Battle Angel Alita

Battle Angel Alita (juu mu) is a Japanese comic, or manga, that was created by Yukito Kishiro. Kishiro is also known for creating the popular manga’s Gunnm Gaiden and Aqua Knight. Battle Angel Alita is also known by the title Gunnm, which translates into gun dream. Two of the volumes were turned into original video animation’s (OVA). The manga series ended in 1995, but a sequel was recently began that was named Battle Angel Alita: Last Order

Synopsis

Alita is a female cyborg who has amnesia. Daisuke Ido, a cybermedic expert, discovers her head and upper body while he is out looking for scrap. Her head and upper body have been in suspended animation and he brings her home and quickly brings her back to life. He is surprised to discover that she has no memory of who she is, or of where she came from. He decides to name her Alita, after his cat who died shortly before he found the cyborg.

Ido rebuilds Alita and she soon figures out that she has the ability to do Panzer Kunst, which is a martial art that is known only by Martians and select others. As the series goes on, Alita tries to remember where she came from, why she knows a Martian martial art, and what her purpose is.

Characters

• Alita – Alita is discovered by Daisuke Ido in the Scrapyard. She has no memory of who she is or where she’s come from. Ido rebuilds her body and Alita suspects that he has done so using the parts of murdered women. When she confronts him, she discovers that he is not the murderer, but is instead a bounty hunter who is looking for the true murderer. It is then that Alita decides to become a bounty hunter herself. She begins training, surprised to discover that she enjoys the heat of battle and has a bloodlust that she never knew about. She ends up becoming the best bounty hunter in the Scrapyard and also becomes known for her prowess at motorball. Alita eventually discovers that she was a Martian who was named Yoko von der Rasierklinge. She was an assassin who was sent on a suicide terrorist mission on the orbital ring of Earth. Her ship was attacked, though, and she managed to escape, but burned up in Earth’s atmosphere to land in the Scrapyard.

• Daisuke Ido – Ido is a cybernetic doctor who ends up finding and fixing Alita. He is one of the very few totally human bounty hunters. Ido was once a citizen of the city of Tiphares, which floats above the Scrapyard and houses only the privileged. He winds up erasing his memory so that he does not have to live with the painful memory of once living at the great city.

• Desty Nova – Desty is also a former citizen of Tiphares. He is no longer fully human, having chosen to inject himself with nanomachines so that he can be immortal.

• Kaos – Kaos is Desty’s son and is very fragile. He can read the memories of inanimate objects, such as a katana sword, in order to learn how to use it.

Manga created in Japan or by Japanese mangaka.