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Well Im looking forward to reading Vol.10 so much they I may just begin re-reading the entire series, but I wanted to ask you guys for recommendations to other mangas that you may consider as on par with Battle Angel.
I'v read Battle Angel for years but never really found anything else that was as well drawn and had as good of a character development, but then again I haven't looked that hard.

Any suggestions?

Maybe start with a real classic one, Berserk.

Age rating: Mature (May contain sex, drugs, and extreme graphic violence)
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Psychological, Romance, Supernatural
Plot Summary:
Gattsu, known as the Black Swordsman, seeks sanctuary from the demonic forces that persue himself and his woman, and also vengeance against the man who branded him as an unholy sacrifice. Aided only by his titanic strength, skill and sword, Gattsu must struggle against his bleak destiny, all the while fighting with a rage that might strip him of his humanity. Berserk is a dark and brooding story of outrageous swordplay and ominous fate, in the theme of Shakespeare's MacBeth.
Guts, the Black Swordsman, wanders around in a mediaeval world slaying demons as they are attracted to a demonic mark on his neck. To his help he has inhuman strength gained from a harsh childhood lived with mercenaries, a gigantic sword, an iron prosthetic left hand and the elf Puck. In his search for vengeance on the one who gave him the mark, he meets many interesting persons and creatures, whom all is affected by him in one way or another.

Fullmetal Alchemist
Age rating: Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Military, Mystery, Shounen, Supernatural
Plot Summary: When two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric tried to revive their mother using Alchemy, something went drastically wrong. Edward lost his leg and his arm, and Alphonse lost his entire body. Now, a few years later, Edward becomes what's known as a "State Alchemist" or a Nationally recognized Alchemist. Along with Alphonse, who's spirit has been put into a metal suit of armor, and his Automail leg and arm, the two brothers set out to find a way to restore themselves.

Death Note
Age rating: Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Genres: Drama, Mystery, police, Psychological, Shounen, Supernatural
Plot Summary: Shinigami own notebooks called “Death Notes” which are used as killing devices. Whoever’s name they write down in a death note will die within 40 seconds. Shinigami Ryuk dropped his Death Note in the human world where it’s found by honor high school student Light. With the death note actually having directions in it for its use, Light discovers he now has the power to discreetly kill people, and with this new power he plans to change the world in his ideal world by killing off criminals. Eventually the governments of the countries around the world notice the unusual amounts of deaths of their criminals, and figure out someone is behind them, but they have no way of discovering it themselves. That’s when they hire L, a master detective, to find out who is behind the murders.

And if you love great artwork, check out Shin Angyo Onshi and Island.

And try Hajime No Ippo, a boxing manga. Maybe the most addicting manga ever =)

Berserk
Shin Angyo Onshi
Hajime no Ippo
Fullmetal Alchemist
is still on-going.


Can give you tips on like 50 other good mangas =)

Eden is great so far...I'm up to volume 5. Planetes is very good too. And Berserk of course, although I stopped reading at volume 14.

I love Full Metal Alchemist and Death Note. Among the shounen I like D. Gray Man too, but it has become really shounen in the last chapters, so I don't know...
And 21st Century Boys of course!

Thanks for the replies ill start looking into some of these.

Am I too late?
I like "Blame!" a lot. It's sort of techno wasteland-ish.

Hmm...

I don't know exactly what you mean by "on par with BAA" but I will give you some suggestions anyway:

Hellsing
Age rating: Mature (May contain sex, drugs, and extreme graphic violence)
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Historical, Horror, Shounen, Supernatural
Plot Summary: Vampires exist. It is the duty of Hellsing, a secret organization sponsored by the British government, to hide that frightening fact and protect the blissfully unaware populace. Along with its own personal army, Hellsing has secret weapons. Alucard, an incredibly powerful vampire, has been controlled by Hellsing for years. It is unclear if he dislikes being a servant to the Hellsing family, but he certainly enjoys his job as a vampire exterminator. Seras is a fledgling vampire and a former police woman. Although reluctant to embrace her new self, she is still a valuable member of the organization. Integra Hellsing, the current leader, is usually fully capable of fulfilling her duty, but lately, vampire activity has been on the rise. Unfortunately, the cause is more alarming than anything she could have imagined. A group long thought dead has been plotting in secret since their apparent destruction over 50 years ago. Plotting to plunge England, and perhaps the entire world, into war.

