GENERAL INFO:

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Cover

The art along the Motorball track is lifted from a bad MGM movie called "Solarbabies", about a group of kids who rebel against an oppressive, tyranical government by—get this—playing rollerhockey.

8

The guy with the gas mask is wearing a tshirt for "Gorky Park" (Парк Горького), which was a Soviet/Russian hard rock band from the late 1980's. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find if that shirt actually existed, and the other words on the shirt don't seem to give me a clue.

That same guy also looks like the Zone Tripper (Carl McCoy) from the beginning of the 1990 film Hardware. Incidentally, apparently all they had to do to design the "Zone Tripper" character was take Carl McCoy as-is, have him put on a gas mask and throw on a bit of dust, and they were ready to roll!

9

Sérgio Nova brought to my attention that the words written on the wall behind Doc Ido are lyrics from the song "Mediate" by INXS, off their album "Kick".

17

Motorball is clearly a variant of Rollerball, the sport that they play in the movie(s) of the same name. The two games deviate in that in Rollerball, teams score points by throwing the ball into a goal, where as in Motorball, indivuduals race to get the Motorball around the track a certain number of times.

Player number 57, Bardiche, is probably named after the bardiche, which is a type of pole axe used in Eastern Europe.

20

Racer 31 looks a lot like one of the suicidal, test "Robocop 2's" from.... Robocop 2. (The one I'm talking about is the one who pulls his helmet off, screams, then dies.)

34

After watching the 1990 movie Hardware again, Umba kinda reminds me of Mark Northover's character Alvy, in that both are short statured and heavyset, wear a cap and worker clothing, and are well experienced in technology.

41

Kudos reader "The Tiphareans" have observed that "There can be only one" is a nod to Highlander.

Here's something else I noticed; by the looks of it, Jasugun is the Champion of the 289th Top League Tourney. And according to the official Chronology, Motorball began in ES 448, meaning that—as of ES 578—it has been functioning for 130 years. This in turn implies that there are over 2 two "Top League Tourneys" a year. In fact, there seems to be 20 of them every 9 years! Now this is most likely just an oversight of Kishiro, but I'm curious to know if maybe there is an actual reason for this.

43

Alita's "Damascus blades" are probably made from (and thus named after) damascus steel, as both have a very distinctive pattern of banding and mottling found within the blades. The name itself comes from the capital and second largest city of Syria, Damascus.

53

Galvani Circuit: Luigi Galvani was a 18th century scientist who worked with animal cells and how they respond to electricity. Seems appropriate in this techno-electricial world.

57

All three members of the three-man challenger team are named after weapons:

• No. 49, Claymore, is named after a type of sword used in Scotland. And, for good measure, the M18A1 Claymore mine, though that was named after the sword.
• No. 87, Pihakaetta, is most likely named after a type of knife used in India called a pichangatti.
• No. 6, Kalashnikov, is most likely named after the AK-47 assault rifle, also known as the Kalashnikov.

The changes in the names is likely due to the way the names were transliterated to Japanese by Kishiro at first, and then back to English by the translator. The original Viz re-translations were less accurate probably due to the translator not recognizing the names of those weapons, but the Kodansha translation is more accurate.

Also, Pihakaetta's eyepatch has the Korean word 악 in it; this could mean either "ouch" or "evil".

58

The phrases "Pre-staged" and "Chrondek" on the pace car come from Chrondek Timers, which were the starting/timing lights used in drag racing back during the 1960's... but they seem to have gone out of business. Apparently they were sold off during the 1980's, and stopped servicing them by the 1990's after milking the old designs for what they're worth.

"Übel", on the other hand, simply means "evil" in German. I have yet to find a racing connection to that word. The same goes with the "JM" logo; there does exist some racing connection to "JM", but it's motocross, and they don't seem to have existed before the mid-1990's, after GN3 was originally written.

61

Top frame, what I previously thought was Skeletor is actually Vic Rattlehead, the mascot for the heavy metal band Megadeth. (Thanks Martin for pointing that out!) Then in the bottom-left frame, the guy next to Esdog looks like one of the Skiff guards from Return of the Jedi, probably Yotts Orren.

65

Penultimate frame; the sign in the background for Jasugun's pit crew, "Brain Gears", has a logo similar to the company Braun, complete with the larger "A" in the center.

