Battle Angel Alita
"Battle Angel Alita," originally titled "Gunnm," is a Japanese manga series created by Yukito Kishiro, first published in 1990. The narrative follows Alita, a cyborg with no memories of her past, who is discovered and rebuilt by Ido Daisuke, a kind-hearted mechanic. As Alita navigates her identity and existence, she engages in a variety of challenges, including fierce battles and romantic entanglements, particularly with a human named Hugo. The story explores profound themes of humanity, individuality, and the search for self, raising questions about the nature of life through its portrayal of cyborgs and their experiences.
Set in a dystopian world where the line between human and machine blurs, the series delves into Alita's transformation and growth as she competes in the dangerous sport of Motorball and confronts powerful foes, including the ambitious scientist Desty Nova. "Battle Angel Alita" is noted for its distinct artistic style, which merges realism with cybernetic elements, and presents a strong female protagonist who challenges traditional gender roles. The series has garnered significant acclaim, influencing the genres of graphic novels and science fiction, and it led to subsequent continuations and adaptations, including a live-action film directed by Robert Rodriguez.
Battle Angel Alita
AUTHOR: Kishiro, Yukito
ARTIST: Yukito Kishiro (illustrator)
PUBLISHER: Shueisha (Japanese); VIZ Media (English)
FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION:Gunnm, 1991-1995
FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1991-1995 (English translation, 1995-1998)
Publication History
Battle Angel Alita was published as Gunnm in Japan in 1990 in the weekly magazine Business Jump. Starting in 1991, the series was released as nine individual volumes. It gained its English title in translation; English-language editions were released from 1995 to 1998. The author and illustrator, Yukito Kishiro, has produced other series that take place in the same universe as Battle Angel Alita. The manga’s story was continued in a series called Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, which was first published in Japan in 2001 and in the United States starting in 2003. The original series received much praise from critics and fans. The author began a new series after the original Battle Angel Alita called Aqua Knight (2000-2002), but he placed that series on hold to create the revised Battle Angel series.
Plot
Ido Daisuke finds the remains of a cyborg in a large garbage pile. After realizing that the brain inside is still alive, he rebuilds the cyborg and names her Alita. Daisuke and Alita become hunters to support themselves. Alita’s first fight is against a monster named Makaku, who eats the brains of others to sate an endorphin addiction. Alita’s body is destroyed, and she is rebuilt into a mysterious alien “berserker body.” Using her powers and residual memories of the ancient martial art Panzer Kunst, Alita is able to defeat Makaku.
Alita remains a hunter and meets a young man named Hugo. She quickly falls in love with him but fears that a human could not love a cyborg. Meanwhile, Hugo has been stealing spinal columns while working for a criminal named Vector. Vector has promised that if Hugo brings him 100,000 credits, he will send him to the midcity of Tiphares, a mysterious dreamland above the rubble.
Zapan, a hunter Alita had previously humiliated, reveals Hugo’s crimes to the authorities, and a bounty is issued for him. Hugo’s body is destroyed, and Alita hooks his head up to her life-support system after tricking the authorities into thinking Hugo is dead. After defeating Zapan, Alita has Ido resurrect Hugo as a cyborg. Still obsessed with Tiphares, Hugo goes mad when Vector reveals that there is no way to get there. Hugo climbs one of the cables to the city and is destroyed by the defense system.
Distraught after Hugo’s death, Alita flees to the western region and becomes a star in Motorball, a dangerous, high-speed cyborg sport. Alita trades in her berserker body for a racing body and works her way to the top of the league. Meanwhile, Ido follows Alita to the west. Along the way, he saves the life of a girl named Shumira and begins living with her. Shumira’s brother, Jashugan, is the Motorball champion but is slowly dying as a side effect of brain reconstruction surgery. Alita challenges Jashugan; Jashugan defeats Alita, but he also dies. The fight with Jashugan unlocks some of Alita’s memories of being trained in Panzer Kuntz.
Alita returns to the Scrapyard with Ido and Shumira and becomes a singer in a bar. She learns that her berserker body had been sold by her mechanic, and Ido leaves to buy back the body from Desty Nova. Desty Nova is experimenting on Zapan’s damaged brain, and it becomes fused with the berserker body. The reconstructed Zapan travels to the Scrapyard and destroys the bar and kills many of the residents. Alita uses a special liquid to battle Zapan. He is destroyed, but Alita is sentenced to death for using a handgun.
