Koyomi K. (コヨミ Koyomi?) is a teenage girl who takes on a variety of roles in Battle Angel Alita and Last Order. At the end of Last Order Koyomi is a freelance photographer working for the Screwhead Times, a Scrapyard newspaper.
An orphan who was adopted as a baby by Master, the former proprietor of Bar Kansas, the course of the Battle Angel Alita manga takes place from when Koyomi is a baby up through when she is 18. The different ages at which she appears thus serve as a chronological benchmark for events that occur in the manga. The setting of Last Order however, alters the original ending of Battle Angel Alita and starts after Alita was brought to Tiphares and resurrected by Desty Nova with a new Imaginos Body, when Koyomi is 14.
Appearance[]
When she was three years old, Koyomi had her hair done up in a small ponytail and wore a sweater and overalls. A decade later as a teenager, she has shoulder-length hair secured with either a bow or a headband. Koyomi has a skinny build and tends to dress in clothing such as tube tops, vests, or cutoff sweatshirts that leave her arms and midriff exposed. This outfit is completed with shorts and sneakers. Colour illustrations depict her as a redhead with green eyes.[1] On the cover of Gunnm: Another Stories she wears a light brown felt cowboy hat, black vest with leather trim, jean shorts, and dark brown leather cowboy boots. Koyomi also tends to carry a Proximus MTG Mark II camera with her depending on the circumstances.
When she was 13, Koyomi's constant companion was her dog Fury. Following his death, she did not acquire another dog until the events depicted in Barjack Rhapsody, after which she returned to the Scrapyard with Geriperi's dog Chavez.
As an 18 year old in the Epilogue of Battle Angel Alita, Koyomi resembles the protagonist Ruliya from Yukito Kishiro's manga Aqua Knight, who is also a redhead. She is dressed in a cutoff tank top and a photography vest, both bearing the word "Kansas", cutoff jean shorts with a hip pack, boots, and black fingerless gloves.
In Gunnm: Martian Memory as a teenager Koyomi has red hair, a black tube top, a blue vest and cutoff jean shorts, blue knee pads, and red sneakers.
Gallery[]
Personality[]
Despite her young age, Koyomi had to largely rely on herself after Master fell into depression over his failed attempts to resurrect Bar Kansas. She is thus very independent minded and self-reliant, unafraid to walk the streets of the Scrapyard. This spirit led her to leave the Scrapyard with Fury and head out into the Badlands in search of Kaos. She also single-handedly embarrassed Sentinel and his bandit gang by winning back all the goods that she had previously won from the caravan merchants she was traveling with. Her desertion of Radio K.A.O.S. and saving of Den from Alita proved key events in the Barjack's war against Tiphares. Although Koyomi believed she did not fear death, she had not fully accepted it at her age, and was terrified when Den threatened to drop her. However the realization that Den had spared her gave her a new motivation to tell the story of Barjack, which she did a year later with the publication of Barjack War Chronicle.
In Last Order Koyomi lacked a sense of purpose following the defeat of Barjack, and was in search of meaning in her life. She had trouble believing in Kaos' ambition to construct the Tower of Tiphares, but she was able to break the scoop on the agreement that he made with Vector, starting her on the road to discovering a purpose. This was later moved along after her experiences with Geriperi.
Relationships[]
Master[]
Master appears to have given Koyomi a great deal of independence, either by design or because she was forced to look out for herself. His attempt to restart a third incarnation of Kansas failed, turning him into an alcoholic, and he became abusive towards Koyomi when things went bad, leading to her running away. The relationship had deteriorated to the point where Koyomi asked Den to stomp on him when he appeared and begged that Koyomi be returned to him. Despite this, Master caught Koyomi when Den dropped her, and asked her not to leave him again. Koyomi's cries for help brought some medical attention to Master in the form of some street cyberphysicians. Originally he was eventually fitted with a caterpillar-tracked lower body and was able to start Kansas 4 with the sales from Barjack War Chronicle. In Last Order however, he was fitted with a rickety pair of legs and had resumed his alcoholism, forcing Koyomi to again fend for herself.
