Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle vol. 10

Keun the Kaufman and Gyapollo have reached the final stage of the conflict.  The kunstler has just about reached his limit, but he’s got one more card to play against the psychopathic cyborg who kidnapped Yoko and Yunie.  Speaking of those two, they’re still captives of Gyapollo’s henchmen.  While Yunie is desperately trying to find out what has happened to this little girl, Yoko is having the time of her life, even as she has to eat her vegetables.  Which turn out to be connected to the mysterious Library of Auf that everyone on Mars is trying to get their hands on, and has led the Kunsters of Austad to strike a potentially dangerous deal with the series’ favorite sociopath, Erica.

The action in “Mars Chronicle” continues to be top-notch as the Keun/Gyapollo match that begins this volume, and the Erica vs. Zoe knifefight that ends it are both strategically and visually compelling.  Yoko’s antics are also cute in the way any longtime reader will see them and recognize the present-day Alita in them.  Then you get to the inter-organizational scheming between Austad and Zonohedron and I find myself wishing that mangaka Yukito Kishiro included a cast list with this volume so I could remember who these people are and what they’re doing here.

Then again, I could just go back and re-read the previous nine volumes.  I’ll likely have enough time to do that before vol. 11 comes out as it’s been well over a year since vol. 9 came out.  I’m not here to berate Kishiro’s work ethic, it’s just that whenever a series takes that long between volumes it raises your expectations regarding what the next volume has to deliver in order for the series to still be worth your time.  Vol. 10 isn’t the wheel-spinning patience drain that vol. 8 was, nor is it the faith-justifying showcase of the previous one.  File this under “good enough” and I’ll let you know if I get around to re-reading everything the next time I write a review for this title.