Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
olokinprime
This is what I imagine Battle Angel visually should be, rather than what the live action movie delivered.
That is not to say that one is better than the other, but both adaptations had elements going for it. For instance, I would rather have Christoph Waltz's performance from the live action movie because of his more fatherly portrayal of Ido. The rest, this anime nailed it.
What the anime lacked was for time for its story to breathe. The anime was rushed with its 45-minute run time. It really needed some character moments to build on the relationships.
For a more than 30-year-old anime, it is still better animated than 60% of the seasonal anime running for the Winter 2026 season. That is crazy Madhouse quality.
Read at the sourceSgtSalamander
Battle Angel Alita, despite only being a 2-episode OVA, stakes its claim as a foundational piece of cyberpunk media, and is a well-known entry of the genre in anime form for a reason. On the surface, it just seems like a particularly impressive sci-fi OVA, but just under the surface is a poignant tale about poverty, meaning, and the destructive nature of ambition, told in a way which is utterly timeless. While it does feel stiff at times, and could use a little more polish, it still deserves its measure of notoriety, and honestly deserves a little more credit than I think it gets. Beginning with the story, as I said earlier, it is a powerful and well-constructed tale built around a clear moral lesson that doesn't feel contrived or preachy, and it is for this that the story is this anime's…
Read at the sourceDrakestalker
The only existing animated adaptation of the Battle Angel Alita manga, Gunnm is a 2-episode OVA from the early 90s. It covers pretty much the same ground as the Hollywood movie, minus some future arcs that the movie rushed in earlier. It's not terribly interesting, but it's also not a significant time investment. To fans of the genre or the manga, this will be time well spent.
For what it's worth, as opposed to the movie, the city (Iron City, I think it's called?) can clearly be seen for the post-apocalyptic desiccated hellhole that it is, not the relatively poor, but vibrant and bustling hipster paradise from the Hollywood production.
In keeping with the ethic of being appropriately dark, the dog death scene is way more explicit here, as well. Be warned.
Also, just as I recently found…
Read at the sourceBensonas
First show back to the good old days of OVA action. Thankfully, my expectations are rather low for 90s OVAs as in the main, the best you can expect is just above average. I guess this is a good thing as Gunnm really did meet my expectations.
The animation to good for the time. It's definitely nothing special but it does a gold enough job. The pallete is nice, varied for the time. It doesn't stick to the low saturation, pastel colours that linger in the space between grey and beige. Again, same with the animation itself, the colour is still average, not bad, not brilliant. Finally, the character design also doesn't stray beyond average in either direction. It's like the creators opened a box labeled 'Standard 90s Anime Assets' and drew them. Again though, this isn't a bad thing, but also i…
Read at the sourceshaden12
Who is this for?
This is the first question that seems to pop up while watching something that one could keep up with, only because of previous contact with the manga it was based on.
But let’s start at a beginning. It’s an early 90s OVA that comes with all the characteristics of its counterparts: action, blood, a little convoluted plot, sharp style and animated a little better than a standard tv series.
What makes GUNNM special is definitely the source material that elevated and at the same time hindered this particular production. And while the first instinct is to judge something on its own merits, it feels impossible to divorce the two, in this case.
Saying the pace is going at a speed of light is no exaggeration. Awkward edits and cuts are happening almost every minute and a fir…
Read at the sourceWitchFromMercury
Imo it wasn't that good. I know it came before but Alita is just a robot Sailor Saturn. I also didn't like the romance in this show since Hugo's a criminal but that doesn't seem to bother Gally at all. That makes me think she's a bitch. I don't have any sympathy for her. Hugo also seemed like a dick when he kissed Gally and said they're partners in crime now. Imo it's really tone deaf since he's a guy who rips peoples spines out to sell.
And I was really disappointed with the world. I thought it would be darker and more sci-fi but the world of BAA is more like Samurai Jack. It's very cartoony and the robot stuff is just a mish-mash.
I thought I'd read the manga but I doubt it. It's not my kind of story. I prefer a more serious one. Was interesting to see though how this inspired Texhnoly…
Read at the sourcePikaPARADOX
I absolutely love anime from the 90s due to the art, the themes and the sound. So I am a bit biased here. I can just watch anime from this era and enjoy it, even if the story is poor. I feel the same about Gunnm. I read the manga which I thought was a masterpiece and I enjoyed the complex worldbuilding, the characters and the story so I was very eager to watch the OVA. I like how they portrayed Gally, but the story feels rushed. It feels like it was a single episode, rather than an OVA that has a beginning and an end. I got a bit bored and distracted, which isn't a good sign either. Overall, I loved seeing characters from the anime come to life on the screen and am happy that I watched it, but it didn't blow me away emotionally or anything. It was just 60 minutes of random screentime.
