Intro
Was geht mein Zwielicht alter und untote Mädels? Velkommin til The World is My Burrito, a podcast that reaches for the stars, fueled by the flesh of its listeners - yes, you!
I probably messed that up, but you're listening to Mars Madness session 2 covering Yukito Kishiro's ongoing manga: Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicles, the journey of two very young girls and a colorful cast of characters on a war-torn, politically un-rested Mars which is probably red due to all the bloodshed. I hope you like backstory, because this backstory to the original Battle Angel Alita has even more backstory within it. And before you shut off the episode because you’ve never read Alita, don’t worry. It is not necessary.
As always I am your Künstler, Kory T., comin’ at ya from the surface of Florida this fine DATE
For the sake of sanity I am going to call characters and locations by the names provided in this tale. For those familiar with the Alita universe, you know why. For those unfamiliar with this universe, don’t sweat it! The less you know, the less confused you can be.
I guess there’s only a dish or two to be done so here’s
Dish Duty
When I started this episode I had an announcement about a secret guest spot on another podcast…. Which has now been out for several weeks. Erik Almighty and Phil the Philippino over at The Wait For It Podcast interviewed me, it was a ton of fun, go check them out.
I’m also on some Ghibli episodes of Podcasters Assembled and the upcoming Jaws 3 episode of Podcasters Disassembled.
In a few months I’ll announce a very unique podcast project I’m working on with some peeps.
That said, Sorry this took so dang long to release. The abridged excuse is: I initially thought this was 2 volumes. It is not. Following that was a pretty bad shoulder injury that went on for 2 weeks, which pushed right into several conventions, motorcycle maintenance, and about 4 weeks of traveling. Also, I read this twice through which takes up time. There is more but I’ll save it for nacho business.
The other two Mars Madness titles will still be completed because it’s kinda nice to have something resembling a plan.
Let’s springen right into the ingredients with the
Synopsis
Yoko, a full cyborg, and Erika, part cyborg, are on a journey to experience all of the amenities Mars has to offer including but not limited to:
- societal and atmospheric collapse as the result of past wars and devious alliances between corrupt kingdoms, bounty hunters, and other factions
- betrayal by friends, family, sworn protectors, and lovers alike
- The brutal murder of everything they love, including stuff that only exists in the mind
- Compelling, fleshed-out villains; some with tragic backstories, others with male energy befitting of a Greek letter
- Lastly, all the kooky cyborgs, profuse German vernacular, and space Nazis
All of this takes place in a kinda neo-classic western, kinda post WW1, kinda dystopian cyberpunk atmosphere.
Hot take
I recommend it. This is violent. This is goofy. You know the James Gunn style of film direction where characters do something kinda serious or dramatic but immediately follow it up a one-liner or funny action so that nothing can ever have a lingering effect? This is that but with the gloves off. You’ll read this cute little story arc that ends with senseless, bloody violence. Or maybe one chapter ends with genocide and self-sacrifice while the next turns into a Goonies adventure. This is exemplified in the first volume so in every following volume you’re kinda just waiting for it to happen again. And it does! But never quite in the same way.
It does not hold back on either side of the moral pendulum and Kishiro has somehow found not only the perfect balance, but the best way to upset the balance without ever truly losing the reader.
This story doesn’t offer a ton of psychological depth, which also kinda added to the problem of making the episode. I need to get better at letting go and accepting what’s in front of me, not what I would like to get from it.
As for the German elephant in the room: Are you worried about popping into the third installation of this franchise? Don’t be. I read the prior two series 6 years ago which was plenty of time to forget just about everything. At no point did I feel like I was being shamed for entering without previous knowledge.
Now might also be a good time to explain this episode’s intro. There are a lot of German words in here. But don’t worry. Between the many peppered footnotes throughout and Translation Notes at the end of every volume, you will not get lost.
Seriously, this is possibly the most welcome prequel-slash-sequel you’ll ever read. Kishiro obviously respects his readers, both old and new.
