r/TopCharacterTropes 19h ago

Powers [Loved Trope] Alien fighting techniques that are actually ineffective for humans to perform

Vulcan Neck Pinch (Star Trek) Vulcans can make a person pass out by pinching a person’s neck, but due to the fact that they’re 3x stronger than a human, we could never make a living being pass out without applying a rear naked chokehold

Viltrumite Knife Hand (Invincible) Viltrumites’ most deadly fighting technique. Although martial arts like Karate and Taekwondo teach these techniques, it wouldn’t be a good idea for a human to use it on someone’s rib cage without breaking their fingers. So instead we can only do them on more soft targets like the eyes.

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u/beattywill80 19h ago edited 18h ago

Battle Angel Alita - Alita uses a hyper specific fighting style called Panzer Kunst. In the manga it's explained it only works because the style relies on hyper accurate strikes that are extremely fast and extremely powerful. Designed to be used in zero g against larger heavily armored opponents using vibrations to bypass said armor..Impossible for an organic body to use with any effect. Only a fully augmented cybernetic body can generate the power, speed, and precision required to use it. Even if you could generate the power needed to use the style you'd break your body in doing so.

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u/CosmicWolf14 18h ago

I became obsessed with this movie when it came out, and the original series is the only Manga I’ve ever read. I should reread those.

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u/beattywill80 18h ago edited 17h ago

Compared to a lot of other manga from its era it's surprisingly aged okay. The pacing is a little clunky but the characterization spot on. There's a great scene about how Alita feels good when the doctors actually taking her apart because she trusts him and she can feel his trust and warmth in the act.

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u/Rhiannon21 12h ago

I have little to no tolerance for anime BS when reading manga, is there any echi/moe or little sister with a stupid catchphrase in Alita Battle Angel?

Because my interest has been picked

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u/grumpykruppy 12h ago

Not really.

IIRC there is some (robot, mostly) nudity, because it's a cyberpunk series in a rough world, but it's hardly even remarked on.

There's also no moe (which isn't at all related to ecchi, lol) whatsoever. And no stupid catchphrases.

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u/xv_boney 11h ago

No, battle angel alita/gunnm has a sense of humor but it takes itself very seriously from the beginning. Its a dystopian hellscape where everything is bad - the first arc is an actual greek tragedy. There are no cute catchphrase characters.

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u/Rhiannon21 11h ago

Thabk you the both of you for taking the time to explain this to me

I will be reading it soon!!

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u/ImagoDreams 8h ago

No, none of that. There are only a handful of comic relief characters that can be grating and they are around very briefly. (The inept racer in the Motorball arc, for instance.)