'gun dream'),[a] is a Japanese cyberpunk manga series created by Yukito Kishiro and originally published in Shueisha's Business Jump magazine from 1990 to 1995.

The series is set in the post-apocalyptic future and focuses on Alita ("Gally" in the Japanese version, and several other countries), a female cyborg who has lost all memories and is found in a junkyard by a cybernetics doctor who rebuilds and takes care of her.

Her intact head and chest, in suspended animation, are found by cyber medic expert Daisuke Ido in the local garbage dump.

Alita uses her Panzer Kunst to first become a bounty hunter, killing cyborg criminals in the Scrapyard, and then as a star player in the brutal gladiator sport of Motorball.

[5] The futuristic dystopian world of Battle Angel Alita revolves around the city of Scrapyard (Kuzutetsu in the Japanese and various other versions), which has grown up around a massive scrap heap that rains down from Zalem.

Zalem exploits the Scrapyard and surrounding farms, paying bounty hunters (called Hunter-Warriors) to hunt criminals and arranging violent sports to keep the population entertained.

Early on in the story, Daisuke Ido, a bounty-hunting cybernetic doctor who finds and revives Alita, plays a major role as well, but midway the focus begins to increasingly shift to Desty Nova, an eccentric nanotechnology scientist who has fled from Zalem.

Desty Nova is the mastermind behind many of the enemies and trials that Alita faces, but does not make an actual appearance until more than two years into the story, although he is alluded to early on.

Finally, Kaos, Desty Nova's son, a frail and troubled radio DJ with psychometric powers, also begins to play a crucial role after he comes in contact with Alita.

He broadcasts his popular radio show from the wastelands outside the Scrapyard, staying away from the increasing conflict between Zalem and the rebel army Barjack.

[8] Besides renaming Gally to Alita, older North American versions of the manga also changed the city of Zalem (from Biblical Hebrew שָׁלֵם šālēm, "peace") to Tiphares (after Tiferet).

To further develop the Biblical theme in the original series, Zalem's main computer was named Melchizedek, "the king of Salem" and "priest to the Most High God".

[13] A spin-off series titled Ashen Victor (灰者, Haisha) was published in Ultra Jump from September 1995 to July 1996 issues.

A spin-off series titled Battle Angel Alita: Holy Night & Other Stories (銃夢外伝, Ganmu Gaiden) was published in Ultra Jump from January 24, 1997, to December 19, 2006.

Along with the rest of the series, Kishiro's original Battle Angel Alita manga has been licensed for North American publication through Kodansha USA,[14] who republished it the five-volume omnibus format in 2017 and 2018, with the last volume including Ashen Victor.

[28] Cameron is said to be a big fan of the manga, and he was waiting until CGI technology was sufficiently advanced to make a live-action 3D film with effects comparable to Avatar.

It is an adaptation of the manga, following Alita (Gally) from her discovery in the Zalem dump heap by Daisuke Ido up through and beyond her career as a TUNED agent.

The story includes additional elements that Kishiro had conceived when he ended the original manga in 1995, but was unable to implement at the time, which involved Alita going into outer space.

The work combines a large amount of action with believable and independent characters, which the reviewer said is rare in films, comics and TV shows.

[45] Patrick King, a reviewer for the online anime and manga magazine, Animefringe, praises the "magnificence of Kishiro's creation" and "a living, breathing, frightening, incredibly plausible, perhaps even prophetic look at the future of mankind."

The violence present in the manga, according to the reviewer, makes the work unsuitable for children, but helps the reader understand what exactly the main character is fighting.

He's writing: "A nice feature of this work is the display of cybernetics and technology in the context of the surrounding world, without focusing on the plot itself."

[47] Anime News Network critic, Theron Martin praises the author's meticulous background work and emphasizes that Kishiro has not lost his artistic skills over time.