Battle Angel [Gunnm]

Original Title: Hyper Future Vision Gunnm 銃夢
Romanized: Hyper Future Vision Gunnm (Ganmu)
Literal: Gun Dream

Plot Synopsis

Scrap Iron City is a city of scavengers below the mysterious floating city of Zalem. Among the residents is a kindly and highly skilled cyber doctor, Ido. One day, scavenging the mountain of scrap dropped by Zalem, he finds what's left of a young cyborg girl--and she's still alive. He rebuilds her body, and, since she has no memory, gives her a name--Gally--and a new life as a sort of daughter for him. However, Ido isn't quite what he seems, nor is Gally, when she discovers that her calling is to become a Hunter-Warrior--a bounty hunter for The Factory--which she mysteriously has the skills for. But Scrap Iron City is a brutal place, and before long she and the hardworking young Yugo that she takes a liking to are trapped in the web of corruption of a Factory boss Vector and an old flame of Ido's, Chiren.

Quick Review

Rating: 5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-10-22

Gunnm (or Battle Angel, if you prefer) has everything you could ask for in such a short OAV series--gorgeous art, engaging plot, nuanced storytelling, and characters as developed as the compact runtime allows. Based on the opening parts of the lengthy manga series by Yukito Kishiro, the only disappointment about Gunnm is that there isn't more of it. Though the series never resorts to lengthy exposition or unnecessary narration, the characters feel fleshed out beyond their basic stereotypes--the good doctor, the kid with a dream--and it clearly establishes the world as a decaying, corrupt place ruled by greed, inequity and the darkest parts of human nature. This is contrasted with bits of humanity and hope in the face of despair, and while the story is not uplifting, it does make its point. The visuals are simply beautiful--in particular the polished linework faithful to Kishiro's manga--as is the terse musical score. A quality Japanese voice cast supplies the finishing touch.

In all, whether you call Rusty Angel and Tears Sign Gunnm or Battle Angel, the pair are a masterwork among OAVs. Whether you like cyberpunk, dark action, or sci-fi drama, it is a singularly well crafted series that comes with my highest recommendation.

US DVD Review

ADV's DVD is decent, but rough around the edges. The video and audio transfers are just fine, and the menus give access to some stills and production sketches. No problems there. My complaints are that the subtitle script is exactly the same as the ancient VHS release, which while acceptable isn't nearly as literal as it could've been, and some of the notes included with the old VHS release are nowhere to be found. The credits are also mildly annoying--the English dub credits, with hard-coded subtitles for the song, show by default, but the credits for the Japanese version are available in an alternate angle. The annoyance comes from the fact that you aren't automatically switched to this version when you select the subtitled version in the menu (you need to do it manually), and there are no song subtitles in it (though they aren't terribly accurate anyway).

Content Guide

About a 16-up on account of mature themes and bits of graphic violence.

Violence: 3 - The violence is sparse but quite graphic in a few spots.

Nudity: 2 - One brief scene in each Episode.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - The same scenes, mostly implied.

Language: 2 - Some expletives.

Notes and Trivia

Gunnm is based on a manga series of the same name by Yukito Kishiro. The comic was hugely popular in Japan, and the complete story stretches out over 9 volumes. The two episodes of the animated version only summarize the first volume and the beginning of the second. The comic version is available in English from VIZ under the title "Battle Angel Alita."

In a further interesting bit of trivia on the comic, Kishiro has gone on record as saying that he wasn't really ready to end the story of Gunnm when he did. As a result, he later wrote a couple of side-stories, an RPG was produced based on the might-have-been continuation, and he finally took up work on an "alternate timeline" sequel that ignores the end he didn't want to write and continues the story. This version, "Last Order," is also available in English from VIZ.

The original title of the series is written out in English as "Hyper Future Vision Gunnm," although it is accompanied by the kanji for "gun" and "dream." Ordinarily these characters would probably be read "juu" and "mu," but the notes show that the first character is intended to be read like the English word "gun," hence "Gan-mu" would be the phonetic title. The two episode titles, Rusty Angel and Tears Sign, are also in English.

The naming confusion kicks in because VIZ, when they originally translated the manga version, changed the names around quite a bit--the series was retitled "Battle Angel Alita," Gally was renamed "Alita," and the city of Zalem was renamed "Tiphares," to name a few major changes. Although AD Vision went with the original names in their translation (the subtitles would have looked rather odd if they hadn't), they marketed the two-OAV collection as "Battle Angel."

In an interesting side-note, "Zalem" was probably intended to be "Salem," as maps from the comic indicate the story probably takes place somewhere in the US midwest. Also, for those wondering, the large-hatted Hunter-Warrior in the story is credited (in Japanese) in the production notes as "Mushroom Man," no doubt in reference to his funky headgear.

For those interested in some interesting stuff about Gunnm, check out Yukitopia, Yukito Kishiro's personal website. There's a full English version (plus Korean and Chinese sections), and it's loaded with info about his works, comments, a step-by-step tutorial on how he produced some of the cover art for the comics, fanart, contests, and more. Neat stuff.

Battle Angel was one of ADV's earliest releases, and stood out as being somewhat different than most of their early "skin and action" releases. Although their subtitle script takes some significant liberties with the specifics of the dialogue to "read prettier" in English, the basic meaning remains unchanged and it is light on the cheesy one-liners and unnecessary profanity.

Even the early VHS releases included some special features--there were notes about the production and the history of the Gunnm OAVs, and they included production sketches after the video. Those early VHS tapes also did something neat with the credits--the original text on the left, a translation on the right, and the song subtitles in the space left at the bottom. Too bad AD Vision didn't continue this style--I think that this is the best method I've seen.

Availability

Formerly available in the US from ADV under the title "Battle Angel" on bilingual DVD, subtitled or dubbed VHS, or subtitled CAV LD. All are currently out of print. (If you're looking to buy, you can get used copies through Amazon: Battle Angel... but they're quite pricey. eBay can be much cheaper, but there seem to be a lot of bootleg copies, so buyer beware.)

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store