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Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Manga Takes 2-Issue Break (Updated)
posted on by Alex Mateo
This year's 18th issue of Kodansha's Evening magazine announced on Tuesday that Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle (Gunnm: Kasei Senki) manga series is taking a two-issue break and will not appear in the magazine's 19th and 20th issues. The manga will return in the 21st issue on October 8.
Due to Kishiro's sudden illness, there was a reduced page count in the manga's most recent chapter. Kishiro continued to work on the manuscript for the new chapter in this condition but could not finish in time for the magazine's publication.
Kodansha Comics began releasing Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle in English in February 2018. The company published the sixth volume on April 30. Kishiro launched the manga in Kodansha's Evening magazine in April 2014, and Kodansha published the manga's sixth volume in Japan in November 2018. In the story, the cyborg "mechanical angel" Gally (Alita in English translation) goes to Mars to discover her roots and seek the truth about herself.
Kodansha Comics released Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita manga in hardcover 2-in-1 omnibus volumes starting in November 2017. The company published the fourth omnibus volume in May 2018 and released the manga digitally before the hardcover release.
Battle Angel Alita ran in Shueisha's Business Jump magazine from 1990 to 1995, followed by the 1995-1996 prequel Ashen Victor and the single-volume GUNNM: Other Stories. The story continued in 2001 with the partial retelling Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, which moved to Kodansha's Evening magazine as the result of an issue between Kishiro and Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine.
Viz Media previously published the original manga and Ashen Victor in North America. Viz also published the first 15 volumes of Last Order before Kodansha Comics took over to publish the final four volumes. Kodansha later released Last Order omnibus editions.
Kishiro's original Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM) manga inspired a live-action film by James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez. The film opened in early February in the U.K. and in several countries in Asia before its U.S. debut on February 14. The film then opened in Japan on February 22 and ranked at #2 at the Japanese box office.
Update: Corrected article to note that manga will take two-issue break, not one-issue break as previously stated.
Source: Evening issue 18
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history