66

More metal band references galore. While the names were still used in the Viz English version, their logos we not. So in the Japanese version, we have stickers for German heavy metal band Rage, Swiss metal band Coroner, American metal band Last Crack, and German metal band Tyran' Pace.

One other band has a logo, but I can't make it out; the Japanese version simply shows "NO", which I imagine is the first two letters of it name. The original Viz English version suggests that the band is called "Noise", but I can't seem to find any info on it. The Kodansha Comics edition, however, simply uses the original page art, but doesn't expand the image beyond the original Japanese page crop.

67

Jasugun's—apparent—pit crew leader is wearing a pair of "Gamma Ray" sunglasses, which is named after the 90's German Power Metal band, Gamma Ray.

71

Upper left hand corner, I could SWEAR that's Daley from Bubble Gum Crisis.

86

Max C has some sharp eyes; Mr. Thompson, or Tommy, has the code M1928A1 on his sunglasses. That is actually the model number of the infamous Thompson submachine gun, also known as a Tommy Gun! Incidentally, the M1928A1 model in particular was seen mostly in the Pacific Theatre of Combat during World War 2.

I also can't help but feel like Mr. Thompson's wavy, feathered hair kinda makes him look like Tommy in The Who's music video for "Pinball Wizard" (with Elton John) for their album titled... well, Tommy.

88

No. 99 Aydakatti is named after an Indian blade, the ada katti (also known as a moplah). I'm beginning to notice a trend here with Motorball player names...

120

A few things of note in this page. First, to the right is an ouroboros, which is the snake eating its own tail. The sign itself has a number of companies relating to model making. Going clockwise starting in the center of the ouroboros:

• Guillow's produces balsa wood model airplane toys.
• Testors is perhaps best known for their model paint products.
• ESCI was an Italian scale model maker that went out of business in 1991.
• Italeri is another Italian company which produces scale model kits.
• Heller, a French company which produces scale model kits.
• Airfix is a UK scale model maker; in the UK the name "Airfix" is genericized term to mean any kind of plastic model.
• Hawk is one of the first American manufacturers of injection-molded plastic model kits.
• "OUT" don't seem to be anything; at least, I can't seem to find anything.
• "ERIT" is most likely the Merit brand of model kits released by J&R Randall Ltd.
• Lindberg was an American model maker, which has since been acquired by Round 2 Models.
• Addar made model kits, but there really isn't much else about them.

To the left is a poster with "TYR" written on it in Anglo-Saxon runes. This a reference to the Black Sabbath's 1990 album of the same name; the logo depicted is on the back of the album. Tyr himself was a Norse God law and heroic glory.

126

The guy in the uppper panel, seated on the left at the right-hand table, is the same guy who was munching on noodles at Gonzu's stand (1:16). An otherwise typical denizen of the Scrapyard, but one who needed to be mentioned.

127

Max C points out: Jasugun wears a pair of sun glasses with Borghesia on them. They were an "electronic body music" group from Slovenia back in the 80's. I guess there's a company in the Scrapyard making sunglasses with metal band names on it.

142

One of the members of the crowd watching Alita and Jasugun's arm wrestling match has a head that resembles Haniwa, which are funerary clay figures which are buried with the dead. This one in particular also seems to resemble the Haniwa style which also appear in the Nintendo video game, Animal Crossing, as the item "Gyroid".

166

A bunch of bands are referenced in the trop frame.

The first two, Mordred and Running Wild, are discussed in more detail below; see Page 5 of GN4 below for more info. One of the ads in the upper panel is for "Kishiro Tile". Who it's talking about should be obvious. There's also a word balloon covering up part of a word ending "LTURA"; I'll bet this is a reference to the Brazillian band Sepultura. Canadian metal band Annihilator is also referenced.

At least two other bands are referenced as well, but I'm not sure what they could be. Their logos were definitely intended to be recognized, but they're cropped and hard to make out.

The "BLAC" band logo on the right corner kinda looks like the logo to American punk rock band Black Flag, but their logo's typeface is much thicker than the logo in the comic, and they're not a metal band to boot (Kishiro's band references tend to be Metal bands). Alternatively, Christian Hellbusch suggests that it might be the logo for Black Sabbath, specifically from their 1990 album Tyr; I'm inclined to agree as the "B" in both the manga and the album cover has a disconnected line on the bottom. Also consider that it was released recently, relatively speaking, from the time Kishiro was working on Killing Angel, and was also referenced earlier on page 120 (see above entry).

