Eelai (イーライ Īrai?) was one of Desty Nova's assistants as well as his occasional lover.
Appearance[]
Eelai was a tall, light skinned woman with dark hair and a downward-pointing arrow on her forehead. In her initial appearance her hair was waist length, growing to below her knees approximately ten years later. She always wore revealing outfits that emphasized her figure, including a low cut dark tube top, dark elbow-length gloves, a light coloured wrap around her waist, long dark stockings and short black boots. The water pressure converter was both an outfit and a weapon that had an overall BDSM look.
In Gunnm: Martian Memory Eelai has black hair and the arrow on her forehead is red. She first wears a red top, pink skirt, and red shoes. While the water pressure converter hosing is blue, her bikini and boots are black. An illustration by Yukito Kishiro for the 2003 Ultra Jump calendar depicts Eelai as having black hair and the arrow on her forehead a gunmetal blue. Her weaponized outfit during the battle with Alita is shown as being black with bright purple highlights along her arms and legs.[1]
Personality[]
Eelai was noted for her open hypersexuality and focus on the experiences of the flesh, believing that "flesh is everything".[2] She displayed both these traits as soon as she saw Daisuke Ido and later asked Desty Nova to resurrect him completely as a flesh and blood man without using any plastics or metal.[3] Due to the capabilities of Nova's nanotechnology she believed herself effectively immortal and even went to the point of taking reformation baths that would regenerate all her organs and tissues completely, down to the skeletal level. Eelai was somewhat morbid, delighting in Alita's grief when she saw what was left in a box and subsequently relishing the experience of having her throat slashed with the Damascus Blade.
Relationships[]
Desty Nova[]
Like Barzarld, Eelai was completely loyal to Nova and was willing to sacrifice herself if necessary to protect him. Among them both she interacted with Nova the most verbally, as Barzarld rarely spoke. In addition to their close working relationship Eelai was Nova's lover, which he openly disclosed to Ido,[4] but following her death Nova did not mention her again.
Barzarld[]
She appears to have gotten along with Barzarld although they did not really interact with each other.
Daisuke Ido[]
Although Eelai expressed an openly sexual interest in Ido after meeting him as well as after his death, the nature of their relationship after he was resurrected by Nova is unknown; however, given Ido's prior history with Carol[5], it is likely that Ido did not or would not have reciprocated Eelai's interest in him.
Kayna[]
Kayna was in a subordinate position to Eelai after she began working in Nova's lab and was assigned by her to do cleanup work.
Abilities[]
Eelai also functioned as Nova's bodyguard and used an unspecified hand to hand combat style that allowed her to easily throw and restrain Ido when he tried to destroy Zapan's brain. She was a skilled wielder of the water pressure converter, although this needed a water source to function. She had some degree of medical skill, as she assisted Nova with his dissections and surgeries.
History[]
Eelai's origins are not specified, but she may have come from the Scrapyard. Nova only had Barzarld as his assistant when the Den aspect of Kaos' personality emerged and he nearly killed them both when he was 15 or 16.[6]
Plot[]
Battle Angel Alita[]
Zapan Arc[]
Eelai in Nova's lab in Battle 25.
She later appeared as Nova's assistant when Ido visited Nova's manor to retrieve the Berserker Body in ES 580.[7] As soon as she saw Ido she propositioned him before Nova showed him his lab and his latest experiment, which was to see how Zapan's brain would battle its karma. When Ido recognized Zapan's symbol on some nearby bandages, he realized whose brain it was and tried to kill it with a hammer. However Eelai quickly reacted, catching his blow before throwing and disabling him. After Ido was restrained, she injected restorer nanobots into him. During Nova's experiment with Zapan he unveiled the Berserker Body and released its lock, which led to it seeking out a power source and Zapan's brain, wrecking the lab. Eelai saved Nova from a collapsing pillar and along with Barzarld they survived the destruction of the manor.
After Alita arrived at the manor, Eelai gave her the box which contained Ido's remains to see for herself and told Alita to cry for her after seeing her grieve. Alita reacted violently by quickly killing Eelai, Barzarld and Nova, but all three soon revived thanks to the restorer. After Alita left, Eelai asked Nova if they would stay to see his experiment through, but he replied that it was not wise because the Factory Army would be mobilized to fight Zapan. The next morning as the trio headed into the Badlands, a naked Eelai who was lying in the cab of the large truck that Barzarld was driving asked Nova if Zapan had been unable to conquer his karma. She also told him to resurrect Ido as a full flesh and blood man for her.
Barjack Rebellion Arc[]
Eelai regenerates her damaged organs and tissues
A decade later Eelai was alongside Nova in the Granite Inn as they listened to the final broadcast of Radio K.A.O.S., remarking that Kaos was just like his father.[8] She was taking a reformation bath when Nova interrupted her as he fled from Alita. Eelai finished the bath, emerging completely restored and donned the water pressure converter to fight Alita, as Kaos had unknowingly given Eelai a large water source due to flooding all of Nova's escape routes. After Alita killed all of the rejects from Nova's experiments in a storage room, Eelai arrived and began blasting high pressure water streams at supersonic levels at her. She was able to deflect the shots from the TUNED pistol as well as destroy it, taunting Alita with her views on the joys and pains of real flesh.
The death of Eelai in Battle 48.
Upon Alita insulting her mind for being tainted, this greatly angers Eelai and throws several more jets of water towards her. Eventually, she threw up a high pressure water shield to block Alita from striking with the Damascus Blade: however, Alita sliced through it at a speed faster than the shield and sliced apart the cannon and Eelai's hand. This triggers the water pressure to start building and leaking out of the exposed area; Eelai stammers how she cannot die as the pressure builds up to the point where it explodes and disintegrates her.
Last Order[]
After using the self-zapper out of despair, Rivet experienced the delusion that Kayna was Eelai, Figure Four was Barzarld, AR-4 was Alita, and Ido was Nova himself, causing the rumor that Nova was hiding in Farm 21 to be spread. [9] During the subsequent Battle of Farm 21, Kayna recalled Eelai telling her to clean the autopsy room after she was knocked out by the explosion of the Medical House.[10]
Other appearances[]
Eelai appears in Gunnm: Martian Memory. Like Nova and Barzarld, she later becomes a bounty when the story shifts to the TUNED Saga.
References[]
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Template:Martian Memory