Rurouni Kenshin
Age rating: Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Historical, Romance, Shounen
Plot Summary: During the violent era known as the Bakumatsu, there was an Ishin assassin known only as the Hitokiri Battousai, whose skill and brutality became near legendary in the age of Restoration he helped to build. However, as the time of fighting drew to a close, he vanished without a trace, only to resurface eleven years later as a wandering swordsman, Himura Kenshin. Now staying at a kenjutsu dojo maintained by a fiery-tempered woman named Kamiya Kaoru, and surrounded by newfound friends like the streetfighter Sagara Sanosuke, ex-samurai's son Myoujin Yahiko, and the shrewd doctor Takani Megumi, he seeks to carry out his vow to protect the weak without killing in order to atone for the lives he's taken. It's not long, though, before this vow is put to the test, and the shadows of his past return to haunt him and everyone he holds dear.

Gunslinger Girl
Age rating: Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Genres: Drama, Science Fiction
Plot Summary: "Henrietta" was an innocent little girl when her entire family was massacred and she was left for dead. She was rescued by a privately-owned social welfare organization and given cybernetic components over her battered body. Brainwashed by the organization, she and four other girls now work as cold-blooded assassins, doing the dirty work for the Italian government.

Hagane
Age rating: Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Genres: Action, Ecchi, Seinen
Plot Summary: Yakushimaru Hagane is a high school girl with a taste for high speeds. In the nighttime she participates in secret motorbike races on the Tokyo highways. However, unbeknownst to her she has been implanted with a "parasite", DNA from a dead human. She is one of many that has been chosen as "parasite vessels" by an organization called The Red Sea. Soon after she discovers this her life is tossed completely upside down and she is forced into a war she don't want to fight. But in her is another person who loves to fight: She is the vessel of Miyamoto Musashi...

Elfen Lied
Age rating: Mature (May contain sex, drugs, and extreme graphic violence)
Genres: Drama, Horror, Science Fiction, Shounen, Supernatural
Plot Summary: The Diclonius, a mutated homo sapien that is said to be selected by God and will eventually become the destruction of mankind, possesses two horns in their heads, and has a "sixth sense" which gives it telekinetic abilities. Due to this dangerous power, they have been captured and isolated in laboratories by the government. Lucy, a young and psychotic Diclonius, manages to break free of her confines and brutally murder most of the guards in the laboratory, only to get shot in the head as she makes her escape. She survives and manages to drift along to a beach, where two teenagers named Kouta and Yuka discovers her. Having lost her memories, she was named after the only thing that she can now say, "Nyuu," and the two allow her to stay at Kouta's home. However, it appears that the evil "Lucy" is not dead just yet...


There you go, a nice spread of choices... Enjoy!!

Try out "Battle Royale 1" (May contain sex, drugs, and extreme graphic violence) its really well drawn and has a unique plot.

I wonder why no one has mentioned Ghost in the Shell yet.

There's Ghost in the Shell, and Man Machine Interface. They both come very close to BAA in terms of theme, i think...

Cool thanks for all the suggestions. So far I looked at Berserk and Blame!
Berserk I didnt like to much after the first 4 volumes. I didnt really like any of the characters and perhaps that was intended but I couldnt keep on with it. Blame I thought has really beautiful drawings and art which makes it worth reading by itself, but the character development in that to is lacking a bit. Ill probably keep reading it.

Battle Royale was a good movie so id be interested in the books.
Same with ghost in the shell.

Looking forward to Vol 10.

hi all,

in japan, vol.10 is not far from launching... front imagehere:

Ok, looks like it gonna be a realase tomorrow.
Not the full volume 10(can´t find all the scans that we wanted).
But some chapters.

Yay, thats great to hear, cant wait ^^
Hope you find the missing scans.

Yeah its taking way too long for the scans to appear.
Sure it'l be our luck that they will be available a day after release

Still we plan on doing a proper volume release either way.

So, guys. How do you think these chapters was?

Thank you (thank you thank you thank you thank you)!!! I've been checking on the site every hour since Ripper announced the new chapters would be coming out. I'm new to the site - just a week ago I had a sudden urge to re-read all of gunnm, and I was looking for a translation for LO 1&2 (which I had bought in Japanese when it looked like Viz might not be bringing them to the US) and stumbled onto this site which is the best thing ever!!! Thank you for fueling my gunnm obsession!!

crazyankan wrote:So, guys. How do you think these chapters was?

