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Gunnm: Mars Chronicle
The cover of the first volume
銃夢火星戦記 (Ganmu Kasei Senki)
Genre	Cyberpunk
Manga
Written by	Yukito Kishiro
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	NA: Kodansha USA
Magazine	Evening (2014–2022) Comic Days (from 2023 on)
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	28 October 2014 – present
Volumes	9 (List of volumes)

Gunnm: Mars Chronicle (銃夢火星戦記, Ganmu Kasei Senki, lit. "Gun Dream: Martian War Chronicles"), also known in its English translation as Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, is a Japanese science fiction manga series written by Yukito Kishiro and the third installment of the Battle Angel Alita series. The sequel to Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, the series is the "final chapter" in the Battle Angel Alita franchise.

The story of Mars Chronicles alternates between two timelines: ES 594, three years directly after the event of Last Order, when Alita returns to her home planet Mars for the first time in centuries; and ES 373, during Alita's childhood as the young cyborg girl Yoko trying to survive in the war-torn Mars.

Plot

The Mars Chronicle takes place on a colonized Mars . The story alternately tells about the events of the childhood of the main character (373-374 BC) and about her further adventures in 594 AD.

Long before mastering Yoko (陽 子 Yo:ko ), originally known as Galli , the Panzer-Kunst (パ ンツァークンスト panza: kunsuto ) technique , she tried to survive in the conditions of post-war Mars along with another orphan, Erika. Thanks to Dr. Finch, a cyborg girl and her friend end up in an orphanage for girls in a small Martian settlement. However, Yoko and Erika do not find shelter there for a long time - the town is attacked by the military. After getting out of the environment, the two go in search of Erica's parents. Following the military, mercenaries arrive, whose mission is to find and kidnap Yoko.

Three years after the 10th ZOTT, Alita visits Mars to honor the slaughtered inhabitants of an orphanage she lived at during childhood. At the memorial site, she re-encounters her childhood friend and fellow Künstler Erica — the infamous assassin known as "Frau X" — and is immediately drawn into a Martian power struggle. The plot repeatedly shifts back to Alita's childhood memory after the young Yoko (Alita) and her sisterly companion Erica were saved at the minefield by Gerda and later left in the care of an elderly wandering medic Finch, and the adventures the pair had to endure in order to survive in the chaotic Martian civil conflicts leading up to the Terraforming Wars. Determined to save her childhood companion from the control of the Einherjar, Alita vows to unveil the truth and discover the cure of Necro-Soldiers.

Two orphans, with the help of Dr. Finch, find Erica's house, which turns out to be burned down, and many of her memories of her parents are lies. Meanwhile, Finch finds a connection with Yoko's mother. The girls part ways at Yoko's mother's homestead in the province of Kydonia . The mercenaries chasing Yohko catch up with Finch's van, but are interrupted by a masked man claiming to be the villain Baron Muster. He becomes interested in Erika, believing she holds the key to one of Mars' greatest treasures, and decides to make her his apprentice. Adopted by Erika, she demonstrates an inborn attraction to the bad, and her fresh look of a child allows her to reach the end in search of the Martian treasure.

Release and creation

Yukito Kishiro announced the series on 1 January 2014, with the premiere set for the second half of 2014. His Battle Angel Alita: Last Order manga ended later that month. The manga was launched in Kodansha's Evening magazine on 28 October 2014. Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle is set to be the "final chapter" in the Battle Angel Alita series. Kodansha USA have licensed the manga for a U.S. release.

At the end of the second volume, Hibotaki Tobi's one -shot Mu-kai (霧 界 mu kai ) (lit. "foggy world") was published, the story of which won the award for the best science fiction story. The illustrations were done by Kishiro. The plot of the one-shot tells about a boy stuck in a world where time has stopped.

While working on illustrations for the manga, Kishiro uses both manual work and computer graphics. Background elements, dashed lines and various mechanisms are drawn by hand by Kishiro's assistant, his younger brother Tsutomu.

References

1. 銃夢火星戦記（１） [Gunnm: Mars Chronicle (1)]. Kodansha (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 November 2015.
2. "Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle GN 1". Anime News Network. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
3. Ganmu kasei senki. 3. Yukito Kishiro, ゆきと 木城. Kodansha. 2016. ISBN 978-4-06-377488-7. OCLC 956692653.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
4. Brooke, David (28 August 2018). "Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle 4 Review • AIPT". aiptcomics.com. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
5. Loveridge, Lynzee (2 January 2014). "New Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm Manga to Start in 2014". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
6. Green, Scott (2 January 2014). ""Battle Angel Alita" Manga Relaunch Planned". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
7. Beveridge, Chris (2 January 2015). "Yukito Kishiro Announces 'The Martian War Chronicles' Manga". The Fandom Post. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
8. Loo, Egan (19 September 2014). "New Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm Manga to Launch in October". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
9. Beveridge, Chris (19 September 2015). "New 'Battle Angel Alita' Manga Slotted For October Debut". The Fandom Post. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
10. イブニング 2014年22号. Evening (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
11. Komatsu, Mikikazu (13 October 2014). "Final Chapter of "Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita" Manga to Start on October 28". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
12. Sherman, Jennifer (3 July 2017). "Kodansha Comics Announces Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Fairy Tail S, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card in Print". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
13. Brooke, David (24 April 2018). "Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle 2 Review • AIPT". aiptcomics.com. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
14. 木城ゆきと (30 November 2017). "新･きまぐれゆきと帳: 仕事道具15_ペン入れ". 新･きまぐれゆきと帳. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
15. "YUKITOPIA". jajatom.moo.jp. Retrieved 18 January 2023.

External links

• Gunnm: Mars Chronicle at Evening (in Japanese)
• Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

• Manga series
• 2014 manga
• Battle Angel
• Cyberpunk anime and manga
• Kodansha manga
• Fiction set on Mars
• Seinen manga
• Cyborgs in fiction
• Prosthetics in fiction
• Fiction about robots
• Brain–computer interfacing in fiction
• Genetic engineering in fiction
• Nanotechnology in fiction
• Fiction about megastructures
• Exploratory engineering
• Terraforming