Read at the sourceThedude3445
This OVA makes the case for the sheer extent that good direction matters when adapting a work.
Robert Rodriguez's live-action movie contains a good 75% of the same story beats and all of the same characters as this movie here, but thanks to Rodriguez's keen eye for visuals and his ability to elicit strong performances from his actors, that version stands strong.
In comparison, this OVA here is a far inferior version of the same story, coasting by on the strength of the source material and that's it. The animation is fairly poor, the art direction isn't as impressive, and the bizarre choice was made to feature almost no soundtrack whatsoever--sometimes a really neat choice, but here it didn't help things at all because the pacing was so janky.
It's certainly not the worst movie in the…
Read at the sourcetsubagakure
YUKITOPIA!!
Welcome to the stupendous and imaginary world of Kishiro Yukito-sensei!
GUNNM (Battle Angel Alita) proves to be a deep and breath-taking work, brimming with charming and intrinsic characters, a powerful and driving story, and a cosmogony as beautiful as it is gloomy, being, after a fashion, a dystopia of a fallen world, once one has delved into it. In Gally (or Alita) we found the drive and valour of a cyborg girl searching for her lost memories, the gore and goose bumps across the skin amongst extraordinary battles as she becomes a Hunter Warrior. Moreover, the nascent, ambiguous and poetic love between man and machine; the inhabitants and life, much blight, of Scrap Iron City; the reverie to attain a higher order of living above the floating, looming and cryptic Zalum; a p…
Read at the sourceWhiteWolfKiba
Wow, this anime was great! Definitely an underrated OVA, "Battle Angel Alita" has me pumped to both read the manga and check out the live action movie coming out this month. It's such a shame that this long-running manga has (so far) only received this 2-episode anime adaptation, because you can tell there's so much more to this world and these characters left to explore!
Sadly this anime is mostly just an ad for the manga, and as such many story elements and character arcs are left undeveloped. For example, we never actually see the floating, rich city of Zalem, which is a shame. I can only assume we go there later in the manga. Alita never regains her memories, so we never learn what her previous life was like before Dr. Ido found her. Speaking of "Alita," one of the most confusing asp…
Read at the sourceHandbooklu
I watched this when I was a teenager. I loved it then, but now I can see why it didn't continue as far as making more episodes. However, the characters are great with a cool story. Perhaps this story is more a love attraction between a cyborg and a human surrounded in a world that is not what it use to be.
Now I am looking forward to the movie that is coming out February 14th. With James Cameron producing and Robert Rodriguez directing, the movie can't go wrong. It's destined to change cinema forever. If you haven't read the graphic novel on BattleAngel Alita, it's worth the read.
Read at the sourceLegendAqua
With the dawn and soon to be released live action James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez movie on the way, LA thought to invest some time in looking at the anime series it is based off of.
Battle Angel Alita or Gunnm looks at a rather intriguing underdog story of Gally voiced by Miki Ito an android rebuilt by Daisuke Ido voiced by Shunsuke Kariya and Yugo voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi wanting to go the fabled upper city of Zalem.
The two episodes given to us gives the majority of focus onto Gally and Yugo for the most part with some of the minor characters like Daisuke Ido, Chiren, Gime and Vector some sort of resolution to their little subplots along the way. Gally's story is one of identity, considering she's was a scrapped android rebuilt by the Geppetto-figure Daisuke Ido, the Pinocchio syn…
Read at the sourceFAKEANIMEGIRL
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It's an OVA. It's cyberpunk. If this doesn't make you want to watch Gunnm then you're a lost cause. The adaptation of this legendary manga only covers a part of the series, but manages to be the best execution of that limitation in that it tells a complete story arc that doesn't end on too much of a cliffhanger. Gunnm centers around Gally, an amnesiac android recovered by the benevolent mechanical engineer Ido. The two live in Scrap Iron City, a run-down wasteland where robots and humans alike struggle simply to survive and make the best out of their meager means. Amidst the dangers of the city Gally discovers she has innate incredible combat ability and power, and joins Ido in becoming a boun…
Read at the sourceBowlingJD
Studio Madhouse’s style is very much present here in this post-apocalyptic crazy cyber-punk setting. Taking place in a run-down city, which is basically a slum located directly below a floating city called Tiphares. Of course, Tiphares is the utopia in which all the people in the slums strive and dream to go one day.