The other logo, which appears to be the letters "THAS"... beats me. Anyone else have an idea?

173

More Motorballers named after weapons:

• № 35, Baselard, is likely named after the baselard, a dagger used in the Late Middle Ages.
• № 24, Scramasax, is likely named after a scramsax ("wounding-knife"), which is an Old English/Saxon/German word (I think).
• № 9, Halberd, is named after the halberd, which is a two-handed pole weapon.

Again, these names were likely transliterated from English to Japanese by Kishiro, then back to English, with the translator didn't recognize the names (apart from Halberd)... at least for the original Viz names. The Kodansha translators seem to recognize it a bit better.

178

"Caligula" Armbrust is named after both the Roman Emperor Caligula, who known for being batshit insane, and the armbrust, which is a large crossbow used in Europe during the 12th Century.

His sidekick, Peshkabz, was named after the Pesh-kabz, which is a 17th Century Perso-Afghan knife designed to penetrate mail armor. Its name means "fore-grip" in Persian.

181

Zafal Takié looks an awful lot like Grace Jones.

182

The symbol on Jasugun's mug is a Japanese mon, specifcally the Maruni Chigai Ya (丸に違い矢), depicting two arrow fletches crossed over one another. Apparently it was the personal mon for Hattori Hanzō, a famous samurai.

I saw a sign with a design on it very similar to this outside a chiropractic clinic. I'm thinking that whoever owned the sign was part of the clan that used that as their mon. Now as to why it was used on Jasugun's mug like that, I'm not sure.

It is worth nothing that in Ars Magna, Yukito Kishiro's official artbook for Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita, there is a piece titled Assault Samurai vs. Iron Shogun (page 118) which uses the Maruni Chigai Ya as the mon for the "Iron Shogun". I'm now greatly curious about its significance; I suspect that it's Kishiro's family's personal mon.

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Title

Ars Magna (Latin for "The Great Art") is mostly just Kishiro trying to sound poetic by using Latin in the title of this book, and it otherwise has no other meaning or implication beyond Yoko's Master considering Panzer Kunst as being "the Great Art". Oh well.

That said, "Ars Magna" is also the title of two books; one of them being a 16th Century book about algebra written by Gerolamo Cardano, while the other—and arguably more relevant—book by Ramon Llull, which is a book to teach its readers how to convert people to their ideas using logic and reason.

While the reference to "Ars Magna" within the context of the story was to call Panzer Kunst as "the Great Art", I feel like the name of GN4 as "Ars Magna" may reference the book by Ramon Llull as a way to frame the relationship between Alita and Jasugan throughout the her Motorball years. Reflect upon what that may mean.

5

In the top frame we see "Mordred", which is both an American funk/thrash metal band, as well as an illegitimate son, and murderer, of King Arthur. Both might be relevant references, as both heavy metal and King Authur are regular topics for references by Kishiro.

The logo for German heavy metal band Running Wild is visible to the right. Below is the word "Black", which could be a reference to American punk rock band Black Flag or British heavy metal Black Sabbath, though it may be the latter. I discuss the details above (see Page 166 in GN3 for more info).

The sticker on the computer screen that Umba and Ed are looking at in the lower panel reads "Triumph". It could be that of a Canadian band (given all the hard/progressive rock references), or that of a British motorcycle maker (because of all the motorized references). Maybe both, as the style of the sticker looks like a mix of the two Triumph logos.

6

8

The names of the various players come from a number of sources, most of them being a type of weapon. These include:

