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Battle Angel Alita, or Gunnm(pronounced Gahn-mu) in Japanese, is the story of a young android's struggle to find herself 
and assist humanity in the distant future. The story's main character is Alita in the English version, Gally in the Japanese version. Alita is an android who is found in pieces by a man named Daisuke Ido, who is a mechanic and bounty hunter, in the garbage-ridden junkyard. The yard, formerly Earth, now known as "The Scrap Yard," is a place full of debauchery, half-human robots, sex, crime, and danger at every turn. Above "The Scrap Yard" is a floating city known as Tiphares (Zalem in the Japanese version), a rumored paradise, which many from "The Scrap Yard" seek to be a part of, risking everything including their lives.
Ido puts Alita back together and adopts her as his daughter. When Alita is fully functional she has no memory of prior life, but it is something that lingers with her throughout the series. Alita joins Ido in his bounty hunting trade, becoming instinctively superior, possessing a unimaginable skill known as the Panzer Kunst, or the armored arts, a fighting technique developed for humanoid cyborgs. In an unfortunate turn of events that leave Alita heartbroken, she ends up in the motorballing circuit a sport like roller derby, but specifically for androids. Players in life or death matches strive to climb the ranks to be number-one. Eventually Alita will rise above this life and become the key in uniting the floating fortress and scrap yard worlds.
This manga is magnificent. The artwork is nothing short of innovative. Reading this work is like watching an animated story. The action and death scenes come out at the reader in 3D, with such realism, you feel the triumph of one character and the death of the other. The characters are tragic, like that of a great Greek myth. Each has a flaw that makes or breaks their lives, as well as, determines the lives of those around them. If you love futuristic science fiction you should read this manga series.
There were nine tankoubon or graphic novels in total for this series. It was originally published from 1991-1995 in Business Jump Shueisha. The English version is available from Viz. Two OAVs were created around the series in 1993 (distributed by ADV here in the States), but was not well received.
Fan or foe of the series let me know what you think? Those that have seen the anime please contact me with your thoughts on the OAVs. I can be reached at Bandwidth(at)ybfree.com.