In this terrible world, cyborgs are where mankind is mostly. One day, a doctor/mechanic named Ido finds a preserved female cyborg and decided to rebuild and revive her. This cyborg is Gally and slowly learns the harsh realities of the world she now lives in. A world where underground fighting, human spines are precious, and overall survival is most important.
The cyber-punk setting is depicted with the slums being mostly a giant metal trash heap for the utopian city above. A…
Read at the sourceherbeey
I went into this expecting robots, examination of the robot condition and a predictable plot. I did not get that. I therefore did not appreciate it until I was told that what this OVA is about is the setting.
The setting is visually striking - the rich are living in a city called Zalem high above Scrap Iron City (which is basically Zalem's dumping ground). This is set in Scrap Iron City. This story is about the effect that Zalem has on the people of this policeless city. Look out for the hints people give about what they think of the people around them, because not only is this central to the plot, but it's central to their characterisation.
The characterisation here is phenomenal for a 55 minute OVA. Utterly phenomenal. Many characters get an unpredictable arc, almost as if they're actu…
Read at the sourceLuquillo
Battle Angel is an action anime with sci-fi elements that manages to be a lot more than a bloody spectacle. It examines many themes: love, hope, freedom, obsession, and the thin line between good and evil. The anime succeeds in meshing all of these together with a coherent storyline, character development, and action without making anything seem artificial. What makes it so impressive is that it's pulled off in a mere two episodes with a 25 minute run time each; while you have many anime with 12 times the episodes completely incapable of doing this. Despite everything it does right though, there is so much room left for improvement.
Beginning with its setting; the world this story takes place in is very interesting. Scrap Iron City is a cesspool of a community. It's filthy, dangerous, and…
Read at the sourceDuckmanTheTyrant
I was recommended this title by a good friend of mine and decided to purchase this along with Voices of a Distant Star after trading in some anime DVDs I didn't want anymore, and am really, really glad to have seen Battle Angel. My only regret is that I didn't pick that title up in my early years of anime fandom since I clearly remember seeing a VHS display for this at the local Hollywood Video back in the day.
STORY
Battle Angel takes place in a hellhole known as Scrap Iron City. Above Scrap Iron City is a much fantasized floating paradise named Zalem. Scrap Iron City is seething with vile criminals, and the most vile ones attack people and take their organs to sell in the black market (particularly spines, which are the most valuable). Due to a lack of police, an organization simply kn…
Read at the sourceShura-shurato
Not for the fainthearted!!! This short anime ova from 1993 is one of the BEST short story i´ve ever seen for a cyberpunk anime. And more of it that most of the ppl in the story are shrouded in mystery by past and the survival of the fittest sci/fi genre.Even more so is that the main charachter Alita(Gumnn in japan) is almost totally unknown in the anime by past, and present, Tiphares the mystery city, cyborg-enhanced criminals, doctors with a sort of ápproval'mark on their forehead... too bad that are no further animeplans to continue it but the manga is satisfying!
Read at the sourceangelsreview
Ok, who is the person that decided to give her a name like ‘Gally’? Someone really didn’t have any idea how to create a name. Gally isn’t like a normal girl, she just laughs when someone says she weighs a ton. It’s interesting how she is extremely strong and yet the only thing that was found was her head and part of her chest. She also seems to sweat which I really don’t think that cyborgs need to do so. There are a lot of inconsistencies that make this feel a bit off.
Ido is a freaken jurk. Pretty much when Gally asks to be a Bounty Hunter, he tells her that all she needs to do is stand there and look pretty. It seems that all he really wants her to be is just eye candy at his medical business. And then, he just accepts her as a bounty hunter without any question.
The artwork is vinta…
Read at the sourcebarcaman101
Everyone has at least one anime that defined and dictated there journey into the realm of anime.For some its Evangelion,Astro Boy or Akira.For me it was battle angel.From the begining this anime grips you and dont let go.
This anime uses a cyborg girl to portray a message of survival and ask the viewers how far they would go to gain success in life.The story shows a world of hardship in which everyday is a new challenge for survival as a young girl tries to find her place in the world.
The action is fast pace and intense.The drawing style is deep and vivid in its design and carries a level of realism that you just cannot get with CG.The character design is excellent with each character carrying a unique yet practical design.
The music scores are well done and the closeing theme really w…
Read at the source
