Almost all of the manga I read is digital, and most of it I read via my phone. Since I have it on my person at all times, it’s too convenient not to. Due to this however, I end up with 10 billion screen shots of manga pages. If something sick happens, if there is amazing art, or if a page just makes me feel any sort of emotion, my reaction is to take a screenshot. It’s so satisfying. In this column, I take one of those many, many screenshots and talk about why I had to immortalize it within my phone’s photo app.
Series: Battle Angel Alita, Written by Yukito Kishiro
Despite being a cyborg, Alita’s story is a very human one. That is conveyed primarily through the way Kishiro can draw emotion in his character’s faces, and it is on full display here.
You could list many stylistic and thematic choices as to why this page is so powerful. Her hair, like her life at this stage, is flowing along with the wind. Alita’s appearance of a young girl, contrasting with the harsh environment and military machinery and clothing. Even the harmonica, the quintessential symbol of the blues.
But the thing that brings this all together is her eyes. Without the skill our talent required to bring out such emotion with just a few centimeters of page space, this would be just another sad character, in just another cyberpunk manga.