1. № 24, Scramasax — from scramsax (see GN3, p173)
2. № 21, Zaghnal — from zaghnal, which is an Indian war hammer or axe
3. № 59, Flamberge — from flamberge, which is a wave-shaped blade, most likely from Germany.
4. № 1, Armbrust — from armbrust (see GN3, p178)
5. № 33, Baselard — from baselard (see GN3, p173)
6. № 45, Bardiche — from bardiche (see GN3, p17)
7. № 9, Halberd — from halberd (see GN3, p173)
8. № 37, Vickers — maybe a reference to Vickers, which was a British engineering company which made—among other thing—the Vickers machine gun, which was first used during WW1. (See below for more info.)
9. № 67, Glaive — from glaive, which is a type of European polearm weapon.
10. № 13, Peshkabz — from Pesh-kabz (see GN3, p178)
11. № 6, Copperhead — likely from the type of viper known as a "copperhead". There IS a weapon known as a copperhead (the M712 Copperhead), but it wasn't invented until after GN4 was released.
12. № 36, Gallant — from the English word gallant, meaning brave, valiant. (See below for more info.)
13. № 99, Alita — (see GN1, p9)
14. № 41, Chakram — from chakram, which is a Indian throwing weapon from India.
15. № 72, Madsen — probably named after the Madsen machine gun, a Danish weapon used since 1902.
16. № 50, Tiegel — from the German word tiegel, meaning pot or crucible. Seems appropriate, given Tiegel's shape.
17. № 7, Zafal Takié — unknown.
18. № 88, Aydakatti — from ada katti (see GN3, p88)

It should be noted that since Vickers and Gallant are brothers, and they share British/English names, it's possible that Kishiro might have based their names off the Vickers Valiant, which was a strategic bomber used by the British Royal Air Force. Seeing as the words "gallant" and "valiant" both sound and mean similar, and the Vickers Valiant is a kind of weapon, it's possible that this is what they're supposed to be based off of.

As a side note, the player, Flamberge, seems to resemble an American Football player. It may also be a reference to the original Rollerball, the players of which wore protective equipment similar to American Football, particularly the helmets.

12 - 13

Right there, in big bold letters, there are the words "Scorpions" and "Megadeth" are written on the side walls of the track. I mean, even in the right fonts!

The third band appears to be a band called "Silence", but I can't seem to find any band with that exact logo. However, I did find two bands named "Silence" with similar logos... one from Italy and another from the US. So I suspect that Kishiro did something like the Triumph logo and merge the two together to form the logo used in the manga.

86

The aprentice in the foreground in the middle panel has a Queensryche Tri-Ryche on his jacket. Is that supposed to be a variation on the cover of "Rage for Order"?

97

I could swear one of those guys looks like Rodney Dangerfield.

104

Searches for Esdog's name comes up blank, including his Japanese name (エスドック). But there are two potential references. One, it could be a reference to an es doger, which is an Indonesian coconut milk-based shaved ice beverage. Two, and for those of you who don't habla Español, es dog is Spanish for... "it's dog".

I personally think it's the second one.

126

Ed's having a Kraftwerk beer to drink; just another band that Kishiro has turned into a drink. (See Page 64 in GN2 for more info.)

151

I actually have a small plastic knicknack sort of like the one Shumira gives Jasugun. It's pink, about 4 cm. high, and winks out of wink-eyes. I bought it for a few cents at Archie McPhee Co. in Seattle.

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12

The song Alita sings in the original manga is "Big Generator", by Yes. The lyrics in the English version is original verse by Fred Burke and Tosh Yoshida, which Kishiro would later use in later Japanese revisions, and now officially in Kodansha's updated English translation.

16

I've read part of "The Ship" by Hans Henny Jahnn. It's kind of like reading the script to a European art film, though I got the quote in the Manifesto from there. If anyone has a hypothesis about why Alita should be so taken with the author, let me know.

17

On the bottom most frame, there are three people around a fire-barrel; Max C says it reminds him of an album cover, but can't figure out where it was from. Given Kishiro's preference to hard/progressive rock music, I wouldn't doubt that it was an album cover or some linear-notes photograph. Does anyone know where it's from?

28

The hunter-warrior with the two knives always reminded me of a mix between Ozzy Osbourne—lead singer of the English metal band Black Sabbath—and a Tusken Raider (Sand Person) from Star Wars.

52

From about this point on I was reminded of the art of the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, designer of such high-profile creatures as The Alien, Sil (from Species) and some of the effects from "Poltergeist 2".

57

The name Desty Nova is actually from the song Astronomy by the Blue Öyster Cult, off their Imaginos album. The group's producer, Sandy Pearlman, wrote a poem entitled The Soft Doctrines of Immaginos which tells the tale of a human being named Imaginos—also named Desdinova—who is being lead through time by aliens known as "Les Invisibles" in order to play a key role at various points in history. Alita's body, the Imaginos, is named after the album. (See Page 174 in GN9 for more info.)

Incidentally, according to an 1995 interview with Kishiro, Nova's trademark laugh—either Kyahahaha! or Hyahahahah!—was inspired by Mozart's laughter in the 1984 film Amadeus. Give it a listen here; is this what you had had in mind?

