Battle Angel

Battle Angel
by Hiroshi Fukutomi

Battle Angel
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DVD Cover Information

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

Movie Reviews of Battle Angel

Movie 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.

Summary 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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