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Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Manga Ends With New Series Slated for 2025

Yukito Kishiro announced on his official blog on Monday that he had completed the 56th and final chapter of the Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle (Gunnm: Kasei Senki) manga the other day. The artist also announced the story will continue under a different name as a new series launching next year.

The manga entered a hiatus in October 2022 and returned in January 2024. The manga also took a two-month break in June 2021, and returned in August.

Kishiro launched the manga in Kodansha's Evening magazine in April 2014, and Kodansha published the manga's 10th volume in Japan on April 23. Kodansha USA Publishing began releasing Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle in English in February 2018. The company published the ninth compiled book volume in September 2023.

The manga moved to Kodansha's Comic Days app after Kodansha's Evening magazine ended publication in February 2023.

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 USA Publishing released Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita manga in hardcover 2-in-1 omnibus volumes starting in November 2017. The company published the sixth omnibus volume in April 2019.

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 USA Publishing took over to publish the final four volumes. Kodansha later released Last Order in 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 2019 in the U.K. and in several countries in Asia before its U.S. debut later that month. The film also opened in Japan in February 2019 and ranked at #2 at the Japanese box office.

Source: Yukito Kishiro's Shin Kimagure Yukito-Chō blog