105

152 - 153

The revolver Alita is constructing is a Smith & Wesson Model 610. Furthermore, according to this entry on TVTropes, there has been several modifications made to it, as well as other things worthy of notice:

• its 4" barrel cut down by an inch or so
• the rear sights and the hammer spur had been removed
• the Model 610 is fairly rare firearm (produced only between 1990 and 1992) uses half-moon clips to fire an equally-rare cartridge: a 10mm Auto round; that around is also found in the Bren Ten of Miami Vice fame.

According to that Troper, the 10mm Auto round is "[not] quite as powerful as a .44, but definitely a step above a .357 Magnum", and, all things considered, Alita's revolver was "the perfect no-snag last-ditch concealed-carry weapon".

But most of all, it's just another sign of how thorough Mr. Kishiro does his research.

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GN6 - GN9

Barjack's operation and organization, as well as the desert environment outside of the Scrapyard is a very large scale reference to the Mad Max movie trilogy, which takes place in the deserts Australian Outback. In the Mad Max world, society had fallen and people have been reduced to savages who have to pillage and murder in order to survive. The second Mad Max film, The Road Warrior, is probably the one out of the entire trilogy that is referenced the most in Battle Angel Alita.

17

Kimji's model number, TR-55, is a reference to the Sony TR-55, which was Sony's—and Japan's—first transistor radio, made with transistors. Thus, "TR". For Transistor Radio. I have a feeling that Mr. Kishiro grew up with one.

43

Figure Four is named after a wrestling move known as a.... figure four.

48

Philippe observes that Rail Box is a train shipping company of some sort, but Mark has told me that they folded in the 80's. Thus Philippe; thus Mark.

55

Gabriel, the GIB's flying support platform, is likely named after Gabriel, an angel who serves as a messenger of God to certain people. Seems apt here, as Gabriel is providing data on the incoming Barjack raiders for Alita, sent by the GIB ("God", as far as Alita is concerned at this point).

Also in the original Japanese edition, the types of arms listed in Gabriel's scans are the following (which were miswritten in the original Viz release, in parenthesis):

• SMG (BMO) — submachine gun
• SAW (BAY) — squad automatic weapon
• HMG (RMG) — heavy machine gun
• CSG (GSG) — ?? (I can't seem to find any info on what CSG could be; maybe "chain-saw gun"?)

68

This scene is kind of reminicent of that scene in "Predator" where the Predator takes off its mask. Same sound effect, at any rate.

77

Figure Four seems to be hanging out in Monument Valley, located in Navajo Nation, known for its iconic sandstone buttes which personifies the Wild West. The fact that the original English subtitle for Fight 32 (Journey 3) is "Wild West Heroes" is a testament to this notion.

The scene depicts two of the more famous buttes in Monument Valley, known as the "Mittens". However, the drawing seems to be specifically based on a production shot for the movie My Darling Clementine, as seen here.

The Mittens buttes appear once again on page 89.

81

124

Upper left-hand corner. It's possible that the quote she's talking about is from Hans Henny Jahnn—why else would Kishiro mention him? I have been unable to identify the exact source of this quote, however. The Kodansha re-translation doesn't seem to help any either.

127

Left page, top right corner. Colonel Bozzel, however vaguely, reminds me of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's nemesis Krang. Bozzel looks cooler, though.

134

Having the wall land on our heroes, only for them to luck out under a window reminds me of a similar, classic Buster Keaton scene.

166

Alita's spider bombs, "Spidey", reminds me of the nickname of New York City's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I suspect that that was the reason why it was changed to "Arachno" in the original Viz/English translation, but Kodansha changed it back.

215

Right page, center bottom. Standard-issue US Army canteen. I guess we're supposed to assume that Figure got it from wherever Barjack got their weapons. Incidentally this is the first definite reference to where the story takes place in Battle Angel Alita.

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11

The "Ground Inspection Bureau" or GIB is likely based on the "Federal Bureau of Investigation" or FBI, which is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States of America. The FBI analogue in the video game series "Grand Theft Auto" is known as the "Federal Investigation Bureau", or "FIB".

27 - 35

The fight between Alita and the ninjas is an almost exact copy of one in Frank Miller's Elektra: Lives story. Kishiro pays tribute to one of his inspirations.

