This is rare: Hyper Future Vision Gunmm, or Battle Angel Alita (two titles of which I have no idea why they were given to this anime) is a two-episode OVA, based on a much larger work of nine volumes of manga. Most movies and OVAs in the same situation don’t seem to care about explanations and leave huge holes in the characters and storyline. But Battle Angel Alita is different: I only spotted one or two moments were more explanation was needed. Apart from that, this movie felt surprisingly complete, despite its relatively short length.
And that’s not all, because it’s not like the plot and setting are simple. There’s quite a large, varied cast of characters that all are developed a bit and especially the main characters are developed a lot, considering that this OVA only has two episodes to work with. The storyline also keeps getting pushed forward, and the combination between plot- and character-development is excellent. I must praise the scriptwriters for this OVA: they had to face a lot of difficulties, were extremely limited, and yet they pulled it off to put such a storyline in just two episodes.
The characters are also more sympathetic than you think, and especially the second episode is quite emotionally charged, but therein lays the problem. If the creators could already do so much with just two episodes, then just imagine what they’d be able to do if they were given an extra episode to work with. The few holes in the storyline that were left would have been easily filled, and there was more than enough potential for the characters to be more even more sympathetic than they already were. Simply enough: I want more, but there’s no way there’ll be more. Still, despite this, Hyper Future Vision is an excellent recommendation for if you’re looking for something short, yet good.
Seeing a full length series of Gunnm is one of my dreams, but alas it will never happen.
And I don’t know if you read the manga, but if you didn’t, do yourself a favor and read it, it’s a masterpiece.
No more anime but they do look to be making a film version :
Link Here
Opss i didn’t know you also reviewed Gunm. This was the anime that took me back to the way of anime 15 years ago.
I thought the anime was absolutely the best back then, but i can say now it pales in comparison to the manga.
Only the first two novels have been adapted into animation. The absolutely gorgeous Motorball arc is the best but, alas, it wasn’t adapted. 🙁
The Makaku, Yugo, Motorball and Zapan arcs are only the prelude to the main Alita plot: the Tuned Agent arc.
You see, the OVA is only a teaser of what you can taste in the manga. It’s like the edge of the iceberg! I really wanted to see more, but the manga is too old to hope in a new serie. Pity! Real pity!!