Anime Profile: Battle Angel Alita

In 1991, artist and writer Yukito Kishiro began to create a new graphic series for Shueisha Publishing's "Business Jump," a weekly comic aimed at adult audiences. Entitled "Gunnm" (literally "Gun Dream"), Kishiro's continuing odyssey of a young female cyborg's journey of self-discovery, set in a unique and highly detailed fantasy setting, captured the imagination of Japanese readers. Today, over 900,000 devoted fans follow Gunnm on a weekly basis.

In 1992, Viz Comics, one of North America's premiere publishers of Japanese comic books, or manga, decided to bring Gally and her world to the English-reading public, at that time changing both the title and the main character's name to "Battle Angel Alita". Again, the response was overwhelming, as Kishiro's masterful storytelling enthralled a whole new legion of fans.

In 1993, a team of extraordinary animators, artists, and writers began the arduous task of transforming Kishiro's intricate universe into a series of Original Animation Videos, or OAVs. The results, to date, are two of the most finely realized animated films ever created for any medium: "Gunnm - Rusty Angel" and "Gunnm - Tears Sign". A.D. Vision is very proud to present both of these extraordinary films, together, as "Battle Angel".