To understand Gally it’s necessary to understand the class structure of the world in which she exists. It's an exaggerated version of our own. Scrap Iron City is a dark, violent, poverty stricken semi-slum that attracts those with a love of violence and nurtures its beginnings in others. Spine-thieves and brain-eating mutants are common; they keep the black market stocked with fresh produce.
Situated high above the City, suspended, protected and isolated, hangs Zalem, home to the rich and fortunate. Zalem takes the best of what’s available from beneath and spits out the waste and crap. The extreme class division breeds jealousy and contempt amongst the lower class.
Beneath the social commentary and violence beats a fragile love story. Gally has no past, no memories. In order to find purpose she must live in the moment, meaning her heart guides her actions most of the time. Her determination and love for the people in her life gives her strength. Like Ido, she strives to make life better for the people she cares for, but the human element and her inexperience with emotions mean things don’t always go to plan.
Fights are bloody, and they’re over quickly. The short running time necessities it but it also means that nothing is wasted; there’s no stretching of scenes and no filler. The animation holds up well considering it’s two decades old at time of writing and didn't have a huge budget to work with.
It's a short series (just 2 episodes) but packs in a lot of content. It’s a shame there wasn't more. Think what could've been achieved with 12 episodes!
It's currently OOP in certain territories. This is the part where I’d normally call James Cameron a giant shit for buying the rights to Battle Angel and then halting its re-release, but I don’t want to give him the time of day, so let’s pretend that I went on a tirade and everyone loved it and agreed with me.
2 comments:
I saw this in my formative anime years and still it stays with me. I remember much of it over 15 years later. And yes, it's too bad it's OOP. I tracked it down on Amazon and it costs around $20-40 new which actually isn't too bad.
Yarp. I saw it on the Action channel's anime block and loved it.
It drove me to read the manga. The original one and Last Order. Had to stop midway through Last Order. Tried to get back to it, but it's OOP now too. :sad:
At least I have some manga and the DVD.
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