TITLE: Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle volume 1
YEAR: January 2016 (US Release)
COMPANY: Kodansha Comics
STORY AND ART BY: Yukito Kishiro
It was back in 1990 when a 17-year-old manga writer/artist named Yukito Kishiro created the manga series “Ganmu” (“Gunnm”) for Shueisha’s “Business Jump” magazine. The manga series would last from 1990-1995.
The series would attract attention worldwide in the early ’90s thanks to the series receiving an anime OVA adaptation by the name of “Battle Angel Alita”. And the series still continues to live on with an announced live-action film adaptation to be released in Japan in December 2018.
After “Battle Angel Alita” was released, Kishiro would created the 19-volume series Battle Angel Alita: Last Order” which ran from 2000-2014. And right after “Last Order” was completed, Kishiro said the final chapter of the series “Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle” (“Gunnm: Mars Chonicle” would come afterward and the series would begin in Kodansha’s “Evening” magazine on October 2014. The series is a direct sequel to “Last Order”.
For those who are interested in the timeline: “Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle” in AD 2326-2500; “Battle Angel” in AD 2533-AD 2546 and “Battle Angel Alita: Last Order” taking place in AD 2547.
It’s important to note to avoid confusion is that “Battle Angel Alita” is a name that was created by Viz Media, when they released the series in North America. The names and cities were changed. They main character’s name was Yoko who would become Gally (Alita was never used in the Japanese manga version). In “Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle”, while “Battle Angel Alita” is used in the title, the character used in the manga is the original name, Yoko.
In the first volume, we are introduced to Yoko and Erica Wald who were saved by a doctor named Finch. Erica has become like an older sister to Yoko, who is not used to her mechanical limbs. But the doctor gives her a special remote control device to help Yoko walk.
As the doctor drops off Erica and Yoko to an orphanage in the town of Mamiana, the two meet the current orphans and they immediately become disgusted by Yoko’s mechanical legs. When they start to mess with Yoko, Erica defends her.
When everyone falls asleep, the eldest of the orphans, Ninon Silber, tells Erica that she is the daughter of nobility and that she could make her life easier if she listens to her and does what she says.
The following morning, the girls visit Erica and Yoko and the eldest orphan tells Erica that she must prove her loyalty by feeding Yoko bugs.
Upset with what had taken place, Erica instead puts the bugs in the mouth Ninon and Erica is beaten by Ninon and the other girls.
Meanwhile, a group of hunters are on the search for Yoko and word has it that she and Erica have been seen at an orphanage. But when the hunters arrive, they find out that they are at the wrong orphanage with all boys, not all girls.
Back at the village where Erica and Yoko are at, the orphan girls try to make things good with Erica and Yoko, but just when things are looking good, the village where the orphanage is located is attacked by the Heusch-Recken.
With a mass attack, can Erica and Yoko survive the onslaught?
For those who have never read any of Kishiro Yukito’s work, just know that the world has gone to crap.
While “Battle Angel Alita” (Gunnm) was fascinating in a way that it focused on Gally (Alita) as a hunter, “Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle” volume 1 tries to establish Yoko’s (Gally) earlier life.
The first volume is more to establish that setting, her close relationship with Erica and these two characters will be important to the overall storyline later on.
While I don’t want to spoil to much of the story of volume 1, if anything, one just needs to know that these two characters are a product of a world gone mad. And how these two individuals are shaped from there upbringing, will set the stage for these two to meet once again after being separated.
Featuring another solid story from Kishiro Yukito, and artwork that is lively, it’s important to emphasize that this is a violent manga series. People of all ages are killed, some in the worse ways possible. So, don’t be fooled by the character design and thinking this is a children’s manga series, it most definitely is not.
Overall, a solid first volume and I can’t wait for volume 2! Yukito Kishiro’s “Battle Angel Alita Mars Chronicle” is recommended!