The Earth, some time in the future. Up in the sky lies Zalem, mysterious city, unknown paradise. Below Zalem, the Scrapyard, also know as Scrap Iron City, a city populated by human and cyborgs, a place with a post-apocalyptic feel, where its inhabitants must live from the junk falling down of Zalem. This is in this dark place that our story begins.

One day, cyber-technician Ido Daisuke discovers to his amazement the head of a female cyborg, mysteriously intact despite its old age. With the hope of creating something beautiful out of that dark world that is the Scrapyard, Ido brings the century year old brain out of its sleep. The cyborg seems to possess all her mental faculties, however it seems that the years affected her under the form of amnesia. Therefore, Ido gives her the name of Gally (or Alita for the US readers - Gally is way better in my opinion), the name of Ido's dead male cat. With care and patience, Ido builds a new body for Gally, using parts bought from various dealers. As she loves Ido as a father, Gally can't help but worry about his nightly disappearances and the news of female cyborgs being victims of a mysterious killer. Could Ido be involved in this? One night, Gally follows Ido, only to see him ready to attack some women. Gally begs him to stop, when suddenly the woman, the real killer and a nasty mutant, attacks them. To save Ido, Gally instinctively fights the mutant and kills it, using a technique called the Panzer Kunst, one of the most efficient fighting techniques ever developed by humanoid cyborgs.

Ido then explains to Gally that he is a hunter-warrior, an other term for a bounty hunter. Being drawn to this life of fighting, Gally decides to become herself a hunter-warrior, much to Ido's disapproval. But Gally can't be denied and enrolls without his consent. Unfortunately, fate gives her as first target Makaku, the most feared criminal with a bounty on his head. Gally manages the destroy the giant cyborg left arm, but she's not strong enough and in the end, Makaku destroys her lower body and left arm. Yet, Gally fighting spirit is so strong that she uses her renaming arm to throw her body toward Makaku's head and put her arm deep into one of he's eyes, who also breaks leaving Gally at Makaku's mercy. Ido's manages to save her, by literary blowing Makaku's body apart with the exception of this his head, Makaku's true form. Makaku escapes, but but only after vowing to kill those who made him feel pain.

Having accepted Gally's choice and acknowledged Gally's fierce fighting spirit, Ido gives Gally a new body designed for battle, a lethal weapon, a berserker body, found by Ido years ago in the remains of an ancient battle spaceship.

Eventually Makaku comes for his revenge, after having stolen an even more powerful body. Gally beats him in a harsh battle. But this is only the beginning. In following stories, Gally goes after the most wanted criminals of the Scrapyard, falls in love, plays motorball and more (don't want to say too much, it would spoil the fun...)

You may want to take note that the previous resume only summarize the first volume of the Gunnm manga (in the US named Battle Angel Alita, distributed by Viz). There is also an OVA (original video animation) story called Battle Angel (distributed in English by A.D. Vision). While the basic story for the manga and the anime is the same -- a cyborg head found by Ido who becomes an hunter-warrior -- the two stories are very different in many ways, even if the OVA is basically a compression of the first two manga.

Quite frankly, I'll say that Gunnm (the manga) is excellent. A must read.  I read it a few years ago and it's still my favorite manga (heck, my current computer isn't called Gally for nothing). The story is very appealing, with a lot of action and an interesting philosophical side. Gunnm is not only a post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi story, but it is also a quest; the quest of a woman who seeks to discovers herself and go beyond her boundaries. Gally fights a lot, but only because she believe that she can find the answers hidden in herself through fighting (and, there are bad guys to beat up...) Even in Vol. 6, where we discovers a darker side to Gally the philosophical aspect is still present in Gally's eventual rediscovery of the joy of living.

Gally herself is a very interesting character. She's a very strong woman, with an iron will, ready to face off any obstacles to reach her goals. She is very independent, very stubborn. Except in some (very short) moments, she is usually very sure of herself. She's quite proud and has a high sense of honor. She's the type to think something like: "Either I win or die". She usually says exactly what's on her mind. Yet, she is also very sensitive, sometime shy, almost acting like a little girl. After manga vol. 5, she actually develops a sense of humor.

Now, the OVA. Artistically speaking, it's awesome. The character designs are gorgeous and stylized and the animation is spectacular in the couple of combat scenes where the fluidity of the animation was essential. On top of that, there's great background music in the major fights. But, unfortunately, I don't feel that the story lives up to the manga. A lot of things were cut out, and a few useless things added. The story itself lost a big part of the philosophical side of the original story. I most also say I was disappointed by the voice actress of both sub and dub versions. It's not that their work was bad. On the contrary, Amanda Winn Lee's performance was as good as ever. It's simply more a matter that the voice didn't seem to fit Gally's characterization.

Overall, I heavily recommend the manga (even if in the US that awful name Alita was used). As for the anime, well, if you like action and don't mind a bit of bloody violence, then you might want to watch Battle Angel. This is a piece that should be part of every otaku's collection.