30

My Japanese is super-duper rusty, but... Gonzaemon (権左衛門, ごんざえもん) is a rare, old name in Japanese, which is constructed from two separate concepts:

• Gonza- (権左), which is part of a rank title, such as "Provisional [権] (Captain of the) Left [左] (Military Guards)"; and,
• -(i)emon (衛門), which is an ancient given name for men meaning "guard gate" and thus seen attached to names of men who were traditionally considered to be loyal guards, such as Samurai. For example, nearly half of the 47 ronin had -(i)emon (衛門) in their name.

All that said, I think Kishiro simply used the name "Gonzaemon" because it's an old-sounding name with a strong guard implication. Think "Fido" or "Trusty" as similar old-sounding names for loyal pet you can trust to guard your house and family. Compare/contrast with Ishikawa Goemon (石川 五右衛門), aka "Ninja-Robin Hood".

69

"Radio KAOS" is the name of a concept album by Roger Waters (not David Gilmour—thanks Cathy!), formerly of Pink Floyd. The plot revolves around a boy who, interestingly, is able to perceive radio waves.

70

In the original manga, Kaos performs "Inside Looking Out" by The Alan Parsons Project. The song is from the album "Gaudi", dedicated to the artist of the same name who died before his magnum opus—the Sagrada Familia Cathedral—could be completed. This is likely an original verse by Burke and Yoshida once again, adopted by Kishiro and reused by Kodansha.

100

Among other things, Koyomi seems to be looking at a Mickey Mouse doll and a Coke bottle. Most of the rest of it are old compact cassettes and VHS cassettes.

102

Oh, jeez. OK so: a No-Smoking sign, a street sign, a Coca Cola sign, a samauri headpiece, two Mickey Mouse dolls, a Superman phone, a Donald Duck toy, a Mickey Mouse clock, and a lot of other stuff.

171

This one fell through the cracks, but long ago Sérgio Nova brought to my attention that the guy with the one eye yelling "Protect Den!" is based on a yokai (Japanese ghost, monster, spirit, impling, etc) called Dorotabo (泥田坊), which is a sort of one-eyed, old, balding monster made out of mud. In fact he literally has "泥田坊" written on his arm. Most likely the character was initially given that one weird eye, and then was given the nickname "Dorotabo" because of the resemblence, and it stuck.

In the original Viz, he was called "Mr. Dorotabo", while in the new Kodansha translation, he's called "Mud Monster". In both cases his name clearly referenced to yokai.

Notes

We see the kind of characters that Kaos' psychometry can tap into... like Jason Voorhees, dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, and Robocop.

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8

KNOW YOUR GUNNM GEOGRAPHY:
We get our first look at just where everything is happening in the world of Battle Angel Alita. Long story short, it's in and around Kansas City, Missouri, USA. However, the list below is where things get a lot more specific. (Anything in italics has been added or updated based on the newer map included at the end of LO18.)

The Scrapyard: Kansas City, Missouri
Ancient City in GN6: Denver, Colorado
Radio KAOS: Austin, Texas
Granite Inn/Mt. NORAD: Cheyenne Mountain Complex (however LO18 places the Granite Inn at Pueblo, Colorado)
Alhambra: Alhambra, California (a suburb of Los Angeles)
Bashaku: Amarillo, Texas
Meltdown: Around Smoky Hill River area, south of Hayes, Kansas

Western Mountains: Rocky Mountains
Northern River: Missouri River until just before F-25, James River afterwards
Southern River: Mississippi River

F-1: Burlington, Illinois
F-2: Davenport, Iowa
F-3: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
F-4: Saint Louis, Missouri
F-5: Vincennes, Indiana
F-6: Louisville, Kentucky (actually, just slightly North-East of it)
F-7: Shawnee National Forest, Illinois
F-8: Nashville, Tennessee
F-9: Memphis, Tennessee
F-10: Jefferson City, Missouri
F-11: Searcy, Arkansas
F-12: Helena, Arkansas
F-13: Branson, Missouri (south of Springfield, MO)
F-14: Little Rock, Arkansas
F-15: Pittsburg, Kansas
F-16: Dallas, Texas
F-17: Tulsa, Oklahoma
F-18: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
F-19: Wichita, Kansas
F-20: Sweetwater, Texas
F-21: Lubbok, Plainview
F-22: Garden City, Kansas
F-23: Junction City, Kansas (or possibly just slightly north of it)
F-24: Omaha, Nebraska
F-25: Springfield, South Dakota
F-26: Pierre, South Dakota (actually, somewhat North-West of it)
F-27: Des Moines, Iowa
F-28: Saint Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota
F-29: Quincy, Illinois

The original list of cities was based on research I did back in 1997. With the release of LO18, an updated map was included, which allowed me to check my previous work and make any fixes where necessary. The new map also included Farm locations missing from the original map from GN8, so those have been included. Finally, the location of Bashaku was found and added to this list.