Alita is saved by a man from Tiphares and is turned into a special operative called the “tuned.” Alita serves the citizens of Tiphares and fights against threats to the city, including those from the guerrilla group Barjack. She falls in love with a mercenary named Figure Four. Alita reunites with Koyomi, an orphan girl from the bar. They travel to meet Kaos, the radio host of the desert, to learn more about Barjack and its mysterious leader, the giant robot Den. Kaos proclaims his love for Alita and begins bringing her to his father, Desty Nova. They are intercepted by Barjack, and Alita battles Den. With the help of Tiphares technology, Alita defeats Den, but he persuades Koyomi to join Barjack.
Kaos reveals that he is actually a dual personality with Den, and the giant robot is remotely controlled through a unit in his chest. Alita and Kaos are washed away in a flood; when they awake, Alita is able to subdue Kaos. Alita inspires Kaos to face his father, and meanwhile she finds Ido in a small village. Ido does not recognize Alita. In a video recorded in the past, Ido states that Desty revealed the secret of Tiphares to him, driving him insane; thus, he had his memories erased.
Alita is told that if she can capture Desty Nova, she will be allowed to live freely. She breaks into Desty Nova’s compound but is tripped up by one of his booby traps. She escapes the trap and attacks Desty Nova but becomes trapped in an alternate version of herself. She escapes and decapitates Desty Nova.
Meanwhile, Den has begun his destruction of the Scrapyard. Kaos turns himself into energy and helps the factory forces destroy Den. After leaving Desty’s lair, Kaos and Alita go their separate ways. While driving, Alita runs over a small child. The child is actually a bomb sent by Desty Nova; Alita is destroyed in the explosion. She wakes up reborn in Tiphares and is given a new body by Desty Nova. She begins to rampage throughout the city. The riot spills into the central computer control room, where Desty releases “nano-bots” that destroy the controls. Desty tells Alita that the city will fall unless she uses her body to mutate at the docking port at the top of the city. She turns her body into a living tree encompassing all of Tiphares. In the epilogue, the Scrapyard builds a tower to connect to Tiphares, and a new, more egalitarian society begins to grow.
Volumes
• Battle Angel Alita:Rusty Angel (1995). Collects chapters 1-6. Features the stories of Alita’s origins and her life as a hunter.
• Battle Angel Alita:Tears of an Angel (1994). Collects chapters 7-11. Includes Alita’s love for and loss of Hugo.
• Battle Angel Alita:Killing Angel (1995). Collects chapters 12-17. Highlights Alita’s entry into the world of Motorball.
• Battle Angel Alita:Angel of Victory (1995). Collects chapters 18-22. Features Alita’s Motorball career and fight against Jashugan.
• Battle Angel Alita:Angel of Redemption (1996). Collects chapters 23-29. Features Alita’s return to the Scrapyard and Zapan’s resurrection.
• Battle Angel Alita:Angel of Death (1997). Collects chapters 30-35. Includes Alita’s resurrection and her career working for Tiphares.
• Battle Angel Alita:Angel of Chaos (1997). Collects chapters 36-41. Features Alita’s meeting with Kaos and her battle with Barjack.
• Battle Angel Alita:Fallen Angel (1998). Collects chapters 42-47. Includes Alita’s replacement (the tuned) and Den’s failure.
• Battle Angel Alita:Angel’s Ascension (1998). Collects chapters 48-52 and “Epilogue.” Alita’s battle with Desty Nova reaches its conclusion.
Characters
• Alita is the main protagonist of the series. She is a cyborg with no memories except those concerning her ability in the cyborg martial art Panzer Kuntz. She has a petite, athletic figure and long black hair and a young appearance. She spends the majority of the series searching for her past and identity. Her combat abilities are exceptional, but she lacks battle experience.
• Ido Daisuke is another protagonist and an exile from Tiphares. He is kind-hearted but also enjoys battles. As the one who discovered Alita, he feels protective of her.
• Zapan is a mediocre hunter who is humiliated by Alita during her fight with Makaku. He constantly seeks revenge and becomes increasingly deformed and more powerful. He rampages through the Scrapyard and kills a number of minor characters.
• Hugo is a young human and a backbone thief. Alita falls in love with him. He is obsessed with reaching Tiphares.