Alita[]
Koyomi was a baby when she was saved by Alita from Makaku and a toddler when Zapan destroyed Bar New Kansas. Although Alita served as a TUNED agent for a decade, her memory was kept alive by Master and Shumira, who talked about Alita a lot.[2] After Alita saved Koyomi from drowning when they fell into a sinkhole, she repaid the debt by convincing Kaos to repair her even though he was hesitant after realizing that she was an agent of Tiphares. The relationship was nearly severed when Koyomi used herself as a shield to prevent Alita from shooting Den with the Solenoid Quench Gun and Alita vowed that the next time they met, she would shoot without hesitation. Koyomi's concern over Alita was revived after learning from AR-10 that she had become redundant. However she did not see Alita again until years later when she visited Ketheres Elyion on a tip that Desty Nova had been sighted there. She was present when a reborn human Alita was found inside a bulb generated by the Life-Tree.
Fury[]
Koyomi formed a close relationship with Fury from the first moment that she saw him, latching onto him as a toddler when Murdock first visited Bar New Kansas. Fury became Koyomi's protector, eventually following her when she left the Scrapyard. Although he had grown older, he remained alert to threats against Koyomi, quickly killing one of Sentinel's bandits when he threatened to shoot Koyomi, and later defending her from a swarm of missile bees unleashed by AR-10. When his first attempt to take on AR-10 was foiled, he was able to succeed a second time, although this ended up killing both of them. Koyomi considered him her only real family at the time of his death because of her estrangement with her adoptive father.
Kaos[]
Kaos was Koyomi's idol, as she was a fan of Radio K.A.O.S.. Her perceptions of him changed however after meeting him and learning that his actions did not always match what he broadcasted. In Last Order, she saved him after finding him on the street, but did so reluctantly after flipping a chip. She was disgusted at the pitiful state that he had fallen into, but arranged to have him taken to one of the farms. Kaos' revitalization after he received a paper airplane that Alita had thrown from Tiphares made Koyomi start to believe in him again.
Den[]
Koyomi had a unique relationship with Den, becoming convinced of his cause when she witnessed his fight against Alita. She risked her life to save him from being shot again with the Solenoid Quench Gun, and was listened to at Farm 15 when she asked that Vector be saved so that he could warn the Scrapyard about the Barjack's advance. Koyomi accompanied Den on his charge into the Scrapyard, having declared that she was not afraid of death. Although Den appeared to turn against her when he dropped her as an example to Kaos that he was not a mere figment of his psyche, the action saved Koyomi, as Den sustained critical injuries from the Factory Army units defending the Scrapyard, and died after bringing Zanshato down on a Factory tube. Koyomi vowed to tell the Barjack's story, which she did a year later with the publication of Barjack War Chronicle.
In the side story Barjack Rhapsody Koyomi seized on the rumors of a revived Den to try and break a scoop. However she realized that she had lost her sense of what to live for, and desperately wanted to see Den again. When brought into Eakins' conspiracy to revive the Barjack as a bandit organization, Koyomi realized on the day of the revival that she could become the mastermind behind the a revitalized Barjack, but was set straight when the false Den controlled by Eakins' cronies was destroyed by another slave unit controlled by Geriperi. This helped her discover a sense of purpose and move on with her life.
Geriperi[]
Although she did not appreciate his methods at first, Koyomi learned some key life lessons from Geriperi during the brief time that she stayed with him after he saved her from an attack on the convoy she was traveling with by the false Den. In this sense he can be considered one of her mentors.
Chavez[]
Although Chavez was Geriperi's dog for some time, he quickly took a liking to Koyomi. After Geriperi's shack was destroyed, he went into hiding, but had Chavez deliver Koyomi's repaired Proximus MTG Mark II camera to her and a note entrusting him to her care. Chavez accompanied Koyomi back to the Scrapyard and has since become her constant companion.
Vector[]
Vector never forgot that Koyomi had saved him from being killed by the Barjack, and repaid her by intervening to prevent her from being sold to pay for her father's surgery and allowing them to board in Wabi-Sabi Antiques.