Hey, final note - and I know this is gonna blow someone’s mind: the Japanese were allied with Germany during WW2. I bring this up because of a recent Gundam thread where someone was complaining about the constant Nazi influence in that series and, thankfully, got dragged. It’s a history that a previous generation of Japanese forced upon its nation and pop culture will always adopt what it knows and can easily access.
Why did I choose this topic?
Humble Bundle released the entirety of the original Battle Angel Alita, Last Order, and volumes 1-2 of Mars Chronicles back in 2018 as part of their Kodansha Comics bundle. I read all of Alita and Last Order in one weekend. Like, bought it, cracked it open, totally consumed. It’s a good, fun, lengthy journey.
Obviously I picked this because it had “Mars” in the title. Because I have the dumb, it took me a while to realize those two volumes were part of an ongoing story.
Author History
The creator of the Alita series is Yukito Kishiro, born March 20, 1967. There’s no information on him. Wiki has nothing and his own personal profile on his website reads like a Tinder profile. I’ll show some images in the video version of this episode because it is absolutely worth seeing.
Moving on to
Manga history
Where I will barely combine a minutae of character history because the backstory -this story- is the focus, so knowing everything that follows is kinda pointless. If you didn’t know Battle Angel Alita and Last Order even existed you may not feel compelled to look further. Not yet anyways.
Battle Angel Alita first appeared in BIJINESU JANPU AKA Business Jump in 1990, got a 2-episode OVA aimed at Americans in 1993, completed the first story in ’95, then continued in Battle Angel Alita: Last Order which ran from 2000-2010 in Ultra Jump then switching to and completing in IBUNINGU or Evening in 2014.
Our subject began on October 28th, 2014 in Evening, a bi-weekly manga magazine. That physical magazine ended in 2023 when Kodansha made way for the app/website KOMIKKU DAYS or Comic Days. All of the aforementioned magazines are publications of Kodansha. Alita is a Kodansha baby.
The franchise is aimed at the seinen demographic or 18 and older due to violence and some nudity.
There are only 9 completed volumes available in English, with continuing chapters being published on the Japanese Kodansha app. If you’re fine with Scanlations and names that are a little different than the official publication, you may continue the story on forums thanks to the dedicated fan base.
Volume 1 introduces us to life on Mars
Volume 2 briefly goes back to the future following the events of Last Order, which piques interest in that title but -if you didn’t know the title existed- also shows you where these characters are in 200 years, giving you a reason to care about these literal children.
Volumes 3-6 continue the introductory arc, then 7 begins a new arc.
Spoiler Alert
If you don’t want this burrito spoiled then leave it outside your environmentally controlled biome, where it averages a cool -64° F or -53° C.
The Meat
As usual we’re not covering everyone or everything but here are my standout bits.
Characters
Nobody is in control of this tale. It’s common for the paths taken by heroes in stories to be influenced by outside forces, but they always push forward and find a way to their end goal. There is no end goal here, so there is no way. It seems like Dr. Finch might be there external navigator but that also gets thrown out the window pretty quickly.
Our primary characters -once again: literal children- are just kinda there. Yoko is a blob while Erica is the feisty one who embodies “fuck around and find out”. Being a child, she does not learn from the “finding out” so fuckery abounds. She guides much of the story but never with intent.
Her introduction makes her out to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with a history of being separated from her loving family after some kind of attack, after which she and Yoko find and adopt each other. Turns out she’s great at forgetting extremely traumatic events. So much so that she forgets watching all of the girls in the orphanage get brutally murdered in front of her. Afterwards we learn her father, mother, and dog were total pieces of shit whom she murdered or assisted in murdering because of how badly they treated her. After all of this is shoved back in her memories she clings harder to Yoko, who is almost immediately taken from her. From the upbringing backstory we know that Erica has always been devious but Yoko removal really amps it up. Her misremembered, fantastical past life was something of a one-up against Yoko. The reveal that she doesn’t actually have a great family or any at all means she loses that status, then loses the person she was trying to push down. This is when we get to see her twisted mind bloom. She is so envious when Yoko gets not only a beautiful mother but learns of her royal status that she works to thwart what has already happened almost as soon as it happened
After this is when she meets Baron Muster who is probably the best-worst childhood influence and the most compelling villain so far.
