230 - Manga in Motion 35 - Alita: Battle Angel

Feb 18, 2019

This week we check out the 2019 Alita: Battle Angel: a live-action adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s Sci-Fi seinen series! Have dakazu and Darfox finally found a good manga movie adaptation?!

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Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 - Intro Song: “New Divide” by J2 Feat. Avery from Alita: Battle Angel, Opening, Introductions, French
• 00:02:05 - Listener Emails: Manga suggestion from Leo
• 00:04:45 - Whatchu Been Reading: Transition Song: “Dragon Ball Z” OST “Prologue”, We recommend the Manga Log podcast
• 00:06:06 - dakazu finds the post-murderer life in Boku no Namae wa “Shounen A” to be a little unrealistic
• 00:13:34 - GROUNDLESS is a war manga that’s oozes with World War II aesthetic
• 00:17:44 - Next Episode Preview and Rundown: Darfox Dabbles, Darfox will check out some available manga on Shueisha’s Manga Plus app
• 00:20:52 - Main Segment Manga in Motion: Transition Song: “Motorball” by Tom Holkenborg from Alita: Battle Angel, we discuss newly released James Cameron dream project directed by Robert Rodriguez
• 00:21:49 - We start with our expectations we had after seeing ‘bug-eyed’ Alita in the trailers
• 00:23:22 - We praise the film for keeping the essence of Battle Angel Alita despite changing the story from the source material
• 00:25:09 - We compare this good adaptation to other failed ones like the Bleach movie
• 00:26:56 - Alita is a strong female hero and Darfox praises her characterization
• 00:28:08 - *SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON* We discuss the use of the F-word and Rodriguez’s use of clean violence
• 00:30:28 - Darfox thought the beginning felt like a cheesy young adult novel
• 00:33:32 - We discuss differences between the villian Grewishka and his manga counterpart Makaku
• 00:36:15 - The movie completely changes the character of Desty Nova
• 00:37:09 - dakazu breaks down how the movie combines the first three story arcs of Battle Angel Alita
• 00:38:41 - We feel side characters like Chiren and Vector were under utilized compared to Zapan
• 00:42:00 - The changes they made to Nova ruin possible story arcs that could’ve been done in a sequel
• 00:43:58 - dakazu compares Alita’s backstory in the movie to her origins from the manga
• 00:46:23 - dakazu explains how the movie’s ending pissed off his wife and how it was handled differently in the manga
• 00:51:52 - We love the design of the cyborgs, the look of Iron town, and the wonderful action sequences
• 00:53:34 - Darfox wishes there was more Motorball scenes and compares it to how Speed Racer focused on the race
• 00:55:16 - Guillermo del Toro helped James Cameron start this project and  technology behind Avatar helped to complete it
• 00:58:05 - We’re happy to hear the creator of Battle Angel Alita, Yukito Kushiro, loved this movie
• 00:59:29 - We compare a bad scene to a good scene between Alita and Hugo
• 01:00:27 - While Christoph Waltz as Ido was fantastic, dakazu is mad his nurse Gerhad was just used as scenery
• 01:02:26 - Darfox wasn’t a fan of Hugo’s teen friends
• 01:03:38 - We praise Robert Rodriguez for making movies with diverse representation
• 01:04:23 - We explore the foreign sensation of having an adaptation we can recommend
• 01:06:54 - We have doubts about Alita: Battle Angel having financial success
• 01:07:53 - We talk about potential adaptations we’d like to see and the upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop & One Piece
• 01:10:10 - We laugh about the awful Dragonball: Evolution
• 01:11:49 - We give our final thoughts
• 01:12:57 - Social Media Rundown, Sign Off Song: “wish men” by sunbrain from Beet the Vandel Buster