Abilities[]
Gambling: Koyomi is a highly skilled gambler. She is good with games of chance such as dice and has a knack for picking winners when making bets. After the caravan that she was traveling with was held up by Sentinel's bandit gang, she challenged them and eventually won all of the caravan's goods back with dice. However her brashness nearly got her killed and she was saved just in time by Alita. The next day she offered to gamble with Alita with cards and with Fury and Lou Collins as the stakes, but was flatly denied.
When she later visited Ketheres Elyion, Koyomi came across a fight between Figure Four and three cyborgs. She offered to bet all her money on Figure, which appeared to be long odds, but his quick defeat of the cyborgs vindicated this choice, and she bought him a meal out of appreciation.
In Last Order Koyomi bet all she had on the Space Angels to win the Tenth Zenith of Things Tournament and was again vindicated.
Photography: Before B.B. Buick died, he was able to give Koyomi his Proximus MTG Mark II camera, which she subsequently used to document Den's charge into the Scrapyard and subsequent death. She had gained enough skill to work as a freelance photographer by the time she was 18 in the Epilogue of Battle Angel Alita.
In Last Order, Koyomi's photography skills are not yet up to par to be considered for publication by the ScrewHead Times, a Scrapyard newspaper. The eccentric Geriperi was able to teach her some photography and life lessons after he rescued her from the destruction of a Scrapyard convoy that she was traveling with.[3] Koyomi has since continued to pursue her goal of becoming a reporter after she returned to the Scrapyard.
History[]
Koyomi's family history is not known, and what her surname is has not been revealed. She is an orphan of unknown parentage who was born in the Scrapyard in ES 577[4] and was taken in by Master, the owner of Bar Kansas.[5]
Plot[]
Battle Angel Alita[]
Koyomi first appeared when Daisuke Ido and Alita in her new Bersker Body visited Kansas. Makaku kidnapped Koyomi in order to lure Alita after him and tried to use her as a means of handicapping Alita by preventing her from moving at supersonic speeds. Duke Fang, her father's dog however, had jumped in after Makaku and was able to take her to the surface and safety. Two years later as a toddler, Koyomi called all dogs "Doo Fan" after Duke Fang, who had died.[6] She formed a bond with the Murdock's dog Fury, and in turn softened up Murdock himself. Just before Alita left in response to a summons from Desty Nova, Koyomi was shown giving Murdock some flowers and praying at Duke Fang's grave. Along with Alita and Shumira, she planted some sweet pea seeds in the Bar New Kansas courtyard. After Zapan arrived at New Kansas, Shumira took charge of Koyomi and with Master and Fury were able to escape via the sewers before New Kansas was destroyed. The trio eventually made their way to a soup kitchen where Shumira met her future husband.
Ten years later, while Alita was working as a TUNED agent, 13 year old Koyomi ran away from home with Fury over a failed relationship and trouble at home with her father, who had failed to restart Kansas.[7] She hitched a ride with a caravan on its way to barter with Kaos, her idol. When a gang of bandits led by Sentinel held up the caravan, she humiliated them with her gambling skills and was almost killed. Alita however intervened in time and recognized Fury, guessing correctly that the girl with him was Koyomi. That night Koyomi revealed that problems with her foster father and a failed relationship, combined with a desire to meet her idol Kaos in person made her run away. When the caravan was close to Barjack territory, it hit a sinkhole into which Alita and Koyomi fell in. After landing in an underground river, Alita used her lungs to convert the water molecules into oxygen to save Koyomi, but overloaded her lungs in the process. This forced her to go into stasis mode to limit damage to her brain. Supporting her, Koyomi stumbled onto the underground ruins of a city from the previous era. Here she encountered Kaos' team of molemen, who brought her forward to Kaos himself. Kaos was initially reluctant to save Alita after he found out that she was an agent of Tiphares with his psychometry, but Koyomi convinced him to do so. She also had Jasmine read Alita's fortune, which predicted separation, failure in a mission, or possibly death.