But let me complete my thoughts on Erica before moving forward. Her shenanigans cause the deaths of so many good characters in the first arc. Even in the second arc she clearly hasn’t learned and keeps putting herself and Yoko in danger, then blames it on the people she betrayed or can’t understand when she is betrayed by those she used as tools. It may seem like a dumb method of progression, but the little bit of future story we get in volume 2 alludes that Erica is type who always blames the wrong people and never learns; she is directly operating the machine that keeps her on the wrong side of the tracks. For 200 years she does this.
On Muster, he’s similar to the young Char from Gundam. Muster does kill a LOT of people, but most of them were who is wrong with society. Namely the insanely wealthy rulers and their representatives who somehow never suffer from the problems of their people. His tragic backstory of multiple betrayals, attempted murders, and torture by having hydrofluoric acid poured on his legs by friends and respected figures alike gives him some pretty solid foundation for becoming a psychotic murderer.
His coolest twisted feature is his recycling and engineering prowess. Instead of just burning the bodies of the dead or maybe just leaving them to rot, he goes to areas where tragedy has befallen, strips them of their clothing, crystalizes them with a fictional powder, runs them through a compactor and centrifuge, uses the dust to create clay, then forms that clay into bricks leading us to the best line of the manga so far:
"AND THUS, WITHOUT REALIZING IT, THE PEOPLE OF MARS ARE ALL LIVING IN HOUSES BUILT OF HUMAN BRICKS!" - Baron Muster
Like it seems kinda sickening but honestly this is a great use of people who died of causes outside his control. Nothing in this story indicates that anyone -including rulers- give a shit about people living or dead.
Right before his final act in life we learn that he’s kiiiiinda tried to keep said murders down to those who were selfishly searching for his macguffin but yeah in the end he does destroy an entire city with a giant mech.
On his relationship with Erica he relates with her because she feels bad about murdering those who have done unforgivable wrongs, basically telling her it’s okay to be evil to those who are evil. So yeah maybe not the best relationship for a child even though he was sticking up for her when she wouldn’t.
Let’s cap at these two characters because I don’t need to spend another month on this episode. Next, I’d like to talk about the
Action
Kishiro does a great job at displaying movement to an unexpected degree. If you’re familiar with manga or comics you’ll know what focus lines, motion lines, and speed lines are even if you didn’t know what they were called. They help translate or emphasize character and object intensity and movement. But there are two sides to that pendulum: One being so much movement that you neither understand nor care what’s happening in panels or pages, or so little to no lines that you have zero idea how a character or object got from one place to another. Looking at you Gou Tanabe with your terrible manga adaptation of At the Mountains of Madeness.
There were a few pages throughout the story which initially confused me with abrupt action but after looking back at previous, seemingly still panels I noticed the action had already started. Which makes sense. If someone is acting upon something in reality nobody will notice it until after it’s started. I’ll throw in two pages of Yunie that best display this.
The action throughout is very well done no matter how simple or grandiose. If panels aren’t shown it’s for emphasis. If you get a little confused just slightly backtrack and you’ll probably find that motion had already started.
Lastly, I’d quickly like to address the
Attention to Detail
Everything that is or happens seems to be very well thought out. Every character except literal cannon fodder is recognizable and has noticeable and sometimes fun traits.
I’ll use the weirdest character from the Yunie panels as an example.
Engineer Mulato has the body of a mechanical worm suspended from the ceiling with tons of arms; some ending in tools and others with hands. But the midsection has a coat draped on it. It ain’t much but is seen in two panels and gives me the impression that this inhumane character is holding onto something like humanity. Another detail in his second panel is actually a grip that is used later. The panel that pays this off shows that there was something like facial skin on his mechanical head and when the electronic brain is pulled out it also pulls his face into the head. That’s a lot of worldbuilding in one spot.
