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  • Hi everyone

  • are you craving for a good movie today?

  • The film we are going to talk about this time is the newly released Sci-Fi movie

  • Alita: Battle Angel

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  • Alita: Battle Angel is adapted from a famous Japanese manga series GUNNM in the 90s

  • The story took place hundreds of years from now, in a time when people on earth mostly lived in two places:

  • The floating city of Zalem, which was equipped with advanced technologies and held most of the available resources

  • And right beneath it was the Iron City that lives on scraps of Zalem

  • One day a doctor named Ido found a severely damaged but still alive cyborg girl in the scrap yard

  • and decided to take her back to his clinic for repairs. He gave her a brand new body and named her Alita

  • After waking up, Alita seemed to have lost all memories of her past completely

  • The only thing that remained was her curiosity to the world around her

  • The story unfolds as Alita attempts to retrieve her memories and unlock the secrets to her past

  • The movie is filled with many astonishing elements

  • Apart from the huge and comprehensive universe that it's in

  • the legendary filmmaker James Cameron, who is also the producer of the film

  • employed a number of latest technologies, and the result is a movie

  • that is packed with jaw-dropping visual effects

  • Although the story was written some thirty years ago

  • we can still feel the power of its vision and creativity, and the effects it has on the Sci-Fi world

  • As many scenes in the movie reminded us of some popular Sci-Fi movies released in recent years

  • For example, Real Steel has scenes similar to how Alita was found in the Scrap Yard

  • and how cyborgs are fighting with various weapons and different fighting skills

  • How Alita has to participate in the Motorball games

  • in order to enter Zalem reminded us of the Hunger Games

  • Elysium has a similar setting, which the world is divided into two

  • Ghost in the Shell is also about a cyborg trying to recover her memories

  • All of these are proofs of just how visionary and groundbreaking the story was

  • So in today's episode we'd like to try something a little bit different

  • First we'll introduce the world of Alita

  • and then we will compare the differences between the original manga series and the film

  • And at last, we will reveal the lessons that this film has taught us

  • A World Beyond Imagination

  • At the start of the movie we can see a colossal high-tech city floating in the sky

  • And right underneath it is an obviously poorer and more traditional-looking city that almost looks like a slum

  • Due to the loss of her memories, Alita was brimming with curiosity to everything around her

  • Through her eyes we get to know this peculiar world of the future

  • 300 years prior to the film's timeline

  • Earth was caught up in a devastating war with the United Republic of Mars, or URM

  • Though Earth managed to defend the attacks from URM

  • all floating cities besides Zalem were fallen

  • damaging most of Earth's civilizations and technologies in the process

  • The entire movie took place in the Iron City that sits under Zalem

  • which all citizens' lives were dependent on

  • Apart from collecting scraps coming from Zalem as their resources

  • Iron City was obligated to send crops and refined resources back up

  • People from below were forbidden to go to the upper world

  • but this policy provoked a relentless longing among many citizens in the Iron City to leave and go live up in the sky

  • The institution responsible for managing the Iron City was called the Factory

  • Besides delivering goods to Zalem, it also governed a contingent of mercenaries called the Hunter-Warriors

  • Their job was to hunt the outlaws and in return were paid with bounty credits

  • The Factory was run by a man named Vector

  • who not only took care of the operation of the Factory

  • but also served as the unofficial host of the most popular game in the citythe Motorball

  • Motorball was a highly dangerous sport that combined speed skating and gladiator combat skills

  • With the hidden agenda of alluring the most daring players

  • they claimed that the ultimate champion would be granted a ticket to Zalem

  • The scarcity of resources had created a huge demand for weapons and parts

  • that were needed by hunter-warriors and Motorball players alike

  • That demand gave birth to a gang of scavengers who targeted cyborgs and humans

  • They would attack them, dismember them, and sell their organs and parts for credits

  • In this dog-eat-dog world, everyone must find a way to survive

  • Through interacting with these different groups of people, Alita slowly found her place

  • Manga vs. Film Spoilers ahead. Viewer discretion is advised

  • As an adaptation to a classic manga series

  • I'm sure many of you want to know the differences between the film and the original work

  • So we'll spend the next few minutes discussing a few major differences

  • We think the biggest change lies in

  • how some of the main characters are depicted and are shown with more humanity

  • For starters, in the manga, Dr. Ido didn't have a wife and a daughter

  • Alita's name was from the cat that Ido owned but died a month earlier

  • However, in the film Ido not only had a wife who served as a doctor with him

  • he also had a daughter who was tormented by illness

  • In the manga, Ido didn't become a hunter-warrior solely for the bounty money

  • he also had a secret addiction to the thrill of killing

  • However, in the film his motives were changed to redemption

  • as he wanted to prevent future tragedies by eliminating criminals

  • In the manga, the character Hugo appeared later and had a delayed impact on Alita

  • But in the movie Hugo was introduced much earlier

  • and served the important role of connecting Alita to the world

  • Also in the manga, Alita's affection towards Hugo was unilateral

  • but in the movie they were shown to be attracted to each other at first site

  • which adds a hint of romance to this action-packed Science Fiction movie

  • Despite the changes, the film still managed to keep many classic scenes that pay tribute to the manga