Shortly afterwards, Kaos' radio truck ran into the Barjack and Den, who demanded that Kaos hand Alita over. Worried about Alita when she stayed behind to hold off the Barjack and give the others time to escape, Koyomi abandoned Kaos and scrambled to the scene of Den and Alita's fight. When Alita dueled Den, Koyomi becomes convinced by what Den said about Tiphares’ evils. As Alita is about to finish him off with the Soleonid quench gun, Koyomi leapt out of hiding to stand in front of Den and prevent Alita from firing. Proclaiming her conversion to Den's cause, she offered to join the Barjack, daring Alita to fire. Alita backed down, but promised that the next time she encountered Koyomi that she would shoot without hesitation.
Koyomi subsequently participated in the ensuing Barjack campaigns over the next two weeks as they expanded their area of control closer and closer to the Scrapyard. She saved Vector from being killed by the Barjack during a meeting with Den at Farm 15 so that he could warn the Scrapyard and the residents to evacuate. This however turned out to be in vain as the Factory had Vector keep quiet. Koyomi was with the giant railway gun Heng when it fired on Tiphares. Surviving its destruction by the Abaddon, she was able to confront AR-10, who was mopping up the survivors. She mistook AR-10 for Alita at first due to the TUNED AR Series 2 androids' physical resemblance to Alita, but was told by AR-10 that Alita would be retired. Koyomi was nearly killed by AR-10 but was rescued B.B. Buick's reckless, but timely intervention, as he too mistook her for Alita. Fury then took advantage of AR-10's destruction to grab her by the neck and hurl the both of them into a pile of molten metal, killing them both. Buick was able to give Koyomi his Proximus MTG Mark II camera just before he died.
After Den disbanded the Barjack and ordered them to switch to guerrilla warfare, Koyomi found herself alone when the units started to move out. When she learned from Den that he would charge the Scrapyard because his massive body was unsuited for guerrilla warfare, she begged to join him, despite the prospect of death. Riding in a space in Den's chest, Koyomi survived his charge into the Scrapyard, at the same time compiling a photographic record of Den's charge. When Kaos confronted Den in telepathic form while he was in the midst of the Scrapyard, Den encountered Koyomi’s father, who begged him to spare her. Den then picked up Koyomi and dropped her to show Kaos that he was not a figment of his psyche as Kaos claimed. Master caught Koyomi, but the impact broke both his legs. Den then charged on to his death. Although it appeared that he attempted to kill her, this left Koyomi alive so that she could tell the Barjack’s story, and she witnessed Den's death after he broke Zanshato on a Factory tube. A year later, Koyomi compiled Buick’s photos into a book titled Barjack War Chronicle, which became the Scrapyard’s greatest bestseller on record.
Three years later, when she is 18, Koyomi is working as a freelance photographer. She has a book on the way titled Tower to the Heavens, which is about the construction of the Tower of Tiphares, and another on Alita planned. She visited Ketheres Elyion, the former headquarters of LADDER, following a lead that Desty Nova might be there. Here, she unexpectedly ran into Figure Four and then Nova himself, whose mind had regressed. However, he had the presence of mind at the mention of Alita's name to lead them to where Alita had been regenerated as a human by the Life-Tree, ending the original manga.
Last Order[]
Last Order changed the original ending of Battle Angel Alita and is set after Alita was killed by Nova using a powerful doll bomb. In the Scrapyard, 14 year old Koyomi is boarding with her father in Wabi-Sabi Antiques, one of Vector’s businesses. On her way home one day, she saw a man get hit by a taxi, who turns out to be Kaos. Kaos had his left arm in a large metal cuff that was connected to his neck, rendering it useless. The cuff was put on him by Vector almost a year ago, and Vector’s engraving on it scared off help. After some debate, Koyomi took Kaos home, where she learned the circumstances surrounding Kaos’ situation from the shopkeeper. She revealed to Kaos that she would have been sold to pay for her father’s operation on his legs, but Vector intervened because she had saved his life from the Barjack. She gave Kaos his blueprints for the Tower of Tiphares and katana, which had made their way from Vector to the antiques dealer. Koyomi arranged for Kaos to be transported to a farm outside the Scrapyard, but he changed his mind and went to Vector’s to fulfill his end of the deal they had made a year ago. There, Koyomi witnessed the transformation Kaos went through when he received a paper airplane that Alita had thrown from Tiphares and Vector’s subsequent agreement to support the Tower of Tiphares.