The balance of backstory, development, and drama deserves a chef’s kiss. There is always something twisted about Erica and non-violent about Baron Muster so what might be a twist in some stories is not so twisty in this. Especially on re-read I was like “yeah this all fits the character or settings”. The manufactured blindsiding in some stories gets old so when an author can surprise you with standout details made to be noticed it really makes me happy. Particularly when it came to Yoko’s backstory reveal. A lot of buildup went into that and it’s so obvious but I was still surprised.
On the cool end is the entirely mechanical anthropomorphic warthog Sargeant. You TMNT fans can’t like, you would totally do something like this if we had the tech.
That’s probably enough for now. This is a full enough episode but kinda approached from the Taquito mindset. That said I haven’t spoiled anything specific, only generally. Hopefully this is some motivation to check out anything in the Battle Angel Alita franchise, even if it’s just the 2019 movie. But do yourself a favor and go watch the original OVA.
Likes
The onomatopoeias are mostly in both Japanese and English. I normally don’t like when they’re totally replaced because it’s often boring; not as stylized as the Japanese who will work their onomatopoeias into the art or the world or break panels with it. This was a really cool solution that I never knew I’d care about.
There are translation and history notes in each afterward, providing meanings or pointing the reader to exactly the volume and chapter something was mentioned in.
Observations, not complaints
I really enjoyed this and think most people would. Even on a second read-through it remains entertaining. However, the one thing that sticks out now is this: if a villainous character is given any real page time, their motivations are generally good. The Bounty Hunter Giratin is the exception but he’s also not a villain; Just a dude with a job.
2 of the vehicles that move the story along are dudes in cages. Now, I think this kinda does a lot for Erica’s character because of how differently she treats them. One is like a pet who she has a crush on while the other is kinda like a father or older brother figure.
On that same note, all 3 doctors in here are similar degrees of twisted. It took the second reading to pay that any mind.
Pop Culture References
- Dejah Thoris is the name of the princess of Mars in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels
- Erica is referred to as “Little Kurt Russel”
- There is a panel showing the “First Northern Expedition” which might be referencing Space Battleship Yamato and Gundam
Your thoughts?
Have you read this before? Or any Alita for that matter? Let me know!
References
Wikipedia did not get used much this time. Mostly because I disagreed with how their synopsis was worded.
Nacho Business
I definitely made some mistakes over the past few months. Put a little too much time into Horizon 2, which I may not even finish. I started and finished the entire Southern Reach trilogy. Would recommend book 1 for sure, the sequels aren’t completely necessary so that’s up to you.
I was basically gone all of June. I think I was home for like 5 days? And over the course of 6 weekends I was really only home for 1. There’s been a lot of strain lately.
On the plus side I finally have a website for my photo business. KTorjussenPhotography.com. It’s not 100% but it’s good enough for the military.
I started the video game Sea of Stars and the book Bookshops and Bonedust, both recommends.
There will eventually be an episode on what goes into making this and thoughts on the process. But for now, one of the weirdest things about podcasting is how difficult it can be to just enjoy other stuff. I was never going to make an episode on Southern Reach Trilogy, that was just a personal thing of “I am going to finish this before my long trip”, and finish it I did. Thought maybe I could do the same with Horizon 2, but finish it I did not so now that time feels kinda wasted. Both were at the sacrifice of this episode. It’s weird.
Anyways, InfinityCon Tally will be over the the time this releases but you can find me with camera in-hand at Ocala ComicCon, InfinityCon Gainesville, and Spookala later this year. Really hoping I get to shake Alan Tudyk’s hand. That’s all I want.x
Call to action/Goodbye
Hey if you want to get in contact with me you can always reach out on every social media platform by searching TWIMBPodcast or emailing me at TWIMBPodcast@gmail.com. Now that I’ve made a photo website maybe I should make one for the podcast for no reason other than to do it.
Links
Wait For It Interview
Photo Website
Yeah, that’s about it.
