This is the first in a series of posts that will give some love to the older anime and manga classics that haven’t received much attention in the U. S. First up: Gunnm, Battle Angel Alita. Get used to hearing that title, there’s a James Cameron film adapation for it coming up.

The story takes place in a dark distant future, where cybernetic technology is now a reality. The plot follows a young cyborg named Gally, who is found in a scrapheap by the Cyberdoctor Daisuke Ido. Ido rebuilds Gally and becomes somewhat of a surrogate father to her. Gally has no memory of her past, but soon displays remarkable fighting skills.

Gally decides to put her ass-kicking qualities to use and she becomes a bounty hunter. Don’t let her diminuitive stature fool you, piss her off and you might get your leg broke.

One day Gally meets a young man named Yugo, who dreams of one day going to Zalem. Zalem is a giant floating city above Earth, and access to it is restricted. The quality of life there is much better than that on the surface (the garbage from Zalem often rains down on the surface dwellers)). Gally sees something great in Yugo, and decides to help him achieve his dream.

This is a great sci-fi anime. It has a definite Blade Runner feel to it. There’s themes of cyborgs struggling to be truly alive, and humans desperate to escape the poor conditions that they live in.

The anime was originally released in Japan in the early nineties and became available in the states in 1998 on VHS. In 2000 a DVD version was released. The anime is based on the manga, which I also highly recommend. The manga is one of the best illustrated manga you’ll ever see.

The series was originally called GUNNm in Japan, and changed to Battle Angel Alita in the English version. (Gally’s name is changed to Alita in the English version, hence the title change). There’s some plot points that were in the manga that didn’t make it into the anime movie as well. I’d suggest watching the DVD with the original Japanese voices and English subtitles. It’s not the best dub in the world (another reason to just buy the manga).

The anime and manga are excellent pieces of artwork. The story is deep, and sorrowful, but not sad enough to count in my Anime that (almost) made me Cry list. This was one of the first manga that I ever read, and it holds a special place in my heart. I think it deserves a lot more exposure here in America….which it will most likely get in the next couple of years! In December 2005, mega-super-budget director James Cameron announced that he’s making a Battle Angel Alita live-action film. They’re still casting, but look for this one to come out sometime in 2007.

Tags for this posts: Anime, Manga, Battle Angel, Alita, James Cameron, Gally, Protaku, Gunm

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