Gunnm: Another Stories

GUNNM: Gaiden is a Japanese manga by Yukito Kishiro containing three separate side stories for GUNNM, known as Battle Angel Alita in English. The stories were first published in Ultra Jump magazine in 1997, but have also been printed in the GUNNM Complete Collection Japanese special editions of GUNNM. No English version has been published. Several characters who appear in the side stories do not appear in the regular manga. The side stories also provide more background on the Factory and motorball.

With the exception of "Homecoming," the side stories use a chronology based on the year of Koyomi's birth (treated as Year 0) in order to relate how they fit within the overall Battle Angel Alita story. Events taking place before the year of Koyomi's birth are given the prefix "B.K.", while events taking place after are given the prefix "A.K.," (Anno Koyomi) with the corresponding number of years before or after, e.g. "B.K. 3." This reveals that Ido's discovery of Alita in the Tiphares dump heap and Koyomi's birth took place in the same year.

The Holy Night
The first side story is about how Ido, recently expelled from the floating city of Tiphares, rescues a young woman on a cold Christmas night in the Scrapyard. This eventually leads to him opening his cybernetic clinic featured in the main GUNNM story.

The Sonic Finger
The second story takes place after Alita's fight with the motorball champion Jashugan. Alita is shot in the head by a sniper while out on morning exercises, but she survives. Hunter-warriors band together to hunt the sniper down while Alita recuperates. It turns out to be a hardened criminal who has recently moved into the Eastern Sector who can shoot ball bearings at supersonic speeds with his cybernetically enhanced arms.

Homecoming
The third story takes place during Alita's days as a TUNED agent working for Tiphares. She tracks down a lost deckman and terminates him.