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.

Review

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

Gunnm 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.

Originally titled Gunnm, the US release of the animated incarnation is dubbed "Battle Angel" after VIZ's alternate title for the comics, which I refuse to use (though I admit it's not at all inappropriate). The animated version only retells a compact part of Kishiro's sprawling epic story, yet manages to feel self-contained and conclusive at the end without seriously altering the plot. The tightly written story is neither oversimplified nor confusingly dense, so it can be enjoyed entirely on its own or as a more reserved retelling of the comic version.

In fact, I think the animated version is in some ways an improvement over the somewhat more action-oriented manga. The manga is perforated with sometimes exaggerated and extremely graphic violence, and although the animated version is by no means stripped of its violent edge, it omits some of the more overdone bits of action and unnecessary gore.

The writing is appealingly concise; the motivations of the characters and the how and why of the world are never explained in great detail, but both are clearly established. Brief conversations and simple, wordless gestures explain more than enough without resorting to narration or unnecessary exposition.

Gunnm's world is vividly established as a decaying, corrupt place ruled by greed and inequity and rife with the darkest parts of human nature, violence, and despair. The series' message, though, is a sort of hope--the dreams, kindness, and humanity that survive even in this environment.

To this end, the series offers a small but well-developed cast of characters. Gally, a cyborg without a past, is more than just the stock amnesiac--she has a girlish charm and humanity, but at the same time a gritty determination and a hint of unnerving bloodlust hiding inside. Yugo, likewise, is the kid with a dream, but with a darker edge than most characters of the sort: Pursuit of his dream is a driving obsession overriding even morality. Ido and Chiren provide a much more mature mirror of these same divisions; Ido stands at the fringe of morality but refuses to give up his humanity, while Chiren has been driven by bitterness and the dream of escape to justify debasing herself.

The visuals are beautiful. The character design and art closely match Kishiro's angular style and detailed linework--some of the finest-looking cel art I can think of, and if anything better than the art in the early comics. I also consider Kishiro the master of hair, and that style is carried through into the anime version. The backgrounds are similarly rich, from the dense, decaying, cyberpunk streets of Scrap Iron City to the fantastic vision of Zalem looming in the blue sky above. The use of light and color is memorable; the mountains of scrap at the center of the city are often shown in the rusty oranges of sunset, time spent on the rooftops above the city, symbolizing hope, is warmly lit by bright sunshine, and the dangerous streets are usually covered in heavy shadow. The animation is the closest thing to a weak point, but it is merely good in contrast to the otherwise exceptional visuals. The frame rate is more than sufficient, but most of the character animation isn't impressive.

Kaoru Wada's terse musical score fits the production perfectly. Action scenes are paired with driving industrial percussion, while emotional bits are matched with a simple, haunting flute piece. The most dramatic scenes are usually left to stand on their own, and indeed no music is necessary. The melancholy rock song "Cyborg Mermaid" that serves as the end theme (the episodes have no opening sequence, or eyecatch for that matter) is somewhat different in style, but it feels like a fitting punctuation mark in both mood and quality.

The Japanese voice acting is the final component of the near-perfect picture. Miki Itoh gives Gally both her girlish innocence and fierce growl, and handles the emotional drama with force and believability. Chiren, voiced by Mami Koyama, is the other noteworthy performance--mature and nuanced. The other two major characters are also handled well--Kappei Yamaguchi gives Yugo an appropriately youthful voice, and Shunsuke Kariya (in his first and only role, so far as I know) makes for a slightly baritone but otherwise acceptable Ido. The other characters are considerably broader--the omnipresent Shigeru Chiba gives Vector's voice an appropriately menacing sleaze, but the variety of monstrous cyborgs are classic roaring maniacs.

I haven't listened to ADV's dub; their subtitles (the same are used in all releases as of this writing) are light on the cheesy one-liners, but take some liberties with the details.

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.

Related Recommendations

The blend of cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic setting is a little unusual, but the creative world of Iria is similar in many ways, and the Armitage III series and movie are also somewhat similar, even though the setting is a lot "cleaner." There's a lot less cyber, but the bleak future vision also shares just a bit with the very dark and tragic Now and Then, Here and There.

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" may have been intended to be "Salem," as maps from the comic indicate the city is located on the site of Kansas City 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

Available in the US from ADV under the title "Battle Angel" on bilingual DVD (was out of print for a while, but is again available); formerly available on subtitled or dubbed VHS, or subtitled CAV LD. RightStuf currently has the DVD on sale for under $12.

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