She learned about the Finals of the Tenth Zenith of Things Tournament between the Space Angels and the Space Karate Forces on the eve of the match when Nova X hacked Combat TV's feed and Kaos helped it get broadcasted in the Scrapyard with Vector's help. Koyomi attempted to learn more from Kaos to make it public, but was rebuffed until Vector intervened. He had her run the Scrapyard's declaration of independence in the morning newspaper and secure a reporter. That night she was at the Agrippa Circuit when Kaos and Vector made an announcement about the match and bet all her money on Alita.
Barjack Rhapsody[]
- Main article: Barjack Rhapsody
Set after Vector agreed to collaborate with Kaos, Koyomi was able to take photos of the event which were subsequently published in the ScrewHead Times. However her subsequent attempts to get further photography published were rejected because of their amateurishness and her lack of ability. While badgering the paper's editor about this, he advised her to become a professional. During the visit Tanaka, one of the reporters, brought the news that a resurrected Den had been ambushing Scrapyard supply convoys. Koyomi decided to prove the editor wrong and rushed to join the next convoy in an attempt to get a scoop on the Den sightings. However she was nearly killed when the convoy was attacked by Den. Koyomi was rescued by an old eccentric named Geriperi, who taught her some key lessons about life and photography. She then became caught up in a plan by the ambitious manager of Farm 3, Eakins, to use a duplicate slave body of Den's to revive the Barjack. Finding herself invaluable to Eakins because of her intimate knowledge of Den, she helped further the scheme along and bring about an attempt to revive the Barjack at Farm 3 on August 15. However the false Den that appeared was challenged by another slave body controlled by Geriperi, who easily defeated it and ordered the Barjack to assist with building the Tower of Tiphares. Koyomi then started to discover her purpose in life. Following the events of the side story, she returned to the Scrapyard with Geriperi's dog, Chavez.
Ages and story chronology[]
The Gunnm: Another Stories side stories first used a chronology based on the year of Koyomi's birth (treated as Year 0) in order to relate how they fit within the overall Battle Angel Alita story. Events taking place before the year of Koyomi's birth were given the prefix "B.K." (Before Koyomi) while events taking place after were given the prefix "A.K." (Anno Koyomi) with the corresponding number of years before or after. This first revealed that Daisuke Ido's discovery of Alita in the Tiphares scrapheap and Koyomi's birth occurred in the same year, AK 0.
The Anno Koyomi dating convention was later superseded by the Era Sputnik (ES) convention introduced in Last Order, wherein the launch of Sputnik I in 1957 is treated as Year 0. Later timelines indicating where each side story occur adapted ES for the sake of uniformity, and a more comprehensive ES timeline appears in the collected version of Another Stories. Here Koyomi's birth and Alita's discovery is set as having occurred in ES 577.[4]
Other appearances[]
Koyomi also appears in Gunnm: Martian Memory, first as a baby, toddler, and as a teenager during the TUNED Saga. At the end of the game, which occurs five years later, she is invited to Salem by Gally for the departure of Leviathan I, altering the circumstances of her original visit.
Koyomi appears in Alita: Battle Angel, portrayed by Lana Condor. Unlike her manga counterpart, she is already a teenager and peer to Hugo and Alita at the beginning of the film. She was part of Hugo's gang and jacking operations. She doesn't take part in the fatal jacking operation in which Tanji is killed and Hugo is mortally wounded, and her fate following the film's finale is unknown.
References[]
- ↑ Calendar of GLO Cover of Gunnm: Another Stories, colour pages of Barjack Rhapsody.
- ↑ Battle 37
- ↑ These events are detailed in Barjack Rhapsody.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gunnm LO History timeline
- ↑ Battle 40
- ↑ Battle 24
- ↑ Battle 37
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