Spoilers for those who haven't read the 58-61 release) I really liked the editor's notes in these last few phases - from what I understand Japanese is really a layered and intricate language, with the poetic quality that allows multiple interpretations - I appreciate when the translator somewhat explains his choices which allows me a deeper understanding. (oh and "bootleg" -- hilarious!)

Thanks again so much guys, as soon as I send this post I am donating some money on Paypal to help support your wonderful efforts!

lyssla wrote: I really liked the editor's notes in these last few phases - from what I understand Japanese is really a layered and intricate language, with the poetic quality that allows multiple interpretations - I appreciate when the translator somewhat explains his choices which allows me a deeper understanding. (oh and "bootleg" -- hilarious!)

Glad you liked them. I'm not 100% at Japanese, so I feel it's necessary in order to provide a more complete translation. Things don't always match up 1-to-1.

Wow! Thank you so much for the new chapters! Its so good, that still not everyone puts his time into the 20th scanlation- version of some average shounen manga.
And I have to agree a 100% to lyssla, reading the explanations for the translation. It makes the the hole thing clearer. The reader now knows, that this attack- name is not just another stupid term like "super ultra mega punch", but that it has its background.

But I have to ask some for some points I didnt understand. Its because there happened so much and then there was this long break with the Vilma arc...
(spoiler)
So
1. Tiphares is producing anti matter and they said that earlier? When? I thought, Tiphares was "only" this test base for long space journeys and after the great catastrophe caused by our loveley Alita, sealed up because... (i forgot why. I have one cause in my mind (so that the humanity wont get hurt anymore) but i think that is from the old ending...)
but anyways, i didnt know, that Tiphares had such an enormous important function.

2. and the most important question to me is: when did Nova got Alitas brain? Im totally confused about that. In volume 1 we see her brain, put into her new body, and after that i cant remember a scene, where Alita is under Novas scalpel again...
mh.


What i think of the new chapters: (spoiler)
reading the raws, i thought, Trinidad blew off Pings arms and legs, like the well know phrase: "any damage in cyberspace is damage in the real world" (you hear this often, when some cyberspace thing in a movie or whatever comes up...)
But: this makes much more sense and it is much cooler. And in Cyberspace, Yukito changed the battle style too, he seems to be thinking about any little detail! They are not fighting with their hands or something, they use to compress the opponent, they crack the copy protection of attacks... so THIS is real cyberspace battle, whooow! (if i can use the world "real" here, ehem...)
Thumb wresting is great too. Another cool idea not to start the next fight and the next fight and so on. Plus i liked the character of Zekka, its not the superstrong bring-it-on warrior, but more a rock'n'roller with quiet some sense of humour.
Again, Yukito surpassed those average always-the-same-plots.
But the brain, where comes her brain from.

Answers:

It's implied that Nova took her brain when he rebuilt her, so she's been chipped since the beginning of the Last Order reboot. The art may be showing images to the contrary, but that's what's suggested in the text. Plus, the first time we see Nova, he's holding the P Box, and Nova X says something about experimenting on her while she was asleep during the showdown in the Incubator.

Tiphares has many functions. While it was a launchpad for space colonization, that was shut down after the Camlann Incident. Its main one currently is to house Melchizedek, which is running the Unanimous protocol, which, through the Peacemakers, manages to keep everyone in line. Trinidad abuses his custody of Melchizedek in order to sway mass opinion, starting wars and whatnot.

I was right!

This will be very, very interesting

It does, however, call into question the very first pages of LO - What exactly do we see there? Isn't Kishiro contradicting himself here, or is it a plot device and is Nova lying?

Alita was blown away by the bomb

can you make a brain chip from blown away flesh ? no.

so nova reconstructed her brain (that's what we see), then give it a body (the imaginos), let the brain accomodate to the body, then (coz he is still root on the imaginos body, not fully "booted" yet) open her skull and put the brainship.


what's the matter ?

Let me ask you a silly question: what phase(issuewise) number is the last in Vol10?

I agree entirely on the recomendation of EDEN, but it`s strange no one has mentioned Naoki Urasawa`s MONSTER (at least I haven`t noticved). It`s a great manga in 18 volumes. I believe you`ll like it.

While waiting for LO-10... Let's have some fun