11

Philippe thinks that looks like the Intel logo on Lou's box, and I'm inclined to agree with him.

19

"Radio KAOS" also is a perfectly legitimate radio call sign for any American radio station operating West of the Mississippi River... which is what Radio KAOS is. Specifically, it's call sign starts with a K and is four characters long, which fits regulations. All he needs to do is stick "-FM" next to it and he'd be in business!

25

It's interesting that Vector's trying to escape through Heaven's Gate. Wonder if he's having some pudding to go with that? (See Page 64 in GN2 for more info.)

57

NORAD—NORth American Air Defence, where all of the USA's missiles are kept under lock and key. Blown up in "ID4".

81

GIB, brought to you by Macintosh Classic. No wonder they've been able to stay dominant over the PC-using Scrapyard for so long...

96

That "ELP" thing looks like the logo for Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Another logo to it's side is... I'm not sure! It looks like the logo to Dark Horse Comics, but I doubt that it's that. On the other hand, I can't find a heavy metal (or rock, bare minimum) association to it, seeing as Kishiro's references tend to lean towards them, so I can't tell if I'm not looking hard enough, or if I'm not looking at the right place. Hm.

118 - 119

I can't believe I've forgotten to mention this all these years, but crazyankan jogged my memory. The Heng (the Anti-Zalem Weapon) is based on the 80 cm K (E) railway artillery guns deployed by Nazi Germany during World War 2, which were in turn based on the railway artillery guns employed by the German Empire to attack Paris with during World War 1.

Page:

(top)

21

22

I know that the MIB stands for Medical Inspection Bureau, but considering that one of its many purposes is the supression of top secret information—the "THEY" in "THEY don't want you to know this"—I'll bet the other MIB (the Men In Black) served as the Medical Inspection Bureau's inspiration and Kishiro figured out a way to keep the initials "MIB" for his own purposes.

57-60

The wide angled scenes of Alita back on the Scrapyard block reminds me of a scene from the 1991 comic Hard Boiled, written by Frank Miller and drawn by Geof Darrow, where the main character, Harry "Carl "No "Nixon" Name" Seltz" Burns, was (NSFW) chasing a perp down Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles in a similar sort of three-quarter angle view, and the corner was full of all kind of degeneracy and people who are rude, lewd, crude, and full of attitude. Seeing as Kishiro is a huge Frank Miller fan, this doesn't surprise me to know he was definitely inspired by that scene.

75

"Gally" is Alita's name in the original Japanese version. (See Page 9 in GN1 for more info.) Likewise, the name chosen in the original Japanese version was "Alita" (アリタ) , likely as a dig at the fact that her name was changed from Gally to Alita in the English translation.

Clearly Mr. Kishiro pays close attention to what happens when his work is placed in the hands of other people.

86

Gally's book, The Alchemist of the Golden Dawn, is a collection of letters written by Reverend W. A. Ayton to F. L. Gardner and others. The letters themselves are about the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organization "devoted to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries".

I'm honestly curious about how this relates to the story. Any suggestions?

94

The Conqueror of Mars is none other than a classic wind-up toy robot.

160

Bert and Ernie in profile at the top of the page.

165

In the second panel, Yoko's Lehrer appears to be holding a rifle similar to the German-made Heckler & Koch G11, which was a prototype assault rifle which uses caseless ammunition, developed over a period of a couple decades between 1968 until 1990. However, German reunification dashed any hopes of it entering production.

