069 - Battle Angel Alita vol. 4

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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