Battle Angel Alita

by Yukito Kishiro

reviewed August 2006
****

A cybernetician in a dystopian future finds a 300 year old cyborg head on the massive rubbish pile beneath the floating city of the elites. The brain is still alive and he reactivates the girl, cobbles together a new body for her and names her Alita (Gally in the Japanese) after a dead pet.

And Gally begins her journey to recover her memory and her identity. This plays out as the drama of adolescence: finding herself, first love, rebellion against parents: but hidden in her past and her memory are powerful battle techniques. What was she?

The story plays out over nine volumes, covers many additional plots including a mad scientist, rollerball-like sports, hyperviolent battles – just about every manga trope you could ask for – and finally, the shocking secret of the elites' city, and a mystical revelation.

manga