The Battle Angel Alita Manga Is an Essential Read

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From Kotaku:

I’ve been waiting a long time for the Alita:Battle Angel movie, which is based on the Gunnm manga series by Yukito Kishiro. I fell in love with the nine-volume epic, which was called Battle Angel Alita in its English versions, when I first discovered the series in high school.

. . . .

Battle Angel Alita takes place in the Scrap Yard, a world of junk and trash where violence is rampant due to a non-existent police force. Crime has to be regulated by a group of bounty hunters. Above the city floats a huge aerial metropolis called Tiphares, where no ground dweller is allowed to visit.

We meet Alita first as a damaged cyborg who only has her brain and face intact. Dr. Ido, a cybernetics specialist, is the one who rescues her, becoming a paternal figure in the process. He has a mysterious circular mark on his forehead, signifying his connection to Tiphares.

Due to Alita’s memory loss, she is learning all about life again, and her youthful curiosity is part of the first volume’s charm. At the same time, she possesses lethal martial arts skills that only a soldier from Earth’s dark past can possess. That clash between the soldier in her and what remains of her humanity is part of what makes her arc so compelling. Alita handles her post-apocalyptic enemies with a violence that makes poetry out of her fighting skills, punctuated by bursts of calming “cuteness.” Here I refer to the cuddly smiles and youthful ripostes in the middle of all-out fighting and viciously gory mutilations, which add levity to offset the seriousness of the material.

The opening volume details Alita’s origin story and her path to becoming a hunter-warrior. The main conflict revolves around Alita’s fight against Makaku, a mutated goliath that devours human brains for the endorphin stimulants they provide. He’s the first villain to put Alita to the test after she easily disposes of an earlier slew of criminals. Makaku literally crushes Alita’s body, forcing Dr. Ido to flee with her remains.

Link to the rest at Kotaku

PG discovered that the first three volumes of this saga are available under Kindle Unlimited. He’s never tried manga and may check it out.