• Jashugan is the Motorball champion. His brain was reconstructed after an accident, giving him superhuman reflexes but causing his body to gradually break down.
• Desty Nova is a scientist from Tiphares and a source of both aid and adversity for the protagonists. He uses his medical and mechanical skills to experiment on the cyborgs of the Scrapyard. He left Tiphares because he discovered the terrible secret of the people of the midcity.
• Kaos is a supporting character and the son of Desty Nova. He is a rogue DJ who broadcasts from the wastelands surrounding the Scrapyard. His frail body and constitution are the result of his psychic abilities.
• Makaku is the first villain Alita faces. He is a brutal murdering cyborg who was once an orphan child. He was turned into a cyborg by Desty Nova and became addicted to endorphins; therefore, he devours human and dog brains to satisfy his cravings.
Artistic Style
The style of Battle Angel Alita merges realism with science fiction in its depiction of industrial and cybertronic machinery. Kishiro’s focus on anatomy means the characters are drawn in great detail, revealing the intriguing connection points between living tissue and machine. This connection is especially prominent in several of the main villains, including Makaku, who is a fusion of bulky, geometric machinery and human flesh. One of the most prevalent images throughout the manga is the human brain. Brain tissue represents the actual life of each individual; the brain and its destruction are depicted in high detail. Kishiro illustrates brain tissue as small, delicate, naturally folding tissue proportioned to fit into the craniums of the characters.
The female characters (especially Alita) appear particularly feminine as a result of their Lolita-like figures. Each character has a slim frame and pointed, still faces. Alita wears uniforms that are both form-fitting and modest at the same time. The only time she is depicted without her form-fitting attire is in Angel’s Chaos, in which she wears a wedding gown. Kishiro captures ethnic variation beautifully, as seen in his depiction of Africans and Middle Easterners. The landscapes are a combination of barren beauty and extreme industrial complexity.
Themes
The most important themes in Battle Angel Alita are related to either humanity or individuality. Because they are devoid of organic matter except for a brain, cyborgs raise questions about the nature of human life. The brain’s organic nature and connection to mortality are placed in direct opposition to the residents of Tiphares and their electronic brains. Alita exists only because her brain has been salvaged from the Scrapyard.
Another theme is the nature of self. Alita lacks nearly all memory, so the individual who she was is not the individual who she becomes. Each memory she recovers dramatically alters her.
Hugo’s connection with the body is expressed through his acquisition of his brother’s hand. His inability to accept a cyborg body after his first death leads to his inevitable self-destruction; however, his death may be more attributable to a loss of hope. Ido’s reaction to learning that his brain is electronic shows the deep connection between the self and the brain. The concept of gender and identity is also alluded to through the ambiguous nature of cyborg bodies and Alita’s own sexuality.
Impact
Battle Angel Alita has influenced the genres of both graphic novels and modern science fiction. Alita is a strong female character, which is evident not only in her frank confrontation with each of her rivals but also in her independence and direct approach to life and love. Her personality is similar to characters in Sailor Moon (1998-2001); however, Alita is more mature and realistic in her approach to the tragedies of life.
The series deflates the notion of a cyborg as a symbol of technological advancement and recasts it as a symbol of slavery. The series’ commentary on human nature echoes those of highly regarded authors such as Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. The popularity of the series prompted Kishiro to revitalize and continue Alita’s story and to create further characters within the world of the Scrapyard. The series also affected manga’s popularity in North America. Filmmaker James Cameron has stated that he wants to produce a live-action version of the series as soon as the technology exists to convey the story.
Further Reading
Iwaaki, Hitoshi. Parasyte (2007).
Kitoh, Mohiro. Bokurano: Ours (2010- ).
Tabata, Yoshiaki, and Yuki Yugo. Akumetsu (2002-2006).
Bibliography
Anime News Service. “MNS Exclusive Interview: Battle Angel (GUNNM) Creator Yukito Kishiro.” Accessed March, 2012. http://www.animenewsservice.com/archives/yukito.htm.
Brenner, Robin E. Understanding Manga and Anime. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2007.
Schodt, Frederik L. Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. 12th ed. Tokyo: Kodansha, 2001.
Wong, Wendy Siuyi. “Globalizing Manga: From Japan to Hong Kong and Beyond.” Mechademia 1 (2006): 23-45.