This year’s 21st issue of Kodansha’s Morning magazine announced on Thursday that GUNNM: Kikō-Jutsu Senki (GUNNM: Panzer Kunst Chronicle or Battle Angel Alita: Panzer Kunst Chronicle), Yukito Kishiro’s new manga series in the GUNNM or Battle Angel Alita franchise, will launch on Kodansha’s Comic Days platform on May 5.
Image via morning.kodansha.co.jp
© 2008-2026 Kodansha Ltd., Yukito Kishiro
The Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle series ended in March 2025. Kishiro had announced in November 2025 that the story would continue under a different name as a new series in late 2025.
The original Battle Angel Alita manga 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. Kodansha USA Publishing released Kishiro’s first 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.
In Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle’s story, the cyborg “mechanical angel” Gally (Alita in English translation) goes to Mars to discover her roots and seek the truth about herself. Kishiro launched the Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle manga series in Kodansha’s Evening magazine in April 2014. Kodansha USA Publishing began releasing this series in English in February 2018. The company published the 11th volume on February 10. Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle had moved to Kodansha’s Comic Days app after Kodansha’s Evening magazine ended publication in February 2023.
The original Battle Angel Alita 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: Morning magazine issue 21
