Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle vol. 7

While I liked the past four volumes that told the story of Baron Muster and his influence on Erica, they still felt like a diversion from why I’m reading this series.  Which would be to find out Alita’s backstory from when she was known as Yoko on Mars.  Mangaka Yukito Kishiro does take some steps in that direction with this volume as Yoko and Erica try to track down Keun the Kaufmann.  Keun was mentioned by Dass as someone who could help them in the last note he gave the girls before he died.  Once they arrive at his place of employment, the girls quickly find themselves caught up in a battle between factions over some information that may still be hidden in a spaceship that crashed to Mars nearly fifty years ago.

As for what that information is… you’ll still be wondering when this volume gets to its end.  What you’ll find along the way is an engagingly violent adventure that picks up steam as it goes along.  Part of that is due to Erica’s enjoyably ruthless nature as she has clearly taken the lessons learned from Muster to heart.  This means that she’s now willing to screw over anyone who gets in her way while expressing zero remorse about it.  She may not be likeable, but it’s never dull with her around.  Nor is it with Yunie, the seemingly absent-minded girl who takes a shine to Erica and Yoko, while also displaying some impressive fighting skills whenever she gets stressed.  Keun also has some mad skills, and his even come with a direct link to the series’ past.

The last third of the volume is essentially all-out action and we get a volume-ending double-splash page that promises even more next time.  It’s quality work, even if most of the violence is being perpetrated against generic mooks.  While the new additions to the cast here are nice, the new antagonists we see here are still pretty generic by “Alita’s” standards.  There’s room for things to get better in that department, so long as you’ve still got patience for this series.  I can’t say that this volume has turned “Mars Chronicle” into the prequel series I was expecting but it’s getting better in that department and still a solid read, regardless.