Forgotten Weapons has a really interesting breakdown of the H&K G11. One interesting fact is that, as it was intended to use caseless ammunition, the circle thing on the G11 (and thus seen prominently on Lehrer's rifle) was a way to load the next round into the chamber. That is to say, as there would be no case to eject, there would be no need for a sliding bolt action to automatically eject the empty case and then load a new round into place... so instead a rotating drum bolt (that circle thing) would simply rotate 360 degrees each time a round was fired, thus sliding the next round from the magazine—which was attached ABOVE the barrel—into place. And then if a round was stuck, you could lift a tab on the drum bolt and manually rotate it 360° anti-clockwise, which the stuck round would then slide out from a hole in the bottom. It's a really interesting and futuristic design, and given the "Germanic" styling Kishiro gave Mars, it's no surprise that the G11 has made an appearance. (Too bad it's its ONLY appearance, and it's not even canon!)

174

Alita's new body, the Imaginos, is named after one of the Blue Öyster Cult's albums, titled—you guessed it—Imaginos. Desty Nova's name also comes from a track off this album. (See Page 57 in GN5 for more info.)

198-199

All of the young initiates look like the citizens from George Lucas' 1971 movie, THX-1138, complete with bald head, white utlitarian garments, and even what's probably some kind of identity info on the left chest of their shirt.

202

In Philippe's words, "Tron, anyone?"

Some of the patterns in Melchizedek's core resemble various fractals, such as the Mandelbrot set and the Julia set.

207(a)

Jeru (エル, pronounced "Eru" in Japanese), is from the first half off the name of the city of Jerusalem, with Zalem being the second half.

207(b)

The star chart in the first panel lists off a few nearby stars within 12 light years from our Solar System, but they're not actually named. But based on the given data, there's a good chance that the stars listed are the following:

• 10.69LT-YR — Lacaille 9352
• 11.48LT-YR — Struve 2398 (Gliese 725)
• 7.57LT-YR — Wolf 359 (CN Leonis)
• 10.95LT-YR — Ross 128 (FI Virginis)
• 9.65LT-YR — Ross 154 (V1216 Sagittarii)
• 5.91LT-YR — Barnard's Star

However, these are eyeballed guesses, based on the apparent position of the stars and their alleged distance from our star. Furthermore, despite my best efforts, some of the positions don't seem to match up. For example, none of the light year distances seem to match, or if they do, their positions don't exactly match. So until I can actually do some proper calculations, I'm gonna stick with these.

Other

Melchizedek is a Biblical figure; he was the king of Jerusalem at one time. Given that name of the floating city as Jeru and Zalem, it seems wholly appropriate that the main computer is named Melchezedek. Better that than "David", in my honest opinion.

Other

In the 2018 interview with Kodansha Comics, included in Vol. 5 of the Deluxe Edition, Kishiro mentions some of his artistic influences, some of which I've already noticed, while others are actually news to me... but now that he mentions it, I totally can see it. Those influences included:

• Jean "Mœbius" Giraud — I strongly suspected this, given that Mœbius has a highly detailed, meticulous art style that Kishiro's own work resembles.
• Enki Bilal — This is a new one for me; I'll be honest, I never heard of him before. I'll have to check him out now!
• Simon Bisley — I've seen Simon's work before, but it was always something that was, like, behind the counter at the comics shop, so I never got to fully appreciate him. But seeing as Simon's work on Sláine is what Kishiro referenced when he designed Kinuba (see Page 112 in GN1 for more info), I shouldn't be surprised.
• Geof Darrow — This I figured as much, given that Kishiro clearly referenced Hard Boiled on pages 57-60 of this GN!
• Jim Lee — I also suspected this, given his Jim Lee-esque picture he did of SPACE MBADI! (see Page 109 of LO3 for more info), so it's nice to see it confirmed as well. This just means I can start pouring through some of my old copies of Lee's WildC.A.T.s from way back when, to see if there are any new references!

It's nice to know that Kishiro is well aware of both Mœbius and Geof Darrow, as I consider all three to be similar in terms of artistic quality and detail. Like, Kishiro is the "Japanese Mœbius", or Darrow is the "American Kishiro", or Mœbius is the "French..." uh... well, Mœbius IS the "French Mœbius", seeing as he came first.

Anyways, as an artist myself, it's somewhat satisfying to know that Kishiro, who has inspired my work, has his own inspirations! I mean, OBVIOUSLY he should, I can't think of an artist who DOESN'T... but knowing WHICH artist specifically inspired Kishiro not only puts a lot of his work into perspective, but it also makes him see more realistic and accessible, instead of as some "far superior artist on his ivory tower, separate from the rest of us normie plebs", y'know?