Yukito Kishiro

Yukito Kishiro was born in 1967. He is considered to be a mangaka, or manga artist, and currently lives in Tokyo, Japan. Kishiro grew up in Chiba, but headed to Tokyo to become a mangaka. His dream became true when he published GUNNM, a manga that has become known as one of his greatest works ever.

GUNNM

The title in Japan is GUNNM. Everywhere else it is known as Battle Angel Alita. It was his debut piece and was published in Business Jump in 1990. The series lasted until 1995. Kishiro has said that Battle Angel Alita took a lot of his time and energy. He has stated that it was difficult to create a story with a cyborg theme that has not been done before. He finally created Alita, which focuses on a cyborg that is discovered in a scrap heap. The series became extremely popular very quickly, and has been translated into German, French, English, Italian, Chinese and Spanish. Two OVA’s (original video animation) were created about Battle Angel Alita, the first being part one and the second part two. The story has even been picked to be turned into a feature film, with James Cameron to do the directing.

Battle Angel Alita is about a cyborg who is found in a scrap heap by the cybernetics doctor, Dr. Ido. Dr. Ido fixes her up and is shocked to discover that she has no memory. He names her Alita, and does his best to raise her. One day Alita discovers that the good doctor is actually a bounty hunter. Alita ends up saving him, and discovers inadvertently that she has a fighting technique known as Panzer Kunst. She then decides that she is going to become a bounty hunter, and through the use of various bodies, becomes the best bounty hunter that the Scrap Yard has ever seen.

Other Works

Another manga that was created by Kishiro is Aqua Knight. This is the story of Lady Ruliya, a knight in training. She is able to ride an orca, and wears magical armor that enables her to fight under water. One day she lands in front of an old light house. The young boy in charge, Ashika, finds her and saves her. In return she promises that she will make him a knight, if he can complete one task. She gives him an impossible task and is shocked when he rushes off to try to complete it. Ruliya then needs to rush off after him, in order to save him before he gets killed.

Ruliya manages to save him, but not before he loses the special light that he was protecting. It is then up to Ruliya to regain the light, and she takes Ashika on as a squire. Together, the two of them set off to reclaim the light, and to stop evil from taking over.