Alita: Battle Angel is a case of creator preferred adaptation. On its own merits, this is certainly a colorful way for fans to try and find the manga. It has the same heart and core themes, but I’m personally a little conflicted. The movie’s producer James Cameron owns the license for the adaptations. Translation, there can never be another anime save for an OVA that creator Yukito Kishiro dislikes. Which brings us to why we’re here.
Battle Angel Alita
The movie’s source material is in Kishiro’s own words “a part of my own mind (and) heart”. There is a combination of normalizing mechanization as well as its commodification. This is probably, best seen in the first setting where people are made into cyborgs to pay off debt. But some people don’t always let it get them down. It represents an internal struggle of some of Kishiro’s playful ideas and their realities. That’s also why martial arts play such a crucial role in the manga. In addition to making fights more fantastic, they feel like genuine acts of self-expression. Well you gotta find unique fighting styles to suit your unique body.
Battle Angel OVA
What does the OVA do with this? It turns the battles into outright violence. The fights aren’t just ugly, the story is practically sacrificed in favor going from one action scene to the next. This combined with the gore paints Kishiro’s world in a more pessimistic light. Most of the time the world’s atmosphere isn’t even on display. Instead we have muted colors and generic character archetypes. Just to illustrate the point even more here’s a video dedicated to the OVA’s focus.
But I guess you gotta give the OVA some credit. It was mainly following OVA trends of the 90s, sensationalized gore and melancholy in defiance of TV censors. Plus it did allow fans to come into the franchise including Guillermo del Toro. Who in turn showed his enthusiasm to James Cameron who bought the domain the first chance he got.
Where The Movie Goes Right
James Cameron was obviously inspired by the OVA as the movie follows its beats more than the manga. But it was stuck in Development Hell for over a decade. You see, Cameron was busy doing another passion project while stubbornly refusing to let go of the license. It was a little something called Avatar.
With Cameron’s success with his Avatar franchise, his passions were put into the sequels. The Alita movie could only start in 2016, with Robert Rodriguez taking the director’s chair. Under Rodriguez direction, the world of Alita: Battle Angel serves as much as character as the cast. For example, a musician’s guitar has two necks that complement his cyber arm. The payment he receives feels rewarding to the audiences because it feels humanizing. Being a cyborg is just so normal, there’s barely a need to sensationalize.
Not that things don’t get intense. Over the movie, Alita begins to rediscover herself through her Panzer Kunst fighting style and her new bodies. All while building her own life independent of her past. Alita’s time with Ido and a love interest named Hugo gives her a sense of justice. Which puts her at odds with different parties. Including but definitely not limited to Desty Nova, a mad scientist ready to mess with people on a whim.
One Little Slip-Up
Rodriguez does one little thing that doesn’t vibe entirely well with the narrative. See he makes Ido’s OVA original love interest Chiren into a more well rounded character. The OVA has her as Ido’s flat foil who wants to back to their old “utopian” city through shady deals. But Chiren helps Alita out of a flimsy nostalgia of what she and Ido had. With the movie Alita being named after Ido and Chiren’s late daughter, her compassion is more genuine. She helps Alita in slipping Hugo through some legal hurdles for him to survive. But OVA Chiren’s fate is arguably better as Ido’s breakdown shows just how much was lost. Unlike movie where Alita finds out and there isn’t much emotional weight in the payoff. I dunno, Kishiro might’ve been indifferent to the character.
Future Alita Adaptations
Alita: Battle Angel is definitely a success in reception, financial performance, awards, getting a bigger audience, and creator approval. It has a few bumps in the road but it definitely has enough to follow up on.
The only problem is with Disney acquiring the movie’s distributor Fox, sequels may be stuck in Development Hell. Once again James Cameron’s Avatar sequels are a bigger focus.
What about anime? Again, James Cameron bought the license for adaptations. Until Kishiro and Cameron come to an agreement, it’ll never get another adaptation. While Rodriguez is trying to get Alita sequels on Disney+, nothing’s finalized.
Where’s Your Battle Angel Alita?
While Kishiro is satisfied with the movie, what about all of you? Are you intrigued to see what was left in the cliffhanger? Enough to read all of the manga that came after it? Would you hope that the followups would do whatever it takes to keep the action going? Would you be patient to see an anime with the right visuals instead? Leave your thoughts in the comment.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.