The plural for such weapons made in Damascus is Damascene whilst Damascus itself is the capitol city of Syria.
• 'Sea Monkeys', one of the most successfully marketed and sold products in U.S. history. Simply they are brine sold as eggs that when hatched become pets. The person responsible for selling these was Harold von Braunhurt, who also sold the infamous 'x-ray specs' along with his 'sea-monkeys' via mail order.
• Agoraphobia, Ed mentions this when Alita asks where Umba is. Literally means scared of open spaces but in reality it pertains to a social anxiety.
• Qi (pronounced as "Chi" and often written as "Ki") is the energy that Jasugun uses for strength. Tai Qi Gong is a mind and body exercise from where the trope is derived from. It's been in many manga such as 'Dragonball' and 'Battle Royale', where in episode 19 of the 'We Appreciate Manga' podcast we talk about two characters who fought each other using Qi.

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A deep dive critique into the cyborg fantasy that is Battle Angel Alita a.k.a. Gunnm! Alita fights a werewolf that wears shades, as you do, but is her love strong enough to save Yugo? Sorry for the technical issues guys, promise next week will have better audio! skip summary @ 6:26

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067: Battle Angel Alita vol. 2

Chapters 7 to 6,

'Tears of an Angel' and 'Guilty Dreams'

By Yukito Kishiro

Translation by Stephen Paul

Lettering by Scott Brown

Synopsis:

A dazed and passed out Alita wakes up on a bed of soft earth in a derelict warehouse, she finds a young man watching her, his name is Yugo. They both walk through the remnants of a fight, one that isn't over until Alita is attacked, luckily, she finishes the job. Yugo has no qualms about harvesting their corpses.

It's thanks to serendipity that Alita meets Yugo again as he works on Dr. Ido's roof by repairing the wind turbine. It's clear that Alita has a crush on the boy yet Yugo moonlights as a thief, stealing spines of unsuspecting cyborgs so that he can flog them onto the black market. He plans to raise enough funds so that he can fulfil his dream of living in Zalem, albeit he doesn't leave his victims for dead. Alita is unaware of this but she chooses to raise her own funds in order to support Yugo's dream. Alita becomes conscious of being a cyborg, and it pains her to know that she is too strong and too powerful to be able to safely hold Yugo in her arms.

Zapan, a Warrior-hunter who has a grudge against Alita, catches Yugo in the act of stealing spines, he kills off Yugo's accomplices, Van and Tanji, but Yugo escapes. To spite Alita, Zapan puts a bounty out on Yugo's head and Alita runs through a storm so to aid him. She finds Yugo in the same place they first met and Alita confesses her love towards Yugo. He tells Alita that one of his hands formerly belonged to his dead brother and he still has the scars from the surgery. By trading his hand for his brother's, he is able to honor him. Soon Yugo is confronted by his brother's killer. A Warrior-Hunter who is now after the bounty on Yugo. He killed Yugo's brother for attempting to illegally fly up to Zalem and now he plans to kill Yugo for doing something similar. Alita fights the warrior hunter, and although he mocks her electrically conductive arm, the warrior is defeated by a lightning strike. Sadly, Yugo was egregiously wounded before Alita could do anything to help.

Afterwards, Zapan and his cohorts ambush Alita, anticipating that she is protecting Yugo. Alita reveals that she has the severed head of Yugo and thus the payment of bounty goes to her. Zapan's audience quickly dissipates. However, Zapan is flabbergasted, he can't believe that Alita could behead Yugo. Zapan attempts to steal the head from her and finds that Alita has secretly connected Yugo's head to her own cybernetic vital organs. Effectively Yugo isn't dead, he's on life support!

With one stroke of her hand, Alita cuts off Zapan's face, for Zapan the hit isn't fatal but it is debilitating, sending Zapan to a great fall.

Since Alita has ownership of Yugo's head, it is her right if she wants to trade it in for her bounty reward, but what she does is have Dr. Ido give Yugo a new body and once acclimated to it, both he and Alita confront Vector. The man who promised Yugo a trip to Zalem.

Topics:

• The tenets of Alita, in volume 1 Alita states "What good is happiness if it's only given to you", in the prologue chapter of Volume 2, she states to Makaku "I believe that every human can choose her own way in life, we can choose to be ugly or beautiful".
• Fighting werewolves with shades.
• One plot twist involves Alita keeping Yugo's head on life support, this is a narrative technique called, "indirect dialogue". Where an author can deliberately choose to withhold information from readers so that it can have an emotional effect when revealed later.
• Alita hasn't developed a personal goal of her own yet and in the early chapters her character is defined by her relationship with Yugo. She also lacks a formidable antagonist.
• Having dreams and aspirations whilst being in a relationship.

Trivia:

• The Warrior-hunter that attacks Yugo says "return to substance" this line is inspired by Cartesian dualism and expresses the author's personal or fictitious philosophy of being "substantiast" That the body is formless and separate from the mind. Dualism becomes a prominent topic in Mamoru Oshiis Ghost in the Shell manga which we will make a podcast on in the near future.
• Kiriki makes an appearance in the concluding chapter and Zapan returns in chapter 9, both their previous appearances and respective debuts are in chapter 4 'Resurgents'

Other references:

• In the chapter 'Tears of an Angel' a factory sign reads "Factory Front 242" in reference to the Belgian Industrial band, Front 242.
• Zapan calls Alita an 'Iron Maiden', the title of the chapter, the name

is a reference to the torture device, which is a container full of iron spikes, it has a door with hinges and forces the victim to stand straight, if they are to lean or fall inside one, they will do severe damage to themselves. Like the infamous 'Chastity Belt' there is also no evidence of such device being used in the medieval era. In the footnotes of the manga an Iron Maiden is a type of killer android within the world of Alita.

• In the same chapter, 'Heaven's Gate' is the label of one bottle, this is most likely a reference to the German Metal band that were active during the 80's, their first album being 'Night of the Dog', released in 1984. The name is also a biblical reference, from Revelations 21:21 the New International Version states "The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass."

• In the chapter 'Guilty Dreams', Vector makes the threat "get out or you'll be Sashimi", Sashimi being sliced up raw fish, the etymology behind it meaning pierced or cut along with the kanji for meat or body. In the west it is often confused with 'Sushi' which is a pickled rice meal that is often served with fish and seaweed strips with vinegar.

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