  • For example, the scene where Alita jabbed her hand into Grewishka's eye

  • and the part where Alita feigned Hugo's death

  • these are all scenes that sure will excite fans of the original work

  • Alita's Journey

  • The framework of the story may have been established three decades ago

  • the author's visions still speak volumes today

  • Though the concept of a cyborg with a human brain

  • equipped with a mechanic body was not an original concept

  • but GUNNM is indeed one of the vanguards of this genre

  • The idea of Alita's being able to change her body parts

  • not only satisfies sci-fi junkies such as myself

  • but also has a more profound insinuation

  • When Ido found Alita, he looked at her from a doctor's standpoint

  • sparing no effort putting her back together and gave her a new body

  • As the story unfurled, we learned that Alita's new body was actually meant for Ido's late daughter

  • When Ido brought Alita back to life, he offered not only his daughter's body

  • but also her name, and he had treated her as his own daughter ever since

  • While doing research on Alita's technologies, Ido discovered her secret

  • Alita was actually a solider equipped with the most advanced technology and weaponry

  • fighting for the invading URM three hundred years ago

  • During the battle she was severely damaged and went into hibernation, losing her memories in the process.

  • Since Ido was already seeing Alita as his daughter

  • he hoped that she could get rid of her past and live a stable and undisturbed life

  • That's why he was reluctant to show support as she attempted to retrieve her memories

  • Later when Alita found the combat body left by the URM

  • Ido refused to connect Alita to the new body

  • And said to Alita: You've been given a chance to start over with a clean slate

  • How many of us get that chance?

  • But Alita's heart that clung to the truth was unstoppable, so she decided to find the answer on her own

  • Seeing Alita risking her life to find out who she was

  • Ido had an epiphany

  • Though what he did was for his daughter's sake, but she was the master of her own life

  • and he had no right to stop her from living it

  • so Ido changed his mind and connected Alita to the URM body

  • Watching the reborn Alita, Ido offered his words of wisdom to her

  • The body is just a shell, It's not bad or good. That part's up to you

  • It's not hard for us to relate to Ido's feelings

  • for this is something that many parents have to learn to deal with

  • Now let's turn our focus back to Alita

  • We've learned from interviews with the production crew

  • that the reason they made Alita's eyes deliberately bigger

  • partly was to stay true to her image in the manga

  • but more because since eyes are the window to the soul

  • and through bigger eyes we can see Alita's vibrant soul more easily

  • It's a general perception that bigger eyes represent innocence and loveliness

  • Alita's agile eyes not only show more emotions

  • they also create a stark contrast to the toughness in her when she fights

  • and totally lives up to her nickname Battle Angel

  • However, seeing a girl with the face of an angel but fights like a killer

  • we could already foresee all the conflicts and struggles she's destined to experience in her life

  • The moment Alita opened her eye; the curiosity about the world took the better part of her

  • Whether it was her reflection in the mirror, the sweetness of oranges

  • or the excitement that Motorball games bring, she wanted to try everything and to be part of everything

  • In her restless mind, her long forgotten past was like a cloak of thick mist

  • that clouded her eyes that yearned to see the world clearly

  • Whenever Alita fought, during those fractions of life and death

  • her past memories would strike her without warning

  • And what came along with these memories were the combat training she received

  • and her acute instinct for battle

  • After regaining all of her memories

  • she recalled that she was indeed one of URM's soldiers who fought on Earth 300 years ago

  • Her order was to take down Zalem And defeat Nova, the mastermind who was controlling everything behind the scenes

  • Despite knowing her original mission, Alita was not confined to it

  • She chose to follow her heart and wished to live a life with Hugo in Zalem

  • To realize this wish she was even willing to sell her priceless heart

  • Hugo's death had left Alita devastated for some time

  • but soon she was back on her feet and kept going to Zalem as her ultimate goal

  • Alita's choice this time was not made to accomplish a mission given 300 years ago

  • or to fulfill Hugo's expectations

  • but because this was her decision and the path she chose

  • Though Alita lived her life hard for herself, that doesn't mean she was ungrateful

  • On the contrary, she knew exactly the only way to console those

  • who had encouraged her in the past and helped her grow

  • was to find her own path

  • She needed to use her achievements as a proof to show those who stayed beside her

  • that all their efforts were not made in vain

  • Her mentality and actions accentuate the fact that Alita lives her life to its fullest

  • She is capable of giving all she has for those she cares, but she is also capable of living for own sake

  • She is the girl who lives up to her title: Battle Angel

  • Alita's decision also echoed with Dr. Ido's realization

  • This film is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining movies of our generation

  • Apart from the visual effects and the storyline

  • the adorable yet merciless Alita blows our minds

  • with sequence after sequence of enthralling actions and fights

  • Whether you are in for an intense sci-fi punk movie

  • or is also searching for the meaning of life like Alita

  • this film has something unique to offer

  • It's clear that the film has left a big portion of the story untold

  • and we just can't wait to see what will happen to Alita next

  • and everything that are still hidden inside Zalem

  • Alita: Battle Angel definitely one of this year's must-see movies

  • and we highly recommend it to you

Hi everyone

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