Everyone has a favorite manga series. This author has a favorite series in every genre, and in the post-apocalyptic sci fi genre, Battle Angel Alita definitely takes the top prize. Now, I am not talking about the Last Order continuation that has been coming out in recent years, but the beautiful nine volume series first released in 1990 and ran until 1995, spawning two anime OVAs and a continuation of the series. Cyborgs, post-apocalyptic landscapes, bounty hunters and huge weapons populate the beautiful world that Yukito Kishiro has created and continues to be a classic of manga.

The world of Battle Angel Alita is centered in the Scrapyard, a city that happens to be the dumping ground for a beautiful, untouched city in the sky, suspended above and never seen by any who has ever set foot on the Scrapyard surface in the beginning of the 26th century. The main character, Alita, is a cyborg with a human brain found in a scrap heap by Ido, a scientist with a strange mark on his head. Rebuilding her body, Ido learns Alita has no memories of her past, and brings her back to life slowly. The story encompasses many different plot lines, from Ido actually being a bounty hunter, the secret of the floating world Tiphares, and Alita's different incarnations from bounty hunter, to sports star, to government spook.

Kishiro's beautiful artwork is a testament to the horrors that Alita witnesses while trying to regain her memories. People who are part flesh and part metal, junkies who feed on brains, organ theives that steal the spinal cord out of living people, all amongst the backdrop of broken buildings and a deadly, beautiful floating city that holds a terrible secret that would ruin the whole series if I revealed it here. Not all characters are beautiful, showing Kishiro's ability to draw beautiful women, handsome men, oddities, regular looking people, and the occasional odd animal, making the art of this manga excellent from the desert landscapes to the detail of Alita's Damascus Blade.

The plot of the story, and the many different entertwining stories is worthy of sitting down and reading several times, simply to learn of all the different nuances. While the series begins as Alita's search for her identity, it becomes a struggle against the villain of the series, Desty Nova, as well as revealing why Tipheres is so very different and so very forbidden. The story is accentuated by the characters, not only of Alita, Ido, and Desty Nova, but the Barjack, Kaos, and the many others who are touched by Alita's life in the Scrapyard.

In the end, there is not enough this author can say about Battle Angel Alita. Yukito Kishiro twists story and characters with beautiful art to create a world that you never want to leave. Bounty hunting, fights, and a game kind of like Rollerball fill out the world of Battle Angel Alita, and make Kishiro's masterpiece a series that many different people will enjoy.